This Easter weekend I read an inspiring true life story of Thomas and Marilyn Rose. This resilient couple is the founder of Waymaker Ministries. They are evangelists who had travelled to many parts of the world, including West Africa, to bring the message of hope to the lost.
Ever so tireless and sacrificial are their lives in serving God and expanding His kingdom that you would think God would have rewarded their ceaseless effort with showers of blessing. Think again... Their lives were once tested by misfortunes and tragedies tantamount to enduring one big emotional storm after another and these tragedies would have surely stretched any human spirit to breaking point. However, they stayed the course and fought the good fight and ran the race admirably. Today, their won’t-give-in testimony is recounted in their book called The Valley of Decision – What do you do when the Trials of life Overwhelm you?
The First Trial
The Rose family had three lovely, charming children: Ben, Lacey and Rachel. Everything was going well for them until one day the head of the family, Tom, experienced some discomfort in his chest. He also got tired easily and he felt slightly nausea at times. He then decided to go for a seemingly routine medical checkup.
When the results came out, Tom was devastated. Doctor told him that he had congestive heart failure. This was how Tom wrote about it, “After a battery of tests the doctors concluded that my body was a mess. They said my kidneys had shut down, which was the reason for my weight being high. Through the use of diuretics, they took thirty pounds of water off me in about ten days. My liver was inflamed and swollen, which accounted for the yellowish color of my skin. My lungs had filled with fluid, and my heart had enlarged. Last of all, my thyroid was barely functioning.” Despite this, there was a silver lining. The doctor told Tom that his body would rally up to a complete recovery with proper medication.
But over time, he suffered several heart failures and the doctors gave him this verdict - more like a death sentence, “Mr Rose, I am sorry to tell you, but there is no hope for you outside of a heart transplant. Some sort of virus has attacked your body. We have not been able to determine what the virus is. It might have been something you contracted recently, or it quite possibly could have been a virus you picked up overseas in Vietnam.” You see, Tom served in the military in Vietnam for six years in 1971.
Then, the doctors executed Tom’s hope with these words, “At the present time, your heart is only contracting at 15% of normal capacity. There isn’t a thing we can do for you except attempt to give you a new heart.”
You can imagine the agony that Tom was experiencing at that time when the doctors dropped the bombshell of his very fragile mortality. On a whole, we can generally survive a betrayal by a close friend, recover from a financial crisis or even brave through a failed marriage. But to be told at the prime of your life, when everything is going so smoothly for you, and when you are just enjoying the best part of marriage in the eyes of your three precious children, that your life is going to end soon, very soon, is one trial that forces you to make immediate, painful changes in your life.
Tom knew that he had to be strong for his family. He knew that he might not live to see his children’s graduation or walk down the aisle with them. Or carry his grandchildren. He also dreaded the thought that to his grandchildren, he would only be a printed face in the family photo album and nothing more. But, Tom remained strong for them, and cited Psalms to keep hope afloat, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.”
Tom indeed kept his spirits up until the next trial came along. It would be a trial that would test his faith in God to the core.
The Second Trial
The second trial came in a forceful whirling of a helicopter. Tom heard the helicopter flying over his house when seconds later, the phone rang. It was Tom's mother calling. She called to tell Tom of a terrible accident nearby. Before this phone call, Tom had allowed his sister to drive his two children, Ben and Lacey, to the skating rink. It doesn’t take an intelligent guess to know what the second trial is. Tom’s two children, Ben and Lacey, were involved in a horrible accident that required them to be airlifted to a nearby hospital. In fact, Ben was pinned in the car and the paramedics took over an hour to cut him out. That hour was an eternity for Tom and his wife, Marilyn.
In the hospital, Tom, Marilyn and their family members prayed like never before for their children to survive the accident. They waited feverishly as the team of doctors operated on them. At that time of the accident, Ben was only 9 and his sister, Lacey, 12. In all good conscience, nobody that young should be allowed to undergo such trauma and pain, especially when their whole family devoted to and worshipped a loving and all-powerful God. Alas, good conscience did not prevail.
Hours passed and the doctor came out of the surgery room and approached Marilyn, “Mrs Rose, I am afraid your son is brain dead. He has been for some time.” The news floored Marilyn. Her whole life fell apart. She wept uncontrollably. Her husband also wept with her. However, the doctor did not stop there.
A life for many
At such a terribly painful and difficult time, the doctor mustered the courage and made a seemingly ill-timed request, “I know this is hard for you," the doctor said, "but a representative from Trans-life is here if you would like to consider donating Benjamin’s organs…” I know that I am not qualified to say that I understand how Tom and Marilyn must have felt at the moment the request was made. At least, in all logic however unscientific, a body intact still gave some hope to them that Ben could be revived miraculously. Miracles do happen you know. But to assent to giving away their son’s organs would surely and effectively kill all hope of a miracle. Talk about crossroad, life-and-death decision!
Tom nevertheless made that painful decision. He wrote in his book, “I agree to donate Benny’s organs. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done; yet I can truly say I am glad I did. Weeks later when I needed encouragement, a letter came from Trans-life, which told us a thirteen-year-old girl was alive and doing well after receiving Ben’s heart. In addition to that, an eighteen-month-old baby girl had received his liver. Finally, a fifty-year-old man and fifty-one-year-old woman were now off dialysis because of his kidneys.”
This powerful, touching testimony brings a whole new meaning to this Easter weekend. It demonstrates to believers the true message of Calvary; that is, how a life given up so painfully and completely can bring renewed hope and life to some many people.
Then, amidst the trials, Tom and Marilyn received some comforting news about Lacey, their daughter. Two weeks after they had lost Ben, the doctors told them that Lacey was off the respirator and she was going to recover. But the joy was short-lived. This was to be the Rose Family's 3rd Trial.
The Third Trial
The next morning, they received a call from the hospital and were told that Lacey had suffered a massive heart attack. The doctor admitted that the heart attack was caused by an injection of a medication to slow her heart down. But the effect of the medication caused her little heart to stop completely. The hospital staff then rushed to revive her with paddles. The days that followed would result in the death of their precious little princess.
“As the days wore on, Lacey’s condition worsened," Tom recalled. "The devastation caused by this condition is beyond description. Ten days after that call to return to the hospital, Lacey, swollen beyond recognition, went home to be with the Lord. It was a slow, agonizing death. The doctors who had worked so hard trying to save her was devastated…I saw him sit on the floor at Marilyn’s feet, tears streaming down his face.” This time, even the doctor cried with Tom and Marilyn.
A rose trampled
In one seemingly random, cruel act of nature so blind and unapologetic, everything that gave meaning and hope to Tom’s life and family were taken from them. At least when Tom was told he had heart problems, he could pray for a miracle to live long enough to see his children’s graduation and wedding, and possibly his grandchildren. But now, in their death, this miracle is never going to happen.
At ground zero, Tom cried out, “It seemed as though Marilyn and I had come to the end of our rope. Over the past several months, we had lost our business. Because we could not pay the rent, we were being asked to vacate our home. I had lost my health, and now we had lost two of our three children. There did not seem to be one aspect of our lives that had not been devastated. It was at this point that we began to ask ourselves the question, “Does God really love us?” Can you blame them for asking?
Trial of Trials
I have seen many lives wrecked for reasons beyond consolative explanation. No one could explain to me adequately why terrible things happened to the most innocent and undeserving of us all. Many will attempt to present a theory for our suffering. Many will want to distinguish themselves by making sense of our sorrow and pain. But there is apparently no answer other than the answer that there is no answer. That is why Romans 12:15 says, “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.”
We can only weep with the weeping. When in the company of the despair, listening is the best consolation; words only compound the confusion. A family therapy, Daniel Gottlieb, who had his share of life’s problems, once wrote in his touching book, Letters to Sam, “When I am in a dark tunnel, I want to be with people who love me enough to sit in the darkness with me and not stand outside telling me how to get out. I think that’s what we all want. When you are hurt, be close to people who love you and who tolerate your pain without passing judgment or giving you advice. As time passes, you will long less for what you had yesterday and experience more of what you have today.”
A chain of pearls
Daniel Gottlieb is also a renowned practicing psychologist who suffered a misfortune that changed his life completely. In his fifth year of marriage, his wife contracted cancer and the disease put a stain on their marriage and finances. Five years later, another tragedy befell on him. In Letters to Sam, he recounted “…shortly before our tenth wedding anniversary, I was on the thruway, driving out to my uncle’s house to pick up a new car – an anniversary surprise. Only later would I learn what had happened. A hundred-pound wheel flew off an oncoming tractor-trailer, bounced across the road, and landed on the roof of my car. I heard nothing – saw nothing. My neck was broken, the spinal cord severed between my fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae. I could still talk. I had feeling in my face and shoulders. I was alive, and I was a quadriplegic.”
Like a chain of pearls, trials come in a bundle. When Dr Gottlieb's grandson, Sam, was born, he had PDD – pervasive developmental disorder. This means that Sam was autistic. Autism is a robber of opportunities for contact, intimacy and even love. Autistic children are almost always easy target for school bullies since they are socially unresponsive, they see human beings as devoid of emotions like mannequins or objects, and they are unable to defend themselves or act in socially acceptable ways.
The life of an autistic child is always painful for the parents. Cases of severe autism can turn a child into a violent person with self-mutilating tendencies. They can bang their head against the floor or wall until their whole head is covered in blood. They can get involve in fights that threaten life and limbs.
The seriousness of Sam’s condition prompted Dr Gottlieb to compile a series of touching letters written especially for his grandson. In one of the letters, he advised, “Sam, you are the product of the great love that two wounded souls have found. I love you every moment of every day. And I love you for the joy you have brought to my daughter…Sam, I want you to know that being different is not a problem. It’s just being different. But feeling different is a problem. When you feel different, the feeling can actually change the way you see the world.”
The triumph of optimism
Indeed, many of us are driven slavishly, like sheep to the slaughter, by our distorted feelings when we are struck by personal calamity. I know it is not easy or even natural to feel good after something bad has happened. But that’s not the problem. The problem is that we feed our feelings with negative thoughts, revile it with discouragements and starve it with hopelessness. And if we do it long enough, our world becomes darker and darker. It is like sentencing ourselves to life in a prison of despair. Although we cannot prevent tragedy from crashing into our life like a bad dream, we can surely over time prevent negative, hopeless and condemning thoughts from remaining in our life. Remember it is your life, your house, your rules.
William Arthur Ward once wrote, “Real optimism is being aware of problems but recognizing the solutions, knowing about difficulties but believing they can be overcome, seeing the negatives but accentuating the positives, is exposed to the worst but expects the best, has reason to complain but chooses to smile.”
In life’s tragedy, we are both victims and victors at the same time. We are victim to our circumstances because tragedy are beyond our control. They happen when we least expect it. But, they are also transient.
Just as we are victims to our circumstances, we are victors as well. We are victors in the way we choose to respond to the circumstances that victimize us. This philosophy is as old as Adam himself. We can let a little light into our darkroom every day and it will slowly but surely brighten the whole room. We can distract ourselves from the pain and fill our hours with meaningful activities, impacting lives for God. We can learn from our adversity and be grateful for the wisdom that it brings.
The famous nineteenth century revivalist Charles Spurgeon once wrote, “I bear willing witness that I owe more to the fire, and the hammer, and the file, than to anything else in my Lord’s workshop. I sometimes question whether I have ever learned anything except through the rod. When my schoolroom is darkened, I see most.”
A blessed rose
Let’s go back to the testimony of Tom and Marilyn Rose. After their children died in a car accident, after they lost their house and savings, a miracle of a different complexion began to happen. The community they lived in came together and funded their accommodation and put them and their family in a comfortable condominium. The people around them were greatly inspired by their testimony and their unwavering faith in God. Lives were changed as Tom and Marilyn were now able to heal the pain of others with the understanding and wisdom they had gained through experiencing pain of their own.
They took the Bible’s advice that commanded, “In everything give thanks,” literally. They sang and praised God despite the pain they had to go through. In their book, they recounted that praising God brings about three immeasurable benefits. Praises changes their focus. It distracts them from self-wallowing and commiseration. Praises also drove back the forces of darkness, for it is written “God inhabits our praises.” Lastly, God changes our garment through praises.
In Isaiah 61:3, it is written that He will give us “the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” In addition, just as trials come in a bundle, miracles come in trove. Tom and Marilyn experienced the miracle of a changed life. They chose to forgive the drunk driver who caused the accident and the hospital staff who mistakenly injected Lacey that led to her demise. They waive their right to claim for compensation, thereby decommissioning their lawyers. In turn, God healed Tom of his heart condition and gave him a new lease of life.
Nothing is more appropriate than to close this letter to you with an extract from Tom’s own inspiring words, “At one time my heart worked at half of its capacity, and I was a happy man. After the first heart failure, my heart was at 30 percent, but I could still say I was a happy man. It was when I lost my children my heart was broken.
To me, the greatest miracle was not the healing of my physical heart. It was when Jesus mended our broken hearts. Besides our salvation, this is the greatest miracle of all. I know I will never see my son graduate from the Air Force Academy, which was his dream. I will never see Lacey become a large animal veterinarian and train horses, which was her dream. There is, however, one thing I have seen – our children in the arms of a loving Savior.
I still miss them – and I will until that day we are together again – yet Jesus has given me beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that I might be called a tree of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.”
Showing posts with label G) Long Letters Lah (LLL). Show all posts
Showing posts with label G) Long Letters Lah (LLL). Show all posts
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Coming full circle: an atheist converts
On my way to heaven, I stumbled upon this truth…we will die one day; so don’t forget to live. Last week, I was going to work in the morning on a usual busy weekday and was cruising at a speed of about 70 km in a 90 km highway. I was on the heavy vehicle lane on the extreme left so I was not hogging the road. Neither was I travelling fast in the normal estimation of a Singaporean driver. At this speed of 70 km, I was naturally the slowest of the 1600 cc vehicular traffic. I counted all the cars that sped past me that morning and they numbered an average of 5 to 6 every few seconds. The drivers seemed mindfully preoccupied and awfully busy.
