Category Extra Thoughts

Just some of my many thoughts…

Making 2010 your Best Year yet

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I’m sure most of us must have carried some unfinished goals or brought with us inspiring moments from last year into 2010.

Whatever the case, last year is over and 2010 has kicked in.

With another God-given year before us, it is time to start making this year the best year yet.

Below is an approach you can adopt in making 2010 a better year if not your best. This is based on the word ten from 2010.

Hope you will find it helpful and memorable:

1. Thinking the right thoughts

The answer to changing your life is to change your thoughts. We become what we think.

Egypt’s ex-president, Anwar Sadat once said, “He who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never be able to change reality, and will never, therefore, make any progress.”

We need to realise that we are masters of our thoughts which have a great affect on shaping our lives. Hence, one useful tip is to watch your thought diet; choose what you read.

2. Enriching yourself

One must never stop learning and life-long learning helps us to move forward. And since we’re living in the Information age, a lot of our success in life depends on how much we know.

Start enriching yourself by upgrading and acquiring knowledge or skills that could well position you for upward mobility. This could be in terms of your career, spiritual life or even relationships.

For me, I had resolved to read one book a month in which I have been doing so for two consecutive years. This year, I hope to do a part-time theological studies in a bible seminary.

3. Not looking back, but looking forward

With high hopes and new goals setted for this year, it is also inevitable that difficulties or challenges will arise with them.

Though it is always an easier option to choose to lament, blame others or to compare what it might had been, but choose against passivity and be brave to confront and persevere onwards.

Many of a times, opportunities are hidden in the midst of challenges. Remember, there can be no rainbow without a cloud or a storm.

Embrace your life and live it to the full!

The Principle of Financial Sowing

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I am a firm believer in the universal principle of sowing in the aspect of finances.

This principle of sowing is biblical and similar to that of contribution- an overriding principle of societal trust.

It’s the intent to create value instead of destroying, and to give back instead of take.

We are owners of nothing

It is a fact and reality that all of us are born on this earth with nothing and eventually, we will also leave this earth with nothing.

Nothing on this earth ( which includes our finances) truly belong to us as we will leave them all behind upon our demise.

Since that is true, it leaves with us with a logical response to use whatever we have, especially our finances wisely and purposefully during our lifetime.

Our approach in living life should be one that aims to take advantage of our God-given “window” of opportunity to make difference and impact in our generation by readily giving back.

Going against conventional wisdom

For most of us, this principle of giving clearly goes against conventional wisdom that teaches us to hoard and splurge on ourselves.

This has led us in becoming willing slaves to consumerism in our modern society.

Evidently, we have allowed consumerism to define who we are; which equates to our personal happiness with the consumption and the purchase of material possessions.

Therefore, an effective cure towards unhealthy consumerism is adopting the principle of sowing in one’s lifestyle.

Living a life of giving

William Colgate, the founder of the Colgate-Polmalive Company, maker of soaps and dental-care products was a regular giver.

Throughout his long and successful business career, he gave not merely one-tenth of the earnings of Colgate’s soap products; but he gave two-tenths, then three-tenths, and finally five-tenths of all his income to the work of God in the world.

During the later days of his life he revealed the origin of his devotion to the idea of tithing.

Since his death in 1857, he left behind a company that is successful to this day and a college that bears his name.

In 2006, Warren Buffett announced that he would give $37 billion (85 per cent of his net worth) to charity.

Two years later in 2008, Forbes ranked him as the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of approximately $62 billion.

Clearly, his net worth did not deplete with his generous giving, instead he reaped more from what he had sowed and remained massively wealthy.

This is the universal principle of sowing at work.

Reaping from the giving

Many of us (including myself) are no where near Warren Buffet’s net worth, but I believe we can still start sowing whatever little ‘seeds’ of finances we may have.

Personally, I started sowing nine years ago. My main practise of this is in the form of a monthly tithe to my local church.

Since then, I have experienced steady and accelerated growth in my personal finances with promotions and salary increments.

I know I’m have been blessed as I do not have any material lack. Now I also do not need to borrow on occasions like I had to in the past, just so that I could tide through the rest of the month.

A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

Proverbs 11:25

I had also experienced many miracles of practical providence from various avenues that helped me to be where I am today.

For instance, my fully-sponsored degree education and love offerings when I was unemployed whilst transiting between jobs.

