Week 38 (15 - 21 Sep): Living with the Awareness of Eternity

Last Saturday, we had the opportunity to host RT1 fellowship at our new home for the first time and had worship led from our living room. It was a surreal feeling to see our home as a church, to be reminded of being blessed to own an apartment of our own and how we can be godly stewards of our new house.

We started the discussion by examining our natural responses to trouble, contrasting them with the intimate relationship Jesus describes with the Father - "I am in the Father and the Father is in me." Angeline’s takeaway from this discussion is that God is unchanging and has always been the same, so whenever our relationship with Him feels dynamic, it's more a reflection of how we view Him rather than who He is. His unchanging nature is our anchor in shifting circumstances.

This led us to wrestle with Jesus's bold promise: "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." How do we understand this promise when earnest prayers for salvation or healing seem to go unanswered? Even Jesus prayed prayers that appeared unanswered - for the cup to pass from him in Gethsemane, for Peter's faith not to fail. Jordan highlighted that the response to unanswered prayer is more prayer, not because prayer changes God's mind but because prayer changes our heart. The more we converse with God, the more we accept His will and ways, the more we submit and surrender ourselves to His mystery. Sometimes God may be achieving something greater that we cannot see, or waiting for the right moment to answer in the right way.

Our conversation flowed into exploring the Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and whether it matters which person of the Godhead we direct our prayers to. Kegan found this to be the most thought-provoking part of our discussion, revealing how differently each of us approach prayer and communion with God. Some of us pray primarily to the Father, others to Jesus, and some to all three. This sparked an important insight, that to know God fully, we need to be in communion with all three persons of the Trinity. Over-emphasising one or neglecting another would lead to a skewed view of who God is because the Three are described to perform different roles in the Bible. For example, a neglect of the Spirit might lead to a faith that relies on human abilities, or an over-emphasis on Jesus alone might lead to a faith that focuses on grace, forgetting the justice of the Father and the sanctifying work of the Spirit. This segment of the discussion left us pondering more about how we commune with each person of the Trinity in our prayer life.

Sheryl also shared that while it is important to learn the roles of each person of the Trinity, one is not more important than the other and prompted us to consider how this perspective affects our prayer life.

We concluded by reflecting on Jesus's promise of peace - a peace unlike anything the world offers. Alvin's reflection on John 14:27 beautifully captured this distinction: "The peace of this world is fragile and needs to be protected. It's ephemeral and a facade at best despite all the efforts to keep the peace. However, the peace of God is given and it protects us. Its eternal nature gives us the stability and strength in Christ." His words reminded us of the profound difference between what the world offers and what Christ gives.

To conclude, I would like to share something Ps Ben shared on Tuesday to conclude our Love Letters series on Ecclesiastes. He reminded us to “live in the present, aware of eternity.” The transience of life on this earth and all that we possess should not stir anxiety in us but a greater appreciation and gratitude to our Heavenly Father, the God of eternal peace, for all that is given to us each day on this earth while keeping in mind the eternal life that awaits for us in heaven.

Bryan

On behalf of RT1