Jesus Wants You to Waste Your Life

Goodness gracious... as I read this, I felt chills up and down my spine.

Jesus Wants You to Waste Your Life:

Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair (John 12:3).

Judas simply could not fathom Mary’s ridiculous decision.

During dinner she had just dumped all that rare perfume on Jesus’ feet! Almost a year’s wages now puddled on the dirty floor. Completely wasted!

“Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”

How noble. But Judas wasn’t concerned for the poor. “He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief and being in charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it” (John 12:6). Judas was concerned for Judas.

Both Mary and Judas had hedonistic motives. Neither was driven by stoic duty. Both pursued the treasure they believed would make them happy. To Mary, Jesus was the priceless Pearl (Matthew 13:45). She wanted that Pearl more than anything. To Judas, thirty pieces of silver was a fair price for the Pearl.

Judas’s sin wasn’t that he wanted happiness. His sin was believing that having money would make him happier than having Christ.

O Judas, the tragedy of your value miscalculation! The Pearl worth more than the entire universe sat in front of you and all you could see were perfume puddles. You grieved a year’s wages while squandering infinite, eternal treasure!

Jesus leads all his disciples to watershed moments like Mary’s and Judas’. They are designed to make us count this cost: “Whoever loves his life loses it. And whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:25). These moments force us choose what we really believe is gain. And the choices we make reveal whether we value the Pearl or puddles.

If we choose the Pearl, we hear in Judas the world’s appraisal of us. They watch as time, intellects, money, youth, financial futures, and vocations are poured out on Jesus’ feet. They watch them puddle on the floors of churches, mission fields, orphanages, and homes where children are raised and careers are lost. And what they see is foolish waste. Do not expect their respect.

Jesus wants you to waste your life like Mary wasted her perfume. For it is no true waste. It is true worship. A poured out life of love for Jesus that counts worldly gain as loss displays how precious he really is. It preaches to a bewildered, disdainful world that Christ is gain and the real waste is gaining the world’s perfumes and losing one’s soul in the process (Matthew 16:26).

So, in what way are you wasting your life today?

________

Recent posts from Jon Bloom —

• Jesus Died Because He Loved You



• The Day of Your Deliverance Is Decreed



• Love Is Patient

Hump Day Happenings...

It's been a rather... slow week. Taking a sick day always throws me off track... so yesterday I indulged and took a sick day... well... less indulgence... I just couldn't get out of bed due to body aches.... So I eventually decided to stop fighting my body and just let it rest and went back to sleep.

Today, back at work... but still rather drained of energy (but I refuse to give into coffee today!). Spent the morning going through some lady's flat for stuff to sell at the upcoming AWA fair. If you're in Happy Valley on November 8th, and need something to do... come check it out! :) Old Chinese ladies can be so cute... but they are so amazingly frustrating to deal with! They function in a whole realm that is seperate from us... I'm convinced. This is my love-frustrated relationship which I have with my grandmother. I love her... she's my grandmother, but she frustrates me like no other! Sometimes I also wonder if those of us who didn't grow up in Hong Kong have too huge a culture gap with our grandparents, that they don't relate to us and we don't relate to them.

Heading off early (not really early, cause it's still work) to a HER fund meeting and then brainstorming session afterwards... hope it ends early... I have tonne of stuff I want to do for school tonight... or should I just skip the brainstorming session so I can get some HW done?

School stuff aside, I had a pretty crazy weekend of weird messages. Hahaha... maybe less weird, just... deeper understanding of things God had already revealed awhile back. So, God continues to speak about the diamond picture. This weekend, He decided that he would tie it in with one of favourite verses: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8)... this is a very very special verse to me (I even blogged about it awhile back.), and this time God has tied this in with the picture of a diamond. Diamonds, which are pure, are rare and precious. I know I will never reach complete purity until I reach heaven, but even for God put these things into my heart... that is a very high compliment. I'm still processing because I feel so unworthy of such a compliment from my God. 

