Had a brief talk with Ps Mark today (Sunday). And every conversation with him reminds me why he is Pastor Mark. It’s just so awesome to see how life can turn out so beautifully when it is crafted by God. The “aura” if I could say. The warmth, the wisdom and the “wow”. The 3 W’s of Pastor Mark. Haha.

And for those of you doubting, yes it was a brief talk. Managed to talk about grace (not a person in case u’re wondering) and legalism and antinomianism. I blame Ps Judah Smith for inciting this all, though I know God’s pulling all the strings in the background. The profound wisdom (of God) in Ps Mark sorted out some things about grace.

What is grace? In my mind right now, grace is the opposite of works. Why? Because I can fathom works so much easier than grace. Because grace is such a church term, and work such a worldly term and like Ps Craig said, the world makes it so much easier to keep score. And without a succinct 3-point sermon, Ps Mark somehow managed to clear things up from Focal Point 9 – A New Way to be Human. I can’t exactly put into words what Ps Mark said (though paradoxically words were used), but it makes a lot of sense, and once again, I end up on the point of balance. The part of Christianity I’ve always felt was the hardest, balance. Like Sarah pointed out (Biblically), a wise man avoids all extremes.

Apart from clearing up grace, also had the chance to talk briefly about friendship and the all sufficiency of Jesus. Ps Mark is amazing because Jesus is all He needs. If I could “idolize” (so sue me for using such a scandalous word) someone, it would be Ps Mark. For him, the word has become flesh. That Jesus is all he needs. That is a living truth in his life, and though I know I’m so far from there, that would be something I would want my life to end up in. For the centrality, supremacy and sufficiency of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to become a reality in my life. Like the song says “you can have all this world, but give me Jesus.” So hard in a world where loneliness is cold, and friendships being so warm and inviting. So hard to say Jesus is all I need. But to see that it is possible gives me hope J

And now 4 paragraphs later, I’ve reached the purpose of writing this down. God is so good at what He does. Taking a look at the 7 wonders of the ancient world, are they wonders because they can’t be created now? Not really. They aren’t wonders because of the level of sophistication and amazing brilliance that cannot be replicated today. Come to think of it, anyone, wanting, could rebuild the statue of Colossus, plant a better garden that the Hanging Gardens. But I believe they are wonders because of how they were built. The materials of which the people of old had to work with. Out of basic quality bricks they built the pyramids. Without automated metal smelting factories, they built amazing statues. A simple analogy I could think of right now is the NUS Rag and Flag. The floats there aren’t nearly as amazing as those seen at Chingay or other huge festivals, but if you’re from NUS, you know that every float is a wonder. Because it’s “RAG” and flag, every bit of the float is made of scrap. What the faculties have to work with, waste! And out of that, an amazing float is built. With just waste products, a wonder is created.

So that’s one aspect of a wonder, it may not be the most spectacular, but once you know what it was made out of, what people had to work with, our perspective suddenly changes, and it becomes a wonder in our eyes. Cuz really, the Great Wall isn’t really that big a feat, it’s really just a pile of bricks and if anybody wanted, they could build a more magnificent wall with the technology and equipment available today but it wouldn’t be a wonder. The other aspect of a wonder would be the age of the creator.

This one is pretty easy to illustrate, just look at the refrigerator of someone with a toddler. The scrawlings and doodles splattered over a piece of paper that remotely resembles a human face, or a house, that is the masterpiece of the house. We look at a primary school art exhibition and are impressed by the artwork, not by the “magnitude” of its beauty or skill exhibit in the works of art, but it’s a wonder to us because we know the age of the painters. Likewise university undergraduates that design robots that can hardly walk straight, but the very fact that it walks is an amazement when you find out it was done by a team of 20 year olds. Sure it pales in comparison to Aibo the dog, but it’s still a wonder. It may not be of the highest quality, but for that age, it is indeed a wonder.

And this brings me back to what I was thinking of, God is so good at what He does. Of course, God in Himself is a wonder. The sheer awesomeness, beauty, power, glory, majesty and omnipotency of Him is a wonder forever. But He takes it a step further. He says we are made in His image. It’s one thing to take the best quality materials, get the best designer to design it and build a wonder. It’s a whole other matter that God takes humanity in its fallen state, the worst possible material to fashion something in the image of God. And God, doesn’t just as the best designer in the world, step into your life and change things around. He does it, in fact everything, through His “hands and feet” While He Himself could just say the world and we would be perfect, He uses things in our lives, problems, friends, highs and lows to shape us into that image.

Everyone would agree that the Mona Lisa is an amazing piece of artwork. But what’s even more amazing is this video of a guy reproducing the Mona Lisa using not Photoshop or an amazing $5000 photoediting software, but by using Microsoft Paint!

And God is so good at what He does, He doesn’t need the best tools, not the best materials! Just like how a master guitarist doesn’t need 2 million (dollars of) effects pedals and another million dollar guitar to make amazing music. He can do wonders on my cheapo guitar. My guitar in the hands of John Mayor is worth more than the best guitar on sale at the Yamaha shop. God is so good at what He does He doesn’t just say the word and we’re changed. He uses every bit and scrap of life, all things, to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His name.

I just find it profoundly amazing, perhaps even more amazing than how awesome God is, that He endeavours to make, mould and shape us into His awesome image. That would be an amazing feat, a true wonder indeed. That as A R Bernard puts it, that He would collect JUNK, and turn them into million dollar masterpieces. He is so good at what He does, He doesn’t need photoshop to turn my grey skyline into a burst of Technicolor spring, He doesn’t need Final Cut Pro to turn the story of my life into a Hollywood blockbuster.

And God can do all that, regardless of what age we’re at. He doesn’t settle for mediocre, oh wow, that’s great for a 2 year old Christian. Yes, there’s a time for us to grow our basics. But the evangelists in the Bible that turned entire towns to Jesus did it within the day they were healed, touched by God. Peter only spent slightly more than 3 years with Jesus and preached a sermon that saved 3000, and obviously countless other examples. God is so good at what He does, He does have an age requirement to enrol in His school of making masterpieces and wonders. He is so good, He can do wonders as long as we yield to Him.

But like all wonders, the beauty is only truly appreciated when we hear the full story. The Great Wall is truly great when you hear the history of the Chinese people, the Pyramids, of the Jews. And our lives, the wonders and masterpieces of God, only truly wonders when we tell others of the amazing things that God has done in our lives. God is so good at what He does, and when we tell our friends (being the simple tools that God uses), He continues His “customized production line” of wonders.