appalling.

after a dozen of letters
from screwtape to wormwood.
i stand amazed,
at the same time enlightened..

screwtape is the uncle of wormwood,
and both of them are the devil's advocates.
a witty yet uncanny wordplay by C S Lewis,
described with wry humour in medieval english.

the letters btw the 2,
'reporting' on their assigned 'patient'
on their spiritual welfare and well-being.
and how should they keep human beings out of heaven.

we've been mis-perceiving what sin is,
what God displeases and pleases at.
we've been fogged out by the vague and overused terms,
faith, love.

often we think,
and we're able to recognise that
bad thoughts are from the evil,
good thoughts are from God.

what are good thoughts?
having a goal in life is good?
serving in a ministry is good?
being determined to excel in whatever we're placed in is good?

these idealogies are faux pas!
these ideologies are passe!
the vices of the devil haf gone way beyond
those seemingly 'obvious' tell-tale signs.

all the devil plans to do,
is no longer just putting bad images or thoughts
into that ever-wondering mind of ours.
no longer that easy to recognise..

the devil simply rides on to whatever we're occupied wif.
say for example, a career..
it is a good path to take!
all aspiring and motivated.

but be careful, dear friends.
the devil will not take those 'good motivations' away.
in fact, it rides on them and only focuses on
getting us so focused on our career that we neglect prayer.

so focused on our 'good thought'
that the devil just needs to keep our minds preoccupied.
coz once its preoccupied,
nothing else, including God, can come in..

we talk abt our daily business,
let's not even talk abt lust, pornography, malice, lies.
we talk abt things that are good in the eyes of the society.
studies, career, relationships, desire to excel.

all these good things will only remain good,
provided we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.
the moment we fumble and falter,
falling short of the world's standard, we're easily dismayed.

we haf displeased the Lord.
coz it shows that our hearts are not placed on God
but on the results of whatever we're entangled in.
we've sinned.

as long as we keep our eyes or minds off Jesus,
we're in a very dangerous position..
'fixing our eyes on Jesus'
is often loosely used, seldom understood.

what it means to really fix your eyes on someone?
let us learn from a child.
i love to use dis analogy,
dis imagery of a daughter.

haf you ever seen a kid,
preferably under the age of 3.
those who just learnt to walk,
still wobbly, but able to cover some distance.

next time when you're out,
look out for such kids.
they usually run wif their hands up
and a chuckle in their faces.

on one end, you'll see the kid
and on the other, you'll see a parent.
the parent wasn't wif his child.
but puts out his hands to signal for his child to come here.

and the child will sprint wif all her might,
irregardless of how chunky her legs are,
undisturbed by the wobbles,
all she wants to do, is to reach her dad!

notice that even if she's holding on to her toy,
she holds it in one hand,
and she uses both arms for balance.
she is not really bothered by how she'll crush the toy!

all she wants to do,
is to reach her dad.
and to do that,
she knows she cannot distracted from her father!

if the father signals to his kid
and as she is halfway through,
he stands up and walks away,
the kid will fall..

she will not stop and stand in wonder of confusion.
she will fall because she's distracted by the thought
that her dad doesn't want her anymore.
that distraction is too great for her to remain focus anymore.

i've seen tonnes of baby sprints.
some falling, some glad..
but none distracted, none got blue blacks!
kids can fall and crawl, yet haf no blue blacks..

those kids who can look back or around
and run at the same time,
they're too old.
they've been confident after many times of running.

when we were young,
knowing that we're always in need of our parent.
that's when we're the most focused,
least distracted, least discouraged.

the older we get,
when we realise we can actually
look elsewhere while running,
that's when pride and distractions come in.

the older we get, the harder we fall.
the older we get, the more easily disappointed we get.
do we really still need the Lord?
since now, we can run without having the need to focus..

the older we get, the more ambitious we become.
we attempt to run to our father
wif 2 hands full.
full of delicate 'toys' in our lives..

and we realise that running wif full hands,
aren't exactly the most efficient way.
we also realise that we're more concerned abt
the condition of the 'toys' than on our destination.

what are our 'toys' these days?
are our hands too full,
that we find ourselves unable to run to God wif all our heart?
all our strength and all our mind?

if we're too busy everyday,
to even take a min to reflect.
we can forget abt taking 30 secs
to even think abt praying..

and 'i love You Jesus'
becomes an imminent despicable lie!
a statement in which the devil has no frets over.
a lie that pains the heart of the Father who sees beyond words..