Love is a powerful thing.
This sentence alone isn't sufficient to fully define it, honestly. Not even a dictionary. Not even a teacher. It speaks for itself. "Powerful" defines love accurately only to a certain extent. When we talk about the word "power", spiritual force comes to my mind. A good kind of spiritual force is what love is. At least that's what I feel up to this point. But my definition isn't complete yet.
Before SALT camp 2011, I've ever thought through the definition of love so much to the extent that I thought I understood it completely. But boy was I wrong. In reality, I've never actually understood and grasped the meaning until today. That was something I wasn't even aware of. Therefore, the past two days spent during SALT camp have reconfirmed that definition for me and definitely opened my eyes to many new lessons.
During the camp, there were two instances that were really thought-provoking for me. The first was our first day speaker session and the next was definitely the very very very powerful worship experience.
Our speaker, Ms Toh, mentioned some very powerful things during the session that I'd like to share here. I honestly found these points so real and true. So it really touched my heart to hear about such good news. One prominent thing that was repeated constantly during camp was "Love others". So my first step to loving others today would be to share my lessons learnt, whether people believe them or not.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 says "Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, love does not boast, love is not proud. Love is not rude, love is not self-seeking, love is not easily angered, love keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
Then Ms Toh said that Love is God.
And then she asked us to replace every word "Love" with the word "God" since both were equals.
Doing that, you'd get, "GOD is patient, GOD is kind. GOD does not envy, GOD does not boast, GOD is not proud. GOD is not rude, GOD is not self-seeking, GOD is not easily angered, GOD keeps no record of wrongs. GOD does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. GOD always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. GOD never fails."
I was stunned and amazed, naturally. That's when I realised I was getting closer to the true definition of Love.
Another point I wanted to point out was how Ms Toh answered one of my burning questions I've had since I was this young, innocent christian girl. What exactly is the difference between a christian and non-christian?
Yup, I believe that everyone has asked themselves this question in some point of their lives. And I finally got it answered.
Ms Toh said that humans were made up of three parts - the physical body, the soul and the spirit. The physical body is tangible, available to the touch. The soul leaves our body when we pass away. The spirit is different. It's like another of yourself, but not tangible. A spirit is able to feel and function like you will as a human, except it isn't tangible on earth.
The difference? A christian spirit is alive and seated on God's right hand in heaven. I was awed by that fact.
Okay, so on to worship experience. Yes, I cried again. (Emo lol.) You can't blame me, because it's reasonable for me to cry. Things like "you suffer because God loves you" really make me guilty. I frequently ask myself why I always get scolded and I even complain sometimes. It sucks to know that I'm actually questioning God's love for me.
Yes, Sophia had a very good point I wanted to mention. She said that whenever you feel discouraged, whenever you're suffering, think of how God actually put you through the pain to make you an even stronger person. I fully agree with her on that. There's a reason and purpose behind everything God does and that's what spurs me on.
Many might doubt the presence of a God. But the many that doubt are the many who have yet to experience the presence of a God. I for one have had experiences with God. Every year in MGS have been a living testimony to this. Not just that, I've felt God. And the feeling's powerful. You'll really know God and the holy spirit is there because it's nothing like you could ever experience.
The many worship experiences I've been to have really helped me to experience more of God's presence. That's why after being in SALT for two years, or rather, being in MGS for nine years, I've grown so much as a christian and I could say with an 80% certainty that I know the true definition of Love.
This sentence alone isn't sufficient to fully define it, honestly. Not even a dictionary. Not even a teacher. It speaks for itself. "Powerful" defines love accurately only to a certain extent. When we talk about the word "power", spiritual force comes to my mind. A good kind of spiritual force is what love is. At least that's what I feel up to this point. But my definition isn't complete yet.
Before SALT camp 2011, I've ever thought through the definition of love so much to the extent that I thought I understood it completely. But boy was I wrong. In reality, I've never actually understood and grasped the meaning until today. That was something I wasn't even aware of. Therefore, the past two days spent during SALT camp have reconfirmed that definition for me and definitely opened my eyes to many new lessons.
During the camp, there were two instances that were really thought-provoking for me. The first was our first day speaker session and the next was definitely the very very very powerful worship experience.
Our speaker, Ms Toh, mentioned some very powerful things during the session that I'd like to share here. I honestly found these points so real and true. So it really touched my heart to hear about such good news. One prominent thing that was repeated constantly during camp was "Love others". So my first step to loving others today would be to share my lessons learnt, whether people believe them or not.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 says "Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, love does not boast, love is not proud. Love is not rude, love is not self-seeking, love is not easily angered, love keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
Then Ms Toh said that Love is God.
And then she asked us to replace every word "Love" with the word "God" since both were equals.
Doing that, you'd get, "GOD is patient, GOD is kind. GOD does not envy, GOD does not boast, GOD is not proud. GOD is not rude, GOD is not self-seeking, GOD is not easily angered, GOD keeps no record of wrongs. GOD does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. GOD always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. GOD never fails."
I was stunned and amazed, naturally. That's when I realised I was getting closer to the true definition of Love.
Another point I wanted to point out was how Ms Toh answered one of my burning questions I've had since I was this young, innocent christian girl. What exactly is the difference between a christian and non-christian?
Yup, I believe that everyone has asked themselves this question in some point of their lives. And I finally got it answered.
Ms Toh said that humans were made up of three parts - the physical body, the soul and the spirit. The physical body is tangible, available to the touch. The soul leaves our body when we pass away. The spirit is different. It's like another of yourself, but not tangible. A spirit is able to feel and function like you will as a human, except it isn't tangible on earth.
The difference? A christian spirit is alive and seated on God's right hand in heaven. I was awed by that fact.
Okay, so on to worship experience. Yes, I cried again. (Emo lol.) You can't blame me, because it's reasonable for me to cry. Things like "you suffer because God loves you" really make me guilty. I frequently ask myself why I always get scolded and I even complain sometimes. It sucks to know that I'm actually questioning God's love for me.
Yes, Sophia had a very good point I wanted to mention. She said that whenever you feel discouraged, whenever you're suffering, think of how God actually put you through the pain to make you an even stronger person. I fully agree with her on that. There's a reason and purpose behind everything God does and that's what spurs me on.
Many might doubt the presence of a God. But the many that doubt are the many who have yet to experience the presence of a God. I for one have had experiences with God. Every year in MGS have been a living testimony to this. Not just that, I've felt God. And the feeling's powerful. You'll really know God and the holy spirit is there because it's nothing like you could ever experience.
The many worship experiences I've been to have really helped me to experience more of God's presence. That's why after being in SALT for two years, or rather, being in MGS for nine years, I've grown so much as a christian and I could say with an 80% certainty that I know the true definition of Love.
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