Weekend also contained more random catch-ups/hangouts with Edmonton people. God is totally making me miss Edmonton... or just people in Edmonton. It's very interesting to just see and chat with people who have either watched me grow up, or grown up with me. Loving all of it, and embracing it all for what it is! :) So God, does this mean I can have that placement in Calgary?! hahaha... (well... I better finish the application first!) Please pray for me, I only have a couple more days to finish the application!

To end with randomness...
Dear Future Husband,

You were randomly blessed by a lady with whom I was speaking to in the ladies bathroom this past weekend. Hahaha... hope you were blessed. BTW... she also mentioned that you were Godly! :)

Love,
You Future Wife

Robots made me cry... :P

I went to watch Real Steel on Tuesday night as a girl date. It was much better than I was expecting. (Warning: Spoiler Alert!)


So I never expected that a movie about robot boxing would bring tears to my face... but it did! I thought about it as I took my short walk from from the theatre (Kornhill MCL whaddup!??!)... and I realized what it was that touched the core of my heart so deeply! It was the beauty of witnessing someone come alive by doing what they were created to do! 


Now I know it's a movie and all, but that final fight (I did warn you that I was gonna be spoiling the movie, so stop reading if you care!)... when Atom's voice command system broke down, and Max turned on the shadow function to force Charlie (Jack Hughman) to box so Atom could shadow him... IT WAS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!! It was the one thing he had been avoiding, but was the one thing he loved doing, and in this case the very thing that he was created to do! The joy that just reflected off his face... priceless.


Now, I know this was just a fictional story... but think of the times when you've seen someone who was absolutely glowing and radiant, what was it that made them so? I honesty believe that the most radiant and beautiful person is someone who has come alive because they have discovered the very thing that God had purposed them for! (Hahaha... why didn't I realize any of this while I was writing my Alchemist paper?!?! Or perhaps all these observations are coming as a result of my class...) 


Have you ever been around someone who has discovered this? Who had come alive because of God? The joy that overflows is so contagious that it sends shivers up and down my spine! That life that just pours out of every inch of them is.... so influential! Ahhh.... this was what made me cry.... because I realized that this was my prayer for everyone single one of my friends... and acquintances for them to find that joy in discovering who they are in Christ... and His purpose and destiny for them! Don't ever give up, and don't ever think it's too late! Keep pressing into our Father in heaven, because I promise you... that joy is available for everyone if you're willing to go after it! 


He requires your life and obedience though.... He will most likely call you to do the thing that you're most afraid to do (not meaning you're not good at it) but the one thing that at the core of you really wants to do, but are afraid because of whatever reasons. This dream that is within all of us... whether conscious or unconscious is what God will call into existence if we allow Him to! The choice is yours. Dreams will come true... but they will come true in His way, and in His time.... and for His purpose! :)

Masculinity Is the Glad Assumption of Responsibility

So a awhile back I shared a video about women.... this one is about men. I won't lie.... his description of what a Biblical Manhood... makes that man sound... absolutely beautiful and amazing! :P

Masculinity Is the Glad Assumption of Responsibility from Desiring God on Vimeo.

Tuesday Tellings....

I read this article yesterday... it's really funny! (Warning... this falls under stupid reblogging items...)

God also woke me up at 5am yesterday to finish reading Deuteronomy. (I am waaaay behind in my finish Bible in 90 days plan...) As I was reading Deuteronomy, it made me think "Wow, I'm so glad that I'm not an Israelite from those times." Their success and affection from God was so conditional! It is full of lines like this: "The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your acnestors, if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul." (Deut. 30:9b-10, NIV)

You see that "if" in there?? Then God promises plagues if they do not follow the laws and love the Lord with all their heart, soul and mind. That is so scary! Then again... if we lived in those times... would we be saved? Cause we weren't Israelites... Regardless, makes me so thankful that we live in New Testament times, and that all of those offering rules and regulations of the Old Testament were done with by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! Thank-you Jesus! Now... time to move on to the book of Joshua... about taking the promiseland... hmmm... interesting. :P 

On other things:
Just got an email from this place in the Philippines. I spent a month there in 2006 (read blog entries circa June-July 2006 to read my stories)... and great things are happening there... the email actually said they're praying for a CHAINSAW!... so they can cut down the fallen trees from the typhoons and make sure the kids don't get hurt by the fallen/falling trees. Any teachers looking to get out on the Mission field? Cause they're looking for teachers!!! I miss those kids... I want to go back and visit... God willing.

