Friday's Recap (250610)

Yesterday’s cell was all about churches. We talked about churches that grow exponentially and churches that grow on a tortoise-pace. We talked about churches that entertain like a contemporary pop concert and churches that lead with a solo guitarist. We talked about churches with charismatic, bring-down-the-house preachers and churches with protocol-abiding, somber pastors. As many as there are denominations in this world with their different doctrinal beliefs and practices, there are churches of mixed varieties catering to different groups of people, of all walks of life and ages. In all these, it is obvious that church-building and activities are a complicated affair. As the congregation grows, as tithe-money and offering flood the coffers, and as the budget becomes more ambitious, the leaders of the church also become busier, more distracted and even more territorial. There is always the unfortunate risk that pastors of mega-churches will sink into a Darwinian-like struggle for popularity and dogged competitiveness in order to stay a step ahead of other churches.

I always believe that successful churches, like big, international conglomerates, will have to contend with the problem of size one day because size matters. Managed unwisely and size may become their weakest link. There is a saying that when you find a perfect plan don’t bring people in, they only mess it all up. There is some ironic truth in this when it comes to leading and managing an organization, whether secular or charitable. As the church grows in numerical strength, the resources of the pastoral team will be helplessly stretched. With limited time and energy reserved for the week, the pastors would face a floodgate of demands that they cannot optimally fulfilled. They would be hard-pressed to cater to different interest groups with one being more influential than the others. By the simple and unstoppable force of numerical evolution, growth always comes with greater inequality. Some members, especially the richer sector, will want to be “served” or at the least “given more attention to” by the pastoral team, and this will usually be at the expense of the poorer, less vocal majority. Soon enough, the problem of inequality grows unwieldy and intractable with the pastors becoming more politician-like than Christ-like, pandering to one “electoral interest” while sidelining the others’.

To add to the confounding mix is the issue of pastoral strife. Since pastors are humans too, there is always a palpable risk of an internal administrative struggle for popularity among the congregants just like in any Miss Congeniality contest. It is unavoidable that one or two pastors would be more dynamic, charismatic and “spiritually” appealing to the congregation than the others. This subtle inequality, if not properly dealt with, will give rise to an ugly mudslinging-like egoistical fight between pastors and their respective secretaries behind closed doors. Unseen walls or barriers could be set up between “warring” pastors which not only retard the spiritual growth of the leadership structure but also the members under their charge.

At least, in a secular organization, driven almost solely by profit, the head honcho could fire recalcitrant employees at will. Alternatively, when the numbers get too large, they can always retrench or terminate staff to save costs and cut down on redundancy. As such, as these corporations grow, they can still effectively control their growth without getting out of control.

But how can a pastor of a mega-church do the same? How could a pastor bring himself to excommunicate members in order to manage the numbers without turning the church into an exclusive club for like-minded people? Mind you, Jesus’ invitation is still the same for all today, irrespective of race, language or religion, or during his days, Jews or gentiles, circumcised or uncircumcised. So, when a church suddenly finds herself on a stratospheric path to exponential growth, she needs more than just extra pastors and lay staffs to perform the following: keep the numbers under control, stay focus on the twin goals of evangelism and disciples-making, and shepherd the diverse interests and their spiritual needs.

In my view, runaway growth brings about runaway problems. Sometimes, these problems run in all directions that even the pastoral team cannot effectively contain.

Then, there is the question of building funds. When the church is small and village-like, money comes in drips and drabs, similar to an IV bag feeding glucose into a patient’s veins. There is hardly enough to support the lone pastor’s family, not to mention his church of rented crummy halls, foldable chairs and a second-rate guitarist.

Then, when the moment everyone is praying for arrives with unexplained growth exploding into the scene, the church suddenly have more money than she had asked for, or more appropriately, more money than she could say “no” to. With offered manna pouring into the church like the monsoon rainfall, the church now has to deal with money issues. Money is like an intemperate mistress in this church-growing business. She demands your full attention and you don’t need to love it to find yourself in the eye of an ever-growing financial storm. I know the all-too-familiar saying that the love of money is the root of all evil. The operative word here is of course “love”.

