I used to believe in the saying that experience is the best teacher. But sometime in 2014, I realized that I don’t agree with it anymore. The best lessons in life are not always learned from experience but from evaluated experience. The insights and learnings that we gained from our previous experience are the ones that teach us to become better version of ourselves.
Admittedly, I always fail in this area of evaluating my experience. Truly ironic for someone who is working in the country’s national planning agency. So for the first time in forever, (Frozen, anyone?! :D) I’ll try to write down the things I’ve learned in 2014 and I will do my best to remember and bring these lessons with me in 2015.
1. You will reap what you sow. I haven’t thought about this biblical principle before until I learned about it from one of the best books I’ve read this year: Boundaries. The Bible said in Galatians 6:7-8, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” In the same way, ‘As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.‘(Job 4:8).
One of the things that I really prayed for in 2014 is to have a group of girls whom I will lead and disciple in a cell group. However, one of my most neglected spiritual discipline in 2014 is evangelism. So how can I expect winning more souls if I haven’t planted any seeds of faith on people?
So for 2015, I commit to do evangelism at least 3 times per week.
2. God hates and detests idolatry. Idolatry is defined in the bible as worship of idols. An idol, on the other hand, is anything that is worshiped instead of TRUE God. In the Bible times, idols were often statues of false gods made of wood, stone, or metal. (See Deut. 4:15-31; 2 Kings 17:7-23; Acts 17:16-34; 1 Thess 1:9-10)
I’ve actually learned this truth when I was meditating on the Books of 1&2 Kings, 1&2 Chronicles and the Book of Isaiah. God is a jealous God so the first command that He gave to the Israelites was to worship Him and Him alone. However the Israelites provoked God to anger when they started to set up Aserah poles and worship idols. As a result, God turned over Israel to their enemies.
I thought, ‘if God wasn’t so serious about idolatry, why does he need to discuss this issue in at least 5 books of the bible?’
Aside from physical idolatry, another form of idolatry that God hates is idolatry of the heart. It is defined as any immoderate attachment or devotion to anything other than God. Anything that makes us shift our eyes away from God can be an idol. It can be our work, our gadgets, our hobbies, and even our families.
As an application to this learning I want to shift my focus, time and energy to the work of the Lord. God wants my best so I will do my best to really honor Him with everything I have.
3. Disobedience to God has always consequences. God is just. He is not a man that He should lie. So when He said ‘don’t do this or else this is what will happen”, expect that He will carry out what He had declared once we disobey.
I’ve experienced it myself so I don’t want to suffer again because of my own disobedience.
4. God disciplines those He loves. This is in relation to #1 and #3. Because God loves us so much, He doesn’t want us to remain disobedient forever. He will make sure that we will learn from the consequences of our bad choices and mistakes.
5. Boundaries are healthy and they are important to develop and maintain in life. I’ll try to discuss this more later.
6. Less is more.
7. Godliness with contentment is great gain.
8. Faith without action is dead. It’s not enough to agree with what God is saying. If I want to experience miracle, I need to exercise my faith and take the necessary step that God is asking me to do.
9. Counting blessings is one of the key to happiness.
10. It takes a very big God and a very big faith in God to be able to absorb so much evil. We live in a broken world, so experiencing evil is already given. Only God can enable us to respond positively to whatever evil thing we have encountered.
11. The opposite of love is not hate but indifference. Love is not a feeling but a commitment to show care and concern for other people. When we stop caring for others, it’s a sure sign that we’re failing to love.
12. Spiritual warfare is real.
13. Goal setting is an important step to success.
14. Everything is by Grace. Everything that I have is all by the grace of God so it is just right to point all the glory to Him.
No Ordinary Day 