Oct 14, 2020 | Wens Pen
Hi Everyone
Stand in the shoes of the moment. God has given each of us the gift of moments every day. Moments are very small amounts of time, that come and are gone in a heartbeat. Yet as we think about a moment, it is not just a measured amount of time. Moments are inherently valuable as they represent the gift of life. As each moment passes by, we are not always conscious of these priceless pearls of time. Our routines, as important as they are, keep us rolling through life; often on automatic pilot. The idea of moments isn’t even on our radars. Additionally, our moments are often bombarded by the wrecking balls of pressure, squeezing, rather than savouring our moments. Restlessness and impatience knock our moments out of existence. The fast pace of our culture and the conglomerate of options, laid out on the banquet table of assortment, breeds an insatiable craving for what is next and next and next and we miss the chance to stand in the shoes of the moment. Instead, we put on the shoes of the future.
God has designed us to inhabit time and to lay hold of the precious gift of each moment. If we draw a mental image of the timeline of life, we see that every time a moment passes, we move further along the timeline of our years. In Ecclesiastes 3 we read about the times and seasons of life and God’s intention for us to indwell those seasons, rather than seeking to stride ahead. Some of those seasons are good and others difficult, but the moments that make them up are still a gift. We need to learn to be grounded in our moments and to stand in the shoes of the moment, rather than wandering off on the pathway of the future. It is God who orders our steps (Psalm 37:23). It’s time to take our fingers off the eject button. If we are always wanting to catapult as quickly as possible into the next moment, we will not only waste God’s gift of time, we will miss the inherent gift that God has wrapped up in every moment. What would life look like if we learned to live more deeply in the present moment; to stand in the shoes of the moment?
So, friends get your “moments” on today.
Best days to come
Wen
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Sep 22, 2020 | Uncategorized, Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
What’s your footprint? Walking across my favourite beach recently, I was conscious of the footprints in the sand. Each footprint told its own story of the person that walked that way. The footprints all lead somewhere and each one left an imprint behind. These footprints were a visual reminder of the imprint we leave in life; the unique mark we impress upon others as we step on to the stage of life and enact our personal performance in relationship with God and others. We don’t just take a step, we make an imprint. So, what’s your footprint and what does the mark you leave on others look like?
When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon back in 1969, his feet pressed into the surface of the moon, leaving footprints where no one else had ever been before. He didn’t just step on to the moon, he left his footprint and it is a footprint that no one will ever forget. The beauty of his footprint being imprinted on the surface of the moon; the greatest light that hangs in our night sky with perfect precision, is that it pointed to something greater than himself. Ultimately his footprint was a reference point to the majesty of God, the creator of all and the capacity God infused into humanity, made in His image to encounter wonder, to imagine, to discover, to accomplish and to leave a mark. We are designed to leave an imprint. 1 John 2:6. So, what’s your footprint?
When the curtains of life open each day, God treats us to the exquisite gift of life. As we step out onto the stage, what kind of performance will we give? As we act out God’s redemptive drama, will the footprints we leave be so distinct there will be no possibility for our audience to misinterpret the message? As they watch on, will our footprints lead them to places they have never been before, profoundly pointing them to something greater than themselves; to Jesus? When we have departed this world, what will people remember about the footprints of our lives? Today, don’t just take a step, leave an imprint.
So, friends, get your “footprint” on today.
Best days to come
Wen
Sep 15, 2020 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
“Marked by God”. On every piece of fine bone china, there is a manufacturer’s hallmark which is considered to be the mark of authentication. If you turn an item of fine bone china over, right there in the centre of the piece you will find the unique “fingerprint” of the maker which includes the image, country of origin and the name of the maker. It is unique.
God is the author of your life; your grand designer. You have been marked by God. He has crafted you and woven every strand of your being together. The Master’s timeless paintbrush has painted you into being, using exquisite brush strokes to define you as a masterwork of His hand and given you your own striking flair that makes you, uniquely you. The signature of the King is upon you. The centre of your being is imprinted with His image, authentically marking you with His personal fingerprint. You are marked by God. There is no other like you! God’s signature marking upon your being signals you are His. You belong to Him and your country of origin is the kingdom of God.