But in the context of a mega-church with Godly principles to uphold, it is my view that too much money, especially idle money, is the root of lame suspicion and worldly distractions. Human nature being human nature, we cannot remain “un-affected” by the presence of a bank account full of tithe-money waiting to be managed in a way that maintains a healthy balance between the pastoral goals and the contributors’ pious expectations.

Members entrust their hard-earned money to the church to keep the church going as a going-concern. The expectation is simple enough: to ensure its members grow firstly in quality (spiritually) and then in quantity (numerically). The order cannot be in reverse, that is, quality has to come first before quantity. Seen in this light, it is my view that the church has to strike a balance between discipleship and evangelism. While discipleship is inward growth within a church, evangelism is an outward growth more like an outreach to the world. Some churches have strong evangelism but weak follow up and discipleship programs. Others are just the reverse.

What are the pastoral goals then? Well, it is of course indistinguishable from that of its members, that is, discipleship and evangelism. But there is more to it than that. And any pastor who tells you otherwise is definitely one who is pastoring a small church of less than a hundredth strength. Because numbers complicate matters, it becomes even more complicated when they bring with them money, and lots of it, expecting the pastoral team to sow it for a bountiful harvest. But the member’ expectation sometimes differs with that of the pastorate’s.

As a pastor, you cannot please everyone. Especially if you are a pastor of a mega-church, you will have to decide how you are going to deal with the excess money that comes in faster than the members’ growth itself. You cannot go “crazy” by spending all on evangelism as it requires mammoth planning and available staff. The logistics itself is sometimes mind-boggling. You cannot also go to the extreme with discipleship programs because your pool of teachers and materials are all limited. The planning can be physically daunting too. In the meantime, you are still left with a bank vault of cash, standing idly by, waiting to be used. Given the limited options, you can only invest the money in some safe interest-bearing accounts or blue-chip stocks. But this is easier said than done.

Money like honey attracts more than just attention; it attracts modern day financial soothsayers. Couple with this saturated culture of materialism, there is always this risk that these financial soothsayers will tempt the pastoral team to cast their net further with their idle money. This always involves taking more risk for higher gains like investing in riskier upstart companies. This also involves spending the excess money on more questionable ends that blur the line of pastoral accountability like buying a bigger car for personal use, upgrading into a newer, more posh apartment or investing in a membership club exclusively for the pastoral staff. It may also involve investing in secular companies where the pastor effectively takes on the role of a weekday director, managing corporate affairs and making personal profit, whilst shepherding his beloved flock during the weekends, managing God’s affairs. Talk about serving two masters!

This is my personal conviction about today’s modern mega-churches: Examine yourself. Turn the searchlight on your own beliefs and practices. I believe that churches should not be trendsetters, whether by conscious design or cultural inadvertence. We are called to be set apart from this world and not to settle in with it. We are called to be Christ-centered. We are the Light of the world and not the world’s “Crystal Ball”; busy reflecting our own glory while pretending to serve God. We are the salt of this world and not the world’s steroid going “ga-ga” over numerical growth at the expense of spiritual depth. At the very least, our self-examination should bring us to a point of assessing whether we are a 3-mile-wide, 2-inch deep secularized culture, whereby we foolhardily mistake quantity for quality, busyness for spirituality, and wealth for member’s spiritual health. In other words, a church should be a place of true worship where we draw strength from God to spur one another on towards love and good works and not a circus of one sensational performance after another with the pastoral team taking on the role of a ring master, and the members becoming its well-trained livestock, at the beck and call of its master’s handy whip.

Many times, I ask myself, would Jesus have done it any differently? Jesus’ ministry was fortunately short-lived, just three years. But He planned it well, very systematic and yet simple and effective. He rounded up twelfth social rift rafts and put them on “real estate commission” to change the world with one mission, one simple motto: Jesus can, you can too!

