SUFFERING IS TEMPORARY BUT LOVE ENDURES FOREVER

Jesus' love has never failed me, and it will not fail you either! Every time I sank lower than I thought I could sink, I cried out to Him. I know that even during the times He kept silent, He was there. God's timing is perfect and His ways are not our ways.

What we think is the solution may not be part of His plan. But God is faithful even when I am not. God forgave me even when I failed Him. He loved me even when I didnt trust Him. And He guided me even when I turned away from Him.

God took me through it all. His love covers a multitude of sins.

His love for me is greater than anything, He will never let me go. And as long as I love Him more than anything, noone shall have the power to hurt me more than God can love me.

Friends, be encouraged. God loves us, no suffering in this world can take that away from us. Do not let anything rob you of your joy in God! Be it suffering, bitterness, unfairness, anger, jealousy, pride, or self-pity.

Remember, He gives us all the love we need to get through all the trials we face.

Q: Why must there be suffering?
A: Love needs sacrifice.Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus".A price has to be paid for sin. So Jesus paid the price. He died to save ALL mankind. And he took ALL the suffering of the world upon Himself. So today salvation is open to ALL. We who have been hurt, need Jesus as much as those who have hurt us. Since God is fair to give salvation to all, isnt it fair that suffering happens to all?

Q: I still think it's unfair that good people suffer.
A: Unjust suffering is the only type of suffering that can be considered suffering. Because if I did something wrong, and I suffered for it, memang I deserved it la! That's not called suffering. That's called retribution. But suffering that's undeserved is exactly what happened to Christ. He's God, trying to save men, but those very people he's trying to save, are spitting on his efforts and abusing him! The hallmark of a Christian is to be like Christ. So when we suffer unjustly, we're actually becoming more like Christ.James 1: 2-4"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."Be encouraged! When you suffer unjustly, remind yourself that God is allowing your faith to grow. And when the testing is over and you have passed through the fire, you are refined. You become stronger like gold that has been tested. Then, He will reward you beyond your imagination!

Bad people prosper and good people suffer! Unfair!

Q: Why do 'bad' people prosper and 'good' people suffer?
A: If it seems that the bad do not suffer, that is a mere illusion. They have their own share of suffering. In this world or the next. They dont 'get away with it'. Just because you see them being rich doesnt mean they do not suffer, have not suffered, or will not suffered.Proverbs 24:19-20 says, "Do not be troubled because of evil-doers, or have envy of sinners. For there will be no future for the evil man; the light of sinners will be put out." In contrast, we know that God has a good plan for us prepared in future. Why worry about other people when we can instead put that energy into dealing with our own lives and living out God's plan for our lives?

Q: It's not fair that I'm good but I suffer.
A: Just what makes us think we're better or 'good'? No matter how good we are, we would have sinned before. Whether it's 0.01% sin or 99.99% sin, it's still sin.
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God".(Take note: the definition of sin is not doing something wrong. It's falling short of God's glory. So, can we say we havent sinned? I think not.) So since we're all sinners and since we all suffer, what's so unfair about it? Since we have already sinned, it's not for us to argue what degree of sin and what degree of suffering is fair. It's pretty lame for a criminal to argue with the judge that the sentence he's getting is not fair "because some other guy there did worse than me and he's not in jail".

What's the point of asking for less suffering by comparing ourselves to others? Comparison always lead to the argument that God didnt give us what we deserve. But, do we really want to get what we deserve? If God counted and calculated every single wrong everyone did, we deserve eternal death. But He forgave us this! Shouldn't we be grateful?
Suffering may be something we didnt deserve, but Grace is something we dont deserve either! We dont complain when we get grace we dont deserve... so we shouldnt complain when we get suffering we dont deserve.... it's a fair trade off! :)

How Can God Love Me If HE Lets Me Suffer?

