A bit from "The cost of discipleship"

As some of you might know, I have started working since last week. One thing that I am able to do better during my work than during my uni time is reading books. Thanks to the waiting time in MRT, bus and shuttle bus, at least I had almost 2 hours worth of reading books everyday (every working day to be precise =p).

The book that I'm reading right now is Dietrich Bonhoeffer's classic, "The Cost of Discipleship". I was blessed by this book a lot within this week, as I read the writings of someone who did not just write about how to life our life in Christ fully, but living what he wrote in full integrity. I will not discuss about him or the book now.. But you can wiki him for now =p. Anyway.. this is what I read a while back, and I don't see a reason to not share it with you =)

-----

..The call to discipleship, the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, sets the Christian in the middle of the aily arena again sin and the devil. Every day he encounters new temptations, and every day he must suffer anew for Jesus Christ's sake. The wounds and scars he receives in the fray are living tokens of this participations in the cross of his Lord. But there is another kind of suffering and shame which the Christian is not spared. While it is true that only the sufferings of Christ are a means for atonement, yet since he had suffered for and borne the sins of the whole world and shares with his disciples the fruit of his passion, the Christian has to undergo temptations, he too has to bear the sins of others; he too must bear their shame and be driven like a scapegoat from the gate of the city. But he would certainly break down under this burden, but for the support of him who bore the sins of all. The Passion of Christ strengthens him to overcome the sins of other by forgiving them. He becomes the bearer of other men's burdens - "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ" (Gal 6:2). As Christ bears our burdens, so ought we to bear the burdens of our fellow men. The law of Christ, which it is our duty to fulfil, is the bearing of the cross. My brother's burden which I must bear is not only his outward lot, his natural characteristics and gifts, but quite literally his sin. And the only way to bear that sin is by forgiving it in the power of the cross of Christ in which I now share. Thus the call to follow Christ always mean a call to share the work of forgiving men their sins. Forgiveness is the Christlike suffering which it is the Christian's duty to bear.

-----

quite a long paragraph.. but meaningful. Bonhoeffer's writings in this book are tough to read, but his "simple obedience" to the Word of Christ is admireable. I learn a lot from this book, and I learn that we need to bear each other burden's in a whole new perspective. =)

Let there be light!

Thankful for the Job

As I said in the title, I'm thankful for the opportunity from God for me to be able to work in this kind of economic downturn. Maybe some of you knew that I originally wanted to pursue further studies. But after carefully considering my options, and the fact that I don't get the NPGS this year, I think that God may want me to have a work experience for the time being.

I'm working in Gemalto right now. Some of you may know Gemplus and Axalto- the two of them merged and voilla! they become Gemalto. So far, the work was not that exiciting to be honest.. haha.. I only did some reading on Smart Card ISO (ISO/IEC 7816-4 =p). But I learned something new, and I am hoping to do my best for the things God has entrusted me to do.

I am thankful especially because of God's providence in my life, since there were a lot of problems I faced in the two weeks prior to my starting date of work. Some of you might know it already, and I have to say that those was the most stressful times I had in like 10 years, if not my whole life.. But God has lead me, through it all, and through my friends who encourages me, before and after the things are taken care of.. So to those whom I have shared this story with, be it when I'm still in the ordeal, or after everything was settled, I am grateful to you. Thanks for encouraging, praying, and being a blessings to me.

Let there be light!

The Case for Christ


Book Title: The Case for Christ
Author: Lee Strobel
Genre: Apologetics/Journalism
Price: Officially it’s sold for US$5.99 but I think you can get it for less than 10 SGD

For me personally, this is a must read for those who are keen to learn how to defend their faith.

I stumble on this book quite a while ago, I was quite uninterested at first but someone told me that this book is quite interesting and it can be a very valuable source of readings. I didn’t buy the book at first, then last semester I saw my friend read this book, and then this semester my pastor recommended this book to me for an extra readings on apologetics. So, I bought the book and finished it in 3 days during my spare time in Kuala Lumpur.

The author was an atheist crime journalist until his mid 30s (if I’m not mistaken) when his wife turned into a Christian. Surprised at first, his skepticism led him viewed the ‘incident’ very negatively. However, his wife showed him how Christ can change people to be better, and he investigated the truth of Christ himself, objectively. This led him to nearly two-years of investigation, which finally led him to come to Christ.

This book told the reader about his investigation, and the interviews with theologians that he made during (or after) his investigation. Expect to find Christians experts in heir field like Dr. D.A. Carson, Dr. Craig Blomberg , or even a psychologist like Dr. Gary Collins in this well written collection of interviews.

The book was arranged very carefully so that the readers can think together while Lee Strobel interviewed these experts. He started with checking the reliability of the scriptures, followed by the person of Jesus and His claims, and finally on the subject of resurrection. We encounter this kind of question often in our daily life when we try to communicate the gospel of our Lord, and I find that this book can give us systematic, informative, and convincing answers to most of them.

The content might sound very tough, but it was surprisingly very easy to read. I felt like reading a novel when I read the book (the author is, after all, a journalist). The arguments and proofs are presented clearly, and I felt that my faith is reinforced after reading it. I even consider this book for next semester’s reading for my KTB! In short, if you are looking for a good book for apologetics, buy this book. It’s not expensive (very cheap in my opinion), but very helpful for us. A must read!

Let there be light!

Forewords

There was a time when I lost my desire to write and to share. There was a time when I didn't see the point of doing a blog to express my thought. I am who I am though, inconsistent as I am in doing this blog, but I do want to share and I do long to write. Today I'm giving it another go. Fingers crossed. But I still wish that "Let there be light" is the message that I convey.
  • January 1st 2012, Kristo