Saturday, December 02, 2006
1 Peter 1:24
For,
"All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers
of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of the Lord stands forever. "
have been doing quite alot of reading of the bible. alot of people highlight their bibles. but i dont, coz i'm afraid it'll get messy and blahblahblahblah...
but yesterday, i decided to put all those excuses behind me and i highlighted the verses i really liked. and then i came across the above verse which struck me hard in the face.
indeed we're like grass. scattered over the face of the earth, so small, so insignificant, but very much important. we replenish oxygen, we are the diet of big animals like cows. we have our own special duties. and our glory are certainly like flowers. attractive and beautiful. and we take delight when people notice our glory, (in this case the flowers). we work so hard to cultivate those flowers so it'll look pretty. and we take so much pride when people comment on us, and when our flowers become so eye catching in a field of pure greenness
it appeals greatly to human senses, but it is all so so-called "insignificant" to God Almighty which created the universe, including the GRASS and the FLOWERS. yes, its a pretty sight. green grass and blooming flowers of all kinds, whats that cheng yu, when they zheng fang duo yan. and remember, God was the one who created flowers(in both the context of nature and now), not you. you chose to take too much pride in them and some even call them their own. but upon the step of a human being, all that flower, all that pride, all that beauty is just crushed. just upon a single footstep. from the biggest flower to the smallest flower, the greenest blade of grass to the diriest, yellowishiest, brownest blade of grass; everything crushes and is destroyed the moment a human set its foot on it.
my point is that: it is vulnerable and temporal.
(RANDOM: i need to expand my vocab okay, im so sick of the word 'temporal'.)but the word of the lord is different. no matter how many people step on it, it will still be hold true and be uplifted. there will still be people following it, still be witnesses of it. and most importantly, it will last. because its the truth. when all else things seem to fade away, the living Word will stand. also because it is authentic. everyone may despise us, everyone may want to destroy us or mock at us, they may crush our spirit, cause us to fall, cause us to give in to temptations and to sins, but the Word will not be defeated. it will stay here. for generations to come, until the Day the Lord comes back.
so why hold on so much to cultivating self-glory? why mind so much about who's flowers are bigger than whose, who is greener than who? because at one step, you all puny little things will be gone. why not focus on something eternal. something that will last forever. something that will not be wavered by outside factors or by worldly happenings?
would you want to concentrate so much, sacrifice so much just to grow the world's most beautiful flower (not even close!), and then expose it to an inevitable destiny of being trampled on anytime? or would we want to channel more of our time and effort into meditating on something that will have a lasting impact and of eternal value (love this phrase) ? meditate and cultivate this thing that will not be just trampled on or have its value just go down the drain at one contact with (a small) disaster. (coz its only a footstep, so as to say)
even if we dont kana human step, just as the verse say, we will wither, and our flowers will fall. word of god says in
James 4:14
Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
not only does the word of god talk about how temporal and how short our existence is, shakespeare does so too:
"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."are we ready to divert even more of our focus to something that will be priceless to every soul on earth and will have a strong, lasting and eternal impact on the world, something that will last even when we die, or do we want to continue to concentrate on individual self-achievement and glory which is not very important in the kingdom of god?
i dont have anything against growing flowers (self achievement and self glory), but, there are more important things to do!
will we let the urgent matters overtake the important matters?
food for thought,
jes.
holding on to you.
11:54 PM