pick & choose?

des: you going prayer meeting tonight?
mj: ya, haf to leh. young adult ministry, and they say all cell leaders must go.
des: oh okay.

mj: but i like not feeling well now man, headache and stuff.
des: so you not going?
mj: don't know. i think if i can finish my work, and feeling better, i'll go.

des: oh, okay..
mj: wah, later got badminton in the afternoon. excited man!
des: i thought you sick?!
mj: ya, but need to exercise man..

des: ... so now i assume God is 3rd place in your life la.
mj: no, God is first. prayer's 3rd.
des & mj: HAHAHHAHA!

that was candid,
although both of us know it was a joke.
but it kinda got me reflecting,
aren't we sometimes like that in other aspects of life?

we tend to pick and choose our situations,
and make conclusive decisions based on our likes.
when there's something we don't like,
we'll naturally decide against it.

for example,
we say we're christians,
we love God and all that yada yada.
and our lives outside church reflect otherwise.

so do we love God,
or do we love the feeling of loving God?
the cross seem a lil too heavy and harsh to carry,
we'll just sign up for membership that's all.

we're christians when we reach out to poor unsaved pple,
go on mission trips and get all fired up for Christ.
but when our close friends get wasted and gamble,
we tell ourselves, "nah! just for the fun of it."

we choose what kinda christians we wanna be, don't we?
do we hide in the shadow of
"i'm only human, God will forgive."
or do we take a conscious effort to exemplify our love for Him?

maybe in our spiritual walk,
some of us might find it a bore or pain to live right.
but what abt relationships?
friendships and relationships..

i rmb when pastor aaron ask me
if i accept my friend for who she is.
i said yes.
den he asked me again if i can accept her flaws.

den i thought abt it and say,
"but some things really cannot compromise ma.."
and he said something which i nvr thought of before.
"when you said accept, what did you accept? good things only?"

and i could tell where he was coming from.
acceptance is not something we can pick and choose.
when we accept, we accept wholesale!
we can't say i accept dis and dis, and i reject that.

its like a terms and conditions contract.
when you sign up for something online,
often we'll hafta click accept before we can click "next",
is there an option that says "edit terms"?

no, that's the package.
take it or leave it..
you don't like certain aspects of it,
you deal wif it yourself, before coming to terms wif it again.

pple and friends are not robots,
we don't program them or tweak them..
we accept them for who they are,
if we can't, den we gotta deal wif ourselves, not them.

i think it takes alot of self-discipline and humility,
to be accepting.
once we find ourselves being more accepting,
loving would come naturally thereafter..

disclaimer: mj and i are fully aware that God AND prayer are important! that it is integral, and not to be differentiated.