God deals with us individually, systematically and thoroughly. His first task is to renovate our heart. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." The religious leaders of Jesus' time did a great injustice to themselves by focusing all their efforts on keeping up with the appearance of righteousnes and totally neglecting the essence of rigthteousness. That is why Jesus reserved the worst of rebuke for them in Luke 11:39, "Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?" Basically, the religious teachers got the order of righteousness in reverse. Instead of spring cleaning their hearts, they did major major construction works to their soon-to-perish outward appearance.
After the fall, men and women alike descend into the greatest struggle of all time. It is the struggle of self will and God's will. This struggle has turned many Christian lives into incoherent fragments. Without allowing God to renovate our hearts, we naturally surrender to what I call the "belly gods." We become subjected to the appetites of self. We succumb to the pleasures and temptations of this world almost unconsiously. We become spotless outside but are rotting inside. For a more graphic description of the dictates of the belly gods, read Phil 3:19 and Roms 16:18.
James brought up an issue that I believe is close to our hearts. He said that the life of a Christian can be summed up simply as "Obey self or obey God." And at the heart of this human option is the infinite power of our personal choice. It is our daily choice that will determine our ultimate destiny. It is also the most difficult choice of all. When Kwan Hong said, "surrendering all to God," it is surely an admirable quality and it coincides neatly with the sober words of John Calvin, "For as the surest source of destruction to men is to obey themselves, so the only haven of safety is to have no other will, no other wisdom, than to follow the Lord wherever he leads. Let this, then, be the first step, to abandon ourselves, and devote the whole energy of our minds to the service of God." In short, we are called to make the right choice and to carry the cross of Christ daily. For the cross is the true symbol of God's unfailing love for us.
For John Stott, the cross is the place where two lovers meet - God and his creation. It is the ultimate rendezvour point of sacrificial love. In his book Why I am a Christian, John Stott emphasized on the power of the cross by saying, "So the church has been right to choose the cross as its symbol for Christianity. It could have chosen the crib in which teh baby Jesus was laid (as an emblem of the incarnation), or the carpenter's bench (affirming the dignity of manual labor), or the boat from which he taught the people, or the towel with which he washed and wiped the disciples' feet (as symbols of humble service), or the tomb from which he rose again, or the throne he occupies today (representing his sovereignty), or the dove or the fire (emblems of the Holy Spirit)."
But the church wisely chose the cross as the symbol of Christianity. While the Catholic churches have its majestic architecture, grand pipe organ and glass ceiling, and Buddhism has its bronze statue of an unfazed Buddha, Christianity has nothing fancy to show but an old, rugged and bloodied cross. A cross which symbolizes the worst of mankind as well as the best of God's unconditional love. A cross which nails our creator to it and yet liberated his creation from it. A cross which condemns one man but lifts all condemnation forever.
There is surely something about the message of Jesus that tinkers more than our mind and strokes more than our curiosity. Most religious leaders died of natural causes in a good old age. Muhammad died at 62. Confucius at 72. Budhha at 80 and Moses at 120 (although his body was not found). But a good death was not Jesus' portion. He died at the prime of his life, 33. He died a condemned man. He died an unspeakable death.
To the secular world, Jesus died a complete failure, alone and defeated. But yet, his death changed the course of history in heaven and on earth. His death led a worldwide revolution that still resonates in the hearts of believers and non-believers alike. It is a revolution that first starts in the heart and impacts the world. So we have to give credit where credit is due. Either we accept Jesus as a lunatic or a savior. Either we believe his claim of deity or not. CS Lewis puts it best in his customary no-hold-bar description of Jesus, "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said woudl not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on a level with teh man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."
Jesus' death is a serious matter - serious enough for us to take him seriously. To say that he died for us is not specific enough. Correctly put, He died for our soul. He wants us to purify our heart. To renovate our spirit. To hanker after him. This is our first and most important calling. It is his love that changes all. God did not send his creation to die for us. He did not send Moses. He did not send Paul. He did not send Archangel Michael or Gabriel to the cross. He sent himself. This only tells us how much we mean to Him. The creator was crucified for his creation.
If you are the only coin that rolled into the far corner of the bed, God will reach out for you. If you are the only sheep that went astray, God will seek you out. If you are the only fish in the vast ocean, he will fish you out. If you are lost and desolate and has gone "prodigal", he waits for you like a father would wait for his son. Indeed, if we love Christ, it is because he loved us first.
CS Lewis describes his conversion as a game of hide and seek - with God being the relentless seeker. First God was "the great Angler" and CS Lewis never dreamed that the hook was in his tongue. Then, God was likened to a cat chasing a mouse. Next, God was described as a pack of hounds, seeking him out. Later, God was the Divine Chessplayer and gradually outmaneuvered him into an impossible position. Finally, at the end of the road, God "checkmated" CS Lewis as he gave his life to Him and never looked back.
Let me end with what our cell member,Nigel, shared at the cell. He said that when he surrenders to God, he feels immediate peace and calm. His heart is no longer harassed. His mind, at rest. His spirit satisfied. This I guess is the ultimate reward for a surrendered life: the reward of divine invincibility. Indeed, a heart contented is worth the world under our feet.
Have a victorious week...
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