Those cars which started off together with me on the highway were way ahead of me and those cars which started way behind me had already had a comfortable lead ahead of me. That morning, I was indeed the slowest of them all. If this had been the hare and tortoise race, I would have definitely been the proverbial tortoise, taking its own sweet time to get to the finishing line. And on that day, there were a lot of hares on the expressway.
As the cars hurried past me, I started to think about life in general. We are indeed very busy people, whether on the road or in the office. Even at home, we have our nanny duties all stacked up for us. Those parents with children know very well that their little precious tots are, by nature, attention-seeking monsters. They don’t just want attention from you; they suck it dry!
We are born into a busy life. Our agenda is usually packed. Our schedule is all filled up. Even when we are not busy physically; we are kept busy mentally. Our thoughts are like little sport cars in our labyrinth neural highway. Our brain never sleeps. Our conscious or unconscious thoughts, our worries and concerns, our dreams and hopes, our fears and suspicion all clamor for our attention during our waking moments.
Considering that we will die one day, and for some, in the very near future, some of us strangely carry a cavalier attitude towards our impending death and the life thereafter. Somehow, death seems to be an alien concept to the young and the young at heart. Somehow, death scares not the rich since the pleasures of life have effectively insulated them from the sobriety that the thought of one’s imminent death would naturally bring. Somehow, death as a wake-up call is categorized as a social taboo reserved for the superstitious and the religious – not for the young, the well-off and the hot-bloodedly ambitious. An atheist always sees death as the end of all – so they live their life as best as they can before they call it a day…one day.
I believe there are different stages of growth in our life. And the last stage of growth is death. Since the learning never ceased until we die, death can be viewed as the last lesson for the dying. But the lesson for the dying is always more profound and more sobering. They do not fuss with the inconsequential or the petty issues of life. Generally, you can ask a person, who is about to die, about life and he will tell you only two things: get right with yourself and get right with others. Only when these two issues are settled, if they are ever settled, that is, would the dying then deal with their possession, make a will or go for a tour.
Relationships matter - that the last lesson for the dying, the last stage of their growth. On earth, our relationship with our loved ones counts for everything before our mortal shell expires. Then, comes the issue of the afterlife. I believe that what survives our death is us. Yes, us, the one writing and reading these words. We are created in God’s image and that image is our spirit that reflects our creator. Our spirit is imperishable, inextinguishable. It survives death because it is an eternal entity that makes us who we are. We are thus earmarked for eternity whether we believe it or not. In the book of Ecclesiastes 3:10-11, it reads, “I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. He has…set eternity in their hearts.”
In 2004, a renowned atheist philosopher and a mortalist (someone who does not believe in the afterlife) crossed over the existential line. At age 81, Professor Antony Flew made the following declaration to the public, “I now believe there is a God!” A little background about Professor Flew will show that he is the least likely of intellectuals to subscribe to the belief in God. For more than 50 years, Professor Flew denounced religion as irrational and illogical. He wrote books refuting the belief in God and his writings set the agenda for the growth of modern atheism. Many well known atheists like Professor Richard Dawkins and Journalist Christopher Hitchens owed it to Professor Flew for his years of systematic debunking of religion and all its flawed doctrine on the deity of God.
But all this changed in December 2004 when Professor Flew opened his mind and heart to the Creator’s still small voice. What is so amazing about his conversion is that he now finds that the belief in God and the afterlife are logically defensible. God is no longer a myth, a superstition or a fairy tale to him. The universe is too complicated to be left to the intellectual speculation of science alone. Professor Flew admits that science has its limitation. It cannot explain the beginning of the universe and the genesis of the diversity of life as we know it today.
I believe that there comes a point in a person’s life, whether he is a scientist or a layman, when he has to stand back, drop all his tools of skepticism, and acknowledge that the wonders all around him is a result of deliberate and purposeful design and not a lucky throw of the cosmic dice.
At the end of his search for the divine, Professor Flew sums up his conviction by writing, “I am entirely open to learning more about the divine…I am open to omnipotence.”
Imagine an octogenarian, at almost the end of his life, and after spending decades arguing against the existence of God, taking that all important first step to know his creator. How much more then should we, who have decades ahead of us, treasure the time we now have to know God and to know the depth of his love for us. Indeed, in this life, it is never too late to come back full circle to God and to admit that we have lived amiss without Him. Are we fully opened to omnipotence?
Everything we do in this life only makes complete sense when we measure all our thoughts, actions and contributions against the benchmark of eternity. Our hope as Christians should therefore be hinged on this promise, “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me…I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-3)
The trouble with some of us is that we suffer from what I call “eternity-myopia”. This condition plagues our spiritual sight and prevents us from looking beyond the empty tomb. This condition also causes us to grieve over material losses more in this world because we are blinded to the life beyond. We therefore need to go for sight correction. God needs to perform a spiritual lasik on us so that we will always keep eternity within our spiritual sight. A chaplain’s witty remarks is in order here, “we think that we are in the land of the living going to the land of the dying when in reality we are in the land of the dying headed for the land of the living.”
What counts for eternity is how we live our lives now. While we are still alive, we can make a difference to our own life and the life of others. The difference need not be large; it can be small but incremental and progressive. I do not want to spend the rest of this short letter telling you how to live a Christian life since what needs to be said has already been said in the Bible. The change I am advocating is not a change of conduct as a start; it is a change of the heart. Don’t rush to become a “good Christian” without giving the matter much thought and prayer. I do not believe in a grand start leading to a miserable end.
What distinguishes a true Christian from a counterfeit one is a convicted heart. And true conviction comes with discipline and ceaseless focus. Sometimes, it takes a lifetime. Sometimes, it takes an encounter. But most surely, true conviction comes with total surrender to God. And this is no easy task since we still want our way as much as we want full control of all things while paying lip service to biblical principles. The phrase “let go and let God be God” is still very hard to do for some of us.
But the beauty of total surrender is not that God requires us to cease all desires for material things and thereby becoming owner of nothing; it merely requires us to stop wanting a stake in the outcome of life’s events. It merely requires us to stop wanting to control how things turn out. It merely requires us to trust and hope that all things, however the outcome, is in good hands and God will one day give an account of them.
We must always bear in our spirit that we are living in three different worlds. The Bible puts it beyond doubt that the world around us is the first world. Then, running concurrently, is the world within us - our spirit being, the temple of God. The last world is the world to come, our heavenly rest. Our hope and focus should always be on the world to come. We do this by cultivating the world within us, feeding our spirit, tending to its needs and allowing it to hold captive our fleshly desires.
When our focus is on the world to come and our world within is at peace, we are then ready to face the world around us. Until then, our heart is far from being convicted by God’s promises.
It is only when our priority is scrambled, when we let the things of this world to harass us, to keep us busy, to shake our faith and focus that we suffer unceasing unrest and remain in a state of rebellion and discontent.
Let the comforting words of the author of the book, Eternity, Joseph M. Stowell take us home, “Life is most disappointing, most despairing, when it is lived as though this world is all we have. Questions have few answers, and cries become all-consuming. Thankfully, this is not the only world. Christ connects us to the eternal world to come and provides for us an eternally redeemed world within. This present world makes sense only when we live here in the light of these other worlds.As Paul said, “if we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are all men most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:19)
Those cars which started off together with me on the highway were way ahead of me and those cars which started way behind me had already had a comfortable lead ahead of me. That morning, I was indeed the slowest of them all. If this had been the hare and tortoise race, I would have definitely been the proverbial tortoise, taking its own sweet time to get to the finishing line. And on that day, there were a lot of hares on the expressway.
As the cars hurried past me, I started to think about life in general. We are indeed very busy people, whether on the road or in the office. Even at home, we have our nanny duties all stacked up for us. Those parents with children know very well that their little precious tots are, by nature, attention-seeking monsters. They don’t just want attention from you; they suck it dry!
We are born into a busy life. Our agenda is usually packed. Our schedule is all filled up. Even when we are not busy physically; we are kept busy mentally. Our thoughts are like little sport cars in our labyrinth neural highway. Our brain never sleeps. Our conscious or unconscious thoughts, our worries and concerns, our dreams and hopes, our fears and suspicion all clamor for our attention during our waking moments.
Considering that we will die one day, and for some, in the very near future, some of us strangely carry a cavalier attitude towards our impending death and the life thereafter. Somehow, death seems to be an alien concept to the young and the young at heart. Somehow, death scares not the rich since the pleasures of life have effectively insulated them from the sobriety that the thought of one’s imminent death would naturally bring. Somehow, death as a wake-up call is categorized as a social taboo reserved for the superstitious and the religious – not for the young, the well-off and the hot-bloodedly ambitious. An atheist always sees death as the end of all – so they live their life as best as they can before they call it a day…one day.
I believe there are different stages of growth in our life. And the last stage of growth is death. Since the learning never ceased until we die, death can be viewed as the last lesson for the dying. But the lesson for the dying is always more profound and more sobering. They do not fuss with the inconsequential or the petty issues of life. Generally, you can ask a person, who is about to die, about life and he will tell you only two things: get right with yourself and get right with others. Only when these two issues are settled, if they are ever settled, that is, would the dying then deal with their possession, make a will or go for a tour.
Relationships matter - that the last lesson for the dying, the last stage of their growth. On earth, our relationship with our loved ones counts for everything before our mortal shell expires. Then, comes the issue of the afterlife. I believe that what survives our death is us. Yes, us, the one writing and reading these words. We are created in God’s image and that image is our spirit that reflects our creator. Our spirit is imperishable, inextinguishable. It survives death because it is an eternal entity that makes us who we are. We are thus earmarked for eternity whether we believe it or not. In the book of Ecclesiastes 3:10-11, it reads, “I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. He has…set eternity in their hearts.”
In 2004, a renowned atheist philosopher and a mortalist (someone who does not believe in the afterlife) crossed over the existential line. At age 81, Professor Antony Flew made the following declaration to the public, “I now believe there is a God!” A little background about Professor Flew will show that he is the least likely of intellectuals to subscribe to the belief in God. For more than 50 years, Professor Flew denounced religion as irrational and illogical. He wrote books refuting the belief in God and his writings set the agenda for the growth of modern atheism. Many well known atheists like Professor Richard Dawkins and Journalist Christopher Hitchens owed it to Professor Flew for his years of systematic debunking of religion and all its flawed doctrine on the deity of God.
But all this changed in December 2004 when Professor Flew opened his mind and heart to the Creator’s still small voice. What is so amazing about his conversion is that he now finds that the belief in God and the afterlife are logically defensible. God is no longer a myth, a superstition or a fairy tale to him. The universe is too complicated to be left to the intellectual speculation of science alone. Professor Flew admits that science has its limitation. It cannot explain the beginning of the universe and the genesis of the diversity of life as we know it today.
I believe that there comes a point in a person’s life, whether he is a scientist or a layman, when he has to stand back, drop all his tools of skepticism, and acknowledge that the wonders all around him is a result of deliberate and purposeful design and not a lucky throw of the cosmic dice.
At the end of his search for the divine, Professor Flew sums up his conviction by writing, “I am entirely open to learning more about the divine…I am open to omnipotence.”
Imagine an octogenarian, at almost the end of his life, and after spending decades arguing against the existence of God, taking that all important first step to know his creator. How much more then should we, who have decades ahead of us, treasure the time we now have to know God and to know the depth of his love for us. Indeed, in this life, it is never too late to come back full circle to God and to admit that we have lived amiss without Him. Are we fully opened to omnipotence?
Everything we do in this life only makes complete sense when we measure all our thoughts, actions and contributions against the benchmark of eternity. Our hope as Christians should therefore be hinged on this promise, “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me…I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-3)
The trouble with some of us is that we suffer from what I call “eternity-myopia”. This condition plagues our spiritual sight and prevents us from looking beyond the empty tomb. This condition also causes us to grieve over material losses more in this world because we are blinded to the life beyond. We therefore need to go for sight correction. God needs to perform a spiritual lasik on us so that we will always keep eternity within our spiritual sight. A chaplain’s witty remarks is in order here, “we think that we are in the land of the living going to the land of the dying when in reality we are in the land of the dying headed for the land of the living.”
What counts for eternity is how we live our lives now. While we are still alive, we can make a difference to our own life and the life of others. The difference need not be large; it can be small but incremental and progressive. I do not want to spend the rest of this short letter telling you how to live a Christian life since what needs to be said has already been said in the Bible. The change I am advocating is not a change of conduct as a start; it is a change of the heart. Don’t rush to become a “good Christian” without giving the matter much thought and prayer. I do not believe in a grand start leading to a miserable end.
What distinguishes a true Christian from a counterfeit one is a convicted heart. And true conviction comes with discipline and ceaseless focus. Sometimes, it takes a lifetime. Sometimes, it takes an encounter. But most surely, true conviction comes with total surrender to God. And this is no easy task since we still want our way as much as we want full control of all things while paying lip service to biblical principles. The phrase “let go and let God be God” is still very hard to do for some of us.
But the beauty of total surrender is not that God requires us to cease all desires for material things and thereby becoming owner of nothing; it merely requires us to stop wanting a stake in the outcome of life’s events. It merely requires us to stop wanting to control how things turn out. It merely requires us to trust and hope that all things, however the outcome, is in good hands and God will one day give an account of them.
