Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Humility?

This should be an easy task for me... Do something for someone else without telling them or anyone else... Easy!

See most of my job is exactly this. It's what I thrive on; Serving others. It has been a hallmark of my ministry for years. So I don't see how this can be a problem task.

The thing is, it WAS a problem task. Many of the God52 bloggers encountered the same type of problem. See, while I love doing the background tasks, I also love getting recognition for it. Who doesn't? I tell myself that I don't need recognition or applause, but deep down it is what I crave. I want people to say: "Look at Paul. Look how selflessly he works to help others even without recognition. Paul is great!"

It's hard to come to realize that even unrecognized service is not motivated by a humble heart. True humility is thus something I cannot claim to have achieved. Not here in this blog anyway. Maybe I have managed to be truly humble at times, but in being truly humble I probably did not acknowledge it. That's the difficulty with humility, isn't it? You can't claim to have achieved it.

This was definitely a useful exercise though. It is good to review your perceptions and mindsets and hold them up to the light of God's standard. It serves well to remind us just how much grace we need! Time to reconsider my motives and refocus on God alone, I think!

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Prayer #Fail

Prayer has never been a strong point for me. This challenge really highlighted that. The task was to focus prayer on just one thing for the whole week. Jesus taught that we should be persistent in our requests to God, even when we did not seem to be hearing an answer.

I started the challenge strong, as always, but quickly faded as the week went on. The discipline to set aside large chunks of time to devote exclusively to pray is hard enough as it is. To then use that time to pray only for one request, over and over and over. It exposed my weak discipline!

The request I prayed for remains unanswered, so I'll be continuing to pray for it throughout the next few months. I guess you could say that, while I failed the specifics of this task, I did learn something after all. I learned that God enjoys hearing from us, even if we may feel like we're being repetitive.

Friday, January 25, 2013

God52 Updates?

I haven't given up on God52.

I've had an extremely busy week-and-a-half and have not got to writing my thoughts into the Blog. I'll do some catching up tonight and on the weekend. So be prepared for a flood of updates on:

  • Prayer
  • Humility
  • and Fasting

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

God52 - Extravagant Giving

The first challenge for the year was extravagant giving. Push yourself to give until it hurts.This caught my attention immediately and sparked my interest. All through December I was being challenged about where my priorities lie. What do I spend most of my time and money doing? The answer was pretty clear: My computer & computer games.

Now there is nothing basically wrong with entertainment. There's nothing wrong with having an outlet for relaxation. But anything and everything can become an idol that keeps us from God

Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees,
    that I may follow it to the end.
Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law
    and obey it with all my heart.
Direct me in the path of your commands,
    for there I find delight.
Turn my heart toward your statutes
    and not toward selfish gain.
Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
    preserve my life according to your word.
Fulfill your promise to your servant,
    so that you may be feared.
Take away the disgrace I dread,
    for your laws are good.
How I long for your precepts!
    In your righteousness preserve my life.  Psalm 119:33-40
Oh how I wish that this was my attitude and desire! To long to obey God in all things."Turn my eyes away from worthless things" - that's the verse that hit me. How much time have I wasted on worthless computer games? Time that could be better spent! I had many plans for my December holiday break. Many things I wanted to get done around the house. Come 7 January and none were done. I wasted so much time!

Well, this tied in nicely with the challenge for week 1. Here I had a solution to the idolatry problem my computer had become. Give it away... What a painful process! I've spent an awful lot of money keeping my computer up to date to be able to play the latest games. I've spent an insane amount of money on computer games over the years; quite a lot in December (thanks Holiday sales....thank a lot...). It seems like such a waste to just give it away, doesn't it?

My first attempts to find support in this endeavour were pretty disappointing. Most people I spoke to asked the same question: "Why not sell it? At least then you get some money to help support you?" This actually became a serious temptation to me. It sounds like good, wise counsel, doesn't it? But God had spoken clearly. Give it away! When someone wants to be extravagantly generous we should not question it, we should encourage it. After all, isn't that part of what we're called to do?
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” Mark 12:41-44
Do we know how to give like this poor widow?
  Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Matt 19:21
If your possessions are getting in the way of you reaching God, are you willing to give them away? 

It wasn't just my friends that caused temptation. I provided enough temptation to myself. I was shocked at how hard it was to remove the games in preparation. Every game I selected to uninstall called out to me. Every game tempted me to play it; How nice it would be; How much fun; How I should really finish the story to find out how it ends; How I'm just getting to the good part. Over and over I had to force myself to go on. The further I went, the more I realised just how much I was bound by these games. They truly had become an idol!

I know the challenge wasn't specifically to break down an idol (unless you consider the idol of materialism), but this is what it became for me. My computer is clean now, ready to be given away. The last hurdle is to find the right person to give it to. Until then I will disconnect it and pack it away.

Hopefully computers and computer games will never have this hold on me again.

So that is week 1. What an incredible challenge. I haven't actually given away anything yet physically, but just the process has help me give away something that was spiritually binding. I look forward to the physical giving away now!

Monday, January 14, 2013

God 52

What is it?

The original idea comes from a Blogger who is setting himself 52 spiritual challenges, one for each week of the year. The idea is to challenge your faith, discipline, and preconceived ideas about Christianity. I got interested in this at the first week of 2013 and have decided that this will be a good exercise for my soul. Check out the original idea here, God 52 - The irresistible resolution, and follow the latest at God 52.

What am I doing about it?

Well I've decided to record my efforts and anything I'm learning. Mostly for my own reference, but perhaps others may find it interesting to - thus Interesting Times Blog has been revived after a 2 year silence.

I'm a little behind the curve with the feedback Blog posts, since we're already into week 3....so Week 1 & 2 feedback will follow shortly...