Q: Good and evil cannot coexist. If God is good there cannot be suffering.
A: On the contrary, without evil, there would be no good. Darkness is the absence of light. Without darkness we wouldnt know what is light. And pain is the opposite of love. Without pain there can be no love. Without love there can be no pain. Do you realise that you never feel hurt unless you feel love too? For example, if a stranger scolded you for no reason, you wouldnt feel pain. But if someone you love scolded you, you would feel so painful. We can only truly know what love is when we have experienced pain. Only by experiencing suffering, can we fully appreciate the grace of God. I realise now that God loves me more than any man ever can. And God took more suffering upon Himself than I could ever claim to suffer. So, the pain of this world drives me closer the the goodness of God's love and grace.

Q: God is bad because He allows people to suffer.
A: A doctor has medicine to cure sickness. But is it the doctors fault that there is sickness in the world? No, because he didnt create sickness. The doctor gives medicine to those who come to him. But those who didnt come to him, cannot blame the doctor for not helping them. It is the same way with God. He can take away our pain, if we go to Him and let Him. If we let go and take his 'medicine'. But if we do not, there's no point in us blaming Him for our suffering. He's not the one that caused it.

Q: If God really loved me, He wouldnt let me suffer.
A: During my school days I hated my father for forcing me to study things which I didnt think I liked. I felt He was so cruel to make me suffer. But now, years later, I realize why he did it. He had a plan for me which I couldnt see at that time. The 'suffering' in school didnt kill me. In fact, it made me who I am today, it gave me a good career to look forward to. God has a plan for us. Jeremiah 28:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for a hope and a future." God's plan may include some suffering which is temporary. (Even death is temporary, in the light of eternity). But it's all part of His plan for us, which we can't see now. God's plan includes suffering so that it can bring out the greatest good and glory.

Q: Why doesnt God take away my suffering?
A: When I faced a terrible personal crisis in my life, I kept crying out to God and asking Him to take away my pain, heal my hurt. But I never felt satisfied with the response I got. Until one day, as I was doing my usual "please help me get through this," God told me: "I already have!" That struck me. Jesus Christ has already performed the greatest act of suffering on the cross, bearing all our hurts on His innocent back. Not only that, He triumphed over all this. Because of His victory, I, too, could live a victorious Christian life. Why was I still wallowing in my hurt?

Once I bought a fake VCD movie. I knew it had a happy ending. Being of bad quality, it couldnt be viewed halfway. It stopped at the part just where the hero was about to be killed in a tragedy. I was so sad, anxious, despairing...but I knew the ending was supposed to be happy. So I overcame my feelings by telling myself that in the end, it would all work out fine. I was able to get out of the bad feelings because I knew no matter how much the hero suffered, he would have a happy ending.

God has promised us a happy ending with him in heaven. So let's take the director's word for the movie script, even though we're stuck halfway. When I choose to look at the hurts I was facing rather than the cross, I allow myself to feel defeated. I magnify the value of the suffering I was undergoing. But when I chose to rely on the promise of God instead of my lousy feelings, I realise that eternal victory belongs to Christ and I am his heir and daughter. I choose to tell myself I will believe I have the victory no matter how lousy I feel. Feelings come and go, but God never changes. He already has won the victory, so He's already taken away our pain. We just have got to look away from our circumstances and look to Him. When we ask God to take away our hurts, have confidence that He already has. Only when we are fully with Him again in heaven can we experience the complete release. Til then, just keep holding on.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8
"Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord."

Why God Allows Suffering

Q: Why doesnt God interfere?
A: God cannot change the law without changing Himself. There are certain immutable laws of the universe. One is that suffering came into the world because of original sin. Once it came, it struck both the good people and bad people. Indiscriminate. People say it is unjust that good people suffer. But justice means justice for all. Justice means the criminal must have the same rights as you and me.

Once when we were watching a scene on CSI, Sean said, it's so unfair that the criminal used the loopholes in the law to get himself off scot-free. I told him what my professor said: we may disagree with how a man exercises his rights, but we will defend to the death their right to exercise it. Justice means justice for all, even the criminals!

Imagine if the court decided to bend the law to send criminals to jail. For example, torture people until they confess. Does the ends justify the means? Bending to law to achieve the 'just' result we want, defeats the purpose of having the law in the first place. There would be no respect for law any more.