We must always bear in our spirit that we are living in three different worlds. The Bible puts it beyond doubt that the world around us is the first world. Then, running concurrently, is the world within us - our spirit being, the temple of God. The last world is the world to come, our heavenly rest. Our hope and focus should always be on the world to come. We do this by cultivating the world within us, feeding our spirit, tending to its needs and allowing it to hold captive our fleshly desires.
When our focus is on the world to come and our world within is at peace, we are then ready to face the world around us. Until then, our heart is far from being convicted by God’s promises.
It is only when our priority is scrambled, when we let the things of this world to harass us, to keep us busy, to shake our faith and focus that we suffer unceasing unrest and remain in a state of rebellion and discontent.
Let the comforting words of the author of the book, Eternity, Joseph M. Stowell take us home, “Life is most disappointing, most despairing, when it is lived as though this world is all we have. Questions have few answers, and cries become all-consuming. Thankfully, this is not the only world. Christ connects us to the eternal world to come and provides for us an eternally redeemed world within. This present world makes sense only when we live here in the light of these other worlds.As Paul said, “if we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are all men most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:19)
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Kaela, the Overcomer!
Nothing beats starting the year with a miracle and this miracle is one of many to come. This particular miracle is a miracle of life. It comes in the littlest package named Kaela – a baby who is only 4 days old and weighs about 2.4 kg. Kaela came into this world with great fanfare. She was a fighter, the biblical equivalent of an overcomer of all odds. Unlike most babies, whose first glimpse into this world is normally greeted by an ever joyous countenance, Kaela’s first glimpse invited some consternation – mostly from overhyped young medical staff. By some quirky stroke of life’s random agenda, Kaela was born whiter than snow. Her face as ashen as pulp and as lifeless as wood.
The diagnosis was: Kaela had lost around 50% of her blood and she urgently needed a blood transfusion. Three letters then made their ominous acquaintance: ICU. For two days, the medical team pumped life into Kaela. Foreign hemoglobin entered her fragile and delicate body. Intravenous tubes connected to impersonal machines were conjoined with her tiny frame. Breathing cap was placed over her small, supple lips.
There and then, the biggest race of Kaela’s life started – the race for survival, for the right to live. And Kaela lacked no life of her own. She was determined to grab on to life with all her limbs, all her heart and all her spirit. She wrestled with life the way Jacob wrestled with the angel for a blessing. Kaela was more sure of what she wanted than any young man in love knows what he wants: Kaela wanted to live and nothing was going to deny her that right. The struggle was relentless, determined and all-consuming.
Kaela fought with every breath inside of her and every breath was not wasted. With every heave, she draws closer to life. With every heave, she steps away from darkness. With every heave, Kaela grows in strength and hope. Indeed, where is thy sting, O death? Today, the struggle is over. Kaela has asserted her right to live. The victory is secured. The celebration will be life-empowering. And the testament, life-changing. Kaela has indeed breathed life into the scripture which reads, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creatures, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.” (Roms 8:38-39)
If I may add, “nothing shall be able to separate Kaela from the love of her parents.” One should
pause here to think about the love of one’s own parents. This love is just too strong to be ignored.
I am a father of two. I know how it feels to love your children and be loved by them. The hardest part of parenting is not to love them, it comes as second nature (first nature is the need to reach out to God’s love). The hardest part of parenting is to see our children going through a personal crisis that is beyond our abilities to help. All we could humanly do is to pray for them, to lend them a listening ear and to have a broad shoulder for them to cry on. Their pain is somehow magnified in ours. Their cries are twice as loud. And their dashed dreams are as personally felt as our own failures.
Parenting is the most rewarding calling in our life and also the most challenging. No career, however rewarding, can compare with the vocation of a parent. In a career, you are judged by your monthly salary, your current position and your success in clinching a deal or two. But as a parent, you are judged by the life you help to nurture, model by example and mentor. You therefore play an invaluable role. It is an awesome duty, a profound experience and an accomplished calling.
Nurturing a life is a serious business; it takes 24-7 commitment, and sometimes, round-the-clock anxiety. It is said that “our children are not machines that need to be repaired through a series of mechanical steps – they are relational being whose souls grow through the mystery of their relationship.” It is sometimes a mystery because we will never know for sure how our kids will turn out.
No matter how much we guide, shelter and protect, we cannot guarantee that they will turn out the way we had hoped. It is therefore true that we cannot just “construct” a perfect human being. Each child is special and unique and they grow at their own time and pace. Here, a wise saying comes to mind, “Children are born as individuals. If we fail to see that, if we see them as clay to be molded in any shape we like, the tougher ones will fight back and end up spiteful and wild, while the less strong will lose that uniqueness they were born with.”
I can only imagine the anxiety Mark and Jasmine, the parents of Kaela, had to go through the first few days of her birth. Kaela must have given her parents some cause for worry, to put it mildly of course. But now, Kaela has taken her right to live back and is progressing very well. The last time I heard she was already drinking milk, passing out urine and breathing on her own. Such wonderful news is indeed a cause for celebration.
Kaela’s victory has taught me three valuable lessons about life. First, we are never a helpless bystander in times of crisis. There are things that we can do or contribute to ease the crisis. However small our contribution, it is significant in the eyes of God and to the family who are receiving our help. And the miracle of helping is that, by extending our own hands in aid, we unknowingly strengthen our hands to aid ourselves in our own personal trials. Second, our attitude towards our crisis makes the crucial difference of how our crisis will turn out – be it a blessing or a stumbling block. Lastly, God is our purpose-maker, a maker of meaning amidst difficult times.
On the first lesson, I shall rely on the wisdom of Pope Gregory I, a doctor of the church and a saint, who wrote, “There is nothing we can offer to God more precious than our good will. But what is good will? To have good will is to experience concern for someone else’s adversities as if they were your own; to give thanks for our neighbor’s prosperity as for our own; to believe that another person’s loss is our own, and also that another’s gain is ours, to love a friend in God, and to bear with an enemy out of love; to do to no one what we do not want to suffer ourselves, and to refuse to no one what we rightly want for ourselves; to choose to help a neighbor who is in need, not only to the whole extent of our ability, but even beyond our means. What offering is richer, what offering is more substantial than this one? What we are offering to God on the altar of our hearts is the sacrifice of ourselves?”
This about sums up the purpose of our existence: selfless giving and caring for others.
Mark and Jasmine, I deeply thank you for allowing us to play a part in the trial you guys have experienced this week and also to share in Kaela’s victory. You guys have made our life richer, more substantial and more meaningful. In every small ways, we extend our good will to you and to Kaela in our prayers, our visitations and our gifts. We share your pain and anxiety. We also share your joy and bliss.
By allowing us to take up the burden of care for Kaela, you have allowed our shoulders to grow broader to carry our own life’s burdens. By allowing us to pray for Kaela as a family, you have drawn us closer to God and to our loved ones. By allowing us to celebrate in Kaela’s little miracle, you have renewed our hope and faith in God and have deepened our relationship with Him. So you see, in no small ways, your family and Kaela have been an all-rounder influence in our lives.
I once read that our life is a term, like a school term or a tenancy term, except much longer and more challenging. Life therefore imposes on us a particular direction and it is orientated towards the highest possible goal of charity and love. This special week, you guys have held our hands and taken us along that road, that higher road of meaning and purpose, to realize what it really means to be a child of God. Thank you for the privilege. Thank you for the life-deepening journey.
The second lesson is on attitude. Mark, you might not know this, but in times of crisis, you exude a quiet assurance and confidence as if you already knew how things were going to turn out. This assurance and confidence is inspirational. Let me take an intimate passage written by you about four years ago when your father passed away a born-again Christian, a tribute to your unceasing care and effort to him. You penned, “Do not be discouraged when things don’t seem to be going right. God knows it and He knows what is in our heart. He even knows that we are angry with Him but God is so gracious. Not only He is not angry with us, He even turned the situation around to our benefit. Sometimes we don’t even see it at a much later time.” Thank you for being an inspiration. Thank you for being a mentor.
Lastly, the third lesson that Kaela has taught me is that God is a purpose-maker. Now, we can never fully understand why trials and tribulation come our way. Why a life so calm and peaceful can be invaded by an offence so lame and appalling. Why a young precious life so innocent and pure can be occasioned by an event so dreadful and painful.
Maybe, just maybe, life is a set up. It is deliberately wired to be difficult for a purpose. Maybe, all that pain is the price paid for growth. All that hurt points us to what’s really important in life. Maybe, we become better by overcoming challenges than living without any. Mark, your faith in God has never returned to you flat. It always pays rich dividends – not so much in monetary sense but in character-building.
You and Jasmine embraced crisis with great aplomb and you guys grew stronger with each beating. I guess the secret is that you guys chose to see the purpose behind every crisis. Just like there is always reward after the cane, relieve after the pain and sunshine after the rain, you guys have what I call “faith-vision” – you see what slavishly follows after every trial, that is, a purpose far greater than the trial itself. A wise man once said, “There is nothing, no circumstances, no trouble, no testing that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has come past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose.” So, thank you, Kaela and family for these three precious life lessons. Thank you for breathing meaning into our 2008!
The diagnosis was: Kaela had lost around 50% of her blood and she urgently needed a blood transfusion. Three letters then made their ominous acquaintance: ICU. For two days, the medical team pumped life into Kaela. Foreign hemoglobin entered her fragile and delicate body. Intravenous tubes connected to impersonal machines were conjoined with her tiny frame. Breathing cap was placed over her small, supple lips.
There and then, the biggest race of Kaela’s life started – the race for survival, for the right to live. And Kaela lacked no life of her own. She was determined to grab on to life with all her limbs, all her heart and all her spirit. She wrestled with life the way Jacob wrestled with the angel for a blessing. Kaela was more sure of what she wanted than any young man in love knows what he wants: Kaela wanted to live and nothing was going to deny her that right. The struggle was relentless, determined and all-consuming.
Kaela fought with every breath inside of her and every breath was not wasted. With every heave, she draws closer to life. With every heave, she steps away from darkness. With every heave, Kaela grows in strength and hope. Indeed, where is thy sting, O death? Today, the struggle is over. Kaela has asserted her right to live. The victory is secured. The celebration will be life-empowering. And the testament, life-changing. Kaela has indeed breathed life into the scripture which reads, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creatures, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.” (Roms 8:38-39)
If I may add, “nothing shall be able to separate Kaela from the love of her parents.” One should
pause here to think about the love of one’s own parents. This love is just too strong to be ignored.
I am a father of two. I know how it feels to love your children and be loved by them. The hardest part of parenting is not to love them, it comes as second nature (first nature is the need to reach out to God’s love). The hardest part of parenting is to see our children going through a personal crisis that is beyond our abilities to help. All we could humanly do is to pray for them, to lend them a listening ear and to have a broad shoulder for them to cry on. Their pain is somehow magnified in ours. Their cries are twice as loud. And their dashed dreams are as personally felt as our own failures.
Parenting is the most rewarding calling in our life and also the most challenging. No career, however rewarding, can compare with the vocation of a parent. In a career, you are judged by your monthly salary, your current position and your success in clinching a deal or two. But as a parent, you are judged by the life you help to nurture, model by example and mentor. You therefore play an invaluable role. It is an awesome duty, a profound experience and an accomplished calling.
Nurturing a life is a serious business; it takes 24-7 commitment, and sometimes, round-the-clock anxiety. It is said that “our children are not machines that need to be repaired through a series of mechanical steps – they are relational being whose souls grow through the mystery of their relationship.” It is sometimes a mystery because we will never know for sure how our kids will turn out.
No matter how much we guide, shelter and protect, we cannot guarantee that they will turn out the way we had hoped. It is therefore true that we cannot just “construct” a perfect human being. Each child is special and unique and they grow at their own time and pace. Here, a wise saying comes to mind, “Children are born as individuals. If we fail to see that, if we see them as clay to be molded in any shape we like, the tougher ones will fight back and end up spiteful and wild, while the less strong will lose that uniqueness they were born with.”
I can only imagine the anxiety Mark and Jasmine, the parents of Kaela, had to go through the first few days of her birth. Kaela must have given her parents some cause for worry, to put it mildly of course. But now, Kaela has taken her right to live back and is progressing very well. The last time I heard she was already drinking milk, passing out urine and breathing on her own. Such wonderful news is indeed a cause for celebration.
Kaela’s victory has taught me three valuable lessons about life. First, we are never a helpless bystander in times of crisis. There are things that we can do or contribute to ease the crisis. However small our contribution, it is significant in the eyes of God and to the family who are receiving our help. And the miracle of helping is that, by extending our own hands in aid, we unknowingly strengthen our hands to aid ourselves in our own personal trials. Second, our attitude towards our crisis makes the crucial difference of how our crisis will turn out – be it a blessing or a stumbling block. Lastly, God is our purpose-maker, a maker of meaning amidst difficult times.
On the first lesson, I shall rely on the wisdom of Pope Gregory I, a doctor of the church and a saint, who wrote, “There is nothing we can offer to God more precious than our good will. But what is good will? To have good will is to experience concern for someone else’s adversities as if they were your own; to give thanks for our neighbor’s prosperity as for our own; to believe that another person’s loss is our own, and also that another’s gain is ours, to love a friend in God, and to bear with an enemy out of love; to do to no one what we do not want to suffer ourselves, and to refuse to no one what we rightly want for ourselves; to choose to help a neighbor who is in need, not only to the whole extent of our ability, but even beyond our means. What offering is richer, what offering is more substantial than this one? What we are offering to God on the altar of our hearts is the sacrifice of ourselves?”
This about sums up the purpose of our existence: selfless giving and caring for others.
Mark and Jasmine, I deeply thank you for allowing us to play a part in the trial you guys have experienced this week and also to share in Kaela’s victory. You guys have made our life richer, more substantial and more meaningful. In every small ways, we extend our good will to you and to Kaela in our prayers, our visitations and our gifts. We share your pain and anxiety. We also share your joy and bliss.
