Thursday, 30th November 2007
Recently, I heard a brother saying that we as Christians can be a curse to those around us. He cited the story as recorded in Numbers 22 as an example. There was a man by the name of Balaam who knew who God was, yet he chose to curse God's people.
Sorry, but I beg to differ. We are described as part of Christ's Body by the apostle Paul. If we truly believe that, then it is impossible for a part of the body to be a curse to another part of the body. The eye cannot be a curse to the ear. Neither can the hand to be a curse to the foot.
If we were to read Num 22-24, we realise that Balaam was a sorcerer who made his living by dabbling in the occult. The Israelites had just defeated the Amorites, and had camped along the plains of Moab. News of their victory spread around the region, and Balak (the king of Moab), was terrified of them. He thus engaged the services of Balaam to lay curses upon them.
Balaam was a mercenary. In Num 22:7 we read that Balak had planned to give Balaam a "fee for divination" and again in Num 24:10 that he was going to "reward Balak handsomely".
Those that dabble with the supernatural know who God is. In James 2:15, we read that demons believe that there is one God -- and they shudder. Hence, knowing who God is does not automatically make one a beloved child of God, and Balaam was definitely not one.
Hence, it is erroneous to compare him to us, the new-covenant believer. Take comfort, dear brothers and sisters, that we cannot be a curse to those around us because Christ has redeemed us from the curse (Gal 3:13) (which I will talk about more in tomorrow's post).
Anyway, there is a pleasant twist to the tale about Balaam. God intervened such that when he opened his mouth to curse, words of blessings instead came forth!
We read in Num 24
10 Then Balak's anger burned against Balaam. He struck his hands together and said to him, "I summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times. 11 Now leave at once and go home! I said I would reward you handsomely, but the LORD has kept you from being rewarded."
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Watchdogs and Bloodhounds
Thursday, 29th November 2007
Yesterday, I blogged about the topic of accounting.
Today, I shall blog about another topic that I am familiar with, and that is of auditing.
Upon graduation in 1991, I joined what was then known as Price Waterhouse (which is now known as PricewaterhouseCoopers, after having merged with Coopers & Lybrand in 1999) as an external auditor.
After spending 3 1/2 years there, I spent the next 2 1/2 years as an internal auditor in a well-known country club. I recall that during the interview with the outgoing Treasurer and Senior Manager of Admin, the latter asked me, "In your opinion, is the auditor a bloodhound or a watchdog?" To which I replied, "A watchdog, because it is too onerous to expect the auditor to be like a bloodhound, sniffing out every exception and deviation." He did not seem convinced by my answer and retorted, "Sorry, but I think he should be a bloodhound".
When I left the room, I thought I had blown the interview -- but surprisingly, I was offered the job about 2 weeks later.
Anyway, internal audit is not exactly the most popular job. Colleagues tend to avoid you, because they have this impression that you are out to find fault with them, and record down the things that they have been doing wrong.
In my first meeting with the incoming Treasurer a month into my new job, he said to me, "Why did you join the Club? This is a dead-end job." Within the first six months there, one of my car tyres was punctured, and I was even called up by one of the committee members for a "lecture", which in retrospect was more like a "warning" to stay clear of the staff that reported to him.
I remember wanting to quit my job, but as I was concurrently pursuing an MBA specialising in IT at NTU, I held on, telling myself that this was only an interim job and upon getting the MBA, I would pursue a career in accounting software consulting.
But I am digressing...
As I mentioned earlier, the work of an internal auditor is an unenviable task. While he has to look out for areas of improvement, there is resistance from the auditees because the action items that he recommends actually reflect the lack of operational efficiency and/or effectiveness on the part of the auditees. If people can help it, they would rather not have anything to do with the auditor, and will avoid him at all costs. He is seen as a "necessary evil".
Is it any wonder then, that there are people in this world who are avoiding God? They have the impression that God is like an auditor, watching their every move, keeping a record of their wrongdoings, waiting for an opportunity to expose their every mistake and shortcoming. Rather than be subject to an audit, they rather stay away from God.
But is God really like that? Is He like a watchdog and bloodhound?
God the Father and God the Son have been together from time immemorial, so Jesus should know the Father intimately. How did Jesus describe the characteristics of God the Father in Luke 15? As one who stood aloofly with a stern look on his face and a super-long list in his hand of the bad things his wayward son had done?
If you were to look at an audit report, you will inevitably find shortcomings being recorded, because that is the main purpose of an audit. For example, the Auditor-General recently released a report about the National Library Board, where millions of dollars of fines were found to remain uncollected.
