Month May 2008

TOC’s New Look

andrewong2024 3 Comments

TOC's New Look

Theonlinecitizen (TOC) has a new look!

It is amazing how this non-partisan site has grown in readership and prominence with fellow Singaporeans in such a short span. And I am privileged to be able to share and play a bit part in it as a national service.

For those who are clueless to this site and current affairs, this is a site to visit for alternative views besides those we frequently read from our predictable and lop-sided mainstream media.

I forsee that TOC will play a significant role in the years to come in informing, educating and empowering Singaporeans in being more active in shaping the future of our nation.

Visit the website here>>>

More on Excellence

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Pursuit of ExcellenceMediocrity is a curse that God wants to remove from our lives.

As Christians, we should reach for a higher standard of excellence than the world sets. God deserves our very best!

Superior quality should be the hallmark of everything a Christian is and does as we have the responsibility to bear a good testimony whenever we produce works of superior quality.

Conversely, we become a poor testimony when we produce works of inferior quality.

What does it mean to excel or to have excellence?

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, excellence means:

  • To exceed a given standard that is ordinary, average, terrible or unworthy.
  • To be first-rate, first-class, exceptional, peerless, matchless, foremost, exemplary, top-grade, outstanding, superior, superb, superlative, splendid, deserving admiration, top-notch, A-1, marvelous, extraordinary, awesome, brilliant, fabulous, fantastic, heavenly, mind-blowing, stupendous, super, terrific, wondrous and pukka (best quality)!
  • To be superior in quality, greater in quantity, to transcend your job description, and to outdo yourself each time.

Being an Excellent Winner in Christ

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Manchester United has done it again!

They have added a 17th Championship title to their cabinet of trophies by finishing the Barclay’s Premier League 2007/08 season with a virtuso display of hunger and team spirit.

This team begun the league slowly but leap-frogged over Arsenal to lead the table in the later stage of the season’s second-half, and eventually pipped Chelsea to secure the championship in dramatic fashion!

Playing to win the title

The Champs of BPL 2007/2008But what if the script didn’t turn out this way, and if Chelsea had snatched the championship under the nose of the Red Devils?

That would have meant all their hard work and goals scored throughout the season of nine months would amount to nothing.

The one and only objective of being in the league is to win the race for the championship title.

Without aiming and clinching the title, being in the league would be meaningless.

A winning mentality and attitude

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

1 Corinthians 9:24

Similarly, we as Christians are all in a race of our faith and the goal is to accomplished our purpose and calling as His servants.

At the end of this league or to be exact, at the end of our lives on earth, would we reach our goal? Would we emerge as winners or losers?

As apostle Paul beseeches, we need to live out our faith in such as way that we aim to win. And that can never be achieved with a passive or mediocre mentality and attitude.

Winning with excellence

What distinguishes winners from losers is the hunger and spirit of excellence in achieving the goal or prize.

A spirit of excellence is created and thrusted by our hunger fueled by our love for God and the passion for the lost that needs to be touched by His love.

I think it is not uncommon to be comfortable where we are in life with what we have. We can so easily go about daily losing the aim or purpose of our lives.

Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

1 Corinthians 9:26-27

Even if we think we are doing well, that would posed a challenge to be continually motivated. Because it is easy to allow the “Rabbit and tortoise syndrome” to creep in when we think that we’re ahead of the rest.

Live excellently and be excellent

Despite winning almost all that is to win in the football world, Manchester United has never cease to evolve, improve and excel in all departments.

Hungry RooneyTheir hunger and avoidance of complacency has seen them striving to outdo not only their opponents, but also their ownself.

Likewise, with continually spiritual hunger for God and to do His will, we can also expect to see the Mighty Hand of God in our lives using us powerfully beyond our imagination.

When we are truly living out God’s purpose for our lives, that’s when we are excelling in every areas of our lives.