By allowing us to take up the burden of care for Kaela, you have allowed our shoulders to grow broader to carry our own life’s burdens. By allowing us to pray for Kaela as a family, you have drawn us closer to God and to our loved ones. By allowing us to celebrate in Kaela’s little miracle, you have renewed our hope and faith in God and have deepened our relationship with Him. So you see, in no small ways, your family and Kaela have been an all-rounder influence in our lives.
I once read that our life is a term, like a school term or a tenancy term, except much longer and more challenging. Life therefore imposes on us a particular direction and it is orientated towards the highest possible goal of charity and love. This special week, you guys have held our hands and taken us along that road, that higher road of meaning and purpose, to realize what it really means to be a child of God. Thank you for the privilege. Thank you for the life-deepening journey.
The second lesson is on attitude. Mark, you might not know this, but in times of crisis, you exude a quiet assurance and confidence as if you already knew how things were going to turn out. This assurance and confidence is inspirational. Let me take an intimate passage written by you about four years ago when your father passed away a born-again Christian, a tribute to your unceasing care and effort to him. You penned, “Do not be discouraged when things don’t seem to be going right. God knows it and He knows what is in our heart. He even knows that we are angry with Him but God is so gracious. Not only He is not angry with us, He even turned the situation around to our benefit. Sometimes we don’t even see it at a much later time.” Thank you for being an inspiration. Thank you for being a mentor.
Lastly, the third lesson that Kaela has taught me is that God is a purpose-maker. Now, we can never fully understand why trials and tribulation come our way. Why a life so calm and peaceful can be invaded by an offence so lame and appalling. Why a young precious life so innocent and pure can be occasioned by an event so dreadful and painful.
Maybe, just maybe, life is a set up. It is deliberately wired to be difficult for a purpose. Maybe, all that pain is the price paid for growth. All that hurt points us to what’s really important in life. Maybe, we become better by overcoming challenges than living without any. Mark, your faith in God has never returned to you flat. It always pays rich dividends – not so much in monetary sense but in character-building.
You and Jasmine embraced crisis with great aplomb and you guys grew stronger with each beating. I guess the secret is that you guys chose to see the purpose behind every crisis. Just like there is always reward after the cane, relieve after the pain and sunshine after the rain, you guys have what I call “faith-vision” – you see what slavishly follows after every trial, that is, a purpose far greater than the trial itself. A wise man once said, “There is nothing, no circumstances, no trouble, no testing that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has come past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose.” So, thank you, Kaela and family for these three precious life lessons. Thank you for breathing meaning into our 2008!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
true joy from the Mount
On my way to heaven, I stumbled upon this truth…stop looking for happiness; just live it. Happiness hunters will never find it. Happiness is not the elusive unicorn or the El Dorado treasure waiting to be found. A life spent looking for happiness will invariably be a life spent in a futile, frustrating and vacant search because happiness comes from within and you cannot find something that has already been found long before you even decided to look for it. This may sound too corny or blasé for you. And you may even have heard this “happiness is inside of you” tune played in your head too often and too much. But most truth is “old fashion” and such old tunes never die. And the old tune that “happiness resides in your heart” is an evergreen classic that sounds better each time you hear it.
Here are just three scriptures that sing of this timeless melody. Psalm 4:7, “You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.” Psalm 97:11-12, “Light is shed upon the righteous and joy on the upright in our heart. Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous and praise his holy name.” Lastly, Psalm 33.21, “In him our heart rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.”
If we treat happiness as a goal to be attained, then the effort expended by us to achieve that goal would be a very unhappy event for us. Put it in another way, the journey becomes a chore or a toil before the destination is reached. For example, we slog and labor for the month-end pay only to find out that the joy attained quickly dissipates because we have to slog and labor for another month and the dreaded cycle goes on and on. We feel this way because we view our job as a job and nothing more. Of course, some jobs are truly mentally bland and physically exhausting. It is therefore difficult to derive any physical satisfaction from it. Try telling a cleaner that she should enjoy her job. Or try telling a clerk that he should do the jig at work. Enjoying such work normally goes against one’s worldly nature.
But we, as Christians, do not go with the flow of the world. To the world, we are heretic, isolates or outcasts. Conforming to the worlds’ standard will only make us unhappy in the long run because the worldly definition of happiness runs counter to Jesus’ teachings at the Mount (Mathew 5:3-12). To the world, the sermon at the Mount carries one of the most negative messages in the bible – not to mention the glaring contradictions. How can the poor in spirit, the ones who mourn and those who are persecuted be called blessed? By the world’s standard, they should be called “loser”, “cry baby” and “weakling”.
The world will be hard pressed to make sense of how one can attain joy and gladness in the face of men reviling you, persecuting you and uttering all kinds of evil against you. Yet, Jesus makes it his point to tell the small, attentive audience that morning that true blessing, rejoicing and gladness only come to those who are humble, contrite, broken, thirsty for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart and faithful under persecution.
The world can only scratch its head in confusion and resignation from such a perverse logic that makes utterly no sense to them, whatsoever. The poor in spirit will be condemned by the world. Humility has never been a prerequisite for the making of a tycoon or a billionaire. The lexicon of the world has no room for people of meek and mournful backgrounds. Neither does it have room for the merciful. Showing mercy only hampers one’s effectiveness in cutting costs and exercising corporate downsizing. Needless to say, standing still while others spit at you, revile you and persecute you is a sure fire way of losing your respect, your integrity and your job.
So, Jesus is our “heretic” leader. He is the champion of a counter-cultural revolution. He is our against-the-grain trailblazer.
Earlier I said that happiness comes from your heart and this squares with the nine blessings listed out in the sermon of the mount. If you read through all of the blessings, you will realize that none of them talked about riches, fame and power. I thank God that Jesus did not preach, “Blessed are the rich in local currency, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Neither did Jesus teach, “Blessed are those whose names are well known and famous, for they shall inherit the earth.”
Indeed happiness comes from within and your search for more money, more fame and more power will only lead to more worries, more temptations and more corruption. A wise man once said, “if a man who has just moved into a luxury apartment on the hundredth floor of a brand new building is deeply unhappy, the only thing he’ll look for is a window to jump out of it.”
Most of us spent half of our lives battling with meaninglessness and disappointment that comes with material success. This is because we mistake true happiness for material or sensory pleasure. The latter is only skin deep.
Outward focus on happiness is insatiable because our appetite grows larger as we own more and more of material possessions, crave more and more for fame and hunger more and more for power. It is instructive to note that as we gather more of material success, we have less room for spiritual success.
Put it in another way, our spirit shrinks as we grow richer in earthy things. Alternatively, our spirit becomes burdened and cluttered as we pile up in our storehouse things of this world while losing all focus on things eternal. Left unchecked and unguarded, we will soon allow greed, blind ambition and pride to take charge of our lives, even without knowing it. We then become a prisoner of our own desires and suffer the consequences of a life driven by meaninglessness and quiet desperation. A worthy quote expresses the same sentiment, “Those who seek happiness in pleasure, wealth, glory, power and heroics are as naïve as a child who tries to catch a rainbow and wears it as a coat.”
In this sometimes harrowing life journey, it is spiritually refreshing to remind ourselves the most important lesson on wealth: Own nothing, have everything. We are called to be rich towards God. We are called to be stewards and not owners. We are called to stand ready to surrender all and not horde anything. Lastly, we are called to travel light and not be burdened by the cares of this world. The divine paradox that Jesus delivered in the sermon of the Mount is this - you own nothing but you gain everything.
A spirit that is fully dedicated to God counts nothing as his. He may be blessed with earthly riches but losing them all will trouble him least. His heart is eternity-focused and he fully understands that his wealth and blessings are but temporary and instrumental to his living a life pleasing to God and not an end in itself. He knows deep inside that his riches are in God and such riches cannot be robbed or pillaged. His financial security is in God even in times of financial hardship because in God, he has everything he needs and that is all that matters. Such mindset has to be conscientiously cultivated. The first and all important step in this direction is to gradually starve our desires or ego and to feed our spirit. When we make room for God in our spirit, our desires of this world will indeed grow “strangely dim”.
In his book, when the game is over, it all goes back in the box, pastor John Ortberg gave us a glimpse of what true richness is in God.
“Being rich toward God means growing a soul that is increasingly healthy and good.
Being rich toward God means loving and enjoying the people around you.
Being rich toward God means learning about your gifts and passions and doing good work to help improve the world.
Being rich toward God means becoming generous with your stuff.
Being rich toward God means making that which is temporary become servant of that which is eternal.
Being rich toward God means savoring every roll of the dice and every trip around the board (life seen as a game).”
When we are rich in God, our happiness is complete. We truly lack nothing because we are at peace with ourselves. We no longer feel the urge to compete for attention, strive for a larger house, compare our material wealth with others, envy our neighbor’s car or struggle to outperform our colleagues.
You can easily spot a person who is inherently happy. Basically, three traits stand out in their life. They are contented with their current station in life. This means that they are able to live joyfully with what they have. They do not experience an inner strife to outbid, outdo and outwit their neighbor, colleagues or friends. They are what I would call “wealthy beggars”. They are well secured in the knowledge of where their true riches lie and they see themselves as trustees of what they have and not owners. They are able to proclaim what Paul had in 2 Corinthians 6:10 proclaimed, “People think we are sad although we’re always glad, that we’re beggars although we make many people spiritually rich, that we have nothing although we possess everything.”
Secondly, they are always thankful with what they already have. If we are unable to enjoy what we have, our heart will always be a bottomless pit - empty, dark and hollow. Ever try filling water into a bucket without a base. The water will fall through even before the next scoop. Gaining the world and all its riches will still leave such a heart vacant and void.
However, a heart of gratitude takes nothing for granted. It takes the time to build existing relationships. It does not count it a chore to communicate more deeply with loved ones. It savors long walks, celebrates special occasions and rejoices in simple family gatherings; activities that money cannot buy and time cannot redeem. In the end, a heart of thanksgiving fills a life to the brim with untold joy and the fondest of memories.
Lastly, they give their best in everything they do regardless of the nature of their job. In other words, they engage fully and purposefully in their work. They do not just make a living out of it, they make a difference. They see their work as an opportunity to impact and transform lives. They envision their workplace as a harvest field for reaping, and not a minefield to be avoided. So, their joy at work is not derived from what they are doing, but from the lives they are impacting for God. Such is the happiness of a life that is rich towards God.
Here are just three scriptures that sing of this timeless melody. Psalm 4:7, “You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.” Psalm 97:11-12, “Light is shed upon the righteous and joy on the upright in our heart. Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous and praise his holy name.” Lastly, Psalm 33.21, “In him our heart rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.”
If we treat happiness as a goal to be attained, then the effort expended by us to achieve that goal would be a very unhappy event for us. Put it in another way, the journey becomes a chore or a toil before the destination is reached. For example, we slog and labor for the month-end pay only to find out that the joy attained quickly dissipates because we have to slog and labor for another month and the dreaded cycle goes on and on. We feel this way because we view our job as a job and nothing more. Of course, some jobs are truly mentally bland and physically exhausting. It is therefore difficult to derive any physical satisfaction from it. Try telling a cleaner that she should enjoy her job. Or try telling a clerk that he should do the jig at work. Enjoying such work normally goes against one’s worldly nature.
But we, as Christians, do not go with the flow of the world. To the world, we are heretic, isolates or outcasts. Conforming to the worlds’ standard will only make us unhappy in the long run because the worldly definition of happiness runs counter to Jesus’ teachings at the Mount (Mathew 5:3-12). To the world, the sermon at the Mount carries one of the most negative messages in the bible – not to mention the glaring contradictions. How can the poor in spirit, the ones who mourn and those who are persecuted be called blessed? By the world’s standard, they should be called “loser”, “cry baby” and “weakling”.
The world will be hard pressed to make sense of how one can attain joy and gladness in the face of men reviling you, persecuting you and uttering all kinds of evil against you. Yet, Jesus makes it his point to tell the small, attentive audience that morning that true blessing, rejoicing and gladness only come to those who are humble, contrite, broken, thirsty for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart and faithful under persecution.
The world can only scratch its head in confusion and resignation from such a perverse logic that makes utterly no sense to them, whatsoever. The poor in spirit will be condemned by the world. Humility has never been a prerequisite for the making of a tycoon or a billionaire. The lexicon of the world has no room for people of meek and mournful backgrounds. Neither does it have room for the merciful. Showing mercy only hampers one’s effectiveness in cutting costs and exercising corporate downsizing. Needless to say, standing still while others spit at you, revile you and persecute you is a sure fire way of losing your respect, your integrity and your job.
So, Jesus is our “heretic” leader. He is the champion of a counter-cultural revolution. He is our against-the-grain trailblazer.
Earlier I said that happiness comes from your heart and this squares with the nine blessings listed out in the sermon of the mount. If you read through all of the blessings, you will realize that none of them talked about riches, fame and power. I thank God that Jesus did not preach, “Blessed are the rich in local currency, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Neither did Jesus teach, “Blessed are those whose names are well known and famous, for they shall inherit the earth.”
Indeed happiness comes from within and your search for more money, more fame and more power will only lead to more worries, more temptations and more corruption. A wise man once said, “if a man who has just moved into a luxury apartment on the hundredth floor of a brand new building is deeply unhappy, the only thing he’ll look for is a window to jump out of it.”
Most of us spent half of our lives battling with meaninglessness and disappointment that comes with material success. This is because we mistake true happiness for material or sensory pleasure. The latter is only skin deep.