The story in video...

MyStory - Cecilia Yiu from The Vine on Vimeo.

For everyone who's followed this blog since... I don't know when... someone at church helped me to put this video together! Amazing! 


This sums up the past year and a half so beautifully! Thank-you God for being so so so faithful even when I was so faithless at times.... hahaha... all details found in earlier blog entries! 

Monday Morning Ramblings...

How was your weekend lovely peoples?

My Saturday was an interesting blast-from-the-past type of day. I felt like a college student again! Spent the day in sweats at home studying during the day... and didn't change to leave my place until 9pm... for a girls' night out. And even managed to squeeze in Bexx time in there... she missed out on most of the girls' night, but I definitely felt like I had travelled back in time a good couple of years.

Sunday started with freaking out about not being able to connect the laptop to the TV for Hockey Morning in Hong Kong... But it all worked out in the end (THANKS!!!)... and Christina and I were able to enjoy the Edmonton-Vancouver game. We were later joined by my brother and his roommate since they couldn't get theirs to work at home... 2 Edmonton fans vs 2 Vancouver fans... Yius vs the others... unfortunately the family connection did not bring any luck, and we managed to lose 3-4 to Vancouver... so sad. I even put on my Oiler's t-shirt for the occasion! I KNEW I should've pulled out the flag and started waving that thing around my living room!

It's been a very productive weekend, finished reviewing Systems Theory... upgraded phone to iOS 5, and even had time to upgrade my Mac to Snow Leopard. I am now only 1 OS behind.... and still debating whether I really need to pay for Lion... Now onto research for my group paper for my Social Policy class and my individual paper for my Integrative Social Work Practice class... AHHH!!! So much work to do!

Random side note: I had this overwhelming sense of freedom this weekend (despite my school stress and anxiety...). But I just had this feeling that I was free... like a bird to fly and soar as I pleased. Thank-you Jesus for my freedom! :)

"The old Cel would've never..."

Someone said this the other day... and it has kinda been ringing in my mind since.

It has got me wondering in the context of the person who said it... what that means. So here is my attempt to define "the old Cel" in that context. 

The old Cel was:
- driving around in the light blue (according to the car registration it was light green) 1995 Honda Accord V6  MJB 468...
- was still using the email baby_cel@telusplanet.net... (I had to stop when I started sending out resumes for jobs... it was rather... uhh... unprofessional)
- OMG... still working at Kumon!
- was aimlessly taking courses at UofA... this was probably around the time when I went from wanting to do med... to neurology... to forensics... criminology.... 
- had no idea what facebook was... honestly (I'm totally gonna age myself now)... I don't even know if it existed back then!
- was serving in Children's ministry, college ministry, and worship ministry... and on her way to being burnt out
- was in what most would call the most unhealthy relationship/friendship of all times
- was using a VAIO which came with a dock!... and hater of all things MAC.... we won't get into what I am typing on at this moment.... and what kinda phone I own....
- was reliant on her head knowledge about God rather than a relationship with Him
- was baby_ducky on EO... okay most of you won't know what that is (Edmonton Online... Edmonton's very own version of AsianAve basically...)
- had short hair... or was still styling another bad perm... hahahahaha
- was still shopping at Gap Kids... and Old Navy kids section... Jacob Jr... hahahaha... basically I was still wearing kids clothes... *sigh* In my defense, it fit and it was cheaper!


This list could go on... hahahaha.. but those were some awkward times, as well as some stretching times. I was awkward and had so little self worth back then... and I look at who I am today and see the work of God. I see the hand of God over my life, from the way he has guided me even when it seemed like I was in control of my own life.... I see how He has changed me so much. The way I think, the way I act, the way I use my time, the things I value... and most importantly the way I see myself, and my relationship with God... or even just the way I perceive Him now! So good! :)


So... it's a good reminder that I've changed... for the better. That I'm not that same girl I used to be... and that it's not hidden.... but it is visible to those who knew me back then. Praise God!

