Oct 6, 2021 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
God is unchanging. The world as we have known it has flipped on its head and left us all slightly perplexed about navigating life the way we have been used to. Life in the covid lane or any lane that knocks us hard can cause us to feel like a cork bobbing around on the ocean, trying to get our bearings. Amidst this time of continuous change, there is immense comfort in the truth that our God is unchanging and no matter what the varying currents of life bring, as we take our anchors and set them deep into the character and nature of God, He will hold us steadfast and we will never drift or be dragged along, unhinged by the undertow of change. James 1:17.
God reveals Himself throughout the Biblical story as the unchanging God and He is exactly who He declares Himself to be, and nothing can or will change His person. God is unchanging. He is the only one in the entire universe who can make that claim and remain true to it. This makes Him distinctively God. It also makes Him a safe harbour in which our human vessels can take refuge and shelter; a sanctuary we will never be turned away from.
It is a reality that life will move, shift, take on a new face or become like an unfamiliar stranger to us. Even the layers of life that have always been stable, predictable, or traditionally reliable and dependable, will eventually change. It is at this interchange that we remember the hope we have in God who is the only true mainstay in life and the only one who will remain unwavering, constant, and immovable. No matter what the rate or type of change is or what body of water we find ourselves navigating, God is unchanging. The waters of life will inevitably fluctuate as the motion of change flows. We have certainly witnessed that recently. There will be rough seas, calmer waters, tidal waves, or gentle flowing waters to wade in, all driven by the ripples of change. But our God is unchanging.
In this transitory, temporal world that we are sailing through, we can move ahead with an eternal perspective that underpins our foundations and creates confidence and assurance that our God is unchanging and nor is He subject to change that can cause Him to become unrecognisable to us the same way the things of this world do. God will always be visible to us. He is always the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and in this space, we find peace and comfort like no other place. Our God is unchanging.
So, friends, get your “unchanging God” on today.
Best days to come.
Wen
Sep 14, 2021 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
God is not in lockdown. When the walls of our lives are pressing in on us and it feels like our shoes have been nailed to the floor lest we wander outside the borders of our designated spaces, we feel increasingly shackled and restricted. Lockdown has made us feel like there is a new face to life. What about all our plans, our time, our relationships, or our ministries? As we continue to do life inside our four walls, there is a niggling thought that is silently bubbling away as we fleetingly wonder, “has COVID got the reins?” But wait! There’s an open window that lets us see out to an unconstrained realm and we realise, with great hope that the realm of the Kingdom of God is open, and the business of God has not changed because God is not in lockdown. We might be contained, but heaven’s doors remain open, and God is moving across the earth and in our lives the same way He always has and always will. In God’s realm, there is no restriction, no containment, and no curbing of His purposes. God is not in lockdown.
God has not been put on hold in this season of confinement and nor have His plans been delayed. He is not marking time, scanning the four walls of His universe, and wondering when to start the clock on His Kingdom commitments again. Nothing contains Him. There are no walls for God. The heavens are not like His safehouse where He goes to hide from the same things that cause us to retreat. God hasn’t retreated because God is not in lockdown. He is untouched by the things that touch our world and continues to put His powerful touch on us, making all the difference. He is still the same, He is still doing what He has always done, and nothing can thwart His grand plans to keep advancing His redemptive story.
Psalm 113 asks a leading question, “who is like the Lord our God who sits enthroned on high yet stoops down and comes in close to His people, raising them out of the ash heap, and repositioning their lives (para)”. That’s who our God is! Uncontained and incomparable! Immense and intimate. Our God is not in lockdown. Imagine that! The same, uncontained God who is seated above the heavens, utterly majestic also moves into our locked down spaces and settles our hearts with His tender presence. There is and will only ever be One who holds the reins of life, God! What a hope and what a comfort that our God is not in lockdown.
So, friends, get your “uncontained God” on today.
Best days to come.
Wen
PS: Oh, and one more thought for the road: one day God is going to kick every sickness and virus to the curb and what a great day that will be.