In the same way, God in His infinite justice made the law of the universe. Accordingly, with sin in the world, there came suffering too. Should God interfere to allow His children to escape suffering? If God now takes away all the suffering in the world, the law would be changed, and changing the law would require changing God's character. In short, if God interfered, God wouldnt be just anymore! Do you want to worship an unjust God who bends the rules, even for you? I dont.

Q: Why can't God just change the law?
A: A famous football manages had 2 of his own sons on his football team. The manager was a person who insisted that football must be played by the rules of the game. In one game, his elder son committed a foul, so the other side got a free kick and scored. Then, his younger son scored a goal but the linesman ruled it was an offside, so it was disqualified.

Sometimes, due to his sons' fault or otherwise, the team loses. But do you think the football manager should change the rules of football just so his sons and his team can win the game? Of course not. Nobody is saying the rules of football are unfair. Only sometimes, because of cheats, match-fixing, poor judgment calls, or bad 'luck', our favourite team doesnt win, even though they played well. It's not the team's fault, but the manager cant change the rules of football just so his team will win. That would not be fair.

God cant change the law of the universe just so we never have to suffer, because that will not be fair. God's law is fair, only sometimes, because of cheats, bad people, the devil, or even no reason at all, people we like will suffer. Or we seem to get the short end of the stick. Does that make God unfair? Nope. Should He change the law to prevent our pain? If every time your team loses you change the rules of the game, would anybody still want to play football? Nope. There has to be consistency for a standard to be set. That's why God doesnt change the law just for us.

Why, Lord?

A Christian family I know who served God for 3 generations, went through the death of their parents and eldest brother to sickness, one sibling suffers from cancer, 2 of their sisters got divorced, another was robbed - all of this within 1 year! Why do good people suffer and bad people prosper? Everyone has their own fair share of pain and suffering in life, some more fair than others. So often people ask, if God is love, how can there be pain and suffering in the world?

I struggle with these thoughts when I experience suffering which I feel is undeserved. But these truths are always a great comfort to me:

GOD ALLOWS SUFFERING TO HAPPEN, BUT HE DOESNT ENJOY IT.

Q: Does God stand by and watches His children suffer, because He cannot save them?
A: God can get rid of suffering if He wants, because He has infinite power. With just a spoken word all hurt can cease in the world, and no more suffering has to happen. God could do all this, His power is undisputedly proven by all His miracles, signs, and wonders. (I will explain later why He doesnt interfere)

Q: God doesnt interfere because He doesnt want to help?
A: God feels greater hurt and pain than anyone else when we suffer. He doesnt enjoy seeing us suffer. He wishes we wouldnt suffer. But if God immediately takes away suffering, it would cause a huge imbalance. There are several explanations to the question why God does not interfere.

Recommended Reading

Guys, just a quick update. If you notice on the right of our new layout, you will find a whole load of new updated links. Go click on them for some cool sites. Here we present a preview of 5 must-visit sites you wont regret going to!

Ever wonder what it would be like to have an Interview With God? This site gives you a picture of what it would be like to interview the creator. The short multimedia presentation will surely touch your heart and even bring tears to some eyes.

Even though Think Tank Magazine is published by another local church, we recommend it. The
discussion on issues is thought provoking and the articles insightful. They have sections for guys and gals... Go check it out.

For all those Men With Legs out there, dont miss out this witty and very down-to-earth blog by guys for guys. Very real and faces issues head on.

For people on the go, get quick Daily Devotions and start your day on the right side- God's side.

Interested to read the bible but dont know how to go about it? Try Bible Gateway for helpful hints and a roadmap for the clueless.

Have fun exploring the other sites!

The Cat, our trust, and God's faithfulness

A few years ago, a pastor in Romania was arrested by the police because of his Christian activities. When he was arrested and taken to jail, the jailer taunted him about his belief in God.

Rubbing his stomach the jailer said, Can your God take good care of you like the State takes care of me? Our pastor reassured the jailer that his God could take care of him. "Oh! So you think your God can take care of you as well as the State takes care of me?" The Pastor said yes.

"OK," the jailer said. "I will give you only water for the next 4 days and we will see how well your God takes care of you."