Start sowing your ‘seeds’ of finances

Having experienced this principle at work, I realised that my earning capacity and value-add does increase with my desire and my readiness to give generously.

However, please do not be misunderstand that I’m promoting giving to help others with the intent to gain something back or to expect  financial returns.

My reasons for citing those examples including mine is to attest that giving isn’t that horrifying as one might think.

In fact, it is so…ul rewarding.

Even if one is not a Christian, I believe this principle is universally applicable. And for instance, anyone can start sowing regularly (a tithe or one-tenth) towards a humanitarian cause or some charitable programme.

True living comes from real giving. We make a living by what we get but we make a life by what we give.

Let’s start sowing!

God’s Covenant with Us

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Recently, I had a revelation that provided more insights about God’s covenant with us.

The seriousness of His covenant

The word “covenant” in its Hebrew meaning berith refers to something that has been “cut”.

This may explain why we have observed people cutting themselves when they enter into an oath or become sworn blood brothers.

That is why when the apostle Paul shared about the new covenant that was found in Christ, he was referring to Him as the ultimate sacrifice for the redemption of mankind.

It is through Christ with the shedding of His blood, that man is reconciled with God; altering man’s eternal destiny.

With a covenant requiring to cut or even to the extent of sacrificing one’s life, that shows how serious it is. Hence, a covenant serves as a seal between two parties that cannot be broken under any circumstances.

The paradox of His covenant

The amazing part of His covenant is when we consider the seriousness of a covenant, it seems entirely absurd that our Almighty God would even make an agreement with man.

I think we would agree that we would only go into an agreement with someone if we are confident of that person’s credibility which may be measured in terms of character or competence.

Taking into account the fallibility of man, it is obvious that God was taking a huge risk in trusting us to keep our end of the agreement when He initiated this covenant with us.

In fact, God was and is pretty much on the losing end.

But against conventional wisdom, we find that God trusts us. And more than that, He has remained faithful in spite of our shortcomings!

The message behind His covenant

Reflect for a moment on the fact that we or the Church have disappointed and grieved Him incessantly over spans of generations since the patriacrh Abraham, but yet He has remained true to His word.

Don’t you think it is mind-boggling that God would even intiate to establish a covenant with us?

“The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations!

Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors.”

Deuteronomy 7:7-8

The establishment of God’s covenant with us reveals the depth of His love for us. And it reminds us that He is faithful even when we may fail Him.

When we consider the extent of God’s love and magnanimity through His covenant with us, it also provides that much needed perspective for us in becoming more gracious towards others (even the Church) who might have hurt or even disappointed us.

Just as God displays unconditional love through His covenant, so should we as He is.

Character: The Key to True Success

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Everybody is in a natural pursuit of success and never failure in life.

But what exactly is success? And how do we measure it?

These are personal and fundamental questions that each of us need to constantly discover and define in any phase of our life.

Building a foundation for success

Our world mainly defines success by measuring it in terms of power, position, recognition, material possessions and wealth.

And most of us (consciously or unconsciously) make this our life-long mission to attain all of these. However, in that pursuit, one key aspect of success is grossly overlooked- Character.

As much as  these (power, position, recognition, material possessions and wealth) are important, one should never neglect the development of one’s character.

Character should measure up as equally if not more important then all the rest. In my opinion, character serves as the foundational pillar that holds everything else together in one’s life.

Try not to become a person of success, but rather a person of value.

Albert Einstein

When we have character, we become a person of value and influence; not just with our ability, but with our reliability.

In other words, having character not only attracts success towards us, but also sustains success in our lives.

Measuring character

If character is that much important, why are most of us not actively analysing and developing it in the same manner we do with our wealth, material possessions and etc…?

In my opinion, one of the main reasons is because character is neither quantifiable nor it is easily measured like how wealth, position or material possessions are.

For what we cannot measure, we cannot manage. And what we cannot manage, we cannot develop or grow.

Moreover, there is no recognised standard of measurement for good character for us to measure up against.

For instance, it may be easy to measure wealth or position against others around us like Warren Buffett or Barrack Obama.

But not so for character, where is a standard or example of a good character that all of us can measure up to without any dispute?

The standard of success

Personally, I discovered that standard of good character in the person named Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God.