If God were an auditor, He would not last one day on the job. Take Hebrews 11 for example. Here we see a report of Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, et al being described as great men of faith. If such a glowing report was submitted to an Audit Committee, it would have been thrown right out the window!
We know from the Old Testament that these men had their own shortcomings. Noah was a drunkard. Abraham was a coward. Moses was a murderer. David was an adulterer.
Yet not a single one of those mistakes were mentioned in Heb 11. Why? Because Jesus paid the price for all those mistakes.
And my friends, Jesus has paid the price for all our mistakes too. So, if you picture God as an auditor or hear a teaching that paints God as such, banish that in the mighty name of Jesus!
Instead, repent of that and picture Him as how Jesus painted Him, because Jesus knows the God the Father better than anyone of us humans, preachers included. He is the loving Father, sprinting towards you, embracing you, lavishing you with repeated kisses, putting His robes of righteousness on you, giving you His authority symbolised by the ring He puts on your finger, and the sandals He puts on your feet. Amen?
Yesterday, I blogged about the topic of accounting.
Today, I shall blog about another topic that I am familiar with, and that is of auditing.
Upon graduation in 1991, I joined what was then known as Price Waterhouse (which is now known as PricewaterhouseCoopers, after having merged with Coopers & Lybrand in 1999) as an external auditor.
After spending 3 1/2 years there, I spent the next 2 1/2 years as an internal auditor in a well-known country club. I recall that during the interview with the outgoing Treasurer and Senior Manager of Admin, the latter asked me, "In your opinion, is the auditor a bloodhound or a watchdog?" To which I replied, "A watchdog, because it is too onerous to expect the auditor to be like a bloodhound, sniffing out every exception and deviation." He did not seem convinced by my answer and retorted, "Sorry, but I think he should be a bloodhound".
When I left the room, I thought I had blown the interview -- but surprisingly, I was offered the job about 2 weeks later.
Anyway, internal audit is not exactly the most popular job. Colleagues tend to avoid you, because they have this impression that you are out to find fault with them, and record down the things that they have been doing wrong.
In my first meeting with the incoming Treasurer a month into my new job, he said to me, "Why did you join the Club? This is a dead-end job." Within the first six months there, one of my car tyres was punctured, and I was even called up by one of the committee members for a "lecture", which in retrospect was more like a "warning" to stay clear of the staff that reported to him.
I remember wanting to quit my job, but as I was concurrently pursuing an MBA specialising in IT at NTU, I held on, telling myself that this was only an interim job and upon getting the MBA, I would pursue a career in accounting software consulting.
But I am digressing...
As I mentioned earlier, the work of an internal auditor is an unenviable task. While he has to look out for areas of improvement, there is resistance from the auditees because the action items that he recommends actually reflect the lack of operational efficiency and/or effectiveness on the part of the auditees. If people can help it, they would rather not have anything to do with the auditor, and will avoid him at all costs. He is seen as a "necessary evil".
Is it any wonder then, that there are people in this world who are avoiding God? They have the impression that God is like an auditor, watching their every move, keeping a record of their wrongdoings, waiting for an opportunity to expose their every mistake and shortcoming. Rather than be subject to an audit, they rather stay away from God.
But is God really like that? Is He like a watchdog and bloodhound?
God the Father and God the Son have been together from time immemorial, so Jesus should know the Father intimately. How did Jesus describe the characteristics of God the Father in Luke 15? As one who stood aloofly with a stern look on his face and a super-long list in his hand of the bad things his wayward son had done?
If you were to look at an audit report, you will inevitably find shortcomings being recorded, because that is the main purpose of an audit. For example, the Auditor-General recently released a report about the National Library Board, where millions of dollars of fines were found to remain uncollected.
If God were an auditor, He would not last one day on the job. Take Hebrews 11 for example. Here we see a report of Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, et al being described as great men of faith. If such a glowing report was submitted to an Audit Committee, it would have been thrown right out the window!
We know from the Old Testament that these men had their own shortcomings. Noah was a drunkard. Abraham was a coward. Moses was a murderer. David was an adulterer.
Yet not a single one of those mistakes were mentioned in Heb 11. Why? Because Jesus paid the price for all those mistakes.
And my friends, Jesus has paid the price for all our mistakes too. So, if you picture God as an auditor or hear a teaching that paints God as such, banish that in the mighty name of Jesus!
Instead, repent of that and picture Him as how Jesus painted Him, because Jesus knows the God the Father better than anyone of us humans, preachers included. He is the loving Father, sprinting towards you, embracing you, lavishing you with repeated kisses, putting His robes of righteousness on you, giving you His authority symbolised by the ring He puts on your finger, and the sandals He puts on your feet. Amen?
