My Weakness is Strength

Weakness #3: Working without purpose

2008-08-03T19:40:00.001-07:00

Today's sermon was titled "Don't waste your job". Basically a sermon on why our jobs in themselves are glorifying to God, and the attitude we are to have in our work. So it got me thinking to how programming actually is in itself worship. Let's start with two truths:

1. We are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27)
2. We are commanded to subdue the earth (Genesis 1:28)

For #1, it seems to me that we worship God by showing who He is in the image we bear. For example, our ability to laugh and be joyous is a reflection of God's joyous heart towards his people. So every time we laugh, we are in a sense telling others of God's character, hence glorifying Him and making his joy known on the earth.

Using this principle, I believe it can also be applied to programming. What does programming reveal about God's character? He's a creative maker of new things! Let's see what programming projects God has completed:

DNA

The craziest code ever written. A complete description of a person's physical and mental make-up. Ability to combine with another person's DNA to create a totally new and unique person. So complex that scientists don't know what the heck most of it even does.

Laws of Physics & Matter

Try thinking of a couple rules by which the entire universe must run on, and make sure they all work together in perfect harmony. Oh, and you're only allowed to use 3 building blocks (protons, neutrons, electrons). And create some intelligent self-sustaining life while you're at it.

So, although my programming skills are nothing in comparison to God's, through my creative work and creation of new code I am showing all a glimpse of God's creativity in his own creation. Cool.

For #2, God commands us to subdue the earth, which basically means ruling the earth and developing it. Since software is a huge part of our society and its development, by programming I am contributing to the development of mankind and therefore obeying God's command in Genesis.

In conclusion, it seems that programming in itself can be worship. By developing software I am emulating God's creative nature in developing us, as well as furthering the development of our society. Never thought of it that way before, but it will definitely make a difference in how I approach the work God has given me.

Now if I could only emulate his perfection, I wouldn't have to do all this debugging. Bah.

Weakness #2: Unproductive at work

2008-07-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

So... it seems that I'm becoming a lot more unproductive at work. It's partially their fault for not giving me enough to do, but I remember the first week during down times I would use the time to further my programming knowledge. Nowadays free time is spent going on digg and making games. Yup thats right, making games. My first one kinda looks like this:

You basically click 1 - 16 as fast as you can, trying to beat your high score. My second one looked like this:

Its a monster that chases your mouse, able to resize itself to different dimensions, and speeds up as time goes by. You touch it, you die.

So yea, in conclusion I need to be more productive. And make better games.

Weakness #1: Taking Jesus for granted

2008-07-14T17:57:00.000-07:00

"For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men."
- 1 Corinthians 15:16-19

What if God wasn't real? What would it be like if Jesus never rose from the dead? What if everything that atheists have been saying is true?

I think sometimes it's easier to be thankful for something if we imagine life without it. What would life be like without Jesus...

Entertainment

Still stuck in addictive mind-sucking games and spending every minute trying to stay entertained. I remember spending hours upon hours playing this game as I tried to escape from doing anything worthwhile. Thankfully God intervened in a way that my account didn't work anymore, and I threw off this baggage.

Worry

Stressed out of my mind as I last-minute cram for test after test. Even now I face the difficulties of school and procrastination. But it is during these times that I remember the calming peace that only Jesus provides. I don't know what I would have done without it.

Without Purpose

Goal in life: make money, buy a nice suburban house, marry a pretty wife, have one or two kids, retire early, die old. No hope after death. Living life while it lasts.

I wonder how they do it.

Hopeless

Still stuck in sin. No ressurection, no new life, no hope. Constantly striving to be a better person, and constantly failing. Looking for a salvation that doesn't exist. Waiting for the third day... fourth... fifth...

And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,
"Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die."
- 1 Corinthians 15:30-32

Hope

"But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive."
- 1 Corinthians 15:20-21

First Post

2008-07-04T21:55:00.000-07:00

Hello to all. As a newcomer to the blog world, I am still somewhat unacustomed to the blogger speak, so please excuse anything really weird you may read here. With that said, I shall proceed to explain the title.

"My weakness is strength" is derived from the verse in 2 Corinthians 12:10 which reads:

"That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

I cannot do anything in my weakness, but it is Christ in me who becomes my strength. To the world what may seem as weakness is to me a greater opportunity to display God's grace working in me. In this blog I hope not to write about my own strengths and achievements, but rather about God's strength and His achievements through even someone like me. Let me never become so strong as to forget the one from whom all strength comes from.

With that said, this first blog has come to a conclusion. Toodles.