Sunday, October 01, 2006
The old nature and the new nature

This was the content of my Young Preacher's Contest Round 2. No, I am not going to post my sermon here. Didnt get into finals. It's ok. I had fun. This time, I did even more prep than before. I changed my sermon many times cos I just felt that something was not right. Something didnt flow. Somewhere, I'm stuck.

Preparing the sermon wasn't easy. Creative juices need to plenty. The 2-point sermon heading had to be fully in-line with the sermon title. The passage though may not have anything to do with baptism, must somehow lead to baptism and linked to the title. Not easy man. Then you got to think of presentation. How to connect with the audience and make it relevant to them. The most difficult was the memorising. I salute Pastor Khong for his 3 point sermons, that probably last more than 30 mins. How did he get all those words crammed into his head? Kudos to him.

Something about the old nature, or rather the evil nature that we all have within us, waiting to surface whenever there's an opportunity. Think the black dog is an opportunist.

Just few days back, I went to the supermarket to get some ingredients for making snowskin mooncake. Yes, I know how to make them, but of cos wont be Raffles Hotel's standard, but still edible.

When I was making the purchase, I noticed that he forgot to charge me $11 for the durian filling. I kept quiet cos the black dog told me so. Hurriedly, I left the supermarket and made other purchases. My heart was not there cos my mind was in a confused state. My black dog and white dog are fighting big time.

White dog: You should go tell him he forgot to charge you. Pay to Caesar what is Caesar.
Black dog: No what, it's his fault. He forgot to charge you. None of your business. Just his luck.
White dog: Cannot like that. Cannot rob God. You are dishonest. Bad girl.
Black dog: God will forgive you one. He understands. Grace what.

The conversation kept repeating in my head while I was heading the bus stop. Eventually I decided to head back to the supermarket and tell the truth. The man was surprised to see me, even more surprised by my honesty. Even the lady at the other cashier commented: " You are really honest."

I thought happily to myself at the comments that I fought a good fight. The battle of the dogs is so real. At that moment of weakness, I almost fell into the trap of the devil. Thank God, my white dog has been strong and overcame the dark forces of the evil nature. Hallelujah!