I would classify Jesus as a church-planter, like a farmer who patiently sows his seeds on good soil. His seeds are his transformed disciples who are themselves effective church-builders. They all died for their cause, sacrificing their lives for the vision of their messiah. Whether Jesus or his disciples were rich or not is not really the issue. Jesus had made himself abundantly clear in his ultimatum to the rich young ruler. But this one thing is abundantly clear though, what they may lack in material wealth, they more than made it up with spiritual wealth by leading as an example and by being an inspiration to all to live up to and emulate.

But what if Jesus had lived in our modern age and to a ripe-full age of seven scores and ten, would he have done it any differently? Bordering on hypothetical blasphemy and chronological incredulity (since without his death, there would be no Christianity as we know it today), I would dare say, and this is only my own view, that He would still be the same “yesterday, today and tomorrow”. He would still be an itinerant church planter; not a trendsetter but an old fashion farmer. Sure, he would make use of today’s technology for his world outreach. Like Obama, Jesus would use the media and the internet to spread God’s word. But He would stay true to his preaching, living a life set apart from this world, standing up for the poor and the oppressed, being a peacemaker and a discriminate healer, comforting those who mourn and are broken in spirit, and always eternity-focused, faithful, hopeful and purpose-driven. Along with his unimpeachable qualities, Jesus may win many awards and accolades (even a few Nobel prizes), be invited to speak for nations and in world conferences, be showered with international praises and even material gifts and real estate beyond all that one could imagine. But with all the attention, glamour and wealth, would Jesus be swayed, influenced and tempted, or even derailed?

It is easy to say that because Jesus is Jesus, God incarnate, he would not be. But my answer is not predicated on that convenient reason. In Matthew 4, Jesus was handed, on a silver platter, the same temptation or opportunity, if not more seductive, by this world ruler at His most vulnerable. But His answer, which I believe would be the same today, was a cool intonation, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, you shall worship the Lord, your God, and Him only you shall serve.” You can’t get any more focused than that!

But let’s be objective. The obvious caveat here is that we are not Jesus. We are his disciples. We are imperfect, emulating the perfect. We are living under the shadow of what is to be the “glorious unraveling”. Needlessly to say, the church is imperfect because it is made up of imperfect worshippers, with their pet peeves and pet gripe; juvenile at best and malicious at its worst.

The church is not a museum for well-framed collections, spotless and finely polished. The church is a hospital for the sick and diseased; or else, there would be no cause for a savior.

So, after all is said and done, one has still to empathize with the plight of pastors of mega-churches. It is definitely not an easy job. The demands are both biblical and secular. On one side are discipleship and evangelism, and on the other side is, money managing. There is therefore no hard and fast rule for managing mega-churches. It takes Godly wisdom, a humble and surrendered heart, and a shepherd’s passion to manage it well. But, as a member of a reasonably large church for twenty plus years, I would like to offer this brief prayer to my church leadership as my peace offering and love token.

A short prayer for my shepherd

It is my prayer that my church will leave no members behind for numerical growth. That it will see the richness in the lives of her members and not in her structure, programs and budget. I pray also that my church will stand in the gap to pray for and uplift her members and, when overwhelmed, she will not hesitate to stand on the rock that is higher than all, so that she could see further and reach deeper into the hearts of her wandering flock. Most of all, I pray that my church will unquestionably serve one master who is the Christ and be a servant to all, in humility and unreserved devotion. In closing, I pray that my church will embrace brokenness and vulnerability and accept my limits as a member. In return, I pray that I will always remain faithful and devoted to my church, who is the bride of Christ, my fortress, my refuge, and my sanctuary. So help me God. Amen.

Friday's Recap (180610)

Yesterday’s cell was a discussion about convictions. We discussed how important a conviction, when acted upon, can change our life for good. We listed and commented on a few of them on these criteria - reflect (meaning) and relate (personalizing). Here are some of them that we had discussed.