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Keeping Short Accounts
Wednesday, 28th November 2007
I am an accountant by profession, having graduated from the local university in 1991. I have been in the workforce for 16 years: the first 6 years in external and internal auditing, the next 3 years in consulting and the last 7 years in accounting.
Over the next couple of days, I will be blogging about 2 topics that I am very familiar with, having worked in those areas for 13 years in total, that is accounting and auditing.
Let's start with the topic of accounting.
A company needs to keep a set of accounts, so that any point in time, management has a record of income and expenses (what is known as the profit and loss statement) and a snapshot of its assets and liabilities (what is known as the balance sheet).
Because the company is considered a separate legal entity, it needs to be accountable to its stakeholders.
If we zoom into the balance sheet, we will see assets known as debtors and liabilities known as creditors. Debtors and creditors are the accounting terminology for customers and suppliers.
In order to be competitive, most companies do not require their customers to make payment upon delivery. Instead they allow their customers to pay them 30 days or 60 days later (which is what we call "credit or payment terms"). What results from this arrangement is that the customer owes the company an amount of money known as a debt, and hence the customer becomes the company's debtor.
Similarly, companies would also seek out suppliers who are able to grant them credit. What results from this arrangement is that the supplier is owed an amount by the company, and that supplier becomes the company's creditor.
Big organisations have a separate financial function known as treasury operations, which main task is to manage the cashflows. One of their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is to collect as much from their customers (ie. keep short accounts with their customers), yet stretch as much credit from their suppliers (ie. keep long accounts with their suppliers).
Somehow or other, this concept of "keeping short accounts with God" seems to have infiltrated the church. I did a BibleGateway search and could not find this term in the bible. If any of you readers out there can, please let me know so that I can learn. What I suspect that this term was coined by a church forefather. If so, we have to be careful not to embrace it blindly because that is exactly what happened to the Israelites and the early Catholic church! The Pharisees and Catholic priests were adding their own sets of rules, and thus putting heavy yokes on God's people.
While doing a Google search on this term, I came across a blog where the author said, "If you're always trying to keep short accounts with God, I suggest you get a new accountant! I have just one account … and it says “Paid In Full”! "
And that view, my friends, IS biblical. Christ's sacrifice for sin was once and for all (Heb 7:27). By His finished work on the cross, He paid the full price of all our sins -- past, present and future.
Our account with God was cleared the moment we were born again, and it now says PAID IN FULL.
Paul says in 1 Cor 13:5 that "love keeps no record of wrongs". If God is love personified, then it follows that He also keeps no record of wrongs!
So if you hear any teaching telling you to keep short accounts with God, reject and rebuke it in Jesus' mighty name. It warrants as much credit as the verse that says that "He's making a list and checking it twice. Gonna find out who's naughty or nice..."
I am an accountant by profession, having graduated from the local university in 1991. I have been in the workforce for 16 years: the first 6 years in external and internal auditing, the next 3 years in consulting and the last 7 years in accounting.
Over the next couple of days, I will be blogging about 2 topics that I am very familiar with, having worked in those areas for 13 years in total, that is accounting and auditing.
Let's start with the topic of accounting.
A company needs to keep a set of accounts, so that any point in time, management has a record of income and expenses (what is known as the profit and loss statement) and a snapshot of its assets and liabilities (what is known as the balance sheet).
Because the company is considered a separate legal entity, it needs to be accountable to its stakeholders.
If we zoom into the balance sheet, we will see assets known as debtors and liabilities known as creditors. Debtors and creditors are the accounting terminology for customers and suppliers.
In order to be competitive, most companies do not require their customers to make payment upon delivery. Instead they allow their customers to pay them 30 days or 60 days later (which is what we call "credit or payment terms"). What results from this arrangement is that the customer owes the company an amount of money known as a debt, and hence the customer becomes the company's debtor.
Similarly, companies would also seek out suppliers who are able to grant them credit. What results from this arrangement is that the supplier is owed an amount by the company, and that supplier becomes the company's creditor.
Big organisations have a separate financial function known as treasury operations, which main task is to manage the cashflows. One of their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is to collect as much from their customers (ie. keep short accounts with their customers), yet stretch as much credit from their suppliers (ie. keep long accounts with their suppliers).
Somehow or other, this concept of "keeping short accounts with God" seems to have infiltrated the church. I did a BibleGateway search and could not find this term in the bible. If any of you readers out there can, please let me know so that I can learn. What I suspect that this term was coined by a church forefather. If so, we have to be careful not to embrace it blindly because that is exactly what happened to the Israelites and the early Catholic church! The Pharisees and Catholic priests were adding their own sets of rules, and thus putting heavy yokes on God's people.