Being marked by God is not just a theological idea. It is a reality that determines our dignity and inherent value as humans. Like the fine bone china porcelain pieces, we bear the hallmark of the maker; we actually bear the mark of God and that makes us significant. The world around us is crumbling and alternative ideologies are tearing down the walls of our humanity, driving us to fixate on our own self-image and carve out our own self-worth. But on what basis? It is a precarious set of shoes to step into. But, we are alive to God and belong to Him. We are marked by God; His imago dei in us determines our worth. So, here’s the question, “do you think of yourself as a master work of God (Ephesians 2:10) or a custom designed being; dreamed up and intricately fashioned by God and do you live like that each day? What a marvellous and miraculous truth.
So, friends, get your ‘God mark’ on today.
Best days to come
Wen
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Sep 9, 2020 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
Live like Jesus is returning today. I recently had a dream that Jesus returned. It was so vivid. In my dream, I recall being awakened by a disorientation of being taken up into the skies, having no control over what was happening and trying to make sense of it. Then suddenly there was an awareness that “it’s happening”, “Jesus is coming” and I exclaimed His name: “Jesus”. It was the most wondrous dream I have ever had. This dream sharpened my sense of how real the second coming of Jesus is and how I must live like Jesus is returning today.
God’s grand, cosmic redemption plan is still being played out. Yet there are so many distractions to the main story. There’s another, counter-playact running in parallel to the Biblical story where the enemy casts a shadow over the return of Jesus by presenting it as some kind of apocalyptic afterthought, dumbing down it’s urgency. We Christians even get relaxed and whilst we may not buy into the counter-story of the second coming, we do get caught up in our own dramas that distract us. There is a numbness that can settle in and we live distracted by the everydayness of life. The return of Jesus becomes silhouetted in our minds rather that being in precise focus, causing us to live like Jesus is returning today.
History as we know it, is moving to a close and you and I are standing at a point in time, on the timeline of history, still conscious there will be a moment when God’s great cosmic curtain will drop and we will be taken up to be with Him, as God ushers in a final restoration to all creation. CS Lewis noted that when the great author of life walks on to the stage, the play will be over.1 So, what does our space on the timeline of history look like today? Do we live with an infused sense of urgency that Jesus could come at any moment? Matthew 24:44. Are we amongst the fields of life, sewing seeds of truth, planting and cultivating God’s kingdom on earth? Are we living out God’s drama with such an authentic performance, that others will be drawn into the story? What if this was the last moment in life before Jesus came? What would we change? We have a hope in a hopeless age that can point people to the truth. Our role is to live intentionally; to live like Jesus is returning today. Jesus lived, Jesus died, Jesus rose, Jesus ascended and Jesus will come again.
So, friends, get your “urgency” on today.
Best days to come
Wen
1 CS Lewis
Sep 1, 2020 | Wens Pen
The eye of the storm. As we navigate the waters of life, we will experience times of smooth sailing and other times we will find ourselves in the middle of a storm as we charter our way through unexpected, rougher passageways in our lives. It is a sure thing, as Jesus said, that difficulty will be part of our journey and we will periodically find ourselves in troubled waters (John 16:33). Storms will come.
There are times when we know a storm is coming and we can prepare. We hear the clapping of thunder and the dark clouds rolling in, but other times storms will suddenly break without warning and the lightning will be tearing the skies open and the wind will be whipping and bending everything to its limit. The storms of life are often like this and when they break over us, we wonder what has hit us. We are currently experiencing this as we navigate the stormy waters of COVID-19, where we are being whipped by its tentacles of fear and bent to our limits with loss, grief, hardship and pain, and we are longing for smoother waters.
Yet there is an epicentre in every storm known as the eye of the storm, where there is a surprising stillness and peace. In the storms that hit our lives and the turbulence of trouble swirls and disorientates us; where the thundering of calamity cracks around us, lashing our lives and shredding the sails of our beings, if we drop the anchor of our lives at the epicentre; the eye of the storm, it is there we will find Jesus who will be our place of stillness, comfort and peace amidst the chaos. It is there we hear Jesus whisper our names, “I’m with you, I’ve got you and I AM LORD of the storm”. Jesus is always at the eye of the storms of life. He is in control and although the storms rage around us and distract our gaze, if we listen we will hear His gentle voice as He beckons us towards Himself where there is no safer mooring than in the still waters of His presence.
