The Gift of Self

Although we espouse the ideal of loving other people as an act of sacrifice and selflessness, many actually come to abuse themselves -- in an extreme form of a lack of self-regard for the sake of others. They don't take care of themselves: abusive of health; unreasonable loss of property or resources; and even willing to "go to hell" as long as their loved ones go to heaven. 

To find the right motivation in loving one's self is to contemplate on how God loves us, as reference. A response to this love is to honor it by being grateful and responsible stewards of our bodies, minds, and souls. From a certain viewpoint, a self-sacrificing love for others---not the twisted notion--- is also a form of loving self; for in agape we experience profound joy. 

We tend to think man is hopelessly pleasure-centered. The truth is, when we uncover our dignity as God's children, we really are service-centered; honoring as well the gift of one's self, the gift of life from the creative love of God.

Serve With a Smile

Mother Teresa was a symbol of the joy of God amidst difficult service. Often, when the service gets challenging and extremely difficult, our worries overwhelm us.  It either leads us to a depressed state, discouragement, or reluctance. Here are some of my reflections about serving with joy:

1. Sin robs us of our true joy

Sin entices us to pleasure, and we mistake it for joy. Since sin separates us from God--the ultimate joy giver, we are led to misery. Union with God is true joy.

2. See challenges as opportunities for growth

In life, we easily remember the times when we faced trials-- and the lessons that were derived from them.  In these times we are to stand our ground. 

Exodus 14:13  But Moses answered the people, “Do not fear! Stand your ground and see the victory the LORD will win for you today. 

Ephesians 6:13  Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground.

God will give us His victory. Growth is about desiring God's victory in our lives.

3. Serve with a smile

1 Thessalonians 5:16  Rejoice always.

Philippians 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!

Joy is not dependent on our circumstances, but it is dependent on our relationship with God. If God is in our hearts, then even amidst crisis, this joy is complete. This joy in the Lord can even be our strength.

Nehemiah 8:10  ...Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the LORD is your strength!”

Let us therefore serve and work in the Lord's vineyard with a smile. Christians are marked by their joy. 

What's in it for God?

John Maxwell writes about how to check our motives in pursuing unselfish thinking. He described what Benjamin Franklin does in order to do this. According Maxwell, everyday Franklin asks himself two questions, "What good am I going to do today?" And before sleeping, he'd ask, "What good have I done today?

In a world where most people are motivated by thinking "What's in it for me?", we can go against the norm by thinking "What's in it for God?" For God wants us to serve Him by helping others.

In Mark Chapter 3:10, Jesus cures the sick despite being in discomfort.

"He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him."

Some things to ponder:

When we do good, do we expect recognition or a pat on the back?

When we help, is God glorified?

Lord, purify our motives. Grant us the grace to be unselfish. May the love that you fill in our hearts overflow into generous service for others.
 

Time to Serve

October 27 (thursday)
One of the brothers in the mission said, "There is no convenient time to serve the Lord." At any phase of our lives, we will always be busy. When we're young, we are busy with school. When we graduate, we're busy with work. When we retire, we're busy vacationing. And later at the final years of our lives we realized I should have spent time in knowing, loving, and serving God.

If you are reading this, now is the time to serve the Lord!

A Thousand Lives

September 28 is San Lorenzo's feast day. The first Filipino Saint. Before his death he said, "Isa akong Katoliko at buong pusong tinatanggap ang kamatayan para sa Panginoon, kung ako man ay may sanlibong buhay, lahat ng iyon ay iaalay ko sa Kanya." (English: I am a Catholic and wholeheartedly accept death for the Lord; if I have a thousand lives, all of them I will offer to Him.)

 Along with him in his martyrdom were about 50,000 other Christian Martyrs (source). Today, the subject of dying for one's faith is hardly talked about or even entertained in our minds. Here we see the saint's conviction. How is our conviction for our faith? How many times have we denied our faith in the face of simple peer pressure? 

Is Christ truly worth sacrificing our own lives? The answer is yes. It all boils down to knowing the truth about our lives.  Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live (John 11:25).  Martyrs understood this truth. Lorenzo Ruiz got it as well.

But we are also called to live for Christ. How do we live then?

1. Live with conviction.  The Apostle's Creed is our conviction.  The first line says, "I believe in God, the Father Almighty."  Believing in God makes us live our lives with meaning.  When we acknowledge God, we know that there is Someone bigger than us or Someone more important than anything we hold dear.  God is Someone we offer our lives to, even a thousand times over.

