I'd be willing to bet that a whole lot of people in the world today haven't got the slightest clue what to live for. And because of that, most of us just take the easier alternative; not to think and just live for ourselves. What does that mean? It means Me First. Everything else is second. Yeah, in today's culture aren't we all taught to take responsibility of our lives and careers? And isn't it "difficult" to get ahead in life unless we climb all over each other?
Me First.
You know what's interesting? Many a time we'll see in movies or in dramas about wars in olden days. And a common theme will always be patriotism. And we'll think of just how "patriotic" we Malaysians are and snigger.
Me First.
For some of us, we get "lucky". Our parents can afford education overseas for us. Or perhaps we get the opportunity to work overseas or migrate. And thus we go, leaving this country for greener pastures. Its easier elsewhere, they say. Politically stable. Better pay. Better standard of life.
Me First.
And for others, we just have to make do with what we have. We work longer hours at the office, hoping to impress the boss. We make snide manipulative remarks behind our colleagues backs, trying to get ahead. We "decorate" the financials at month and year ends, hoping for some credit. We keep silent when we see something wrong happening, hoping we'll be seen as "trusty" employees.
Me First.
Friends are not spared. We choose our friends carefully, don't we? They've got to be the elite. The same "social status" as us. We don't want to be seen with the geek in class or the plain looking girl at the office. We shudder to even think of shaking hands with the girl in class who's got AIDS and tremble at the thought of talking to the deformed guy sitting up front.
Me First.
We rationalise all the wrongs that take place in the world. Yes we do. With ignorant indifference we say that its ok to be gay and its ok to be promiscuous. Its all "perspective". We say this without even a moment's thought. I wonder how many of us would react if our own kids came home and told us "Hey Dad, I'm pregnant" or "Hey Mom, I'm gay". We hear every single year about how younger and younger children are starting to experiment with sex and various perversions. What do we do? Shrug, of course. Maybe a vague "What is this world coming to?" and we turn the page, more interested in Britney's latest adventure or something else.
Me First.
I could go on, but that would be beside the point. Yes I'm sure this is a highly controversial post. A lot of what I've just said is debatable. But I write from my heart. And I don't write without having thought a tad bit as well =) I probably might get flamed somewhat even but I don't mind.
There's a phrase that goes like this "You never know what you're alive for until you know what you would die for"
What would you die for? Perhaps when we've asked ourselves that and thought a bit, we'd see things in a different light. Maybe we'll even start to stand for something.
I stand for righteousness. I stand for making a difference. I stand for the morals and principles that our world was built on. I stand for love. I stand for peace. I stand for doing the right thing even when everyone around is doing the wrong thing. I stand for truth. I stand for putting others before myself.
I stand for Christ, the One who gave me freedom and the One who is the reason I am who I am.
Those are the things I would die for.
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8 comments:
I've always thought that dying for something is just an egoist way of saying. People rare ever die for a noble cause and to do so would be stupid. So you die for something better. So what? People die all the time. It doesn't change a thing. The world will still turn. It will still revolve around the sun. Life goes on.
You say, You never know what you're alive for until you know what you would die for. I say you never know what you would live for until you have faced death. Not for a cause, not for a reason, but just death for the most abstract, most trivial of ways.
Then the appreciation of life serves its purpose. The things we would lose, the perspective that not being here wouldn't change the course of humanity in any way.
I wouldn't die for cause, maybe for the one I love, but even then, there are limits to why I should do so. No. Dying never serves its purpose, only in the eyes of fanatics who do not value life does it make any difference to them.
Dying for something noble would never change the world. You can only live for it...and then, can you only make a difference.
If you really practice that you preach you should just quit your job and start dying for people. Then you will realise, no one actually cares.You're not god, you won't and can't make a difference in this world, even IF you are god, hey bro look at the world now, its still the same. Face it! Everyone is selfish in their own way, like it or not.
