And we start talking...
P&F reflections
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Jasmine says:
This passage highlights the Mercy of God. Abraham knew that God must punish sin but (from the passage), we also see that God is merciful and just to sinners. This reminded me of Psalm 103:8 - The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. One of the reason why Abraham asked God to spare Sodom was because his nephew, Lot and his family lived there and Abraham didnt want them to die, so he interceded for them. This is what we, Christian should do for our world - intercede for people around us!! We are the spiritual descendents of Abraham in the world and we ought to be the salt and light in this world. Do we have someone in mind that you can "bless" and intercede for today? Let's love the people around us (family members, friends), be a blessing to this sinful world by interceding for it.
Benson says:
Genesis 18:20-33 From this short reflection passage. We witnessed the conversation between abraham and the LORD. Abraham was seeking for God's mercy to be upon the village. At first, he told Him that there were fifty righteous people in the village and asked if God would spare the village, God agreed for the sake of the fifty people. Slowly it went on, the number got lesser as abraham questioned God's mercy. It was clearly shown in the passage that we God's mercy is ever wonderful, He learnt of this righteous people in the village and spared the village because of them. Im sure as we continue to draw closer to God, He sees our heart, our intention towards people. Our father would definitely pours His mercy unto us when we needed it the most. Not only that we are reminded of this mercy but also, as we are receiving, we could bless other people as well. "i cant contain it, i wanna give it away!" At this point of time, we know we are secured in Christ and also the take away point here to me is to also bless people. Sometimes we take, sometimes we give. I am sure God wants to see this merciful heart in us towards people. People matters to Him and as channels for our Father, we should potray the image He longs for us to be. God blesses us unconditionally and in fact sometimes overflowing but, are we loving the people and blessing them in our lives right now?
My 1st impression seems to be a repetitive story of Abraham bargaining with God over some people’s lives. I don’t see the 10 people as non-believers who turn back to God.
Rather, they are the ones who are already proven credible and righteous before the Lord. The presence of 10 righteous people can save a city of numerous inhabitants!
It leads me to a question, that are we taking ownership of our metaphoric cities and the individual lives each city represents? Our righteousness comes from Christ (no messiah complex here -_- ) and by the virtue of His righteousness we testify God’s truth to non-believers.
Knowing we are held and helped by God’s righteousness (not of our own) will shape our attitudes towards non-believers. The judgemental attitudes, the combativeness to win arguments and the fear of speaking and standing for biblical truths will collapse in the light of God’s righteousness working in us and through us!
The most important Truth for them however is found in John3:16. It’s a Truth that we ought to burn for! At this moment I’m still cultivating my desire for the Word of God.
Towards non-believers, I genuinely feel a mingling sense of strong wanting to tell them about Jesus and yet also held back by fears of rejection and past refusals by the same friends I try to share to now. It’s not easy, but I pray that God will nurture this area of my life.
Colloqually, I will just give my bloody best to connect friends and testify and leave the rest to God! Amen.
Jun yao says:
today's theme remind me of a few things. 1) do i know my identity before God? Abraham did not take advantage of his relationship with God and make him forget that at the end of the day, God is his Creator,God is his Source of Life, which some time when i thought i'm on good terms with God, i'll easily forget who am i before the Mighty One.2) is my relationship with Him is so friend-friend type tt i can 'bargain' with Him? I think God really see Abraham as a friend tt He dont want to hide things from Abraham to even 'bargain' with Him. i really wonder whether i can do wad Abraham did. 3) my burden for the ppl around me.i think many a times, i can talk a lot abt outreach and church planting but if i dun hav compassion and burden for the pple around me, how can i REALLY love those whom i dunno overseas?
caixuan says:
when i read abt Abraham with God, i learnt of God's greatness and his mercy.we can see the great extent Abraham has went to intercede for the people in the city.it really touched my heart tt Abraham has a burden for the people..i asked myself whether will i do everything or sacrifice for the people..will i love the people around me like Christ has done? i believe tt love is the most fundamental quality tt Christian must have in order to do great things for God. without love, theres will not be no compassion for ppl.we should really learn from Abraham.his love for God and people.the ultimate expression of our love for Jesus will be found in how we obey Him in whatever He tells us to do! sometimes, i would feel tt im not worthy enough to be used by God. no confidence.but im reminded by God through a teaching, tt we are chosen by God because He sees the potential in everyone of us..Everyone has a role to play..this coming week would be another ESS.wanna encourage all of us to bring a friend or relative along for service to let them know tt theres a God who loves them. =)
This passage highlights the Mercy of God. Abraham knew that God must punish sin but (from the passage), we also see that God is merciful and just to sinners. This reminded me of Psalm 103:8 - The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. One of the reason why Abraham asked God to spare Sodom was because his nephew, Lot and his family lived there and Abraham didnt want them to die, so he interceded for them. This is what we, Christian should do for our world - intercede for people around us!! We are the spiritual descendents of Abraham in the world and we ought to be the salt and light in this world. Do we have someone in mind that you can "bless" and intercede for today? Let's love the people around us (family members, friends), be a blessing to this sinful world by interceding for it.
