Lord, when I sinned against you, guilt prevents me from seeking you.
Preoccupied, busy and feel tired,
I have no urge to plunge into your comfort ride.
I just need a rest, so I thought it’s best.
Why would I indulge in prayer like Jesus did?
Why would I pray if someone is praying for me,
my mother certainly?
Why would I pray for somebody if someone is praying for him,
our pastor be?
I cannot pray for it is not my gift
and the environment doesn’t fit.
Everything goes well so far
And if it is not God’s desire,
it won’t go this far.
O God, You know my entire being;
my desires, my thoughts, my feeling,
O man, flatter your mind with reasons in vain!
Lord, forgive me if this is a sin of abomination.
Let your grace remain in me
that I may be useful for your glory.
Delight in my prayer, my God and comforter.
Ministry and Make-up
The Bible says we are wonderfully made and uniquely complex (Psalm 139:14). There is no one who is exactly the same as me. Science estimates that our body is formed by billions of DNA which determine our personality and direct our behavior. This make-up is called temperament. Temperament makes us the way we are and defines how we do things. They are inborn traits but they can be modified as we interact with our environment. Thus, whether we admit it or not, our temperament will affect our ministry. For example, as an extrovert person, I enjoy the company of people. I am less energetic when I am alone. In ministry, I am mostly inspired when I see other people’s cooperation in a task. I don’t enjoy the idea of being a superman. I am a team player so it would be difficult for me to accept when others are not participating. In decision making, I am more cognitive than being affective. I don’t want to rush into a decision unless I have thought about it many times. So I am deciding based on what I perceived to be right. The affective person often makes decision based on what they feel to be right. Likewise in doing my ministry, I would take a lot of time thinking the pros and cons before trying to apply a certain strategy or concept.
Our temperament also affects our relationship with other people. In fact, my relationship with our Senior Pastor was in jeopardy these recent months. Being both choleric type of person, I knew where we will be mostly in trouble with each other. Our different leadership style often creates conflict between us. But whether I agree with him or not, he deserves respect. I had to show it by submitting to his leadership. More importantly, our relationship is much more valuable than our different ideas and approaches. We have the Holy Spirit that acts as agent to purify our motives and consciences.
This is a continuous struggle but understanding the person is the key for a healthy relationship. A mature person is expected to be more understanding and patient with others. Knowing our personality will help us understand other’s tendency. It nurtures our relationship. It preserves our ministry.
Our temperament also affects our relationship with other people. In fact, my relationship with our Senior Pastor was in jeopardy these recent months. Being both choleric type of person, I knew where we will be mostly in trouble with each other. Our different leadership style often creates conflict between us. But whether I agree with him or not, he deserves respect. I had to show it by submitting to his leadership. More importantly, our relationship is much more valuable than our different ideas and approaches. We have the Holy Spirit that acts as agent to purify our motives and consciences.
This is a continuous struggle but understanding the person is the key for a healthy relationship. A mature person is expected to be more understanding and patient with others. Knowing our personality will help us understand other’s tendency. It nurtures our relationship. It preserves our ministry.
MABUHAY! Filipino Contextualization of Spirituality
We, Filipinos are widely known for hospitality and closed-family-ties. Our expression of love-one-another begins within the circle of our clan. We can hardly find one family that is totally detached from its relatives. We even value the family image in a community, thus we put our consciousness on how we act and react in public. Perhaps most of us will agree that it is embedded in our culture. And culture is carried from generation to generation. It has historical relevance but since history must have its origin, it would be a never ending pattern of questions. So this can be deduced into one question: where does a culture start?
Culture must be a reflection of beliefs which conveys the kind of humanity in a particular setting. We didn’t exist on our own, by our own, and for our own reason. God created us to live by godly standards and principles which can be expressed in variable ways. Biblical historical records show the different people group of variable beliefs, thus a culture! God even gave us a model culture, the Israelites. However, our fallen nature somehow reflects a distorted culture far from what was revealed in the Garden, including His chosen model culture.
Since Philippines is believed to be a Christian nation, our Filipino culture must have its roots in the biblical perspective. It is true that we have some correct beliefs, but there’s lot of which are yet to be refined. For example, our belief on closed-family-ties is a biblical perspective of community of faith or God’s family. Likewise, our negative label “crab mentality” is expressed in biblical perspective as envy. In our context, I believe we can retain and redeem our rich culture at the same time. We, as Filipino Christians must be the catalyst for this movement toward Filipino contextualization of spirituality. We can capitalize on our good values that express the best of Filipino humanity. Therefore, it is not enough to be known as Christian nation which apparently becomes a cliché, but a nation that has a culture which reflects the true Christian principles in every Filipino. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!
Culture must be a reflection of beliefs which conveys the kind of humanity in a particular setting. We didn’t exist on our own, by our own, and for our own reason. God created us to live by godly standards and principles which can be expressed in variable ways. Biblical historical records show the different people group of variable beliefs, thus a culture! God even gave us a model culture, the Israelites. However, our fallen nature somehow reflects a distorted culture far from what was revealed in the Garden, including His chosen model culture.
Since Philippines is believed to be a Christian nation, our Filipino culture must have its roots in the biblical perspective. It is true that we have some correct beliefs, but there’s lot of which are yet to be refined. For example, our belief on closed-family-ties is a biblical perspective of community of faith or God’s family. Likewise, our negative label “crab mentality” is expressed in biblical perspective as envy. In our context, I believe we can retain and redeem our rich culture at the same time. We, as Filipino Christians must be the catalyst for this movement toward Filipino contextualization of spirituality. We can capitalize on our good values that express the best of Filipino humanity. Therefore, it is not enough to be known as Christian nation which apparently becomes a cliché, but a nation that has a culture which reflects the true Christian principles in every Filipino. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!
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