TO KNOW WHEN YOU HAVE ENOUGH IS TO BE RICH (Lao-Tzu). I think richness is not defined by what we possess or what we have accomplished. It is no doubt important but it is not richness. Richness is the ability to enjoy what we have – even if what we have is the bare necessities of life. Proverbs 17:1 says this, “Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife”. I think the unhappiest person in this world is he or she who is bitterly envious of others. A person like that will never have peace because nothing is enough for him or her. Jesus said these words in Luke 12:5, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possession.” Greed robs us of the joy of living because it distracts us from enjoying what is truly important in our life. So, we need to redefine richness or wealth. If we see it as material possessions, then the striving will be endless because the world of branded goods and glittering fame is a bottomless pit. But if we see it in the relationships to be nurtured, then the investment would be worthwhile because the rewards for consistent efforts are a bountiful harvest in the end.

THE WORDS OF THE TONGUE SHOULD HAVE THREE GATEKEEPERS: IS IT TRUE? IS IT KIND? IS IT NECESSARY? (Arabian proverb) Standing sentry to keep our tongue from tripping over our clumsy foot are these three tower guards. James 1:19 tells us to be “quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry”. But many of us operate in the oral realm in reverse: we are usually slow to listen, quick to speak and fast to become angry. This is the irony of human communication. We always want our conversation to be delectable. But our tongue always gets in the way and we become despicable. So let’s allow these three gatekeepers do their job in all our conversation, whether heated or otherwise.

I guess the job of these gatekeepers is made difficult by these three loathsome gatecrashers: Is it controversial? Is it juicy? Is it self-serving? If they are, then the temptation is almost irresistible for us to blab it out like the South African vuvuzela! But we all know the dreaded outcome: relationships would turn sour, hatred would boil over, and regrets would dry the heart. So, in the long run, if you want to be a peacemaker for God, try replacing all the bunched up words in your mouth at that heated moment with these three friends of the gatekeepers: a smile, a nod and a reassuring wink.

WHEN YOU SEE A GOOD MAN, THINK OF EMULATING HIM; WHEN YOU SEE A BAD MAN, EXAMINE YOUR HEART (Chinese proverb). The Bible says that our heart is above all deceitful. There is therefore no one who is righteous before God. Whilst it is easy to throw stone at a sinner, it is hard to turn it around and throw it back at ourselves. Because we do not see clearly our errors, prejudices and arrogance, we are always moralizing about virtues and judging others who fall short of it – without realizing that we too come out short. Oftentimes, we mistake moralizing about virtues with living it out. That is why there is no such thing as a conscious hypocrite. You will inevitably notice that those who are right are always the quietest and those who are wrong are the noisiest because they have to drown out the protest of their own guilt. You will also notice that the “blaming” finger is always pointed at others and hardly at oneself.

Whilst it is easy and almost natural to emulate good men and women, how natural is it for us to examine our own hearts when we see a bad man falls from grace? Often, it is much more natural to gloat, judge and criticize. Rags to riches stories are inspiring, no doubt. But the sad human tendency is this: it is “more rewarding” to eagerly anticipate the inevitable fall of arrogant, rich and famous men and women. And when they do, we, like vultures, will swop in and chew off on the fleshly gossips until we become what the Bible calls “idle talkers” or “hypocrites”.

Here’s one caveat. I am not saying that we should not judge. If we have removed the log out of our eyes, then we may judge the act and not the person. For it is said, “…first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:5)

But I think we, as Christians, will do well to practise self-reflecting judgment. Because we are born of fallen seeds, we must always be on guard for ourselves. We must remember that we are just as fallible as the next fallen guy. So, when we read about the plight of bad men, we should give pause and look into St James’ mirror and remind ourselves of our own fallibility. This is a true high watermark of maturity and humility. And to be humble is to be wise.

WE ALL CLING TO THE PAST OR LONG FOR THE FUTURE, MAKING US UNAVAILABLE TO THE PRESENT (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh). Our lives are made up of past mistakes and hurts. Our lives are also made up of hopes, fear and anxiety for our future. But often, we forget that our lives are made up of choices and they are the little bricks that build us up, one stone at a time. If you notice, the only thing that is within our control is our choices and they exist for us in the present and not in the past or in the future. Choices in the past are clearly beyond us because they have already been made and we are living with its consequences. And choices in the future have yet to be made for the obvious reason that our future has not arrived.