Outward focus on happiness is insatiable because our appetite grows larger as we own more and more of material possessions, crave more and more for fame and hunger more and more for power. It is instructive to note that as we gather more of material success, we have less room for spiritual success.
Put it in another way, our spirit shrinks as we grow richer in earthy things. Alternatively, our spirit becomes burdened and cluttered as we pile up in our storehouse things of this world while losing all focus on things eternal. Left unchecked and unguarded, we will soon allow greed, blind ambition and pride to take charge of our lives, even without knowing it. We then become a prisoner of our own desires and suffer the consequences of a life driven by meaninglessness and quiet desperation. A worthy quote expresses the same sentiment, “Those who seek happiness in pleasure, wealth, glory, power and heroics are as naïve as a child who tries to catch a rainbow and wears it as a coat.”
In this sometimes harrowing life journey, it is spiritually refreshing to remind ourselves the most important lesson on wealth: Own nothing, have everything. We are called to be rich towards God. We are called to be stewards and not owners. We are called to stand ready to surrender all and not horde anything. Lastly, we are called to travel light and not be burdened by the cares of this world. The divine paradox that Jesus delivered in the sermon of the Mount is this - you own nothing but you gain everything.
A spirit that is fully dedicated to God counts nothing as his. He may be blessed with earthly riches but losing them all will trouble him least. His heart is eternity-focused and he fully understands that his wealth and blessings are but temporary and instrumental to his living a life pleasing to God and not an end in itself. He knows deep inside that his riches are in God and such riches cannot be robbed or pillaged. His financial security is in God even in times of financial hardship because in God, he has everything he needs and that is all that matters. Such mindset has to be conscientiously cultivated. The first and all important step in this direction is to gradually starve our desires or ego and to feed our spirit. When we make room for God in our spirit, our desires of this world will indeed grow “strangely dim”.
In his book, when the game is over, it all goes back in the box, pastor John Ortberg gave us a glimpse of what true richness is in God.
“Being rich toward God means growing a soul that is increasingly healthy and good.
Being rich toward God means loving and enjoying the people around you.
Being rich toward God means learning about your gifts and passions and doing good work to help improve the world.
Being rich toward God means becoming generous with your stuff.
Being rich toward God means making that which is temporary become servant of that which is eternal.
Being rich toward God means savoring every roll of the dice and every trip around the board (life seen as a game).”
When we are rich in God, our happiness is complete. We truly lack nothing because we are at peace with ourselves. We no longer feel the urge to compete for attention, strive for a larger house, compare our material wealth with others, envy our neighbor’s car or struggle to outperform our colleagues.
You can easily spot a person who is inherently happy. Basically, three traits stand out in their life. They are contented with their current station in life. This means that they are able to live joyfully with what they have. They do not experience an inner strife to outbid, outdo and outwit their neighbor, colleagues or friends. They are what I would call “wealthy beggars”. They are well secured in the knowledge of where their true riches lie and they see themselves as trustees of what they have and not owners. They are able to proclaim what Paul had in 2 Corinthians 6:10 proclaimed, “People think we are sad although we’re always glad, that we’re beggars although we make many people spiritually rich, that we have nothing although we possess everything.”
Secondly, they are always thankful with what they already have. If we are unable to enjoy what we have, our heart will always be a bottomless pit - empty, dark and hollow. Ever try filling water into a bucket without a base. The water will fall through even before the next scoop. Gaining the world and all its riches will still leave such a heart vacant and void.
However, a heart of gratitude takes nothing for granted. It takes the time to build existing relationships. It does not count it a chore to communicate more deeply with loved ones. It savors long walks, celebrates special occasions and rejoices in simple family gatherings; activities that money cannot buy and time cannot redeem. In the end, a heart of thanksgiving fills a life to the brim with untold joy and the fondest of memories.
Lastly, they give their best in everything they do regardless of the nature of their job. In other words, they engage fully and purposefully in their work. They do not just make a living out of it, they make a difference. They see their work as an opportunity to impact and transform lives. They envision their workplace as a harvest field for reaping, and not a minefield to be avoided. So, their joy at work is not derived from what they are doing, but from the lives they are impacting for God. Such is the happiness of a life that is rich towards God.
Monday, July 28, 2008
LIFE's purpose
No growth; no use
Last Friday’s cell was fun. You guys attended with a peculiar zeal, quiet zeal. And I thank you for the enthusiasm showed, in your own special way. It has been three years now. Not exactly long in a cell life, but not exactly short either. I think three years is a good number. It is just nice. It is just nice to get to know each other. It is just nice to be comfortable, personal and more forthright. But we all know numbers are just numbers. We can be together for as long as the life of Adam (950 plus years) and not learn anything. So the years mean nothing without the growth.
So, let’s count the growth in our group. First, we witnessed the birth of a few beautiful babies. Let me count the bundles of joy: Dave (the wise one), Tiara (the princess), Lemuel (the priceless gift), Jezer (the restless energy) and the akan datang yet-to-be-named daughter of mine. Second, we saw traffic of people leaving and joining our cell group, with a steady growth in numbers.
Lastly, we witnessed the positive change in lives of our members. I think this is the all-important factor in a cell group. Lives have to be changed for God. Lives have to demonstrate growth - real, genuine, progressive growth. Personally, I think we are wiser after three years…or else, I would have failed miserably as your cell leader. No growth, no use.
I am convinced that the years of personal relating and “clowning around” have caused you guys to inch closer to God, closer to His love, closer to His teachings.
Remember what I said before, “Conversion is in doing as much as you can with as much as you know and to progress on a daily basis.” This means that your conversion is like the rise of dawn. Surely, positively and incrementally, your spiritual transformation should rise like the new morning. God doesn’t expect sudden, skyrocketed growth that fizzles off midway. God expects progressive, steady growth.
Of course, where there is growth, there is also the reverse, the dreaded regress. You would have no excuse as a child of God if you should stand before your grandchildren one day and are unable to recall one thing that you had done for God that matters for eternity. Beloved, I believe a wasted life is not so much on doing the same thing day in and day out and not exactly liking it – like your salaried work. That’s unwise, but it is still excusable (provided your children are well provided for and you have a retirement nest waiting for you).
A truly wasted life, in my view, is when one consistently professes to be one thing and then failing to live it up in his lifetime. Consider the following ministry activity: attending church for the rest of your life, paying tithes faithfully, serving regularly, attending cell group week after week, praying for others, listening to sermons every Sunday. Then, one day you discover that your life has not changed a single bit. You are still bitter. You get envious easily. You still sulk like a child. You still blame others for your own mistakes. You still want the easy way out of things, still running away from responsibility. You may age as a human being but you are still a babe in God. In short, you are still you.
When death beckons, such a life has nothing to show for and is truly wasted on things that doesn’t count for eternity.
The plea of 5 virgins
If I may be so presumptuous and construct a simple conversation between Jesus (JC) and the five virgins who didn’t have enough oil in their lamps, I think it would go something like this:-
JC : depart from me, for I know you not.
Virgins : But JC, we got oil, see.
JC : its too late.
Virgins : But you are a God of Love?
JC : I’m also a God of Judgment.
Virgins : JC, you must give us another chance. This is all too sudden.
JC : What is “too sudden”? The suddenness of my coming or the suddenness of your repentance?
The virgins then convened a short conference. They knew it was a trick question. If they replied, “suddenness of Christ’s coming,” then Jesus would say that His coming has already been written. They have obviously failed to keep watch and pray. If they replied, “suddenness of their repentance”, Jesus would say that they were insincere and their repentance makes a mockery of His death. Both ways, they would be digging their own grave. So, they did what all mortal beings would do: they kept quiet and looked at Jesus with puppy-dogged eyes.
JC continued : Why do you sleep knowing your lamp is empty?
Virgins : JC, we thought we still had time. We were young. We were busy. We had to look good for you. Don’t you know the make up alone took days…and…and how about the tailored gown? You know how slow those Jewish tailors can be.
JC : Then, you have made your choice…And my father has made his.
Jesus shut the door behind him.
Have you made your choice?
Rising from the ashes: the amazing life of Hannah Whitall Smith
I would like to ask you, “What is the destiny, which God has planned for modern man? How can a person forfeit the destiny, which God has planned for his life?”
Last Friday, our pastor shared with us his personal conviction on salvation. He believed that once we are saved, our names are forever written in the book of life. In other words, our salvation is secured, inerasable, guaranteed. Revelation 3:12 puts it, “…he who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God…I will write on him the name of My God.”
Now, let’s not get carried away. The tag, “Once saved always saved” has its condition. The condition is: We must first overcome.
You see, the story of the gospel is as simple as 1-2-3. One, it is about our creation. Two, it is about our fall. Three, it is about our redemption. In between the 1-2-3, it is all about overcoming. That’s the purpose of our existence. That’s our destiny.
Different people overcome life’s struggles in different ways. Different people, different strokes. Take the life of the American evangelist, Hannah Whitall Smith (1832 – 1911), for example. She was a fighter in every sense of the word. Her husband and her were both international evangelists and together they had conducted many successful evangelistic campaigns in Europe. But it all came to an abrupt end when her husband was accused of seducing a lady while he was praying for her. Shunned by the local churches, Hannah had to return with her husband to Philadelphia in disgrace. However, she stood by her husband and vouched for his innocence.
Subsequently, while still grieving over the death of her daughter, she discovered that her husband was engaging in an affair. It was a double blow for Hannah. Still, she didn’t divorce him. But they stayed apart for the most part of their marital life. Then, things went down hill when she lost two of her daughters to illness. But the tragedy did not stop there. Later, one of her daughters was disillusioned by the hypocrisy of her father and she married the famed atheist Bertrand Russell, who wrote, among many literary works, the controversial book entitled, Why I am not a Christian. As if all this was not enough, two of her children inherited her husband’s emotional and mental instability and suffered from what would be termed today as bipolar manic-depressive disorder.
For most people, the death of one daughter would be too heart wrenching to make life worth living. But Hannah lost three, endured an unfaithful husband, stood and watched helplessly as her daughter walked down the aisle with a man who did not believe in God, and had to grieve over her daughters’ mental illness.
In all these, Hannah overcame and proclaimed, “This, then, is what I mean by God being enough. It is that we find in Him, the fact of His existence and of His character, all that we can possibly want for everything. God is, must be, our answer to every question and every cry of need.”
In the midst of her grief and pain, Hannah went on to write her classic book called, The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life. What an indomitable spirit, beloved! Talk about rising from the ashes of grief. How could a lady who had experienced so much pain still able to pen a book about happiness! She would have been more qualified to write about sorrow and pain, disappointments and betrayal. Truly, she has overcome.
Well, I guess Hannah’s secret to living an overcoming life is well surmised in the comments of her biographer, Marie Henry, “Hannah Whitall Smith’s resiliency would surprise people all of her life. Knocked down, time after time, hounded by doubts and confusion, she had a gift of dealing with defeat and rebounding from despair. There was a prevailing buoyancy in her soul, an aliveness and sense of adventure in her spirit. Hannah would have said very simply that her constantly deepening faith kept her from losing her enthusiasm for life, that it was her steadfast belief in the goodness of God that lightened her spirits and enabled her to maintain her vitality.”
There is much to learn and emulate from the overcoming life of Hannah Whitall Smith.
I believe she struggled much with doubts and despair in her Christian journey but she never lost sight of her destiny with God. She knew she was royal material with royal blood flowing in her veins and with a royal crown waiting for her at the end of her earthly race. And 1 Peter 2:9-10 put it grandly, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a Holy Nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
We are indeed handpicked by God. Our identity is in God. We belong to Him exclusively. Our mission is to declare His good works, His praises, His everyday miracles, His goodness, His love and His mercy. For we are redeemed for a costly price and “out of darkness” we have entered “into His wonderful light.” There is no better summary of a Christian’s destiny than the illuminating words of 1 Peter above.
Miserable octogenarian and a happy forty something
A Baptist pastor in America and an author of many illuminating books, John Piper, once declared that, “The deepest and most enduring happiness is found only in God. Not from God, but in God.” He says that everybody is looking for happiness. In fact, we all are looking for some form of happiness. We find this form of happiness in changing a new car. We find another form in the birth of a baby daughter (eh…this September…just a reminder). Further forms may be found in your work or, that temporary emotional perk you feel when you receive your cheque at the end of the month. For others, happiness may come in the form of a prince charming or a princess cantik.
I have identified three basic forms of happiness. The first form is happiness in the possessing. The second form is happiness in the giving. The third form is in the glorifying. The first form is of course prone to disappointments.
Almost every morning, I would fish out 80 cents to buy the informative Straits Times. The first page I usually read is…the obituary. Yes, the obituary. No, I don’t have a fetish for dead people. But I am curious about how the dearly departed had lived their lives. The epitaph is usually sobering. I note that it starts with the age of the deceased. Some died at 24. Some at 50. Others at 84. Rarely anyone died after 90. But longevity doesn’t mean happiness. I believe that a miserable octogenarian and a happy forty-something can appear on the same page of the obituary.
The next thing I notice is the lists of names, lists of relationships, the next of kin. For some, it runs a few pages. For others, it’s barely a paragraph. For most, there is a spouse, three to four children, a few in-laws, and the insuppressible grandchildren. Never had I come across an obituary column that did away with the list of loved ones and replaces it with a list of personal assets. It would sound awfully incredulous for loved ones to post the following, “the dearly departed has four sport cars, two penthouses, a few bungalows overseas, a few very fat bank accounts and a string of international companies.”
How much can a person possess in his or her short lifetime? Material possession is necessary but definitely not indispensable. In other words, it is a should-have, not a must-have. We are all starting our family. We have kids, naughty ones for some. We should, as responsible parents, have a roof over our head - a roof to shelter our loved ones. If we have a bit more money, we should consider living in a bigger house, maybe with an unobstructed view. Then, comes transportation.