The Pastor was taken to a cell and the door was locked. Our Pastor began to pray very earnestly and fervently to God for his protection and needs. He told God that he was his servant and he did not know how God would provide for his needs but he knew that God would take care of him.

As he was praying he heard a cat meow and when he opened his eyes he saw a cat just outside the cell with a slice of bread in its mouth. He then reached through the cell and took the bread from the cat's mouth.Next he took and broke off the piece which the cat had in its mouth and put that in his pocket and then ate the bread.

Each morning and evening for the following four days at the same time the cat came bringing the bread in its mouth.

On the fourth day the jailer returned expecting to find a very hungry man. "Well," the jailer said, "look at how well the State has taken care of me and how has your God taken care of you?"

"Oh!" the pastor replied, rubbing his stomach, "God has taken good care of me also." The jailer, being curious, asked how that was done. "Well," the Pastor said, "twice a day God sent a cat with a piece of bread in its mouth for me."

As he was speaking the cat meowed and as the jailer looked down he saw the cat with the bread in its mouth. "That is my house cat bringing my bread from my table," said the surprised jailer. "Yes, surely your God did take care of you."

This story by Tim Cove really encouraged me, not only because of the cat. I was encouraged by how exceedingly abundantly God rewards our faith. We usually agree in theory that God is all-powerful, that He is our provider... but when it comes to crunch time, we're just as realistic as any new age spiritualist. We tend to believe what our eyes see and not have faith in God's unseen promises. (It's true, right?)

So how can we move from merely saying that we believe, to really trusting?

1. Live by faith and not by sight.

Things which you believe by faith can't be proven. If it could be, you wouldnt need faith already lah! So it doesnt make sense to impose conditions for faith... "I dont believe unless XXX can be proven." Read Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". Since human eyesight is limited, and things arent always what they seem, dont trust your eyes. Instead, have faith in God! He is more reliable than your eyesight...

Let us not allow a declaration of faith made during a spiritual high to fizzle out once we see something discouraging. That would be a huge waste. You know why? Because even though we cant see it, faith makes things happen. Jesus promised that with the faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains. Just don't expect it to be instant!

What happens is not seen to our eyes yet. It happens in the spiritual realm first. Ephesians 6:12 "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places".

The good news is, we dont have to fight this battle. God does it for us! Proverbs 21:31 "The horse is prepared for the day of battle, But victory belongs to the LORD". By the same power that Jesus overcame death, we will overcome doubt.

2. Trust with your heart

I memorized Proverbs 3:5-7 as a child but 15 years later I now see it in a different light. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowlege Him and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and shun evil".

Yup, sounds like your typical proverb: do-this-and-i-promise-you-this-style. But look again. It says trust in the Lord with all your heart. Not brain, intellect, feelings. In fact, it says "lean not on your own understanding". As I grew older, this proverb was harder to apply, since I thought myself to be 'cleverer'. You know, pandai pandai try to fix it first, if tak jadi then only go to God, right? Big mistake.

All my screw ups happened when I relied on my own understanding. That's how I found out that my intellect is limited, my emotions faulty, and my brain prone to mistakes. After many messes, I realized I needed to stop relying on the unreliable me, and turn to the totally reliable God. This sounds corny, but it's the way to go: Trust God and just let go.

Those are just 2 ways we can increase our level of trust in God.

2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves".

This week, let me challenge you to raise your level of faith in God just a teeny-weeny little notch. Let Him take over in areas you never allowed Him to before. Act on your faith by giving a bigger offering than usual. Hold on to your faith by rebuking doubts when they arise in your head. Do anything with faith in Him, and you'll be amazed at His response!

Trusting God is hard, but it's not as hard as it sounds. Besides, it's worth it!

Encourage one another with your experiment by posting your comments on this.

Remember, as we trust God, he is faithful to reward our trust in ways we can't even imagine!

Snapshots of Sunday Service

Flea Market

After church, we went to Ikea for lunch. Of course, we couldnt resist the temptation to go to The Curve to check out the flea market bargains too... Some of us did some serious shopping.....
While others.... erm... :) smile. Sunday is a special day.

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