If R2D2 believes in God ...

”We deify our independence and self-will and call them by the wrong name."

"Don’t look at someone else and say, “Well, if he can have those views
and prosper, why can’t I?”

You have to “walk in the light” of the vision that has been given to
you. Don’t compare yourself with others or judge them— that is between
God and them.

When you find that one of your favorite and strongly held views
clashes with the “heavenly vision,” do not begin to debate it. If you
do, a sense of property and personal right will emerge in you— things
on which Jesus placed no value."

Oswald Chambers

The secret of success is to understand the point of view of others. ~Henry Ford

16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad
countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto
men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17 But
thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18 That
thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in
secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee
openly.

The objective of fasting is to be closer to God, not to impress
anyone. When you are close to God, you should understand joy and live
in joyous celebration of Christ. Thus fasting, in the end, should make
you more joyful.

Pouting (v 16) or being grumpy defeats the whole objective. What
fasters want to do, instead, is to start identifying with the Lord's
joy (v 17) as they start fasting. When you "disfigure your face",
others will say, "there is no joy in becoming a christian" and thus
you become a stumbling block.

Fasting works in tandem with prayer. You fast because you pray, even
if you do not ask for "things". God's reward comes openly (v 18) in
the context of your praying in secret (see discussion on previous
verses).

Many people talk about fasting as some sort of "contest": "mind over
body", "winning against / conquering physical needs", etc. As if
fasting is a point system to obtain God's favour or to prove oneself
to God that you are a devout follower.

But God is not impressed. Israel has proven that many times as has
been written by the prophets.

If and when you fast, you fast for yourself, not God nor others, that
you get closer to God. Fasting does not change God nor others, it
changes you.

Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism.
- Hubert H. Humphrey

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/13/dennis-ritchie

I attended a sermon last Sunday at jpcc.org and @JoseCarol spoke about
honour. Nice sermon! On the way home I got thinking more about some
points he talked about how the church honours the worshippers.
Thinking about it more, got me further into a series of thoughts. So
here goes.

Imagine that you and I are invited for an audience with Mr. President,
just us three, for lunch. At lunch we chit chat and then suddenly you
speak with Mr. President in a language that only you and him
understand. So I sat there smiling, nodding my head at whatever you
told Mr. President. And no one is interpreting for me. Was that an
attempt to impress Mr. President or me? Mr. President answered you in
plain language that I can understand, but then you keep talking in
that language again.

So how is that honouring or respecting me as someone who sat together
with you at the table?

Ok, that was just an illustration and I hope you get the point.
Someone speaking to God in "tongue" is akin to, in the illustration
above, you talking to Mr. President in language I do not understand.
(Obviously I am excluding a set up where a worshipper is in a foreign
land.)

Let me be clear, I believe in speaking in tongue. And in 1
Corinthians 14:39, Paul advocated "do not forbid speaking in tongues".

But in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul also advocated "speaking in tongue" in
public to be accompanied with interpretation, so others can
understand. And in v23, he explicitly said, "If, therefore, the whole
church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or
unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?"
(Well, in this day and age, becoming a true follower of Chris will be
considered out of our minds anyway, but I do not believe that was
Paul's point.)

In addition to the unintended consequence of seemingly less honouring,
"tonguers" (did I just invent a new word?) make the worship experience
less comfortable / friendly to seekers.

So here is my thought: "speaking in tongue" in public ought to be done
tastefully. That is how a "tonguer" honour his/her fellow worshippers
who do not understand "tongue". Ok, but how exactly? My point is
this, "speak it" in a manner that shows respect to non-believers.

My suggestion is if you are holding the microphone, do not utter it
into the mic, unless there is an interpreter. In v2 and v4 of the
same chapter 14, Paul said that "tonguer" "speaks not to men but to
God; for no one understands him" and that he only "builds up himself".
Even if you do not hold the mic, mind your voice level - God is not
deaf. Even if no sound comes out, God will still understand you - it
is the Holy Spirit who is praying on your behalf anyway.