2. Live a life of prayer. Being in constant communication with God leads to become focused and directed to our mission.  It is easy to forego prayer, because no one checks on us if we pray or not. Prayer time is a test of our integrity.  One who prays acknowledges that he or she cannot do without God for the day.  Prayer makes our conviction strong and helps us to be emboldened to serve our Lord.

3. Live a life of service. The act of breathing is to, "Breathe in and breathe out."  Try breathing in continuously without breathing out and we find ourselves in need of release.  Service is about giving and it is necessary for a healthy life. Without service, we are sure to die of our own greed and depression.  Helping the poor will teach us things no other formation module can give us.  To share your life through service is a way to live life to the full.

May we live our lives with conviction, prayer, and service. May the martyrdom of San Lorenzo Ruiz inspire us to stand up for our faith and encourage us to give our all for Jesus. 

No More Turning Back

To do something as if it was our last act brings out the best in us. When we no longer have our comfort zones to go back to, then we are forced to be focused and do everything to win. Hernan Cortes, a Spaniard who sailed to Mexico, had to burn his ships, so that he and his men had no other choice but to win against the Aztecs and conquer the land.

"Just as Cortes's men saw their ships as insurance, you may see this fallback as a blessing - but in fact it is a curse. It divides you. Because you think you have options, you never involve yourself deeply enough in one thing to do it thoroughly, and you never quite get what you want. Sometimes you need to run your ships aground, burn them, and leave yourself just one option: succeed or go down." Robert Greene

Sun-tzu also had this in mind:

"Without a way to retreat, Sun-tzu argued, an army fights with double or triple the spirit it would have on open terrain, because death is viscerally present."

Jesus expressed this principle, as written in Luke 9:62, "Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.""

What hinders us from attaining our goals in life? Do we have "safety ships" waiting in case we retreat, get tired, or disheartened? What hinders us from fully serving the Lord? Do we still have vices and other temptations that are easily accessible at anytime? What makes us mediocre in our work, service, and family? Are we forgetting the importance of our roles and the consequences of procastination?

Let us dedicate ourselves to our God, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead (Phil 3:13). No more turning back. Burn your "ships" if you must. Our undivided attention and focus on Christ will result to great things in building God's kingdom. In our daily work and studies, we have to realize that life is short and we only get one chance to live. Let us choose the quality of our actions. Let us act as if our tasks were our last.

Use Your Talents to Build God's Kingdom

Yesterday we went to Salzburg, the city where Amadeus Wolfgang Mozart was born and raised. It's also the city setting of the movie, Sound of Music. But I'm inclined to be more interested in Mozart and how this genius came to be. I was able to visit the house of his birth and the house where he grew up.

Mozart composed over 600 works. He composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. After Mozart's death, his older sister "Nannerl" had this to say about her brother when Wolfgang was three years old:

He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was always striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good. In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and pieces at the clavier. He could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time. At the age of five he was already composing little pieces, which he played to his father who wrote them down (wikipedia).

Mozart was a prodigy. Yet his talent could have only come from one greater than him...God. What talents do we have? What are we doing to nurture God's gifts of talents? We recall the parable of the talents. The others did well in multiplying the talents God entrusted to them, while the one who hid it had this to say:

'Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back (Matthew 25:18).'

This is what the talent giver had to say at the end of his reply:

Now Then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away (Matthew 25:28-29)

These are some of my realizations: We have to acknowledge God's gifts through our interests. God planted in us a feeling of bias towards particular interests. Not everyone is interested in the same things. Then, we cultivate and grow our interests so it may bless others and help in building God's kingdom on earth. Many are blessed with amazing talents but use it only to enrich themselves without thought for others. Even worse, some use it out of greed, corruption, and exploitation. If we hide our talents, (in the context that it is not used for the good of God's kingdom) we are preventing God's blessings upon us. Hiding our talents from God's intended purpose will cause us to live a life that is deprived of His goodness. Think of those who use their intellect and administrative talents to make themselves rich. At first their conscience will haunt them. Then they are able to train and tame their consciences. Then corruption becomes their lifestyle, until all these lies and deceit will turn against itself and bring them to peril. Then everything will be taken away from them, including their souls.

Mozart is considered as one of the world's greatest musicians who ever lived. But as Christians, we only seek to be great in God's eyes. Let us use our talents for His service and strive to grow them so others may be blessed and God's kingdom expanded.

After an Exhausting Day

I just came from an exhausting but Spirit-filled day. It's a day before the CFC European Conference. There's going to be 5 simultaneous conferences (youth, kids, handmaids, singles, and cfc) in one big venue. Each ministry and every committee is very busy doing final touches and practices for the events. Some are drilling and sawing, others in crucial meetings, others are sewing costumes, others are preparing the kits, some are singing, others dancing...all of us doing different things to achieve one goal, to bring people closer to Christ and give glory to God.

