8 Kebaikan Apabila Kamu Mengawal Penggunaan Media Sosial

Ramai orang beranggapan bahawa dunia mereka akan hancur jika mereka tidak menggunakan media sosialwalaupun hanya setengah hari. Media social seperti Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blog dan sebagainya, banyak mengambil masa kita dan ada yang percaya bahawa semua ini sangat penting. Hey, dunia tidak akan berakhir jika kita tidak menggunakan laman media sosial! Malah, banyak kebaikkannya jika kita tidak atau boleh mengawal penggunaannya. Di sini saya mendapati sekurang-kurangnya ada 8 kebaikkan:

1) Kamu boleh lebih fokus tentang kehidupan kamu berbanding dengan kehidupan orang lain. Apabila kita tidak ‘menjaga tepi kain’ orang – tentang kehidupan dan pencapaian orang lain, contohnya – dan lebih fokus tentang kehidupan peribadi kita sendiri, kita akan lebih mudah menerima baik buruk diri sendiri (dan menyerahkannya kepada Tuhan) tanpa perlu membuat perbandingan dengan pencapaian orang lain.

2) Kamu boleh lebih fokus untuk berinteraksi dengan dunia realiti di sekeliling kamu. Apabila kita kurang atau tidak seringkali memeriksa telefon pintar untuk mengetahui perkembangan di dunia digital, kita akan lebih fokus untuk bercakap dengan orang di sekeliling kita. Apabila kita berkomunikasi dengan orang lain secara bersemuka, banyak perkara yang kita dapat belajar (secara mendalam) berbanding dengan perkara-perkara yang dikongsikan di dunia media sosial.

3) Kamu tidak perlu risau samada ada orang telah memberi komen atau respon di Twitter atau menekan butang “like” di laman Facebook kamu. [Tidak perlu saya huraikan]

4) Kamu tidak perlu berinteraksi dengan orang yang kamu tidak suka. Oleh kerana kita pernah bersekolah atau pernah berkawan dengan mereka dahulu, ini tidak bermaksud kita masih lagi ada persamaan dengan mereka. Atau mungkin kita sudah berubah sekarang sehinggakan kita tidak lagi sesuai untuk bergaul dengan mereka.

5) Kamu tidak perlu lagi merasa janggal atau sakit hati dengan orang yang selalu meluahkan perasaan dan menunjukkan gambar yang tidak sesuai di laman media social. Kadang-kadang perkara seperti ini tidak perlu kita tahu... merosakkan jiwa dan minda sahaja!

6)  Banyak perkara dan kerja yang kamu boleh siap. Sentiasa memeriksa laman media sosial waktu pejabat atau semasa melakukan kerja banyak mengambil masa kita. Sebaliknya, apabila kita tidak atau mengurangkan masa untuk media sosial, banyak kerja atau perkara dapat dilakukan.

7) Kamu akan memiliki hidup kamu kembali! Apabila kita tidak membenarkan laman media social untuk mengatur dan mengawal hidup kita, kita akan beroleh hidup. ‘Hidup’ di sini bermaksud fikiran dan hati kita. Tidak perlulah kita khuatir tentang apa yang akan dikongsikan oleh orang lain di laman  media sosial. Kita sekarang mempunyai lebih masa dan fokus untuk mendengar dan berbicara dengan orang lain di sekeliling kita. Kita akan menpunyai hidup yang aktif dan bukannya pasif menunggu ‘hidup’ datang kepada kita melalui laman media sosial.   

8) Kamu ada masa untuk berdoa dan membaca Firman Allah. Kurang berdoa dan membaca buku terutamanya – Alkitab –adalah satu masalah yang besar terjadi dikalangan orang muda sekarang kerana banyak masa terluang digunakan untuk media sosial (ada membaca, tetapi membaca bahan yang tidak berfaedah untuk kehidupan orang Kristian). Apa yang sangat diperlukan sekarang ialah orang Kristian yang tidak mudah terpengaruh dengan isu-isu yang remeh-temeh dan mula melihat dan melakukan sesuatu yang boleh memberkati orang lain di sekeliling kita. Yesus berkata, “Kasihilah Allah” dan “sesamamu”, “utamakan dahulu kerajaan Allah” dan “merenung Firman-Nya siang dan malam” (bukan laman media social).

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Servant Leadership is More about Character than Style

A Palestianian shepherd

“Servant leadership is more about character than style” (Ken Blanchard)

In his book, Servant Leadership, Robert Greenleaf defines two kinds of leaders. Strong natural leaders are those who try to take control, make decisions, and give the orders in any situation in which they find themselves. They have a need to be in charge. Strong natural servants, on the other hand, will assume leadership only if they see it as a way in which they can serve.

You would think that natural leaders would use a directive, autocratic style while natural servants would use a more supportive, participative style. This assumption falls short because it confuses style with character.

I want to be led by strong natural servants because they are willing to use whatever leadership style – directive, supportive, or some combination – best serves the needs of those they lead. Remember that the primary biblical image of servant leadership is that of the shepherd, because the flock is not there for the sake of the shepherd; the shepherd is there for the sake of the flock.*

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

*taken from Ken Blanchard’s The Heart of a Leader: Insights on the Arts of Influence.

Our Doings are the Reflection of Our Thinking and Theology

A kid was asked to do an assignment,
"If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?"

Like it or not, people will judge us by our actions. Small acts of kindness are not insignificant gestures, they are thoughtful expressions which say, without verbalization, “God loves you.” Unfortunately, to many, small acts of kindness are becoming a lost art. Don’t let this happen. Be the one who still place on importance on small acts of kindness which make others feel important in the eyes of God and you.