Our local public transport system is convenient and structured. But a car is a viable option for some who can afford. We can consider a family sedan – boxy four wheels with comfortable seat. Then, we should always save a little on the side for our children, for our retirement. If we have more money, more time, more energy, maybe, just maybe, we can consider striving for the next form of happiness – the happiness that comes from giving.
Giving is definitely a higher form of happiness to attain. It is emotionally satisfying to see the conversion of a non-believer through your investment of time. It is inspiring to see an orphan being fed a proper meal in some remote part of Thailand with the money that you’d donated to the missionary cause. It is heart warming to receive a grateful hug from one of your cell group members because you have through three years of sharing made a difference in his or her life (Not trying to suggest anything here…)
But still giving alone cannot be the ultimate goal in life. The highest form of happiness is captured in these words by John Piper:-
The chief end of man is to glorify God
By enjoying Him forever
God and spiderman
I believe a man or woman is never complete without God. We can wake up in the arms of our spouse. We can get the fattest bonus this side of heaven. And receive a promotion with endless perks and power. We can carry our new born in our arms. Realize our dreams and goals in a shortest time possible. But still the happiness derived from these activities is only short-lived. Mankind’s ultimate end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. This is the 3rd and highest form of happiness. Matthew 13:44 reads, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then, in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field”.
I remember one of the happiest times in my life. My father promised me that he would buy me a Spiderman figurine after the Spiderman movie. I was only twelve years old then, a non-Christian, and Spiderman was the closest equivalent to a deity to me. I was so excited I did not pay attention to the 2-hour movie. In fact, I was dying for the closing credits so that I could sprint out of the theater to get the Spiderman figurine. Imagine for a stiff, red and blue, spandex-clad, spider-like skinny doll, I missed the entire show. After two weeks, I discarded my Spiderman doll for another superhero, superman.
Anyway, the point is not the doll, the point is in my excitement to possess it - the inexpressible joy of holding it at the end of the movie. How beautiful it would have been if I could redirect part that joy and excitement for the pure pursuit of God - not just for his gifts or blessings, but to chase after God for the loving father He is like a twelve year old would sprint after a plastic doll.
Our hidden treasure and mental spam
Now, beloved, let me ask you: Is God your treasure hidden in a field? Or just an old wooden crate tucked in one corner of your basement?
At this point, let me throw in another two questions:
What does it mean for you to know God?
And when God looks at your life thus far, what will He find…or what do you want Him to find?
Beloved, I trust the answers to the two questions are personal. Every one of you have different answers, I guess - especially the answer to the second question. Whatever the answer, I have this feeling that you guys desire to do more for God.
I think a good place to start is to review our circle of priority, me included. What is in the center of your life now? Your job? Your wife? Your loved ones? Your bank account? Your studies? Any room in your heart for God? Any passion for living a life God has destined you to live? John Henry Newman once said, “Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning.” Does your Christian life have a beginning in the first place? Note that there is no end or completion without a beginning. You can’t finish a race without starting somewhere. What is the beginning in your Christian faith? Or has it even started? Have you started to live a life God has ordained you to live? Have you started to live a life pleasing to God? Or are you the start-and-stop kind of Christian? Or worst, the triple “S” kind, start-stop-stagnate?
CS Lewis once said, “The real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them back; in listening to that other Voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day.”
What occupies your thoughts every waking morning and every closing night? For most of us, the answer is sadly, nothing important. In the morning, we allow our bladder to think for us and we head for the toilet. At night, we are too tired to squeeze out one more thought. We doze off like a log. We go on mental autopilot so frequently that our thoughts gallop in all directions like wild horses. None of these thoughts play a significant impact in our lives. None of these thoughts draw us closer to God.
CS Lewis warns us about such thoughts; such thoughts that crave for your attention and floods you with anxiety and fear or cause you to remain mediocre. I call these thoughts mental spam. Like unwanted, unsolicited e-mails, these thoughts distract you from purposeful godly pursuit.
CS Lewis is asking us to take control of our thoughts. He is asking us to consecrate our mind. To train our ears to hear God’s voice. To start the day with a heavenly perspective and to end it with heavenly praise. True serenity comes from opening our first waking moment to the powerful assurance of God’s word. True peace of the heart comes from meditating on God’s sovereignty over our circumstances. God is in control. We are under the shadows of his wings. We are safe. For me, I am constantly reminded of this reassuring prayer in the form of a written note stuck to the side of my fridge, “Lord help me to remember that nothing is going to happen to me today that you and I can’t handle together.”
Then, there is Isaiah 43:2-3, a powerful assurance of protection, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned. Nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God. The Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” God watches over us. We need to know this. God wants us to know this. This knowledge is powerful.
Imagine, when trials come, when the hope dims, when the floor beneath you give way, when you feel used and discarded, when you reach the end of your rope, you can always look up to heaven and pray, “God, I surrender all. I do not know how, why and for how long. But you know. You care. You would not let me go. I surrender all. I want to ride on your shoulder and cross these rapid waters together with you. You take me across. You lead me. I surrender all.”
The bend by the watercress
Here, I have reached my fresh water point. This is where I read to you the following poem written by a minister of God, Dr David Jeremiah, who overcame cancer. The words are simple, piercing and very refreshing.
Sometimes we come to life’s crossroads
And we view what we think is the end
But God has a much wider vision
The road will go on and get smoother
And after we’ve stopped for a rest
The path that lies hidden beyond us
Is often the path that is best
So rest and relax and grow stronger
Let go and let God share your load
And have faith in a brighter tomorrow
You’ve just come to a bend in the road
What is the bend in your road? Your work? Your temper? Your lust? Your doubts? Your fear? Your finances? Remember, no matter what, it is just a bend in the road, and the bend leads to somewhere God is taking you. It’s just that you are unable to see it yet. All will soon be revealed. So, have faith, follow the bend, walk the contour, hold God’s hands, for He has a plan for you, a plan to prosper you. Your destiny lies around the bend.
Don’t forget that we are created for great things. For now, our victory need not be in building a few big churches. For now, our victory need not be saving million of lives on international evangelistic campaigns. Our victory need not even be setting up orphanages, donating truckload of supplies to the needy, or donate millions of dollars for overseas crusades. These are different paths that await us after the bend.
Our victory starts with a surrendered will. It starts with a willing vessel and a submitted heart and it usually ends with God-honoring pursuits. Remember, only a surrendered will is able to take that bend with God.
Beloved, the surest way to forfeit your God-given destiny is to fall under the following categories of people.
Some people God is unable to use:-
1) Those who know best – blinded by pride and arrogance.
2) Those who are too busy for God.
3) Those whose hearts are divided.
4) Those who put God in a box due to the lack of faith.
5) Those who want to remain on the fences.
6) Those who want to please men more than God.
7) Those who help God because they are unable to wait for God’s time.
Another category of people who constantly forfeits their destiny in God is the group that cannot give up the temporary riches of this world or deny their fleshly desires. For this, I am greatly ministered by Proverbs 11:28, which reads, “A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump; God-shaped life is a flourishing tree.” Then comes the complementary verse in Jeremiah 17:7-8, which reads, “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord…They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the waters. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green and they go right on producing delicious fruits.”
Where have you been planting your tree, beloved?
1) Still waters? – apathy and comfort zone;
2) Shallow waters? – materialism and earthly rewards;
3) Rapid waters? – busyness and superficiality;
4) Polluted waters? – fake repentance and continual sin;
5) Congested waters? – double standard and double minded;
6) Mirage? – blind ambition and goals without true value;
OR
7) River of life – eternity-perspective and a surrendered life.
Okay, I can end now. But not without closing this letter with this beautiful poem from the treasure trove of Dr Neil T. Anderson in his book, God’s Power @ Work in You:-
The Wreath
A friend of mine whose grapevine died, had put it out for trash.
I said to her, “I’ll take that vine and make something of that.”
At home the bag of dead, dry vines looked nothing but a mess, but as I gently bent one vine,entwining ‘round and ‘round.
A rustic wreath began to form, potential did abound.
One vine would not go where it should, and anxious as I was, I forced it so to change its shape, it broke – and what the cause?
If I had taken precise time to slowly change its form,
It would have made a lovely wreath, not a dead vine, broken, torn.
As I finished bending, adding looms, applying trim, I realized how the rustic wreath is like my life within.
You see, so many in my life have tried to make me change.
They’ve forced my spirit anxiously, I tried to rearrange.
But when the pain was far too great, they forced my fragile form, I plunged far deeper in despair, my spirit broken and torn.
Then, God allowed a gentle one that knew of dying vines, to kindly, patiently allow the Lord to take His time.
And though the vine has not yet formed a decorative wreath, I know that with God’s servants’ help one day when Christ I meet,
He’ll see a finished circle, a perfect gift to Him.
It will be a final product, a wreath with all the trim.
So as you look upon this gift, the vine round and complete,
Remember God is using you to gently shape His wreath.
Last Friday’s cell was fun. You guys attended with a peculiar zeal, quiet zeal. And I thank you for the enthusiasm showed, in your own special way. It has been three years now. Not exactly long in a cell life, but not exactly short either. I think three years is a good number. It is just nice. It is just nice to get to know each other. It is just nice to be comfortable, personal and more forthright. But we all know numbers are just numbers. We can be together for as long as the life of Adam (950 plus years) and not learn anything. So the years mean nothing without the growth.
So, let’s count the growth in our group. First, we witnessed the birth of a few beautiful babies. Let me count the bundles of joy: Dave (the wise one), Tiara (the princess), Lemuel (the priceless gift), Jezer (the restless energy) and the akan datang yet-to-be-named daughter of mine. Second, we saw traffic of people leaving and joining our cell group, with a steady growth in numbers.
Lastly, we witnessed the positive change in lives of our members. I think this is the all-important factor in a cell group. Lives have to be changed for God. Lives have to demonstrate growth - real, genuine, progressive growth. Personally, I think we are wiser after three years…or else, I would have failed miserably as your cell leader. No growth, no use.
I am convinced that the years of personal relating and “clowning around” have caused you guys to inch closer to God, closer to His love, closer to His teachings.
Remember what I said before, “Conversion is in doing as much as you can with as much as you know and to progress on a daily basis.” This means that your conversion is like the rise of dawn. Surely, positively and incrementally, your spiritual transformation should rise like the new morning. God doesn’t expect sudden, skyrocketed growth that fizzles off midway. God expects progressive, steady growth.
Of course, where there is growth, there is also the reverse, the dreaded regress. You would have no excuse as a child of God if you should stand before your grandchildren one day and are unable to recall one thing that you had done for God that matters for eternity. Beloved, I believe a wasted life is not so much on doing the same thing day in and day out and not exactly liking it – like your salaried work. That’s unwise, but it is still excusable (provided your children are well provided for and you have a retirement nest waiting for you).
A truly wasted life, in my view, is when one consistently professes to be one thing and then failing to live it up in his lifetime. Consider the following ministry activity: attending church for the rest of your life, paying tithes faithfully, serving regularly, attending cell group week after week, praying for others, listening to sermons every Sunday. Then, one day you discover that your life has not changed a single bit. You are still bitter. You get envious easily. You still sulk like a child. You still blame others for your own mistakes. You still want the easy way out of things, still running away from responsibility. You may age as a human being but you are still a babe in God. In short, you are still you.
When death beckons, such a life has nothing to show for and is truly wasted on things that doesn’t count for eternity.
The plea of 5 virgins
If I may be so presumptuous and construct a simple conversation between Jesus (JC) and the five virgins who didn’t have enough oil in their lamps, I think it would go something like this:-
JC : depart from me, for I know you not.
Virgins : But JC, we got oil, see.
JC : its too late.
Virgins : But you are a God of Love?
JC : I’m also a God of Judgment.
Virgins : JC, you must give us another chance. This is all too sudden.
JC : What is “too sudden”? The suddenness of my coming or the suddenness of your repentance?
The virgins then convened a short conference. They knew it was a trick question. If they replied, “suddenness of Christ’s coming,” then Jesus would say that His coming has already been written. They have obviously failed to keep watch and pray. If they replied, “suddenness of their repentance”, Jesus would say that they were insincere and their repentance makes a mockery of His death. Both ways, they would be digging their own grave. So, they did what all mortal beings would do: they kept quiet and looked at Jesus with puppy-dogged eyes.
JC continued : Why do you sleep knowing your lamp is empty?
Virgins : JC, we thought we still had time. We were young. We were busy. We had to look good for you. Don’t you know the make up alone took days…and…and how about the tailored gown? You know how slow those Jewish tailors can be.
JC : Then, you have made your choice…And my father has made his.
Jesus shut the door behind him.
Have you made your choice?
Rising from the ashes: the amazing life of Hannah Whitall Smith
I would like to ask you, “What is the destiny, which God has planned for modern man? How can a person forfeit the destiny, which God has planned for his life?”
Last Friday, our pastor shared with us his personal conviction on salvation. He believed that once we are saved, our names are forever written in the book of life. In other words, our salvation is secured, inerasable, guaranteed. Revelation 3:12 puts it, “…he who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God…I will write on him the name of My God.”
Now, let’s not get carried away. The tag, “Once saved always saved” has its condition. The condition is: We must first overcome.
You see, the story of the gospel is as simple as 1-2-3. One, it is about our creation. Two, it is about our fall. Three, it is about our redemption. In between the 1-2-3, it is all about overcoming. That’s the purpose of our existence. That’s our destiny.