I also think He is the best existing standard cos He is morally perfect and widely known. But of cos, I’m aware that not everyone is willing to readily acknowledge or accept Him as that standard.

Nonetheless, I look to Him as my standard of good character.

With Him, I am able to measure my character against His. This I do by reading the Bible as illustrated in the scripture below:

“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this will be blessed in what he does.”

James 1:23-25

Make no mistake that success is incomplete and never lasting without being backed by a character that is strong and good.

The Bible with its principalities and statutes serves as a credible mirror to reflect and measure our level of character. In this way, we are able to identity and manage areas of our character that requires development.

For this reason, if we do not read and study the Bible regularly, its probably time for us to do so.

And if we have not been upclose and personal with Jesus enough to be convinced if He is of a good character worthy to follow, then we should do so.

For with Him and in Him, the door of true success opens to us.

 

Vision and Purpose in the Marketplace

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Being in the marketplace, I’ve observed one prevailing breakdown among organisations that hinders true sustainable growth or success- the lack of vision and purpose.

Having a vision and purpose

In the marketplace, growth or success is generally defined in terms of power, position, recognition, material possessions and wealth.

However, if we truly put things in the right (godly) perspective, all these are merely short-term achievements or temporal.

Though I do not play down their pragmatic importance of survival in the marketplace, but there’s more to life than just surviving.

That’s why I believe a vision and purpose (ideally God-inspired) is of fundamental importance in differentiating an organisation from the rest.

More importantly, having a vision and purpose will expand an organisation’s definition of growth or success to significance; from making money to making difference.

Therefore, when rightly prioritised, these (power, recognition, material possessions and wealth) are, should be and will be the “by-products” of a compelling vision and purpose.

Transforming the marketplace

Albeit most organisations may have their “vision and purpose or mission statement” proudly emblazoned on walls or on their websites, but in reality they’re at most serving as decorative or cosmetic measures.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish…”

Proverbs 29:18

At present, there is a pressing need for leadership in organisations to have depth and foresight in their vision and purpose. Especially during this slowdown of the economy, this poses as good opportunity to reflect, re-visit or even re-align focus and priorities.

As leadership determines the rise or fall of an organisation, so leaders have to be clear about their vision and purpose as that would determine the business sustainability.

Leaders have to communicate it constantly and consistently. And not just communicating with nice superficial words, but also with action through their exemplenary leadership.

As an employee, besides earning an income, I believe people are looking for more meaning and purpose in their work. This is most natural and expected as we spend the most time of our days at work.

But unfortunately, the reality remains for bottom-line pressure for profitability taking precedence over meaning and purpose in the marketplace.

As a result, it also remains a challenge for us to either choose to conform to this pressure or to be strong and choose to transform the marketplace towards true sustainable growth that makes a difference.

Getting Ahead in a Downturn

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For the past eight months, the global recession has driven Singapore’s export-dependent economy to its knees. Unemployment has reached one of the highest levels.

Everyday we hear of more retrenchments looming around the globe that has caused the general sentiments of Singaporeans to be cautious and pessimistic.

Nonetheless, if we understand history, this downturn of an economic cycle is something that we’re all susceptible to.

Seeing the downturn as our big break 

Our outlook towards a recession should not be one of denial or fear. It should be one where we aim to minimise the negative impact of the downturn.

In fact, with the correct mindset and attitude, we might even capitalise on the opportunities that are present in a downturn.

Personally, I view the downturn as a moment of reset where God hits the ‘RESET’ button of the economy. When that happens, almost everything drops to a new low and leveling the competitive field.

Think Lehman Brothers, General Motors, Citibank and AIG to name a few, and you get the picture. Now the smaller players with the right financial fundamentals and attitude can catch up on these big players, if not overtake them in the market.

Getting a break in getting ahead

For employees like you and I, the same rules apply. If we are to keep our positions or desire to see new opportunities opening up, then this is the time that we need to raise up our game.

During this pressing circumstances, it will not be unusual to find people around us who will be doing as little as they can at work or doing just enough to get by just to save their own skin.  They simply go to work to pick up a pay check.

Hence, I believe this downturn presents a great platform for those of us who have high aspirations or ambitions to stand out and get ahead.

Please do not misunderstand that I’m implying that we become solely competitive. I’m only encouraging us to simply be the best that we should be with our god-given potential and talents that we have.