Dan
Haha... I totally agree. Saying that we're willing to die for something noble may never be proven true because that day may never come. Plus when the time really comes how many will die for something noble. and yes you are right kamigoroshi, dying for something noble won't change the world.
with that said, living for it may not change anything as well. suddenly what we stand for doesn't seem significant at all. so why stand for anything? since the world is so hard to change and it may never ever be changed in our life time, so why change it? why make that difference? it only takes up time, energy and possibly wasted effort.
you know what? i have no idea =)
but why not try? even if it may never work out, why not try? maybe we wont change the world but maybe just one person. i think that's worth the effort. silly i know.. but hey, who's to say i am? my choice =)
i guess what ken and myself and maybe some others stand for is Christ. we strive to make a difference not to change the world but to live for Christ so that He may be glorified. We're just so little and so tiny, who are we to change the world? It is not us to change what may never be changed but it is God who makes the change. we can merely try. and we don't try for ourselves, we try for Him.
to many, we may be nuts i assure you, but hey.. we're more than willing. we die for Christ because He died for us first. but yea... that's me =)
Lots of people think we can't make a difference in this world. True enough everyone is selfish. True enough we may never make such a BIG difference that the whole world changes to be one happy peaceful place.
But you dont have to be mother theresa to make a difference. You don't have to be the president of the US to have enough 'power'. You just need willingness.
If I made a difference in just one person's life, I'd be happy. Of course I'd like more =) But just that one would bring me a whole lot of joy
die for chirst? what a sick joke. Would you really do it? prove it! Don't just talk, talk is cheap.
You are not rich enough to form a organization to help others like what petejolie foundation is doing, or even Oprah.
When you hit the top, maybe people will start listening to you, then only u are able to make a difference. I think you both are so blinded by what the bible says that you are probably disillusion.
If you are so willing to sacrifice yourself for something, man, you have so many people so sacrifice for just in Africa country itself! Seriously, I don't know what the bible has taught people but it sure seem to be teaching people to be overly holy.
Not just in the bible. talking about suicide bombing.
If you have so much time and effort to help others, maybe you people should just quit your job and be a full time preacher.
Why do you work for?? for the money. Logic? So, start donating all your income then if you claim to be so over the top in helping others ''to make a difference''
sounds like you're both trying to make an imperfect ''hallmark card''.
wish you well, and continue to live your dreamy world.
Dan
Dear Sarah,
May I ask what makes you think we have not been in a pickle? What makes you think I would say "I think I'm going to go to church?" and Voila thats gonna solve all my problems?
Going to church is not about solving problems. Neither is christianity about having an easy life.
It's too bad you've seen those who just say that. But then you must realise also that there's so much more.
In every pickle there's something to be learnt. And in life we'll go through pickles. Lots of them. true enough some bigger and some smaller. And God will guide my way through each of them because I trust Him. And He already has guided me through some tough pickles. Will you let Him guide yours?
Dear Dan,
You don't have to hit the top or be loaded to make a difference. Honestly, if only the top or the loaded could make a difference, there'd be very little difference made!
I'm not saying "everybody go out there and give the clothes off your back!". Instead I'm saying that if everybody could give some out of their excess, we could make a lot of difference. And at least from where I come from, people are always concerned about making enough to survive and to sustain them for the future. The question is, what is enough? If you really ask that question, I'm pretty sure many would stop and think and realise that its never 'enough' when it comes to money. So why hoard?
And yes, I agree with you. Talk is easy. It really is easier said than done. Yes I would like to say I would die for Christ. Not meaning that I'll go strap on a bomb and bomb someone or something in the name of martyrdom. But just that I acknowledge that He is of enough importance that I would die for Him, just like how most of us would die for our loved ones.
Yes, its easier said than done? Will I really die for Him should the time come for me to choose? I don't know. But I want to be able to say yes I would. Why? Because He died for us. Because He gave His all for us. Because of the difference He has made in my life.