But by all means, rock on!

14-15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father
will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses,
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

And yet 1 John 1:8-10 says: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a
liar, and his word is not in us.

Ok. So will God forgive all our sins or not? I believe so.

At the same time, implicitly in v12 and 14, God commands us to forgive
others. Disobeying him is sin. So I believe "not forgiving others" is
a sin. If I confess this sin, God forgives me right there and then.

But God said forgive in order to be forgiven. Is he playing tricks on
us? No, not at all. A stubbornly unforgiving heart is a heart that
refuses the tenderness of God. Such a heart does not comprehend the
true depth of salvation by grace.

Other's trespasses against me are no bigger than my trespasses against
God. God let go of all claims against my trespasses, although he
righteously deserves every claim against me. Jesus died for me inspite
of those claims. He forgave all on the cross. If I truly understand
the depth of this tender love, there is no more reason for me to cling
onto my claim against others. Whatever your life story, if you
honestly grasp this, your will melt with overflowing joy that
overcomes any hardened heart and stubborn mind.

If I understand this implication of salvation by grace, then I would
naturally forgive. This is how I read Matthew 6, v14-15. I believe
that as evidence (one of many) that I accepted God's forgiveness on
the cross, I forgive others.

“Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you
may know how you ought to answer each one” (Col. 4:6). Paul's concern
was that our speech be graceful, reflecting the beauty of our Savior.
And it must be inviting to others. Talking with the right tone to
unbelievers is vital to our ability to witness to them.

Our Daily Bread / Bill Crowder

May God help me daily.

‎"The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware." - Rainer Maria Rilke

V6 "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou
hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy
Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."

Earlier in the chapter, we read about doing alms in secret. Now we
read about praying in secret. What is interesting to me personally is
that God will reward openly.

I am thinking: if I pray in secret nobody knows I prayed to God but
everybody knows I get some reward. So how will others know it is from
God? And if nobody knows it is from God, then how is that glorifying
him? It does not add up.

Let us think this from several angles. First, if I pray openly so
everybody knows, does it make me think, "ok God, the spotlight is on
you now so you have to show us your thing"? As if we are taking God's
reputation hostage: "God you are accountable to maintain your
reputation as an all loving and all powerful God".

But God does not worry about winning popularity contests. He does not
need us to approve nor legitimise his Godship. He is the great "I am".

Also related to this, when you let everbody knows, you have the side
effect of some people monitoring the progress of your prayer. They may
help you in direct or indirect ways so your prayer is realised.

When nobody else knows, others are doing their own things unaware that
they are realising your prayer, i.e. doing God's will unaware. You
also do not expect people to do anything "special" for you, because
you know they do not know. You put your hope only in God.

Second thing about praying openly is that I am declaring that I
cannot do anything about it anymore, thus my asking God to intervene.
So maybe now I can stop trying.

There are certainly many situations where we need to stop playing god
and get out of his way to let God do his thing; this is clear. On the
other hand, there are also many situations where God works his thing
_through_ our sweat and creativity. For many christians, the line is
clearer than others. I myself need to ask God's grace often to see the
line.

Third, what about the part where nobody knows that the reward I get is
from God? We have discussed above that God is not into popularity
contest. The effect on us, however, is more profound. If nobody knows
it is from God, what do I think?

Do I recognise it was from God? Or do I think it was due only to my
own sweat and creativity (minus God working through them)? Do I give
credit to God openly? Or do I keep it a secret that God did it? Does
it make me proud of the effectiveness of _my_ secret prayer?

Fourth, are we supposed to pray _only_ in secret? I do not think so
because Jesus also prayed openly in addition to in secret. So how do
we know which is which? I do not think there is a clear formula as we
discussed above.

My thinking is how does this prayer "benefit" others? If it does not,
then maybe it is better to pray that in secret.

I believe in praying in secret.