The tragedy of life is to forcibly compress our past and future into our present; thereby effectively neutralizing our present into non-existence. We then become zombies in our own life, surrendering to the hurts of the past and wallowing over missed opportunities to build up our future. For this reason, Matthew 6 is our alarm siren. It tells us not to worry about life in general. It tells us that tomorrow will worry about itself. It reminds us that each day has enough trouble of its own. So, let’s wake up and smell the challenges of the present and leave the past to bury itself and the future to take care of itself.

In the end, our present is what really counts in this life. And it is important because choices made “in the here and now” will determine how we live our lives, how our past mistakes will affect us, and how we create our future. Let us all be present-oriented. Let us live our lives to make our present counts for the future. Let us be mindful of our present. Let us live consciously and not sleepwalk over our loved ones, neglecting them by dwelling in our past and worrying about our future.

So, in the wise words of Einstein, “I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.” I guess a proper extension of this would be, “I never think of the past. It is gone for good.”

THOSE WHO TRY TO DO SOMETHING AND FAIL ARE INFINITELY BETTER THAN THOSE WHO TRY TO DO NOTHING AND SUCCEED (Richard Bird). Nike is right. We should all just do it. It is far worst to live a life of regrets for things not done than to live a life blemished by mistakes for things done wrong. At least, for the latter life, we can proudly say that we had made the effort, we had lived by conviction, and we had been honest to our plans. You see, the beauty of this aphorism is that those who do nothing in their lives will always, without fail, succeed in it. But their success is ironic. It is a success of nothingness. There is nothing to brag about. Nothing to show. No legacy to inherit. But the opposite is hardly true of a life of consistent trying. It is said that every great journey starts with a small step – in the right direction of course.

For the consistent try-er, there is always the tangible hope of success waiting for him or her at the next try. Newton, Edison and Einstein are all household names because they are simply successful doers; they never gave up or gave in. They pursued their goals with tenacious focus and their success can be summed up as “undying trying”. This is the golden quality of true success. No powers, forces or circumstances in this world can stop the marauding steps of a persevering heart. James 1:12 endorses this championing spirit with these words, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”

Have a full throttle week ahead. Fail with panache; Succeed with class!

Friday's Recap (110610)

Yesterday’s cell discussion was about simplicity. How do we simplify our life so that we get more from less without the mental stress, emotional headaches and spiritual exhaustion? In other words, how do we achieve all-round success without burning out in the rat-race we call living? All of us want a peace of mind. We want to stay in control of things. We want to be above the hustle and bustle, the mindless strivings. We want to live consciously and not be a pawn in someone’s asset-accumulation gambit. But how do we stay mindful when the relentless demands of work, family and ministry seem to conspire together to keep us anesthetized, numbed and blindly compliant?

Let’s get this off my chest before I write further: our culture is a culture of fast food, fast work and fast results and we are compelled to either flow with it or get out of the way. As long as someone up there wants to get richer than he or she really is, workers like us will, for the long run, continue to work like oxen in an open estate. This is the grim reality of a capitalist market-driven economy. Mind you, communism is not much better. So, how do we keep our sanity in such a “me-first” culture? I think the antidote is to slow down in the fast lane. Gandhi once said, “There is more to life than increasing its speed.” And one of the effective ways to slow down is to simplify. I believe the process of simplification starts with our spirit and the benefits will eventually flow down to our actions and speech. I also believe that it is not the speed of our physical activity that stresses us out. It is the speed of our thoughts that throw us off-balance, or hurl us into a mental tailspin. We can control our thoughts by simplifying it. And, if we can do that, we would have eliminated one of the main causes of mental and emotional breakdown. Pope John XXIII declared, “The older I grow the more clearly I perceive the dignity and winning beauty of simplicity in thoughts, conduct, and speech: a desire to simplify all that is complicated and to treat everything with the greatest naturalness and clarity.”

