Think D.E.E.P.

As promised in my last post, this post will be about purpose. I'll start this post by quoting a famous saying,

"The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder..." Thomas Carlyle

How true. Normally when a ship is without its rudder, the ship normally sways to wherever the wind blows. It's pretty much same with life. Each of us have our own 'wind' in life (don't think of fart please!). 'Wind's are deciding or influencing factors as to why we take that particular course of action. For example, an after form 5 student who just got his/her results for SPM will start thinking on is/her next step. During this decision making process, there will be 'winds' that will influence him/her. For example, some people will base their decision on the subject which they like the most. If a person likes the subject physics, he/she most probably will go into engineering or any other course which has something to do with physics. Other's might treat money as their 'wind'. They might choose a course based on the amount of money they are able to earn after they graduate. Same goes to choosing a job. People might choose their job based on career advancement oppurtunities or simply the fact whether that job is stressful or not. Whatever it is, we all have 'winds' that blow us to a certain direction.

Now back to the ship and the rudder. When a ship has a rudder, the rudder is the one that controls the direction of the ship. But of course, we need someone to be in control of the rudder in order for the ship to stay on course. It can't steer itself. Not only that, but the person who steers the rudder needs to be someone who knows the way to reach the destination. In this analogy, I would like to put the ship's journey as our life's journey, the ship as our life, and the rudder and the person steering the rudder as God. The only one who knows the purpose and direction of our life is God. No one else. He created us and therefore He alone knows what the creation is for. As long as He is the one steering our ship, we are heading the right direction.

I believe many Christians are missing out on the blessings of God in this life just simply because they fail to put Him first in their life. Most of us think that God's blessings are riches or material things. Oh no, it's much more than that. It's things that money can't buy. Peace at heart, inner joy, a purposeful and etc. When I say put Him first, I really mean put Him first (Duh! right?). I'll give both examples on what is putting Him first and what is not.

Let's say Mr. XYZ wants to look for a job. He is a Christian and he did not really do well in his studies. He only passed his SPM. Let's say he got two job offers. One job was a job as a Marketing Executive with a basic pay of RM2000 (in Ipoh is quite a lot) and has many posibilities of career advancement (promotion, high yearly pay rise, high commission rate, etc.). However this job, requires Mr. XYZ to work overtime to meet his target sales which maybe twice in a month, work on a Sunday morning (church time) inclusive of a five and a half day minimum. Whereas the other job, was a job as a clerk with a basic pay of RM1300 with a yearly increment of RM50 and without much job advancement opportunities. However, this job requires Mr. XYZ to work only five and a half days a week (exclude Sunday). Well, obviously Mr. XYZ should take the job as a Marketing Executive because God really blessed Mr. XYZ with such a good job which is normally very hard to get. I mean come on...If it's not God's will how come He blessed Mr. XYZ with such a good job? He doesn't even have a degree or a diploma. It's impossible to get a job like this with his education level but with God we all know that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!! Amen?

BLASPHEMY!!!!!

God wouldn't 'bless' us with a job, a university course, a scholarship or anything that will potentially take away our relationship with Him. The marketing job requires him to work at least twice in a month on Sundays. You may say "Twice a month only ma, I'm sure God will understand one, He's so good to us. As long as I got go to church one a month can already". God understands alright, understands that you don't love Him enough to spend at least every weekend with Him together with other believers like how He likes it. God really treasures our relationship with Him. He treasures so much until He is willing to send His Son to die on the cross for us. You've seen it in the movies. Wives who treasure a close relationship with their husband might end up in divorce because he was always working and was never there for her. Well you can still try and think "Twice a month only ma, I'm sure my wife will understand one, she's a good wife. As long as I got come back to drink soup once in a while can already". Good luck with your marriage.

I think you guys got the point by now. Mr. XYZ should put God first and choose the job as a clerk or any other job that puts God first. For those smart fellas who already knew the answer, don't get too cocky because knowing what is the right thing to do doesn't make doing the right thing any easier.

Well, that ends another post. If you guys like my posts, please continue to drop comments so that I know you all like it. It will serve as an encouragement to me as well. My next post will be on 'The benefits of knowing your purpose'. Ciaoz.