On Right and Good, on prayer.
Two things happened today when i was in church.
The first was on prayer. We were praying for some people and i asked what was the purpose of prayer.
We all know the purpose of praying for ourselves is so that we are aligned to God's purpose, or to be aware of God rather then having our prayer requests honoured. Phi 4:6 says it that we present our requests to God and the peace of God will come on us. Jesus says we pray but the Father knows what we need even before we ask (Matt 6:8). So prayer purpose is really for God's will to be in our lives, or that we draw nearer to God. To pray that we will obey God.
But then i asked how about praying for others especially if they are not around. How about if we pray for them when we are beside them, we lay hands on them? What is the purpose? That we aligned ourselves to God by knowing His purpose for them? Sounds iffy....
Then God said this, You pray for others that you may show love to them. Boom. That changed it all. That reversed my entire thinking. We pray for others that others know that God loves them enough to send little angels. We pray for others that others know we love them. We pray that we may show the love we have for others. We pray that we may love others.
That idea springs about so many different dimensions of prayer. Prayer is not about that the person learns anything new about God, or about affirmation (although it can be). Praying for others at the very core is really praying to show love to the person. Praying for others is at it's core loving others.
The other idea i learnt today was the doing what is good is not necessarily what is right. It is good to help my students clarify understanding, it is good to teach them step by step. But it may not be right if it cripples them in the sense they no longer bother to study on their own. It may not be the right approach if we as educators do not make them do the discovery of knowledge on their own, but we deliver all they need. Educators purpose is that the students have the love for the subject to pursue it on their own. We need to pass on that love to the students. The good thing is to teach. The right thing is to pass on the love.
In a stagflation, governments must not pump in more money to boost the economy. Stagflation is almost always a supply side problem. Keynesian economist argue that in a recession, government spending has to come in. In a stagflation, the government's best bet is to let the economy cool down, suffer higher unemployment for a while and a lower price level, before the economy moves back to origin. The good thing is to spend, the right thing is to suffer.
Jesus did not heal every one who came to Him. There was a man whom Peter healed. this man according to acts laid at the temple gates everyday. Now Jesus entered the temple several times, yet He never healed that man. Because it was not Him who should do the healing, but the Father had ordained that Peter would heal that man. It was good to heal, it was right not to.
Why do i write this? For christians, we must be careful. Do the right thing, not the good thing. Too many times we want to deal with sin and everything. That is the good thing. The right thing is to come to God and cry out for help. The good thing is to rebuke people who say the wrong things. The right thing is to ask why. The good thing is to pray for others. The right thing is to walk with them. The good thing is missions. the right thing is asking God when.
The right thing is to admit we are useless sinners who deserve nothing but hell, that apart from God we are worthless. Our value is that God loves us enough to give His life for us. That is the right thing to declare.
Do what is right. Not what is merely good.
The first was on prayer. We were praying for some people and i asked what was the purpose of prayer.
We all know the purpose of praying for ourselves is so that we are aligned to God's purpose, or to be aware of God rather then having our prayer requests honoured. Phi 4:6 says it that we present our requests to God and the peace of God will come on us. Jesus says we pray but the Father knows what we need even before we ask (Matt 6:8). So prayer purpose is really for God's will to be in our lives, or that we draw nearer to God. To pray that we will obey God.
But then i asked how about praying for others especially if they are not around. How about if we pray for them when we are beside them, we lay hands on them? What is the purpose? That we aligned ourselves to God by knowing His purpose for them? Sounds iffy....
Then God said this, You pray for others that you may show love to them. Boom. That changed it all. That reversed my entire thinking. We pray for others that others know that God loves them enough to send little angels. We pray for others that others know we love them. We pray that we may show the love we have for others. We pray that we may love others.
That idea springs about so many different dimensions of prayer. Prayer is not about that the person learns anything new about God, or about affirmation (although it can be). Praying for others at the very core is really praying to show love to the person. Praying for others is at it's core loving others.
The other idea i learnt today was the doing what is good is not necessarily what is right. It is good to help my students clarify understanding, it is good to teach them step by step. But it may not be right if it cripples them in the sense they no longer bother to study on their own. It may not be the right approach if we as educators do not make them do the discovery of knowledge on their own, but we deliver all they need. Educators purpose is that the students have the love for the subject to pursue it on their own. We need to pass on that love to the students. The good thing is to teach. The right thing is to pass on the love.
In a stagflation, governments must not pump in more money to boost the economy. Stagflation is almost always a supply side problem. Keynesian economist argue that in a recession, government spending has to come in. In a stagflation, the government's best bet is to let the economy cool down, suffer higher unemployment for a while and a lower price level, before the economy moves back to origin. The good thing is to spend, the right thing is to suffer.
Jesus did not heal every one who came to Him. There was a man whom Peter healed. this man according to acts laid at the temple gates everyday. Now Jesus entered the temple several times, yet He never healed that man. Because it was not Him who should do the healing, but the Father had ordained that Peter would heal that man. It was good to heal, it was right not to.
Why do i write this? For christians, we must be careful. Do the right thing, not the good thing. Too many times we want to deal with sin and everything. That is the good thing. The right thing is to come to God and cry out for help. The good thing is to rebuke people who say the wrong things. The right thing is to ask why. The good thing is to pray for others. The right thing is to walk with them. The good thing is missions. the right thing is asking God when.
The right thing is to admit we are useless sinners who deserve nothing but hell, that apart from God we are worthless. Our value is that God loves us enough to give His life for us. That is the right thing to declare.
Do what is right. Not what is merely good.
posted by W | Sunday, March 30, 2008
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