I have thought long and hard about the secret of simplicity and we have also discussed about it at length yesterday. I guess nothing can be simpler living than to have a clear conscience. And we can start to live with a clear conscience by living with integrity (promise-keeper), refusing to keep scores (or grudge-bearing), and seeking forgiveness from those we have wronged. I know all these are easier said than done but the toughness is not in its execution, it is in its conviction. Every great accomplishment starts with a mind that has made up its mind. A person whose mind is duplicitous is a person who has yet to anchor his life on the foundational truth of God’s word. Jesus once made a seemingly silly statement, “Let what you say be simply Yes or No: anything more than this comes from evil.” (Matt 5:37). Whoa, was Jesus overreacting? Was it that serious that he had to evoke the word “evil”? I mean, most of us mean what we say and say what we mean. Our “yes-es” and our “no-es” are just that and nothing more. What’s the big deal?

A little clarity can be thrown into the mix by remembering what Jesus said about the path to true salvation. He once admonished that a person cannot serve two masters. We cannot pledge allegiance to God on a Sunday and then conduct our life as if our loyalty belongs only to the world or the devil for the rest of the week. This sort of hypocrisy does nothing but to deeply and profoundly mess up our spiritual life. Nothing can therefore be more complex than a life dedicated to two masters. Just like night and day cannot mix, our Christian walk cannot be effective if we follow God and collude with the devil at the same time. So, our yes and no should remain just that. But Jesus is not talking about oral affirmations. He is referring specifically to our spiritual conviction. He is talking about being consistently disciplined in our thoughts, actions and speech. He is telling us to make up one mind and stick with it regardless of trials and tribulation, temptations and deceptive schemes.

A simple life is one which serves one master and stays faithful to him. This is the overriding principle of simplicity. The rest of the principles are mainly footnotes or commentary and they can be briefly listed as follows:-

Put relationship first, always. A simple life starts with building and treasuring relationships above material possessions and ambitions. I know that I am taking a risk here by prioritizing relationships above material wealth. I have personally witnessed many train-wrecked relationships that went sour, even deadly, in the ugly manifestations of divorces, sibling rivalries and workplace backstabbing. But I believe that their causes are not because relationship is not important. It is precisely because relationship is relegated while personal egoistic striving is enthroned that many relationships suffered disastrously. Imagine a world, and this is not hard to imagine, where relationships are priced above all things. Imagine how one would refuse to backstab because it will drive a wedge between him and his colleague. Imagine a spouse giving up the offer of higher pay for the sole reason that he would have less time to spend with his wife and family; thereby jeopardizing their long term relationship. Imagine nations putting down their swords to reconcile and make amends for past killings and pillaging. I believe that if people make a conscientious effort to put relationships first in all their dealings, this world would be a happier, more peaceful place for all. Wishful thinking? Well, all big dreams are wishful thinking until someone is prepared to stand up to the plate and start that spark that spread into a wild forest fire of universal change.

Forgive unconditionally. This is tough. Simplicity has its price. Some people are incorrigible. And because they are incorrigible, they are difficult to forgive. You guys know what I am talking about. That person who seems so difficult to pardon can be your colleague. Your boss. Your estranged relative. Your ex-spouse. Even your current spouse, sometimes. But forgiveness is no respecter of persons. It starts with you and ends with you. Don’t expect it to go any further than you. That’s why it has to be unconditional. Don’t expect immediate reconciliation or restoration. Sometimes, that person may spit at you or call you names. But it is really out of your hands, you have done what you are created for, that is, to forgive unconditionally. When you forgive, expect nothing in return. A demand-less forgiveness releases you from the pain and hurt of that transgression and enables you to move forward with your life, step by step. From there onwards, this freedom from resentment and grudge would greatly lighten your load and simplify your life.