While doing a Google search on this term, I came across a blog where the author said, "If you're always trying to keep short accounts with God, I suggest you get a new accountant! I have just one account … and it says “Paid In Full”! "
And that view, my friends, IS biblical. Christ's sacrifice for sin was once and for all (Heb 7:27). By His finished work on the cross, He paid the full price of all our sins -- past, present and future.Our account with God was cleared the moment we were born again, and it now says PAID IN FULL.
Paul says in 1 Cor 13:5 that "love keeps no record of wrongs". If God is love personified, then it follows that He also keeps no record of wrongs!
So if you hear any teaching telling you to keep short accounts with God, reject and rebuke it in Jesus' mighty name. It warrants as much credit as the verse that says that "He's making a list and checking it twice. Gonna find out who's naughty or nice..."
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Extreme Makeover
Tuesday, 27th November 2007
Last Saturday was an extremely eventful day.
That morning, I was at Safra Tampines for my company's annual bowling tournament, which I blogged about yesterday.
That afternoon, my son's room was being dedicated.
Back in Aug 07, my youngest sis Yvonne had
moved out, so my dad told my son Mark that he could have the vacated room for his own.
Previously, all four of us (my wife, my 2 kids and I) shared the same bedroom. Then in Mar 06, my daughter had her own purple-themed room as her 10th birthday present.
And now, my son was given his own room too! No prizes for guessing what theme he wanted... yup, soccer.
And so it came to pass, praise be to God! His room was unveiled to him at about 3pm, after which Pastor Reuben led us through a "room dedication", prayed a blessing over him and presented Mark with a cross.
It is said that "a picture is worth a thousand words". So instead of me writing a hundred-thousand word thesis, here is a series of moving pictures (ie. a video clip) to depict the extreme makeover that the room underwent.
For the observant among you, the cross in the video belongs to my sister Yvonne. We returned it to her (to be used at her new home) and replaced it with the one that Ps Reuben gave Mark.
Last Saturday was an extremely eventful day.
That morning, I was at Safra Tampines for my company's annual bowling tournament, which I blogged about yesterday.
That afternoon, my son's room was being dedicated.
Back in Aug 07, my youngest sis Yvonne had
moved out, so my dad told my son Mark that he could have the vacated room for his own.Previously, all four of us (my wife, my 2 kids and I) shared the same bedroom. Then in Mar 06, my daughter had her own purple-themed room as her 10th birthday present.
And now, my son was given his own room too! No prizes for guessing what theme he wanted... yup, soccer.
And so it came to pass, praise be to God! His room was unveiled to him at about 3pm, after which Pastor Reuben led us through a "room dedication", prayed a blessing over him and presented Mark with a cross.
It is said that "a picture is worth a thousand words". So instead of me writing a hundred-thousand word thesis, here is a series of moving pictures (ie. a video clip) to depict the extreme makeover that the room underwent.
For the observant among you, the cross in the video belongs to my sister Yvonne. We returned it to her (to be used at her new home) and replaced it with the one that Ps Reuben gave Mark.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Win Lose and Draw
Monday, 26th November 2007
I mentioned a couple of days ago that I had taken part in my company's annual bowling tournament. It was held at Safra Tampines.
I had signed up with 4 others from the IT department, whom I had gotten to know through our weekly Christian fellowship.
A couple of them stay in Tampines, so they made their own way there. The other 2 stay in Redhill and Bukit Timah respectively, so I arranged to fetch them from Tampines MRT at 8.55am.
I had recently installed a GPS in my car. Whenever a route is planned, the system prompts 3 options --
- fastest time,
- shortest distance, or
- use off-roads
When "fastest time" is selected, the system will recommend the use of the highways, ie. PIE, TPE, KJE, ECP, etc.
When "shortest distance" is selected, the system will recommend the most direct path.
"Use off-roads" is more applicable to countries like USA, UK and Australia.
I had stored both Tampines MRT and Tampines Safra as "favourites". I left my home just after 8am. Since I had more than 45 minutes to get to Tampines MRT, I decided to choose "shortest distance" instead of "fastest times".
Normally, I would travel by TPE or PIE if I was heading towards Tampines, but it was only then I discovered that the shortest route was actually via Kaki Bukit and Bedok Reservoir Road!
Upon arriving at Tampines MRT at about 8.41am, and as I sat in the car waiting for my 2 team members to arrive, something dawned upon me. Many of us prefer to travel by the highways because we are familiar with them, not realising that most often that not, we actual end up travelling a much longer distance.