In that way, with a positive attitude and the right skills set, we can become an invaluable individual and employee that is able to contribute proactively to our organisation towards the upturn of the economy.

Who knows, some of us might even find new avenues to start our own businesses. In fact, I already know one of my friends who has done just that after being retrenched.

Getting motivated in getting ahead

In reality,  I acknowledge that we cannot disregard the temptation for us to sink to the norm level of the mediocrity displayed ubiquitously around us is exceptionaly high too.

However, I believe we have the will and responsibility to choose where we want to be when the upturn begins. So I’m certain that most of us if not all, would like to choose to be a cut above the rest and excel in our field.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Colossians 3:23-24

We need to motivate ourselves by adopting an attitude and a biblical mindset that we are working for our God first and foremost. And when we do our best and excel at work, God gets the glory. 

Even if one is not a believer in God, we can still be motivated to strive in being a person of dignity and integrity which can only work to our benefit for our career and profession.

Have an Elevated Faith

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Whenever we get into an elevator and press the level which we want to go, we always safely expect and assume it will take us to that level.

Without any hesitation, we put our full trust in the elevator that it will take us where we want to go.

I think that is the kind of approach all of us should have when in comes to having faith in God.

Having faith in God

If God says to you that He will bless you, it simply means He WILL bless you. If He says to you He will heal you, then it simply means he WILL heal you.

God always says what He means and means what He says.

His words do not change conveniently like how man would likely react whenever circumstances are unfavourable.

In fact, His words words has the power to come through in whatever circumstances and change any situation.

Therefore, just as we can expect the elevator to work when we ride on it, we should have that similar expectancy if not more when we put our trust in God for any particular matter.

Faith that elevates

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Hebrews 11:1

Having faith in God is important as it determines our altitude. And especially in tough times, faith keeps us going; serving as the foundation that holds our vision.

Like they say, “Tough times don’t last but tough people do.” And faith is that substance that makes us tough.

Strange how an everyday ride on the elevator can inspire faith… Ha ha…

Be AWARE: Where is the Church?

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The recent Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) debacle had created quite a furore on a national level.

In the end, the now defunct new guard led by then newly elected President, Ms Josie Lau was overthrown by the old guard with a resounding no vote of confidence against them by AWARE members.

Even as the dust has settled after that extraordinary general meeting (EGM), there are still plenty of opinions and views of this AWARE saga being debated in cyberspace.

However, it is not my provocative to take sides.

Out-of-touch of issues

In my personal opinion, this AWARE debacle offers many takeaways and one that has largely exposed the gap between the Church and the world.

From my observation of the new guard’s actions, the reports from the media and the general reaction of Christians, it clearly revealed how out-of-touch and out-of-depth we are with our world.

Firstly, the new guard had cited that the reason for their sudden takeover of AWARE’s leadership was due to the old guard’s agenda in promoting lesbianism and homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle through sex education in certain schools.

Apparently, that discovery caused a knee-jerk reaction to their dubious takeover with the new guard seizing nine of the 12 positions on AWARE’s executive committee. It was subsequently revealed that 80 of the 102 the election attendees turned out to be newbies who had joined AWARE in recent months.

More unhappiness and tension escalated when Dr Thio Su Mien, the self-styled “Feminist Mentor” revealed that she was the person responsible for the takeover. Later, it was also found that she and several of the new elected leaders were members of a same church.

Out-of-depth in relating

Secondly, many members were left disappointed in how Ms Lau and her team was not able to answer many of the questions asked at the EGM.

It was reported that even though members kept asking to “please give me the right of reply”, the new guard stuck mainly to statements that had been already released to the media.

For instance, when queried on their stand on homosexuality, Ms Lau sidestepped the issue and maintained that AWARE would remain a secular society that would provide support to homosexual women.

One well-known blogger, Yawning Bread who was observing at the EGM made an interesting comment describing like-minded Christians supporters of Ms Lau at the EGM displaying “an over-earnest politeness in speech and demeanour, punctuated by frequent invocations of blessings and goodwill”.

He further commented that this behavioural pattern was the result of ‘brain-washing’. He wrote that “they were likely people who were uncomfortable with conflict and ambiguity, whose personality is such that they prefer order and hierarchy”.

I think with such encounters with Christians, it is not surprising that the world perceives us as being sheltered, anti-homosexual or judgemental.