The storms will break; they will crack over us and bend us, but Jesus is always our passage through. He is present at the eye of the stormand there is never a moment where He is not in control; never a moment where He cannot still the storm, and never a moment where we are out of the grand grip of the master creator who holds us gently through the storm, but always has the power to crush the storm.
So, friends, get your eyes on Jesus today.
Best days to come
Aug 25, 2020 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
“Do you love me?” Imagine standing in the shoes of Peter when Jesus asked him, not just once, but three times “do you love me?” This is a profound story of love, forgiveness, redemption, restoration and the call to serve. This experience for Peter came off the back of his monumental denial of Jesus. Here we find this once flamboyant, extraverted personality who had shouted his extravagant, unswerving love for Jesus from the rooftops. Yet in those moments around the courtyard fire, Peter so quickly denied the one he loved so greatly. How was he to ever recover from that defining desertion of Jesus and the deep sense of brokenness after he ran aground on the jagged rocks of denial? We are told he wept bitterly as he looked inside the open wound of his shattered soul.
If we are honest, we are all quite quick to judge Peter and in doing so, miss the insight into our own defective track records. In fact, we have all been “Peter” at some point in our lives and have denied our Lord as we stand around the courtyard fires of life. I believe Peter did love Jesus, but the tentacles of fear wrapped around him with such an intense grip, he defaulted to protecting himself as he imagined his own fate by being associated with Jesus. But the real message of the story pans from a focus on Peter’s failure to a focus on the deeper message; a story of undeserved love, forgiveness, redemption, and restoration. This is not just unique to Peter but threads through every human life. We all need a gracious Saviour who extends this same gift to us and astonishingly enables us to carry out His Kingdom mission in our faltering, imperfect states.
Peter’s recovery and reinstatement was exclusively dependent on the perfect love and grace of Jesus. That day, on the shores of Galilee for Peter would be far more than just a day fishing. Peter would be a transformed man with a transformed mission. Jesus was aware of Peter’s need for forgiveness and reinstatement before he could step into his true call. Peter had gone back to fishing, but Jesus was about to call him to a life of love and service in the Kingdom. So, when Jesus asked Peter, “do you love me?” He was asking Peter, “do you love me with a love that is transcendent and of the highest, supreme nature; more than anything else [agapelove]?” Understanding the various Greek meanings of love, I imagine that Peter was aware of the lofty nature of Jesus’ question and was not so quick to declare agape love out of fear he may fail Jesus again. Sadly, Peter seemed to have locked down that effervescent, unflinching, unbounded sense of love for Jesus. So, when he answered, he expressed a love likened to a friend and brother [phileo]. Yet, Jesus pressed the point, and wanted to unlock that supreme sense of devoted love by peeling back the layers of Peter’s heart and extending His unqualified love and grace to this son who felt so unworthy and now so tentative. Jesus was calling this fractured, imperfect man into a mission of love and service that would see Peter become a key in opening the gate of the universal church where salvation was to be extended to the Gentiles. For Peter to be truly restored and reinstated, Jesus had to call forth a love that was unshakable. Yet, this love was not dependent on Peter’s ability to generate love. The call for Peter to love Jesus in a transcendent sense was underpinned by the profound exchange of forgiveness, grace and love extended by Jesus to him, along with the reminder that Jesus’ relationship with Peter was not defined by that moment of denial. Jesus then calls Peter, an imperfect candidate, into a life of service to “tend and feed His sheep” (John 21:15-17).
Each of us have imperfect records of faithful love for Jesus. Thankfully, we are not qualified on our own merit. Just like Peter, Jesus asks “do you love me; do you love me above all else?” When we understand the depths to which Jesus loves us, we say “yes” to that profound question. And Just like Peter, Jesus trusts His Kingdom work to us in our imperfect states. What a privilege to love Jesus and to serve Him knowing we are never worthy of the call, but qualified simply because He loves us perfectly.
So, friends, get your ‘agape love’ for Jesus on today.
Best days to come
Wen
