Neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
—1 Corinthians 3:7

Humility.

today's devotion talks about this writer who had the chance to boast of everything she had. but she did not. she served behind the scenes. she quietly served, joyfully weeping as God worked in people’s hearts.

well, while reading this my thoughts were contained within these words 'claiming credit' 'God'.

claiming credit. how eager are you in showing others / boasting what you have done? how many times did you have this eagerness to say 'i'm the one who did this and this' well, i admit countless times i fall into this category. i remembered there was once when my M&E project group went to see our lecturer about the chosen site for our project. it's quite recent yeah. haha..but.. i was quite bothered by what i said altho i guess most who were present that day would prolly have forgotten this. i cant remember the exact words but i said 'I had this contact so we chose to go to this site' or sth like that..yeah. the focus here is not 'who is the contact' or 'what site we are going to' it's more like i used 'i' instead of 'we'. yeah. there u go. i need not explain more. claiming credit. it's like saying 'yeah. it's cos of me that we managed to get to the school' but.. i guess what is needed here is the 'humility' aspect. there's definitely more i have to learn.

the world tells us so much to prove ourselves. prove what we can do. squeeze as much success stories as we can into that piece of paper that is so called our 'resume'. and in this process, we are trapped in this idea, trying to compete with our peers so that we can emerge the best. just so that we can pave the way for our career in the future.

yet. Christ is telling us a different story. that is, to humiliate ourselves because like what 1Corinthian says.. you can the be the one who is watering the plant everyday, or the one who planted the plant..but it is God who decides whether the plant should wither and die or continue to grow. God is the focus. not us. we shouldnt be any claiming of credit. humility.

this also brought me to think about the ministry i'm in now..yes..i can be trying and thinking of so much and so much to water the plants..but God is the one who will work in the lives of these youths..and it's so wonderful to know He has included me in His plan.

One thing i that got stuck in my head was Amy lau's message (part 2). She warned those who are in ministries that are leading people / youths..that.. it is important to pray. yes. at that moment, i thought. OH YES. it is so fundamental! but yet it never came to my mind. so simple. yet so easily forgotten. oh ya..and when we end off prayer with 'in Jesus' most precious name I pray, Amen' we are appealing to God, using Jesus' name to fulfil our prayers. it's like telling me " ng wei chen! you better dont anyhow pray using Jesus' name. better pray for something that is glorifying God! else u'll ruin God's reputation'
Just like how Moses pleaded to God using Jesus' name for the Israelites who were sinning after bringing them outta Egypt.

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i liked today's worship. i liked the part where Jonas (or Jonah? i cannot remember) prayed about our hurts.
yeah. hurts.. it just seems like a shadow when we put them in front of God. (something like that laa) haha.. uhh. yeah. tell me that about 1 year ago, i prolly wouldnt have understood a single bit of it. hmm. today, i could make out some picture. a faint one tho.. beginning to make more sense to me.

((: shumin told me before.. it goes something like that..
Remember the peace that God gave you? Remember it clearly and hold on tight to it.
Sometimes i forgot. yeah..in fact..i forget very easily.

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