CLP Talk 1: God's Love, Part 2

Song for the Day or Now Playing (over and over again): God-Shaped Hole by Plumb

Last time, I talk about the first part of Sis. Love's talk. This post is a continuation of her talk on the first topic, God's Love.

After talking about the manifestation of God's love for us and His plan for us, Sis. Love talked about what the world is like right now.

She said that the world suffers from poverty, social injustice, crimes, and on a personal level, loneliness, depression, fear and mistrust.

She also said that we no longer turn to the Almighty in times of trouble. We seem not to recognize Him.

Then, she tells us what we, as Christians, should do:

1. We should renew ourselves and start behaving in a good manner.
2. We should believe and have faith
3. We need to pay attention to God's point of view. Sis Love said that the reason why we fail to answer life's problems is because we tend to ignore God's point. We only see things our way, not in any other way.

Our human efforts apart from Him will prove useless. We do not have to burden ourselves with our own problems. We have to give that up to God. He knows everything about us. We can't hide from Him.

Apart from God, we feel empty. Without Him, no matter how hard we work, we still feel empty.

I believe that's true too. I used to think that the restlessness I feel is due to the absence of material things in my life. I used to think that maybe, if I do something meaningful with my life, I would feel at peace.

Working as an ALS Mobile Teacher is pure missionary work. But, at the end of the day, after teaching literacy to those who need it the most, I still feel that emptiness. But after I joined SFC's CLP, I started feeling some sort of peace, a sense of meaning and fulfilment.

SFC is helping me get to know my God in a personal and intimate manner. It helps me bring things into their proper perspective. That something missing in my life is being filled by God now.

There is great joy to be had in joining a community of believers who are all working towards that perfect relationship with our creator.

It is God's plan for us to develop a relationship with Him. It is His plan to be intimate with us, to be with us. That is the hole deep in our hearts that no money, success, or power could ever feel. (It keeps reminding me of Ecclesiastes).

God's love is for EVERYBODY. All we have to do is reach out for that hand always waiting for our attention. He never leaves us alone. He loves us. Despite who and what we are, what we have done, He loves us.

Sis. Love quoted John 6:66-67. I decided to copy that passage here. (I am using the Good News Bible though)

"Because of this, many of Jesus' followers turned back and would not go with him anymore. So he asked the twelve disciples, "And you- would you also like to leave?"

The phrasing of the question as different with Sis. Love (Maybe she used the KJV).

"Are you going to leave me too?."

Ouch.

Unknowingly, my response had always been yes to that unasked question. When it comes to a lot of things, God was always in the bottom. I disregarded my King because I was an ignorant know-it-all. I knew about the world, but I had no knowledge of its Creator.

Now, I hope to know Him more and to serve Him with the talents He has given me.

God is inviting us to live a life of freedom with Him. I want that life. I want to get out of the darkness.

After the talks, we were divided into groups for group discussion. Two team members of the SFC were then tasked as our DGL or Discussion Group Leader. We talked about the topic and we were made to examine what was discussed down to a personal level.

Our DGL's, Sis. Jejan and Sis. Roxan, were both cool in handling our discussion. They made me feel comfortable enough to share thoughts and ideas I used to keep to myself. I mean, I mostly did not talk about my relationship (or lack of) with God to my friends. But, with that discussion, I shared more than I usually did. That was a breath of freedom for me and more sharing to come too.