It is good for us to know that people are not so interested in hearing us expound on our particular philosophy of life or our theological knowledge on everything. I’m not saying that all of these are not important – it is! – But first people are more interested in seeing how our beliefs and convictions are working.

Our actions are reflections of our thinking and theology. If others see that we are joyful, self-control, patient, kindness, truthful, they will ask what we are doing to make these things happen. How God have changed your life. There is not need to be “preachy” because, as the saying goes, “More truth is caught than taught.” Religious people may talk about peace, love, faith and their great happiness in religion, but all we have to do is look at their lifestyles to know just how well it is working. Lord Jesus puts it this way about the false prophets and those who claim their pious religiosity: “By their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 7:16, 7:20). Are you exercising your faith now?

The Holy Spirit be with you. Amen.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Use Plain Language

We simply cannot communicate with others unless we learn how to use plain language. Something definitely lacking in our ability to communicate if what we says cannot be understood by a child (I still have this difficulty though). Now this may sound ridiculous, but is it true. In my early years as a Christian staff worker, I discovered that the effectiveness of my Bible Study with students was directly related to how simple I could make complicated, hard teachings easy to understand (or at least help them to think systematically about it).

The burden of holding someone’s attention, whether it be an audience or individual, falls on us. And no one will pay attention to what they don’t understand. I observe that many passionate first-time urban Christians when they go to rural area for mission trip cannot communicate with those on a lower knowledge level because they have never learned or been taught how to make Bible teachings simple enough. If someone fails to understand us, it does not necessarily mean that they are stupid or rebellious. More than likely, we have not explained our point clearly or simply enough. Not being simplistic but plain and simple.

Read the Gospel’s stories and you’ll noticed that Jesus doesn’t communicate the truths in a King James’s language, He talked in plain language – the contemporary language of the people. He speaks great truths in everyday language and parables. Let’s learn lesson from Jesus and use simple stories, demonstrations, parables and examples to convey what we mean, what God mean. In communicating Biblical truths we must rely on the Holy Sprit to open people’s hearts and their mind’s eyes to accept and understand the truth. But it doesn’t mean that we’re not responsible on how they received it. We must, by all cost, learn to use plain language so that people can genuinely respond to Jesus’ work on the Cross and says, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28).

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Seventeen Messages (Sort of) from God

In 1998 a Fort Lauderdale advertising agency launched a billboard campaign (including the inside and outside of buses) that included seventeen different “messages from God”:

1. Let’s meet at My house Sunday before the game. God 
2. C’mon over and bring the kids. God 
3. What part of ‘Thou shalt not…’ didn’t you understand? God 
4. We need to talk. God 
5. Keep using My name in vain and I’ll make rush hour longer. God 
6. Loved the wedding; invite me to the marriage. God 
7. That ‘love thy neighbor’ thing; I meant it. God 
8.  I love you… I love you… I love you. God 
9. Will the road you’re on get you to My place? God 
10. Follow me. God 
11. Big Bang theory; you’re got to be kidding. God 
12. My way is the highway. God 
13. Need directions? God 
14. You think it’s hot here? God 
15. Tell the kids I love them. God 
16. Need a marriage counselor? I’m available. God 
17. Have you read my #1 Best-seller? There will be a test. God

If God is not all things to you, He is not everything to you.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Don't Worry about Tomorrow

It is said that worry is wasting today’s time to clutter up tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday’s trouble. Consider the things we worry about. The average individual’s worries can be divided into four categories. First, which constitute 40% of worries, are the things that will never happen. Second, which constitute 30% of it, are things over and past that can’t be changed by all the worry in the world. Third, constitute 22% of which that are petty and needless worries. And fourthly – only 8% of the whole – are legitimate worries.

William Arthur Ward warned, “Worry distorts our thinking, disrupts our work, disquiets our soul, disturbs our body, disfigures our face. It destroys our friends, demoralizes our life, defeats our faith, and debilitates our energy.” Worry, in the Scriptures, produces threefold reaction (no Bible quotes needed. These are general, most obvious truths): First, God’s love is doubted. Worry implies that He cares little for His Christ’s blood-washed children. Second, God’s wisdom is doubted. Worry indicates that He is not able to plan for His own children, that He does not know what is best for them who belong to Him. And thirdly, God’s power is doubted. Worry says His grace is not sufficient for our needs.

We need not to worry about tomorrow because in Christ, God is with us. Never doubt His love, wisdom and power in our lives. Jesus in His famous sermon said: “[Do] not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?... Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:25, 34, NIV). Worry is not the way His children ought to lives. Our mission is not to worry about tomorrow but to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (6:33) today!

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Be Kind

by Unknown

God, make me kind!

So many hearts are breaking

And many more are aching

To hear the tender word

God, make me kind!

For I myself am learning

My own sad heard is yearning

For some sweet word to heal its hurt.

O Lord, do make me kind!

God, make me kind!

So many hearts are needing

The balm to stop the bleeding

That my kind words can bring.

God, make me kind!

For I am also seeking

The cure in someone’s keeping

They should impart to my sick heart,

O Lord, do make me kind!

God, make me kind!

So many hearts are lonely,

Are asking for this only –

The kind and tender word

God, make me kind!

To all who mutely ask it

Before they fill the casket,

Or bouquets may be wreaths some day

O Lord, do make me kind!

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.