Different people overcome life’s struggles in different ways. Different people, different strokes. Take the life of the American evangelist, Hannah Whitall Smith (1832 – 1911), for example. She was a fighter in every sense of the word. Her husband and her were both international evangelists and together they had conducted many successful evangelistic campaigns in Europe. But it all came to an abrupt end when her husband was accused of seducing a lady while he was praying for her. Shunned by the local churches, Hannah had to return with her husband to Philadelphia in disgrace. However, she stood by her husband and vouched for his innocence.
Subsequently, while still grieving over the death of her daughter, she discovered that her husband was engaging in an affair. It was a double blow for Hannah. Still, she didn’t divorce him. But they stayed apart for the most part of their marital life. Then, things went down hill when she lost two of her daughters to illness. But the tragedy did not stop there. Later, one of her daughters was disillusioned by the hypocrisy of her father and she married the famed atheist Bertrand Russell, who wrote, among many literary works, the controversial book entitled, Why I am not a Christian. As if all this was not enough, two of her children inherited her husband’s emotional and mental instability and suffered from what would be termed today as bipolar manic-depressive disorder.
For most people, the death of one daughter would be too heart wrenching to make life worth living. But Hannah lost three, endured an unfaithful husband, stood and watched helplessly as her daughter walked down the aisle with a man who did not believe in God, and had to grieve over her daughters’ mental illness.
In all these, Hannah overcame and proclaimed, “This, then, is what I mean by God being enough. It is that we find in Him, the fact of His existence and of His character, all that we can possibly want for everything. God is, must be, our answer to every question and every cry of need.”
In the midst of her grief and pain, Hannah went on to write her classic book called, The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life. What an indomitable spirit, beloved! Talk about rising from the ashes of grief. How could a lady who had experienced so much pain still able to pen a book about happiness! She would have been more qualified to write about sorrow and pain, disappointments and betrayal. Truly, she has overcome.
Well, I guess Hannah’s secret to living an overcoming life is well surmised in the comments of her biographer, Marie Henry, “Hannah Whitall Smith’s resiliency would surprise people all of her life. Knocked down, time after time, hounded by doubts and confusion, she had a gift of dealing with defeat and rebounding from despair. There was a prevailing buoyancy in her soul, an aliveness and sense of adventure in her spirit. Hannah would have said very simply that her constantly deepening faith kept her from losing her enthusiasm for life, that it was her steadfast belief in the goodness of God that lightened her spirits and enabled her to maintain her vitality.”
There is much to learn and emulate from the overcoming life of Hannah Whitall Smith.
I believe she struggled much with doubts and despair in her Christian journey but she never lost sight of her destiny with God. She knew she was royal material with royal blood flowing in her veins and with a royal crown waiting for her at the end of her earthly race. And 1 Peter 2:9-10 put it grandly, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a Holy Nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
We are indeed handpicked by God. Our identity is in God. We belong to Him exclusively. Our mission is to declare His good works, His praises, His everyday miracles, His goodness, His love and His mercy. For we are redeemed for a costly price and “out of darkness” we have entered “into His wonderful light.” There is no better summary of a Christian’s destiny than the illuminating words of 1 Peter above.
Miserable octogenarian and a happy forty something
A Baptist pastor in America and an author of many illuminating books, John Piper, once declared that, “The deepest and most enduring happiness is found only in God. Not from God, but in God.” He says that everybody is looking for happiness. In fact, we all are looking for some form of happiness. We find this form of happiness in changing a new car. We find another form in the birth of a baby daughter (eh…this September…just a reminder). Further forms may be found in your work or, that temporary emotional perk you feel when you receive your cheque at the end of the month. For others, happiness may come in the form of a prince charming or a princess cantik.
I have identified three basic forms of happiness. The first form is happiness in the possessing. The second form is happiness in the giving. The third form is in the glorifying. The first form is of course prone to disappointments.
Almost every morning, I would fish out 80 cents to buy the informative Straits Times. The first page I usually read is…the obituary. Yes, the obituary. No, I don’t have a fetish for dead people. But I am curious about how the dearly departed had lived their lives. The epitaph is usually sobering. I note that it starts with the age of the deceased. Some died at 24. Some at 50. Others at 84. Rarely anyone died after 90. But longevity doesn’t mean happiness. I believe that a miserable octogenarian and a happy forty-something can appear on the same page of the obituary.
The next thing I notice is the lists of names, lists of relationships, the next of kin. For some, it runs a few pages. For others, it’s barely a paragraph. For most, there is a spouse, three to four children, a few in-laws, and the insuppressible grandchildren. Never had I come across an obituary column that did away with the list of loved ones and replaces it with a list of personal assets. It would sound awfully incredulous for loved ones to post the following, “the dearly departed has four sport cars, two penthouses, a few bungalows overseas, a few very fat bank accounts and a string of international companies.”
How much can a person possess in his or her short lifetime? Material possession is necessary but definitely not indispensable. In other words, it is a should-have, not a must-have. We are all starting our family. We have kids, naughty ones for some. We should, as responsible parents, have a roof over our head - a roof to shelter our loved ones. If we have a bit more money, we should consider living in a bigger house, maybe with an unobstructed view. Then, comes transportation.
Our local public transport system is convenient and structured. But a car is a viable option for some who can afford. We can consider a family sedan – boxy four wheels with comfortable seat. Then, we should always save a little on the side for our children, for our retirement. If we have more money, more time, more energy, maybe, just maybe, we can consider striving for the next form of happiness – the happiness that comes from giving.
Giving is definitely a higher form of happiness to attain. It is emotionally satisfying to see the conversion of a non-believer through your investment of time. It is inspiring to see an orphan being fed a proper meal in some remote part of Thailand with the money that you’d donated to the missionary cause. It is heart warming to receive a grateful hug from one of your cell group members because you have through three years of sharing made a difference in his or her life (Not trying to suggest anything here…)
But still giving alone cannot be the ultimate goal in life. The highest form of happiness is captured in these words by John Piper:-
The chief end of man is to glorify God
By enjoying Him forever
God and spiderman
I believe a man or woman is never complete without God. We can wake up in the arms of our spouse. We can get the fattest bonus this side of heaven. And receive a promotion with endless perks and power. We can carry our new born in our arms. Realize our dreams and goals in a shortest time possible. But still the happiness derived from these activities is only short-lived. Mankind’s ultimate end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. This is the 3rd and highest form of happiness. Matthew 13:44 reads, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then, in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field”.
I remember one of the happiest times in my life. My father promised me that he would buy me a Spiderman figurine after the Spiderman movie. I was only twelve years old then, a non-Christian, and Spiderman was the closest equivalent to a deity to me. I was so excited I did not pay attention to the 2-hour movie. In fact, I was dying for the closing credits so that I could sprint out of the theater to get the Spiderman figurine. Imagine for a stiff, red and blue, spandex-clad, spider-like skinny doll, I missed the entire show. After two weeks, I discarded my Spiderman doll for another superhero, superman.
Anyway, the point is not the doll, the point is in my excitement to possess it - the inexpressible joy of holding it at the end of the movie. How beautiful it would have been if I could redirect part that joy and excitement for the pure pursuit of God - not just for his gifts or blessings, but to chase after God for the loving father He is like a twelve year old would sprint after a plastic doll.
Our hidden treasure and mental spam
Now, beloved, let me ask you: Is God your treasure hidden in a field? Or just an old wooden crate tucked in one corner of your basement?
At this point, let me throw in another two questions:
What does it mean for you to know God?
And when God looks at your life thus far, what will He find…or what do you want Him to find?
Beloved, I trust the answers to the two questions are personal. Every one of you have different answers, I guess - especially the answer to the second question. Whatever the answer, I have this feeling that you guys desire to do more for God.
I think a good place to start is to review our circle of priority, me included. What is in the center of your life now? Your job? Your wife? Your loved ones? Your bank account? Your studies? Any room in your heart for God? Any passion for living a life God has destined you to live? John Henry Newman once said, “Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning.” Does your Christian life have a beginning in the first place? Note that there is no end or completion without a beginning. You can’t finish a race without starting somewhere. What is the beginning in your Christian faith? Or has it even started? Have you started to live a life God has ordained you to live? Have you started to live a life pleasing to God? Or are you the start-and-stop kind of Christian? Or worst, the triple “S” kind, start-stop-stagnate?
CS Lewis once said, “The real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them back; in listening to that other Voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day.”
What occupies your thoughts every waking morning and every closing night? For most of us, the answer is sadly, nothing important. In the morning, we allow our bladder to think for us and we head for the toilet. At night, we are too tired to squeeze out one more thought. We doze off like a log. We go on mental autopilot so frequently that our thoughts gallop in all directions like wild horses. None of these thoughts play a significant impact in our lives. None of these thoughts draw us closer to God.
CS Lewis warns us about such thoughts; such thoughts that crave for your attention and floods you with anxiety and fear or cause you to remain mediocre. I call these thoughts mental spam. Like unwanted, unsolicited e-mails, these thoughts distract you from purposeful godly pursuit.
CS Lewis is asking us to take control of our thoughts. He is asking us to consecrate our mind. To train our ears to hear God’s voice. To start the day with a heavenly perspective and to end it with heavenly praise. True serenity comes from opening our first waking moment to the powerful assurance of God’s word. True peace of the heart comes from meditating on God’s sovereignty over our circumstances. God is in control. We are under the shadows of his wings. We are safe. For me, I am constantly reminded of this reassuring prayer in the form of a written note stuck to the side of my fridge, “Lord help me to remember that nothing is going to happen to me today that you and I can’t handle together.”
Then, there is Isaiah 43:2-3, a powerful assurance of protection, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned. Nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God. The Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” God watches over us. We need to know this. God wants us to know this. This knowledge is powerful.
Imagine, when trials come, when the hope dims, when the floor beneath you give way, when you feel used and discarded, when you reach the end of your rope, you can always look up to heaven and pray, “God, I surrender all. I do not know how, why and for how long. But you know. You care. You would not let me go. I surrender all. I want to ride on your shoulder and cross these rapid waters together with you. You take me across. You lead me. I surrender all.”
The bend by the watercress
Here, I have reached my fresh water point. This is where I read to you the following poem written by a minister of God, Dr David Jeremiah, who overcame cancer. The words are simple, piercing and very refreshing.
Sometimes we come to life’s crossroads
And we view what we think is the end
But God has a much wider vision
The road will go on and get smoother
And after we’ve stopped for a rest
The path that lies hidden beyond us
Is often the path that is best
So rest and relax and grow stronger
Let go and let God share your load
And have faith in a brighter tomorrow
You’ve just come to a bend in the road
What is the bend in your road? Your work? Your temper? Your lust? Your doubts? Your fear? Your finances? Remember, no matter what, it is just a bend in the road, and the bend leads to somewhere God is taking you. It’s just that you are unable to see it yet. All will soon be revealed. So, have faith, follow the bend, walk the contour, hold God’s hands, for He has a plan for you, a plan to prosper you. Your destiny lies around the bend.
Don’t forget that we are created for great things. For now, our victory need not be in building a few big churches. For now, our victory need not be saving million of lives on international evangelistic campaigns. Our victory need not even be setting up orphanages, donating truckload of supplies to the needy, or donate millions of dollars for overseas crusades. These are different paths that await us after the bend.
Our victory starts with a surrendered will. It starts with a willing vessel and a submitted heart and it usually ends with God-honoring pursuits. Remember, only a surrendered will is able to take that bend with God.
Beloved, the surest way to forfeit your God-given destiny is to fall under the following categories of people.
Some people God is unable to use:-
1) Those who know best – blinded by pride and arrogance.
2) Those who are too busy for God.
3) Those whose hearts are divided.
4) Those who put God in a box due to the lack of faith.
5) Those who want to remain on the fences.
6) Those who want to please men more than God.
7) Those who help God because they are unable to wait for God’s time.
Another category of people who constantly forfeits their destiny in God is the group that cannot give up the temporary riches of this world or deny their fleshly desires. For this, I am greatly ministered by Proverbs 11:28, which reads, “A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump; God-shaped life is a flourishing tree.” Then comes the complementary verse in Jeremiah 17:7-8, which reads, “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord…They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the waters. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green and they go right on producing delicious fruits.”
Where have you been planting your tree, beloved?
1) Still waters? – apathy and comfort zone;
2) Shallow waters? – materialism and earthly rewards;
3) Rapid waters? – busyness and superficiality;
4) Polluted waters? – fake repentance and continual sin;
5) Congested waters? – double standard and double minded;
6) Mirage? – blind ambition and goals without true value;
OR
7) River of life – eternity-perspective and a surrendered life.
Okay, I can end now. But not without closing this letter with this beautiful poem from the treasure trove of Dr Neil T. Anderson in his book, God’s Power @ Work in You:-
The Wreath
A friend of mine whose grapevine died, had put it out for trash.
I said to her, “I’ll take that vine and make something of that.”
At home the bag of dead, dry vines looked nothing but a mess, but as I gently bent one vine,entwining ‘round and ‘round.
A rustic wreath began to form, potential did abound.
One vine would not go where it should, and anxious as I was, I forced it so to change its shape, it broke – and what the cause?
If I had taken precise time to slowly change its form,
It would have made a lovely wreath, not a dead vine, broken, torn.
As I finished bending, adding looms, applying trim, I realized how the rustic wreath is like my life within.
You see, so many in my life have tried to make me change.
They’ve forced my spirit anxiously, I tried to rearrange.
But when the pain was far too great, they forced my fragile form, I plunged far deeper in despair, my spirit broken and torn.
Then, God allowed a gentle one that knew of dying vines, to kindly, patiently allow the Lord to take His time.
And though the vine has not yet formed a decorative wreath, I know that with God’s servants’ help one day when Christ I meet,
He’ll see a finished circle, a perfect gift to Him.
It will be a final product, a wreath with all the trim.