Benson says:
Genesis 18:20-33 From this short reflection passage. We witnessed the conversation between abraham and the LORD. Abraham was seeking for God's mercy to be upon the village. At first, he told Him that there were fifty righteous people in the village and asked if God would spare the village, God agreed for the sake of the fifty people. Slowly it went on, the number got lesser as abraham questioned God's mercy. It was clearly shown in the passage that we God's mercy is ever wonderful, He learnt of this righteous people in the village and spared the village because of them. Im sure as we continue to draw closer to God, He sees our heart, our intention towards people. Our father would definitely pours His mercy unto us when we needed it the most. Not only that we are reminded of this mercy but also, as we are receiving, we could bless other people as well. "i cant contain it, i wanna give it away!" At this point of time, we know we are secured in Christ and also the take away point here to me is to also bless people. Sometimes we take, sometimes we give. I am sure God wants to see this merciful heart in us towards people. People matters to Him and as channels for our Father, we should potray the image He longs for us to be. God blesses us unconditionally and in fact sometimes overflowing but, are we loving the people and blessing them in our lives right now?
Ben Tay says:
[Gen 18:20-33]
Abraham was very brave to stand before God and make his claim and negotiate. Try negotiating and persuading a stranger, then tell me about the success. Very rarely, would one even dare to negotiate with a total stranger unless one has the buying power or holds the trump card. This is like the game of Monopoly we played, where we tried to negotiate for our desired properties. It works in the same way as we have to have something that interests the other party - be it lifelong free rental, monetary trade, an exchange in properties, logical discussions and mind games.
In this case, Abraham had a close relationship with God as God had been speaking to him throughout, even before this encounter. As he stood before God alone, he knew how to conduct a negotiation with God as he knew about the character of God – righteous, compassionate, the Judge, holy, all powerful. With this knowledge of God, he was able to persuade God to shower mercy on His people.
Notice that God doesn’t change His mind. Everything in our lives have already been laid out and planned out. He wants to hear our petitions before acting on the same plans that He had laid out way before we were born. This is the supremacy of God.
My 1st impression seems to be a repetitive story of Abraham bargaining with God over some people’s lives. I don’t see the 10 people as non-believers who turn back to God.
Rather, they are the ones who are already proven credible and righteous before the Lord. The presence of 10 righteous people can save a city of numerous inhabitants!
It leads me to a question, that are we taking ownership of our metaphoric cities and the individual lives each city represents? Our righteousness comes from Christ (no messiah complex here -_- ) and by the virtue of His righteousness we testify God’s truth to non-believers.
Knowing we are held and helped by God’s righteousness (not of our own) will shape our attitudes towards non-believers. The judgemental attitudes, the combativeness to win arguments and the fear of speaking and standing for biblical truths will collapse in the light of God’s righteousness working in us and through us!
The most important Truth for them however is found in John3:16. It’s a Truth that we ought to burn for! At this moment I’m still cultivating my desire for the Word of God.
Towards non-believers, I genuinely feel a mingling sense of strong wanting to tell them about Jesus and yet also held back by fears of rejection and past refusals by the same friends I try to share to now. It’s not easy, but I pray that God will nurture this area of my life.
Colloqually, I will just give my bloody best to connect friends and testify and leave the rest to God! Amen.
Jun yao says:
today's theme remind me of a few things. 1) do i know my identity before God? Abraham did not take advantage of his relationship with God and make him forget that at the end of the day, God is his Creator,God is his Source of Life, which some time when i thought i'm on good terms with God, i'll easily forget who am i before the Mighty One.2) is my relationship with Him is so friend-friend type tt i can 'bargain' with Him? I think God really see Abraham as a friend tt He dont want to hide things from Abraham to even 'bargain' with Him. i really wonder whether i can do wad Abraham did. 3) my burden for the ppl around me.i think many a times, i can talk a lot abt outreach and church planting but if i dun hav compassion and burden for the pple around me, how can i REALLY love those whom i dunno overseas?
caixuan says:
when i read abt Abraham with God, i learnt of God's greatness and his mercy.we can see the great extent Abraham has went to intercede for the people in the city.it really touched my heart tt Abraham has a burden for the people..i asked myself whether will i do everything or sacrifice for the people..will i love the people around me like Christ has done? i believe tt love is the most fundamental quality tt Christian must have in order to do great things for God. without love, theres will not be no compassion for ppl.we should really learn from Abraham.his love for God and people.the ultimate expression of our love for Jesus will be found in how we obey Him in whatever He tells us to do! sometimes, i would feel tt im not worthy enough to be used by God. no confidence.but im reminded by God through a teaching, tt we are chosen by God because He sees the potential in everyone of us..Everyone has a role to play..this coming week would be another ESS.wanna encourage all of us to bring a friend or relative along for service to let them know tt theres a God who loves them. =)
Labels: Our Reflections
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