Reasons for the gap

I believe that this gap between the Church and the world is caused because for too long we as Christians have loved people with a conditional love.

It is sad that we, Christians are known more for whom we hate rather than whom we love.

Too often, we have been too quick to judge and only choose to love readily those that are similar to us or who share closely to our beliefs and lifestyle.

Another reason might be us being too pre-occupied with church-related activities or ministries that have unknowingly drawn us away from the lost or unchurch.

Ironically, these activities or ministries have lost their original intent but have become self-serving and losing its relevance and effectiveness in reaching out to the lost and unchurch.

Whether intentionally or not, this has caused the Church to be out of touch with the world; losing our ability to identify and relate  compassionately towards the lost and unchurch.

Time to love radically and be the Church

We should not merely confine our love within the Christian community. Like Jesus, we must engage the culture we live in and start radically loving and serving people beyond the “four walls of the church”.

When we are IN the world serving others and not in isolation away from others, we’ll be in a better position to respond and address any moral or social issue in their early stage. This avoids any unnecessary knee-jerk reaction from us.

More importantly, we will be able to earn the credibility to lead in addressing such issues and avoid the same awkward situation that the new guard found themselves in when questioned during the EGM.

“Where were you when women were abused and battered in the home, and the girls raped?

“Where were you when children and husbands of Singapore women were denied citizenship?”

“Where were you? You were not there.”

WHERE IS THE CHURCH?

Uphold Accountability for Christ’s sake

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Accountability is never an easy topic to discuss and is never without its controversies.

With people adopting a more preferred liberal worldview in our  present age, accountability has also become a sensitive matter to deal with.

Generally, people in authority including parents, find it more and more challenging in engaging and managing their followers.

It also doesn’t serve to help the situation with the amount of daily bad press of abusive and manipulative behaviour from leaders in organisations. All these add to the repulsive stance people may have towards submission and being accountable to authority.

Definition of accountability

However, I think the underlining issue that has caused accountability to be such a bad word is because of what it means to different people.

When accountability is not understood correctly among stakeholders, it will likely be carried out inappropriately which may in turn result in ugly confrontations.

I believe that accountability is synonymous with responsibility, blameworthiness and liability. Living in a community, everything we do will have some detrimental affect on the people around us irregardless of our position.

Therefore, contrary to conventional belief that accountability is carried out from down-up or a one-way model, I believe strongly that it is a two-way model with more emphasis on top-down accountability.

Leaders or people in authority do carry more weight of the affects from their every decision made; every word spoken; and every action taken.

Moreover, with leaders displaying accountability, it only begets accountability from followers. Leaders not only lead , but they also lead by example.

I can’t imagine how leadership can expect their followers to truly follow without establishing trust and confidence by being open and transparent.

Doing it for Christ and His Church

Accountability is people-centric and strives to build an environment that nurtures relationships.

Call me idealistic, but I hold on to the biblical belief that the Church is potentially the only place where true accountability can be best exhibited. That is because accountability is about loving God wholeheartedly and loving people fervently.

But the sad reality is that the Church seems to fail miserably in this department. There are far too many scandals from churches that have eclipsed the good deeds of exemplenary churches that have chose love and integrity against greed and lust.

Therefore, with Christ’s reputation and many lives at stake, I believe that leadership in churches should  be more motivated to enforce more check and balances to safe guard the interest of the Church and people.

We desperately need the true Church to shine in these darkest hours and give people fewer excuses to shun and reject the truth of Christ.

Praying for our Leaders

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After writing one of my previous posts about fighting against apathy in the Church, I realised that I had missed out a very important role that we (Christians) can play to make a difference.

That role that all of us who are members of any church should be doing on a regular basis is to PRAY for our leadership on an individual and corporate level.

Covering leadership in prayers

Especially in these times where we are witnessing more and more leaders (including secular organisations) falling under the bondage of sin, the more we need to pray for them.

“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth”

1 Timothy 2:1-4

Ultimately, we need to recognise that by default we are embroiled in a spiritual battle that is waged and won through prayers.

We need more godly leaders

Apart from prayer being the change catalyst in fending off apathy in the Church, I also do believe when we pray for our leadership we are exhibiting the highest honour towards them.

With the kingdom of God always in great lack of godly leaders, I’m certain that such love and support towards leadership can only create a dynamic and favourable environment for more of such leaders to arise for the next generation.