The time is coming...

Ladies and gentlemen for us to take a stand against the ideals and morals that the world is trying to force onto us! 

If you have 8 mins... watch this video (shamelessly stolen from Pyoo), it's good stuff. But as Christians... let's take it one further... to pray not only will women be inspired but that they will find their worth in Christ... rather than taking it to the other extreme... which would be more feminist movements.... so... yah... just watch it! 


It reflects my thoughts from this blog entry...

Cold La Nina winter forecast for West

Maybe it is a good thing that I'm not aiming to go to Whistler this winter.... Dress warm everyone!!! Looks like it's gonna be a COOOOOOLD one!

Cold La Nina winter forecast for West:

A U.S. weather forecasting company is predicting a very cold winter for B.C. and Alberta this winter.

Circles... God likes circles...

Romans 12:2 again?! I wrote this back in February... (Learning the renewed mind) And this past Sunday's sermon from AndyG was none other than Romans 12:2... talking about the transformed mind.

Obviously, I have not learned since then... because I've come around full circle, and I'm once again struggling with those same though processes and thought patterns again! And this time I'm seeing them even more clearly and more vividly, and it makes me sick in the stomach. It makes me dislike myself oh so very much. Why do I think like this?! Why does my negativity and my critical nature take over so quickly? (And I know that my fuse is shorter with some people than with others... I'm so so so sorry! I don't know why I reacted like that the other night... I could feel myself completely starting to shut off and my wall coming up in defense. I felt it but didn't stop it...)

Guess what else has come up once again... the picture of the diamond. Hmmm... which for the record was brought up by someone a year before it was prayed over me at the 180 retreat last December. Hmm... this might be something that is also still a work in progress... Yet these 2 things seem to go hand-in-hand somehow because they seem to keep coming up together?

The time has come. I believe that by the grace of God I will fight these thought patterns and thought habits! God is bigger, and I do not live in those circumstances anymore, I do not live with those people anymore... it's time to walk away from it!!! Let's go, it's time. Argh... more refining... or just the refining that I've been putting off all year whilst I busy myself with other things. This one will require deeper digging, and I have a feeling this is gonna be by far the most painful. *sigh*

But I shall not be afraid because God goes before, and with me, and behind me. Victory is already mine through the blood that Jesus shed at Calvary! So I need only look forward to the freedom that God is trying to give me!

Jealousy...

Hello October... weather in HK is finally starting to cool down a bit, which makes it feel sort of like fall... but fall will never be fall until I wake up to find frost on the ground, which will never happen in HK... I can dream. Hahaha... and the need to pull out mitts and a thicker jacket... oh I miss fall...

Anyways... finally completed my way through Numbers... it had it's tough moments.... Just because I'm a math major does NOT mean that Numbers is my favourite book in the Bible, ok? There is NO correlation.

I did get hit with this one thought the other night though. Especially since one of our all time favorite songs to sing at 180 is "How He Love Us" which starts with the line "He is jealous for me..." But do you realize what those words mean? In the OT times, when God became jealous because Israel was worshipping other Gods, He sent a plague through the tribes and people just dropped dead, just like that! For grumbling and complaining about how life was better when they were slaves in Egypt, God didn't allow them to enter into the promise land, and their kids had to wander the desert for 40 years until they all died off before they could enter the promise land!!!

Seriously... I'm glad that Jesus stands in the gap for me now. In the OT times, Aaron and his sons would have to rush to over to the Tent of Meeting to offer atoning sacrifices to God so that He doesn't kill off everyone! Since Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice, no one has to rush to God to appease him whenever we make him angry and jealous! That's a relief!

But what does that mean in your life and my life? How much more do the words "God is jealous for you" mean? Cause if we lived in OT times, God would strike us dead for those mins of hours where we made ourselves bigger than Him... let's be honest... that happens a lot in all of our lives! God really must love us that He send His son to die and stand in the gap for us so that He no longer has to deal his wrath to us like He once did with the Israelites.

Just some thoughts for a Monday morning... :P