And just as it is fair to say that no one wants to support or be associated with a team that always loses and has no spirit to excel (which attributes to Manchester United being one of the most supported football clubs in the world), we cannot expect to win people towards Christ if we do not lead victorious, successful and excellent lives in Christ for the world to see.

Therefore, we need to live excellently and be excellent in Him with the supernatural resources we have in His promises and the power of the Holy Spirit, for Him.

Making My Mother’s Day

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My mother & meYesterday was Mother’s Day.

If anyone were to ask me how I would describe my relationship with my mother, I would just say that it is a love-hate relationship.

Far from perfect relationship
Eight years ago before moving back in, I could tell you that there were 20 six inches thick and solid concrete slabs between my mother and me.

We rarely communicated and the only time we managed to communicate was during a heated exchanged.

This hostility is accumulated over the years with a family that lacks intimacy, and disappointments incurred. But in spite of this, somehow in our hearts we knew we shared this unspoken love for each other.

Learning to love and forgive

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility

Ephesians 2:14

By the grace of God, through many “trials and errors” with more exchanges after I had moved back, the 20 slabs of concrete has been reduced to 8 slabs now.

At least now, we are able to carry a decent conversation without raising our voices. Ha ha…

I believe God has been teaching me to love more by forgiving more through this process. And He still is.

Making her day

Recently, I was reminded by the Holy Spirit that being a testimony also begins at home, just as it matters in the marketplace.

I have to admit it is a tall order for me and especially being a man where expressing feelings and showing love doesn’t come that natural.

But I guess I need to have faith and obey by being more deliberate when I am home to share my life more with my mother.

And I know the breakthrough will come for us when I would be able to say, “I love you” without hesitance.

I think that would sure make her day rite? =p

God WILL Accomplished His Purpose

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“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

“The rain and snow come down from the heavens
and stay on the ground to water the earth.
They cause the grain to grow,
producing seed for the farmer
and bread for the hungry.

It is the same with my word.
I send it out, and it always produces fruit.
It will accomplish all I want it to,
and it will prosper everywhere I send it.

Isaiah 55:8-11 (New Living Translation)

Fulfilling Our Life’s Purpose

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Reaching for our purpose and destinyEach one of us carry within us a seed of greatness or a vast potential that is just awaiting to be unearthed and unleashed.

This can be represented mainly through our dreams, passion, talents, desires and aspirations.

Don’t lose sight and connectivity

The harsh reality is that in most cases, this seed or potential never get to see the light of day and are left buried in our graves.

Somehow as we grow older, we get caught up in the humdrum of making a living. We begin to sub-consciously or even consciously to do the things that we feel we have to, instead of doing the things we love to.

Gradually, we lose sight and connectivity with our dreams, passion and aspirations. These possibilities eventually become ideals and fantasies.

Our purpose in life is a life of purpose

On the onset, our purpose is not to live a life of self-indulgence where we use our God-given potential and talents only for our own benefit.

Our true purpose is to be a blessing by serving others by contributing to human society with what we have been given.

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10

We must understand that each one of us were created for this purpose, and the responsibility is on us to discover it. Unearthing and actualising this would ultimately bring us true fulfillment as we live a life of destiny.

Do all that you can to live it out

From the day we were born, our purpose have been calling out to us. As mentioned earlier, it is revealed through our dreams, passion, talents, aspirations and desires in our hearts, and as well as through the circumstances that have trained us to become who we are today.

The challenge is for us to keep stretching ourselves out from our comfort zones and to be courageous in charting towards the direction God is leading us. If not, dogma, people’s expectations, trends and status quo will define what our life purpose is and lead us towards a life of mediocrity.

As it is, we must do all that we can to keep those dreams alive by staying connected to them in all that we do and see as we draw closer to God through His word and prayer.

Only through Him can we be empowered to live out our purpose and to fully actualise our destiny as it is He who planted the seed of greatness and eternity in our hearts and minds.