{"id":42802,"date":"2021-03-28T21:40:36","date_gmt":"2021-03-28T13:40:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/?p=42802"},"modified":"2021-03-28T21:40:36","modified_gmt":"2021-03-28T13:40:36","slug":"god-give-me-fortune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/?p=42802","title":{"rendered":"God, Give Me FORTUNE"},"content":{"rendered":"
FAITH Matters<\/span><\/strong><\/h6>\n

Gong Xi Fatt Chai<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Chinese New Year is a time when people send greetings and blessings of luck, fortune and prosperity. When I was working in Penang (West Malaysia), these greetings were mostly given by the Chinese to the Chinese. Back here in Sarawak (I just moved back to Miri 4 years ago), even the Ibans, Kenyahs and other ethnic groups send their Gong Xi Fatt Chais, but there is always a catch at the end \u2013 \u201cAng Pow Na Lai\u201d. I have just been married 4 years and still have not grown accustomed to the angpow giving, as opposed to the receiving that I have been doing for 29 years, so naturally I am not in the habit of giving and not receiving.<\/p>\n

I am quite ticked off by the non-Chinese\u2019s attitude of demanding angpow from the Chinese. (You don\u2019t see us demanding pow from them). But as I was reflecting on how the bible views blessing, fortune and prosperity, I realized something different, almost completely opposite.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s First Blessing<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The first blessing given by God to mankind, to Adam and Eve specifically, was \u201c\u2026Be Fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.\u201d (Gen 1:28) He gave the same blessing again to Noah: \u201cBe fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth\u201d. After that, Abraham was given the promise that his descendants would be like stars in the sky, countless in number.<\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t God\u2019s blessing seem contradictory to what humans perceive as fortune in today\u2019s day and age?<\/p>\n

God\u2019s intent was for humans to multiply and share in the abundance He has given us. As if He was saying to us, \u201cThe earth is big enough for all of you. So be as fruitful as you want and I will add to the abundance.\u201d But if I were God, I would probably sound more like this, \u201cEh, two children enough already. House Loan,food, tuition fee, not to mention the future EDUCATION FEES\u2026 If multiply more than 2, we will be luput liao.\u201d Sound familiar?<\/p>\n

Out of this World Fortune<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Before I got married, I planned to have a family with a single income, so that my children can have sufficient time and attention from either mom or dad. But after I got married and had kids, I did the maths and realized that my ideal plan was quite impossible with house and car loans and insurances. Unless my single paycheck was in 5-digits, I couldn\u2019t afford to have the blessing God wants me to have. Doesn\u2019t that sound like a paradox, a blessing being a burden?<\/p>\n

I will be the first to admit that I haven\u2019t quite figured out this mystery as I am still struggling with it. But I think the problem lies with what God perceives as fortune and what we humans view as fortune. Our definition of fortune is to gain all the materialistic things we want, as much as we can. But in the bible, God has always commanded us to share and have everything in common. He even went as far to ask us to sell our possessions and goods to give to those in need (Acts 2:44-45). So, you can understand the dilemma God has when we say \u201cGod, give us fortune\u201d, and Him being very willing to give us exactly just that.<\/p>\n

So during this Chinese New Year, let us be mindful that although we may feel we do not have enough fortune to share, God Himself did sacrifice His own fortune for us first.<\/p>\n

So, who are we to say we don\u2019t have enough?<\/p>\n

\nBy Leonard Lu <\/span>
\nGrace Methodist Church, Miri<\/span><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FAITH Matters Gong Xi Fatt Chai Chinese New Year is a time when people send greetings and blessings of luck, fortune and prosperity. When I was working in Penang (West Malaysia), these greetings were mostly given by the Chinese to the Chinese. Back here in Sarawak (I just moved back to Miri 4 years ago), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48980,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[291,292,10],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42802"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}