What could be better than to do something that will lead others closer to our Lord? What could be more worthwhile than bringing glory to God? "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31)."

Some things I realized today. One, we have to prepare the best that we can, giving all that we've got. This way, we will have peace in our hearts that we have given excellently. Second, do things with a joyful disposition. This makes work lighter and more enjoyable. Third, offer all that we do for God as a form of worship. If it is for the Lord, then it is worth all the hardwork. Fourth, take time to rest and appreciate the work and honor people who have helped. God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good (Genesis 1:31).

At the end of a work-filled day with our bodies beat, we hope to feel the peace, joy, and content brought by the thought that we have given our best on that day. May what we do today bring others closer to Christ and give glory to God.

Build With Excellence

Today I was in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Austria. I can't help but be awed by it's size and beauty. The details of the artwork on every corner is very impressive. The church was consecrated in 1147 and it is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Vienna.

The people in the 12th Century really put much value in the construction of the churches. You could feel the level of excellence they put in the building of the cathedral. I observed that there are so many sculptures all over the church; in the ceiling, the walls, the pulpits, the posts, the doors and many more. After 900 years, this structure has survived wars and fires, and is continually nourishing its parishioners with the Eucharist and the other sacraments.

Reflecting on this, how excellent are we when it comes to our work and service? How much value are we putting into them? Are we building our work and service to last? What I learned from witnessing this marvelous church is that, if we put much value and excellence in what we do, our work will survive even beyond our own lifetime. Our desire is that whatever we started will continue for years to come. In the case of the St. Stephen Cathedreal, this excellent structure has lasted for 900 years already.

In World War II, It was even saved from intentional destruction when a Captain Gerhard Klinkicht of the German forces disregarded orders from the city commandant, Sepp Dietrich, to "fire a hundred shells and leave it in just debris and ashes (wikipedia)." I think that the Captain couldn't take it upon himself to destroy such magnificent structure and place of worship. People will help preserve and protect work that is done with much excellence. Presently, the cathedral is undergoing some preservation work and cleaning up, so it can last for centuries to come.

There were so many tourists that went to see the Cathedral. They took pictures and many of them went to Mass as well. As for me, I didn't understand a word since it was in German. But despite that, I couldn't deny the holy presence of God within the walls of this hallowed Cathedral during mass. It was as if I was transported through time, imagining that 900 years ago, people went to Holy Mass, and shared in the Body of Christ just as I did today. A work that is built excellently will benefit not only the maker but hundreds and thousands other people who are touched of its beauty and purpose.

May we devote ourselves to work and service wherein we can build great value and excellence. If you are in a business, may you work with excellence so it may last for many years. If you are in the service of the Lord, may you shepherd people and communities excellently towards God for generations to come. "The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock (Matthew 7:28)."

W.O.R.S.H.I.P. the Lord

It's one of my busiest weeks. I find myself endlessly doing things. My checklist seems to always have more boxes to be ticked. But despite all the demands, I end the day with a smile on my face knowing that all that I did was for the Lord. I find joy in the fact that I was able to give all my mind, my heart, and my soul to honor God in what I do. I believe that this is the essence of worship.

I read in the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, "Worship is not a part of your life, it is your life." Sometimes we define worship by only relating it to singing and praising. But truth is, worship is what we do to bring honor to Christ. I made some acrostics to remind myself to worship God in all that I do:

Work for the Lord
Offer your sacrifices
Remind Yourself of God's goodness
Smile always
Honor Christ in word and deed
Integrity of Character
Praise Him at all times

Our work, no matter how routine or very challenging it is, it greatly helps if we have the mindset that we are working for the Lord. Therefore, we are able to do things excellently.

When it comes to a point when it is most difficult, we come to offer our sacrifices to God. Take every oppression and suffering as a living sacrifice pleasing to the Lord.

Often we lose focus. One of the best way's to get back on track is to be reminded of God's goodness. The moment we forget that God wants what is best for us, we start to complain and get lost.

Smile always. Needless to say, smiling gives us joy. If at times we don't feel like smiling, a speaker once said, force a smile for about 10 minutes. Sooner or later, we're affected by the smile that we get to carry it for the rest of the time. A saying goes, "If you're happy, don't forget to notify your face."

Honor Christ in word and deed. Is our speech destructive or upbuilding? Do our actions reflect Christ within us? If we truly are Christians, we have to live out our identity.

Integrity of Character simply means that our actions should coincide with our words. Promises made, promises kept. Your word is your bond.