In the same way, many of us who have been Christians for many years prefer to stick to the familiar and comfortable, not wanting to rock the boat, as it were. However, we may not realise that there may be spiritual truths in the Bible just waiting to be uncovered. A churchmate of mine who embraces grace teachings used the following analogy. Sure, we will all arrive at our destination, but why toil and sweat under the hot sun by walking there, when God has provided us with a vehicle to get there?
Anyway, my 2 team members arrived slightly before 9am, so we made our way to Safra Tampines. Our team was called "KFC Combo 1, upsize, coleslaw change to cheese fries, thank you... yes, having here", the name being coined courtesy of a team member who attends City Harvest. The organiser conveniently abbreviated it to just "KFC Combo 1" :-(.
Here's a picture that was taken of our team.
After the 1st game, I looked at the scoreboard and noticed that we were in 24th place. The bowling alley has 24 lanes, and 24 teams were taking part, so you do the math... :-)
Knowing we were completely out of the running, we decided to continue to just play just for fun. When we finished bowling at 12.15pm, we decided to call it a day even though the event was supposed to be until 1.30pm.
At the risk of sounding like sour grapes, the situation suited us just fine. I had to get home by 2pm for my son's room dedication (which I will blog about tomorrow). The chap from City Harvest had an afternoon service to attend, while the other team members also had to rush back home.
[Afternote: I found out today that we remained in 24th place after all 3 games, but on the positive side, our combined pinfalls per game improved from 422 to 449 to 589].
So the other lesson drawn here is that we may have been losers in the sight of men, but winners because of the team spirit and camaradarie, and also in the sense of being more than conquerors in Christ. Amen?
I mentioned a couple of days ago that I had taken part in my company's annual bowling tournament. It was held at Safra Tampines.
I had signed up with 4 others from the IT department, whom I had gotten to know through our weekly Christian fellowship.
A couple of them stay in Tampines, so they made their own way there. The other 2 stay in Redhill and Bukit Timah respectively, so I arranged to fetch them from Tampines MRT at 8.55am.
I had recently installed a GPS in my car. Whenever a route is planned, the system prompts 3 options --
- fastest time,
- shortest distance, or
- use off-roads
When "fastest time" is selected, the system will recommend the use of the highways, ie. PIE, TPE, KJE, ECP, etc.
When "shortest distance" is selected, the system will recommend the most direct path.
"Use off-roads" is more applicable to countries like USA, UK and Australia.
I had stored both Tampines MRT and Tampines Safra as "favourites". I left my home just after 8am. Since I had more than 45 minutes to get to Tampines MRT, I decided to choose "shortest distance" instead of "fastest times".Normally, I would travel by TPE or PIE if I was heading towards Tampines, but it was only then I discovered that the shortest route was actually via Kaki Bukit and Bedok Reservoir Road!
Upon arriving at Tampines MRT at about 8.41am, and as I sat in the car waiting for my 2 team members to arrive, something dawned upon me. Many of us prefer to travel by the highways because we are familiar with them, not realising that most often that not, we actual end up travelling a much longer distance.
In the same way, many of us who have been Christians for many years prefer to stick to the familiar and comfortable, not wanting to rock the boat, as it were. However, we may not realise that there may be spiritual truths in the Bible just waiting to be uncovered. A churchmate of mine who embraces grace teachings used the following analogy. Sure, we will all arrive at our destination, but why toil and sweat under the hot sun by walking there, when God has provided us with a vehicle to get there?
Anyway, my 2 team members arrived slightly before 9am, so we made our way to Safra Tampines. Our team was called "KFC Combo 1, upsize, coleslaw change to cheese fries, thank you... yes, having here", the name being coined courtesy of a team member who attends City Harvest. The organiser conveniently abbreviated it to just "KFC Combo 1" :-(.Here's a picture that was taken of our team.
After the 1st game, I looked at the scoreboard and noticed that we were in 24th place. The bowling alley has 24 lanes, and 24 teams were taking part, so you do the math... :-)Knowing we were completely out of the running, we decided to continue to just play just for fun. When we finished bowling at 12.15pm, we decided to call it a day even though the event was supposed to be until 1.30pm.
At the risk of sounding like sour grapes, the situation suited us just fine. I had to get home by 2pm for my son's room dedication (which I will blog about tomorrow). The chap from City Harvest had an afternoon service to attend, while the other team members also had to rush back home.
[Afternote: I found out today that we remained in 24th place after all 3 games, but on the positive side, our combined pinfalls per game improved from 422 to 449 to 589].
So the other lesson drawn here is that we may have been losers in the sight of men, but winners because of the team spirit and camaradarie, and also in the sense of being more than conquerors in Christ. Amen?
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