A few years ago, in one of the first school shootings, Columbia High or something, the story is told of how the 2 gunmen put a gun to this girl's head. Apparently they knew she was a Christian or something along those lines. So anyway, they asked her to renounce Christ or they would shoot her. She didn't renounce Him. So they shot her.
Why? Why would anyone do something like that? Sounds stupid? Well I would say its because God made such a difference in her life that there was no way she would reject Him. Because He never rejected us when He hung on the cross for you and me.
Yes I know I sound unrealistic. It's idealistic. It may not be practical. Maybe not realistic. Are you sure? Small differences lead to large differences. A wave does not start from nowhere. It builds up. A baby does not run on its first day. there's no such thing as being too little or too insignificant to make a difference.
The difference is ours to make
Haha.. wow! This is starting to get into a debate. It will be a never ending one. But that's okay because there is so much that we can't explain and there is so much one feels and the other person will never know. After all, we're all just humans.
Dear Dan,
Hehehe.. may be sick joke to you but it means more to some. Guess you'll never know but that's really fine. I suppose being a hallmark card it is for us then. But i genuinely thank you for your best wishes.
Dear Sarah,
=) In a pickle? You mean in situations where you feel the whole world is crashing down on you and you have no one there and things seems the least likely to get better. And the kind of pain where your stomach twists inside and you can feel your heart in pieces just waiting to shatter. Where you crouch up holding your legs and the tears just won't come. Or the nights where you just want to fall asleep hoping when you wake up its all a dream or secretly hope that your life ended so that you won't have to face another day? Sorry to say that you're not the only one who has it hard, Christians or not.
Christianity has been debated for decades. Not suprising that on this post we have it too. But thanks sharing your thoughts. Now we know what you think. But this is merely our thoughts. It's not to make it sound like the rest of the world is below us. Hope i didn't offend anyone, that was not the intention. But all the very best to all. Hope you all can smile in the hardest times and hope you can find miracles and joy in this life that you live. =)
When we are actually willing and able to die for something, whatever it may be - whether for someone, a people or a nation, or a cause (noble or not so -) -, it means that we have placed that one thing over our very own lives. And that one thing must then mean a lot.
Which was why Jesus was willing to be nailed and hung on the cross, not for his own sins - for he was sinless -, but, for ours - for we are all sinners -... because he placed us (our salvation, that we - man - can be reconciled back to God) above his own (life). i don't know what that means to anybody else, but, that means a lot to me. Too much, that i know my life can no longer be lived as my own; for myself, knowing full well that my life, or being able to truly live now has been bought with a very hefty price - the blood of God's own precious son, Jesus Christ. So, i cannot consider my life to be my own (anymore), but rather, his - for his pleasure and will. And in my course of living for him, if he were to deem it fit to use the death of one life (mine) for the birth of one or many others, then let (only) his will be done.
"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."
- John 12:24-25 -
Note: "if it dies it produces." The principle of life through death is seen in the plant world. The kernel must perish as a kernel if there is to be a plant.
"the man who hates his life ... will keep it." To love one's life here and now - to concentrate on one's own success - is to lose what matters. Supremely, of course, the principle is seen on the cross of Jesus.
"hates." Love for God must be such that all other loves are, by comparison, hatred.
"For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living."
- Romans 14:7-9 -
Note: "none of us lives to himself alone." The reference is to "us" Christians. We do not live to please ourselves but the Lord. "none of us dies to himself alone." Even in death the important thing is one's relationship to the Lord. Paul repeats the truth of this verse in v.8, "If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
Paul states it beautifully again, in Philippians 1:21-24, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is necessary for you that i remain in the body."
For those reading who chooses to understand (or at least try to), this passage that the apostle Paul wrote was for the church in Philippi. In other words, it is for the believers, who would only be able to understand and appreciate the significance and implication of these truths, whether in part or fully.
"Since then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but we are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefor all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."
- 2 Corinthians 5:11-15 -
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
- John 11:25b-26 -
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