Praise Him at all times. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name (Hebrews 13:15). Let us be generous with our praise. God gives us life everyday, let us praise and thank Him always.

Let us live a life of worship. May all we do be blessed by God. Let us worship Him in Spirit and truth.

Super Heroes

Yesterday, my son Sev was getting his picture taken with comic super heroes. These super heroes have been around for years, capturing the imagination of the young. What is in superheroes that attract us to them? I could identify some. One is that they have special powers. Another is that they save others' lives or they are able to the world from destruction. And probably one more is they have interesting struggles in life.

These super heroes have a lot of things similar to us. Like them, God gives us special powers (1 Corinthians 12:4-11), the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He gives us the power to serve. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8)."

With these powers, we are able to be used by God to save the souls of other people. So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls (Acts 2:41). We use God's strength and power to be able to be soul savers. By evangelizing people, we also build a people who are good stewards of God's creation and a people who will strive to bring God's love to all cultures of different nations "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Mt. 28:19)."

While we do our best to be God's disciples, we also face our daily struggles and victories. Our lives are living testimonies of God's goodness. They say that the world doesn't need more preachers but more witnesses. I believe each of us has a story to tell. A story of conversion, a story of overcoming struggle, a story of surrendering to the Lord. All these we shall use for God's glory, bringing others closer to our Lord.

We are more like these Super Heroes after all. But the greatest hero of all is Jesus. He died and suffered for our sins, that we may live the fullness of life. Now that's heroism. May we be more like Christ everyday, responding to His call with heroism.

Serving In God's Vineyard

Mike and I have been serving quite a while as full time pastoral workers. I started in 2000 while Mike started in '98. After all these years, people start to notice some white streaks of hair and our horizontal physical growth (yes, we're getting fatter). Yet, with all these external changes, one thing remains the same: The passion to serve God through music. Mike's staying most of the time in Davao, while I'm based in Manila. But every time he comes to visit there's an instant connection, and most of the time we come up with a new song.

Seving with Mike, I come to realize these four postures in serving in God's vineyard. First, we have to be thankful to God for the people that serve together with us. They are our co-workers in the vineyard. They are one of the "few laborers" that God has called to the "great harvest." He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field (Luke 10:2). Second, we thank God of the talents He has given us to serve in His "vineyard." We are gifted by God to contribute to the work. We are not given the same gifts so we may complement each other and work as a community. Third, is that we have to honor the friendships that we have built while serving in the "vineyard." It would be sad to start off as friends and co-workers, only to end up being bitter to another. Friendships are God's gifts to us. Friendships are what makes us rich, for there is abundant love. Fourth, we have to be God's instruments in bringing in more laborers for the harvest. Using our friendships and our talents, we come to attract others towards Christ by witnessing to the love of God in our lives.

May we all continue serving Him as faithful co-workers in God's great vineyard. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ--everything in heaven and on earth (Ephisians 1:10).

Be Well, Serve Well, and Finish Well

I was inspired of a talk I heard a week ago. It was about delivering God's work. It had a lot of very good points. But what struck me the most was about our posture of being a servant. He said that we should strive to "Be Well, Serve Well, and Finish Well."

Being well is basically about our present condition. May it be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual well-being. It is important to be fit and sound in all these aspects. Physically, we exercise and have the right diet to avoid getting weak and sick. Mentally, we devote time in building our intellect by reading books, doing further studies, and learning from other people. Emotionally, we check if our hearts are in the right place, that is with the Lord. Spiritually, we have a solid time for prayer and reflection. We feed the soul with God's wisdom and blessings. So you, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:1).

Serving well is what we do for God. Many of us try our best to serve well without being well. The outcome of course is a burn out. As we serve God in what we do, may it be in church or offering your school or office work to God, it is important that we serve with humility and dedication. We are to serve passionately but maintain the posture of a servant. As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace (1 Peter 4:10).

Finishing well is about striving to give our best until the end. Many start the race strong and fast, only to run out of steam near the finish line. Let us not transition to another assignment because we feel we are not productive at present. Instead, give your best and be at your best when you are about to shift to another service or work. Finishing well is also about giving excellently with the work that has been entrusted to us. To the best of our abilities and leadership, we work towards offering to God what he rightfully deserves. Finish well!

In general, being well, serving well, and finishing well is how we should live our lives. Many of us start off with our Christian life strong, we are well and we serve well. But later in life, many lose heart and forget to ask strength from the Holy Spirit and succumb to the temptations of the world. May we all be faithful to the Lord and be able to truly finish well. I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God's upward calling, in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14).