Love unconditionally. This is a relevant principle of simplicity because true love comes with little, if no, conditions. This is where we accept our loved ones for who they are, what they are. No couple is perfect. Two imperfect lives can generate a lot of friction, misunderstandings and conflicts. Sometimes, the arguments can get so intense that an immediate split up seems almost irresistible. But hold that thought. It is not a point of no return. Couples must learn to accept their partners’ flaws as well as their strengths. Loving unconditionally requires an open heart that sees how one’s flaws can be transformed and how one’s strength can be sharpened. It takes a lot of patience sometimes but the reward, especially in the context of a marriage, is immeasurable. I always believe that it is simpler to join synergistically a couple’s strength together to overshadow their collective flaws rather than to just give up the relationship and find new love. Proverbs 27:17 puts it this way, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”

Make everyday count. A simple life has little regrets. And regrets come to those who live their days recklessly. I urge you guys not to go through the motion of each day as if you are following someone’s agenda. This is of course difficult since we are all so busy, so flooded with work. Maybe in our busyness, we can resist the flow and extract ourselves from the torrent of deadlines, and idly sit by the wayside to consider what we want to achieve for ourselves, our family and our spiritual life. There is always sometime that is missing in our life and it only takes a little time-off to ponder so that we can identify what is truly important, what really matters. It doesn’t need to be big goals or grandiose dreams. It can be as down-to-earth as “how to love my wife better”, “how to be a good father” or “how to make a difference in my workplace, to demonstrate Christ-like traits to my colleagues.” It is because we are so busy making a living that we forget to live life fully, to fill the lost hours with meaningful activities with our children, and to smile more instead of losing our temper and frowning at the slightest agitation. Remember this, above basic subsistence level, the income-earner is always more important than the income itself.

Live with boundaries. We cannot please everyone. This is a fact. People without boundaries will tirelessly help everybody but himself or herself. He is busy tending to the needs of others at the expense of his own life. Sometimes, even his family members are neglected. A balance has to be struck because the time allotted to us and the energy that God gave us are all limited.

Galatians 6:2 talks about “carrying each other burdens” but a later verse (verse 5) reminds us that “each one should carry his own load.” So, there is a different between “burdens” and “load”. The Greek word for burden is “excess burdens.” The burdens of life have to be shared because it is too heavy for one to bear alone. I interpret this as trials of life, which encompasses a death in the family, a terminal illness or a financial crisis. As Christians, we help each other in such terrible loss or crisis and do our utmost to relief one’s burden of it. We strive to give in support and lend a listening ear to those whose lives are burdened and ravaged by circumstances beyond their control. However, the Greek word for load is “daily toil.” This is our daily responsibility and we are more than able to bear them on our own. Our family is our responsibility and we work to take care of them. They are our daily load and we have broad enough shoulders to carry them. The problem comes when we neglect our “daily load” because of ill-defined boundaries and go out of our way to carry the burdens of others. So, to live simply, is to take responsibility for ourselves and our family first. We make sure they are well provided, physically, emotionally and spiritually, before we extend a helping hand to others.

Live with hope. When hope dies, our life is like a chicken that has lost its head. We spatter and sputter; we go ditzy and wobble in circle. It doesn’t take long for one to lose his will to live when hope fizzles off. Hope in times of trouble and discouragement is the oasis to keep us moving forward towards our goal. And hope in the Lord, the author and finisher of our faith, is the reason for us to run the race to the end to attain the reward that awaits us. A simple life is a life buoyed by hope, a life that is confident in the face of peril, and a life that is always focused on his ultimate deliverer, who is his Creator and Savior. Psalms 33:16-19 echoes this sentiment well, “No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.”

Finally, there is TRUST. Yesterday, we discussed about trust at length. I believe that if we were to peel off the “skin” of a simple life, layer by layer, we will find at its core this powerful principle called TRUST. Trust makes everything go smoothly. It is the “grease” that spins the cogwheel of human relationships. It is said that speed happens when people truly trust each other. Isn’t this so true?

Indeed, when couples trust each other, they have peace of mind in everything that they do, even when each of them are physically miles apart. When a boss trusts his employees, for the sole reason that they are trustworthy, he can concentrate on other sector of his business and get more things done at lesser time. The opposite of trust is distrust and a life filled with suspicion can be terribly complicated because the mind is always at a state of unrest, wariness and anxiety. So, if you really desire to live a simple life, to reap the profit of simplicity, to enjoy its fruits, learn to be trustworthy and to trust your loved ones in return.

Let me end with this quote from an educator and religious leader, Neal A. Maxwell, “It is better to trust and sometimes be disappointed than to be forever mistrusting and be right occasionally.”