Sep 8, 2021 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
God is our unshakable rock. As we scan the horizons of our lives, it feels like we are participants in a world that is spiralling out of control and being shaken fiercely. As the squeezing of our lives increases, we can feel like the pressure pump could crack us open any moment. Nothing feels the same, looks the same or works the same at this point in life. The globe is overshadowed by a virus that is like a savage dog, relentlessly nipping at our heels. If we don’t run hard, it might just devour us. We are weary and it just doesn’t feel good. If we get distracted and our feet land in the shaky grounds of a world that ebbs and flows to the rhythm of fear that is being driven by an insidious disease, then our sense of wellbeing and flourishing will be impacted. But God is the game changer, particularly when we feel the groundswell of fear in these turbulent times. God is our unshakable rock.
In Psalm 62:2 we read that God is our unshakable rock. He is never anything less, whether life is in full bloom or we are encountering seasons of adversity. Our awareness of God as our unshakable rock, however, seems to come into sharper focus when we encounter the tidal waves of trouble. When we take our eyes off the things that bend us and turn our eyes to God, God lifts us to a different height. He takes our feeble feet and plants them on a firm foundation, promising to be our unshakable rock. That changes everything. The things that make us waver give way to the unchangeable nature of God who is totally in control of every single circumstance of life, right down to the nano second (that’s one billionth of a second – got the picture?). God is our unshakable rock.
God is not shakeable. He is immovable and unchanging. God does not get caught in the vortex of disaster. He is sovereign and has His finger on the global pulse of life. God cannot crumble. There is no hairline fracture running through His character that will cause Him to crack. He is not subject to sickness or disease that will cause Him not to be. He is transcendent and eternal. He is unrestricted, uncontainable and all powerful. He will intervene in His perfect timing. He is the God of promise. He loves us intimately and unfailingly. All that God has ever been, He will forever be. This makes Him safe! It also makes us safe and we are stilled and consoled because God is our unshakable rock.
So, friends, get your “unshakable rock” on today.
Best days to come.
Wen
Aug 31, 2021 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
Jesus didn’t fit the mould. When I was a kid, my Grandmother had expectations that I would be the typical little girl who would sit and play with dolls, quietly brushing their hair, making them look pretty and getting them ready for the dainty little tea party to be hosted on the rolling lawns in our resplendent garden. Boring! All things “pink”, just wasn’t that appealing. I was very much a little girl, made in God’s image, but that didn’t mean I had to live in the typical, pre-written script for girls. For me, exploring our local bush, playing by the creek, paddling in the billabongs, riding our bikes on the bush tracks, constructing our three-story cubby house up in the tree, or playing dress-ups as Batman and Robin and saving the world was living the dream. My Grandmother finally gave up when the life-sized doll she gave me suffered numerous crashes after I turned her pram into a speed racer so she could enjoy the thrill-seeking rides up and down the driveway which became her speedway. I gave that doll a much more adventurous life that was expected. I was a little girl with a heart for adventure and I just didn’t fit my Grandmother’s mould.
As we read the Gospel stories, we see that Jesus didn’t fit the mould (have a read through one of the Gospels). The Israelites had waited 400 years for the coming Messiah and during that time they had scripted a role for this coming King and formed expectations about His rule. They were expecting a Davidic king who would restore Israel by launching a military campaign that would annihilate the grip the Romans had on these displaced people. They expected the Kingdom of God would belong exclusively to them as part of their inheritance. But Jesus didn’t fit the mould. He did not conform to their script. His miracles, His claim to be God and the Kingdom, which was inaugurated in Him as all inclusive, confirmed to the Jewish leaders that Jesus didn’t fit the mould. Rather, Jesus lived out of the Kingdom script as He re-established God’s authority on earth, casting a new net of salvation that would include all of humanity. Jesus could not afford to fit their mould, for to do so would have diminished His mission and destroyed the redemptive plans of God for the entire world (you and I included).
Today, there is also a cultural script; a script that seeks to redefine God and reframe our humanity. Just like Jesus didn’t fit the mould, we too are called to live counter-culturally; to live out of the Kingdom script. Just like Jesus, we must not compromise our mission as God’s representatives by being comfortable with the script of the world or a mould that invites us to fit into the shape of an existence devoid of the one true King. As we live out of the Kingdom script and embody the Kingdom values, we tell a different story, a story of hope and truth. As Jesus showed the world what God was like, we too must show the world who Jesus is and what He is like.
So, friends, get into your “Jesus mould” today.
Best days to come.
Wen
Aug 24, 2021 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
The passage of pain. For us humans, pain is a dirty word. It’s unwanted, but it’s unavoidable. Pain and suffering were never part of God’s original design. The moment humanity chose to redefine life independent of God, the passage of pain became part of the life we live. It is natural for us, of course, that our preference is to stay on easy street and avoid colliding with pain. Sometime, however in the journey of life, we will all encounter the thick brush strokes of pain painting its colours of grey across our lives as we enter the passage of pain.
But who is it we meet in the passage of pain? Look in. Who do you see? It is Jesus. He awaits us with His merciful, loving arms, wide open to gather us up, to comfort, strengthen and protect us when we are black and blue from the assaults of difficulty, be it physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual. Jesus both bears our pain and bears with us in and through it. Our suffering matters to Jesus. He weeps with us, catches our tears, dresses our deep wounds, and reminds us He knows; He knows what is like to endure in the passage of pain and to suffer. Before we enter any season of difficulty, we can be sure His footprints are already in the passage of pain and we can walk the path with Jesus who will accompany and comfort us through the passage of pain.
In the passage of pain, our faith is shaped in ways it could never be in the pastures of pleasure. We develop increased intimacy with Jesus, a deepening of our faith, a shaping of our person to reflect Jesus, and an authentic sense of empathy for others we meet along the way in the passage of pain. We feel the pain, but we know His peace. We are in the crushing but not crushed (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). As we wrestle with difficulty in the passage of pain, it is here we can echo the words of Job, “my ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you” (Job 42:5). When we come through the passage of pain, we are never the same again, but we are strangely grateful, for the same passage has led us closer to Jesus.
So, friends, get through your “passage of pain” in Jesus today.
Best days to come.
Wen
Aug 17, 2021 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
Your Cantus Firmus. Say what? Our Mum was a brilliant piano teacher and pianist. My music lessons with her were a delight, as she invited me into the world of music through her exquisite imagination. Whenever she played the piano her music always told a story. However, to learn to play music, it also required my Mum to teach me the technical side of music such as musical symbols and language. One of the terms I learned was cantus firmus, which means a main melodic theme in a score of music that is always recognisable no matter how it is played.
A cantus firmus or a main theme of music is always used in the motion picture industry as it helps to tell the story of a movie in a more meaningful way. Throughout the movie, if the main melodic theme changes tempo and becomes slow, chaotic, fast or vivacious or if the style switches to jazzy or classical, or the mood is playful, melancholic, suspenseful, dramatic or enchanting, the cantus firmus remains recognisable as it drives the storyline and influences how people engage with the script. As an example, think of your favourite blockbuster movie. There is always a main musical theme – can you hear it? Mine is Star Wars. No matter what part of the story is being acted out, when the main musical theme is played, it is consistent throughout the movie, even though it is expressed in varying styles, paces and intonations. It is always unique and defining for that particular story. That is the cantus firmus.
As Christians we must always remember that the cantus firmus or the main theme of our lives must be Jesus. No matter whether the melody of life is being played in a fast tempo of busyness and pressure, or on the notes of discorded conflict, or at a playful pace of peace and pleasure, or in the minor keys of pain, the main theme must always be recognisable as our lives are played out on the grand piano of life in God’s great concert hall, so those attending the concert of life will know with delight, clarity and assurance what the storyline is and be able to identify the main melodic theme as Jesus. Jesus is the unique, main defining theme of the Christian story. As His representatives, and with Jesus as our main theme in all our seasons, people can engage more meaningfully with the script of faith. So, how’s your cantus firmus of faith? Can others identify the main theme, Jesus, in our lives no matter what the tone, style or tempo is?
So, friends, get your “cantus firmus” on today.
Best days to come.
Wen