So as you look upon this gift, the vine round and complete,
Remember God is using you to gently shape His wreath.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Life is difficult; God's not
Life is difficult. No one needs to tell us how difficult life can be. We just know it is difficult. The difficulty varies with each of us. We live in different contexts with different dire circumstances to face. Some of us have unpaid bills. Some of us have unfaithful spouse. Some of us are so discouraged that we are numb to all suggestion of happiness. Some of us are too depressed to even bother with life any longer. Some of us are even contemplating how easy it would be to just end our lives and thereby ending all unhappiness that comes with living. So, what’s the point in waking up every morning and going through the rut over and over again when the tunnel of life is so dark, miserable and seemingly hopeless?
Albert Camus once said that we just need to ask ourselves one critical question in life, “Should I commit suicide?” The answer to that question will determine whether our life is worth living. If we answer “yes”, then that would be the end of it; death waits. But for the courageous few who answer empathically “no”, then it is incumbent on them to ask the next question, “Why?” Why should I NOT commit suicide? Is my heartbeat telling me that there is more to life than ending it? Can there be meaning in this seemingly meaningless world? Can I live a life of purpose even though purpose is the last thing this secular world advocate?
The world’s philosophy is simple. We are a byproduct of a biological accident gone “right”. We exist by random luck, a cosmic lottery of sorts. We should count ourselves very very lucky to have existed because if we would to rewind time and space the second time round, going back 14.3 billion years, to the very start of “big bang” creation, converging to a point of singularity, when all things are but a primordial atom, it is highly unlikely, or ever likely, that we would ever come into existence. We should therefore thank our big fat luck for our existence. And if luck, as an element of nature, could be institutionalized and worshipped, the secularist and the atheists would most likely advocate such a practice – or promote it with religious fervor.
The world sees death as the ultimate end. It is nature’s way of telling us that “our time is up, make way for others!” When we are buried or cremated, we become a memory, a portrait or a family fable. We are occasionally remembered with some profound fondness but life as it is carries on regardless. We won’t be missed much. Sure, our loved ones will think of us, especially our spouse and children; but in the end, when they have all died, whose turn is it to remember us?
As time goes by, we become a distant memory, fading into timeless, spaceless oblivion. So, when we are still alive, the world tells us to enjoy, make merriment, laugh more and cry less. Be happy, don’t worry. Don’t be too religious. Spent your time on what is readily touchable, see-able and enjoyable like wealth, property and the adulation that comes with being famous. Don’t bother yourself with the immaterial, untouchable, unenjoyable. Live moment by moment. The world croons with this haunting refrain, “you start to die the moment you are born.” So, live up and make pleasure your ultimate leisure. That’s the world’s philosophy in a nutshell.
You can therefore see how difficult it is for the world to be religious, to believe in life after death, to view life as a pilgrim’s progress, and to have faith in a loving, gracious divine Creator unfolding a plan for each and every one of us. Of course, there are many happy atheists and secularist out there. They are highly successful. They have made a name for themselves. They are much adored and emulated by many. They are living the jet-set lifestyle with lots of cash, real estate and no-strings-attached companionship. By any ordinary standard, they should be happy and fulfilled. Or, are they?
I believe that we can be happy for different reasons. When we make a lot of money, we are happy. When we buy a new car, we are happy. When we are promoted, we are happy. Some happiness brings about temporary ecstasy. Winning a lottery counts as one. Beating your competitor or rival at work counts as another. But once the lottery money is used up, wisely or otherwise, the individual is back to where he first started - broke and in despair. Beating your competitor only brings about happiness for a season. The next time, your competitor may outwit, outsmart and outplay you. Some happiness brings about sensory or physical pleasure like lovemaking, a casual flirt or sharing a coarse joke. But are such happiness long-lasting, life-transforming and all-pervasive? Is there happiness in overcoming life’s difficulties? Is there happiness in sacrificing for a good cause? Is there happiness in grief, pain and sorrow?
Last week, I was told that one of my cousins was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The cysts in her womb was 14 cm wide. The doctors even planned to surgically remove her womb, her ovaries and possibly her fallopian tubes if the cancer spreads. I can only wonder how this news could be devastating to my cousin; both emotionally and physically.
Consider the following hard hitting facts: my cousin is only 25 years old, she had just completed her undergraduate degree, she is in the prime of her youth, she is going to get married soon, and she is just entering the next exciting phrase of her marital and career life. What is even more heartbreaking is that she has yet to experience the joy of childbirth and the sweet challenges that rearing your own children bring. And all these may be cruelly taken from her because of one much dreaded physiological diagnosis. The one vital organ that defines her as a woman may be taken away from her for good. Now, all her dreams will remain just dreams. All her hopes are crushed.
This pain is intimately and viscerally experienced by Rabbi Harold S Kushner when his first child, Aaron, was born. At eight months old, Aaron stopped gaining weight. His hair started to fall off at age one. At three, the doctors delivered the medical verdict to Rabbi Kushner that no parents would ever wish to hear about their own child: Aaron has a rare physical condition called progeria or rapid aging. And the doctors did not stop at that, “Aaron would never grow much beyond three feet in height, would have no hair on his head or body, would look like a little old man while he was still a child, and would die in his early teens.” I don’t know about you, but I personally cannot even begin to understand how a parent could take in all that without feeling completely useless, faith-wrecked and helpless.
These are real pain and sorrow felt by real people in this world. In this world we live in, our physical problems abound just as sins and crimes are rife.
Fortunately, my cousin’s struggle with cancer has a happy ending. The surgery was successful. The surgeon excised two separate growths around both her ovaries and the growth carried 4 litres of water! She is now recuperating in the hospital and the cancer did not in any way compromise her reproductive organs. She can therefore marry and enjoy childbirth. Before she went into surgery, all her loved ones including me and my family prayed for her. It was a moment to savor, an inspirational gathering of faith where we prayed with conviction and determination.
Our collective hope in such time of trial soared to the heavens and tugged on the tailcoat of God for His attention and miraculous healing. And God mercifully answered our cry for help. When I heard the news that the operation was successful, something deep inside of my heart leapt for joy. It was a joy that was more gratifying than anything I had felt before. The joy of realized prayer was likened to a victory chant at the top of a hill. You just felt a great release and a renewal in your faith in God and his divine plan for your life. There is indeed joy unspeakable in overcoming life’s difficulties and I see the same joy in the teary eyes of my other relatives who prayed as fervently as I did for my cousin.
We all share the same commonwealth of faith and the day of our cousin’s healing demonstrated more clearly than ever the enduring power and love of God in our lives. Romans 8:17 puts it triumphantly, “Whatever you might be looking for, you can be sure God promised it. God has promised believers peace, love, grace, wisdom, eternal life, joy, victory, strength, guidance, provision for all our needs, power, knowledge, mercy, forgiveness, righteousness, gifts of the Spirit, fellowship with the Trinity, instructions from the Word, truth spiritual discernment, and eternal riches, to name a few. When we became Christian, we were made one with Jesus Christ. Therefore we receive everything the Father gives Him. Paul said we were made “heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ””.
Now comes the life of Aaron, Rabbi Kushner’s son. Not every story has a happy ending. Despite the prayers and the travailing, Aaron did not live past his 14th birthday. He died in an old man’s body with a young man’s spirit. Many had offered some explanations to Rabbi Kushner for his son’s premature death. The explanations were of two types: turn the blame on men or turn it on God. When the blame was on men, the explanation evolved around not having enough faith, not living a holier life or living a life of un-confessed sin. When the blame was on God, the explanation was always subtler, more noble. It didn’t blame God per se but implied that God had a hand in the tragedy for an undisclosed purpose.
Others find solace in the advice that “the Father knows best”. Still others adopt the hush-hush approach and resigned to the tag “God gives and God takes…live with it.” But neither answer makes any practical sense to the sufferer or the victim. Neither does it do God any favor or justice. I believe that no prayer is ever offered more sincerely than the prayer for life, for health, for recovery from illness, for ourselves and for those we love. Blaming the sufferer’s lack of faith or his blemished life is a direct affront to the love, grace and mercy of God. It also mocks the sovereignty of God by implying that He will only intervene if our lives or faith measures up. In a word, God does as He pleases and He does not need our initiatives to work miracles.
Ultimately, Rabbi Kushner knew that he had to overcome the pain and injustice he felt when his son was taken from him. Life was more than difficult for him. In some ways, it was cruel, sadistic and twisted. To see before you your beloved son growing older, weaker and frailer faster than you as his father was utterly devastating. And knowing you can do nothing about it is even more painful. But Rabbi Kushner refused to blame God. He believes that God is not the author of his pain. Neither is He the contributor.
Rabbi Kushner sincerely believes that life is difficult because it is the way it is. There are some things that happen for a reason, an unrevealed one. There are others, in the majority, that happen because it is the way life and nature have been wound up since the fall of man. God’s plan was perfect but man corrupted it. Life as we know it therefore suffers the consequences of this corruption. However, our hope is not in this world but the world to come and upon this hope rests our faith and our source of comfort. It is also upon this hope that we draw strength and courage to overcome life’s difficulties.
Rabbi Kushner wrote, “Illnesses, accidents, human tragedies kill people. But they do not necessarily kill life or faith.” He continued, “Let me suggest that the bad things that happen to us in our lives do not have a meaning when they happen to us. They do not happen for any good reason which would cause us to accept them willingly. But we can give them a meaning. We can redeem these tragedies from senselessness by imposing meaning on them. The question we should be asking is NOT, “Why did this happen to me? What did I do to deserve this?” That is really an unanswerable, pointless question. A better question would be “Now that this has happened to me, what am I going to do about it.”
When life rears its ugly head, when the going gets tough, when all hope and energy are expended, our focus should be forward-looking and not backward-groping. Some misfortunes are never meant to be answered. They are better left unanswered since finding the answer can be even more depressing and disheartening. It also saps our reserve of strength and faith looking for unanswerable answers. It is infinitely better and practical to focus on how we can overcome life’s dangerous bends and corners rather than to mope over its causes. In the end, we can rest on this empowering consolation: every difficulty, every misfortune, every adversity will soon pass and we generally grow stronger, wiser and better for it.
Let me close with these powerfully practical words by a contemporary theologian, Jack Riemer:-
“We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end war;
For we know that You have made the world in a way,
That man must find his own path to peace,
Within himself and with his neighbor.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end starvation;
For you have already given us the resources,
With which to feed the entire world,
If we would only use them wisely.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God,
To root out prejudice,
For you have already given us eyes,
With which to see the good in all men,
If we would only use them rightly.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end despair,
For you have already given us the power,
To clear away the slums and to give hope,
If we would only use our power justly.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end disease,
For you have already given us great minds with which
To search out cures and healing,
If we would only use them constructively.
Therefore we pray to You instead, O God,
For strength, determination, and willpower,
To do instead of just to pray,
To become instead of merely to wish.”
Albert Camus once said that we just need to ask ourselves one critical question in life, “Should I commit suicide?” The answer to that question will determine whether our life is worth living. If we answer “yes”, then that would be the end of it; death waits. But for the courageous few who answer empathically “no”, then it is incumbent on them to ask the next question, “Why?” Why should I NOT commit suicide? Is my heartbeat telling me that there is more to life than ending it? Can there be meaning in this seemingly meaningless world? Can I live a life of purpose even though purpose is the last thing this secular world advocate?
The world’s philosophy is simple. We are a byproduct of a biological accident gone “right”. We exist by random luck, a cosmic lottery of sorts. We should count ourselves very very lucky to have existed because if we would to rewind time and space the second time round, going back 14.3 billion years, to the very start of “big bang” creation, converging to a point of singularity, when all things are but a primordial atom, it is highly unlikely, or ever likely, that we would ever come into existence. We should therefore thank our big fat luck for our existence. And if luck, as an element of nature, could be institutionalized and worshipped, the secularist and the atheists would most likely advocate such a practice – or promote it with religious fervor.
The world sees death as the ultimate end. It is nature’s way of telling us that “our time is up, make way for others!” When we are buried or cremated, we become a memory, a portrait or a family fable. We are occasionally remembered with some profound fondness but life as it is carries on regardless. We won’t be missed much. Sure, our loved ones will think of us, especially our spouse and children; but in the end, when they have all died, whose turn is it to remember us?
As time goes by, we become a distant memory, fading into timeless, spaceless oblivion. So, when we are still alive, the world tells us to enjoy, make merriment, laugh more and cry less. Be happy, don’t worry. Don’t be too religious. Spent your time on what is readily touchable, see-able and enjoyable like wealth, property and the adulation that comes with being famous. Don’t bother yourself with the immaterial, untouchable, unenjoyable. Live moment by moment. The world croons with this haunting refrain, “you start to die the moment you are born.” So, live up and make pleasure your ultimate leisure. That’s the world’s philosophy in a nutshell.
You can therefore see how difficult it is for the world to be religious, to believe in life after death, to view life as a pilgrim’s progress, and to have faith in a loving, gracious divine Creator unfolding a plan for each and every one of us. Of course, there are many happy atheists and secularist out there. They are highly successful. They have made a name for themselves. They are much adored and emulated by many. They are living the jet-set lifestyle with lots of cash, real estate and no-strings-attached companionship. By any ordinary standard, they should be happy and fulfilled. Or, are they?
I believe that we can be happy for different reasons. When we make a lot of money, we are happy. When we buy a new car, we are happy. When we are promoted, we are happy. Some happiness brings about temporary ecstasy. Winning a lottery counts as one. Beating your competitor or rival at work counts as another. But once the lottery money is used up, wisely or otherwise, the individual is back to where he first started - broke and in despair. Beating your competitor only brings about happiness for a season. The next time, your competitor may outwit, outsmart and outplay you. Some happiness brings about sensory or physical pleasure like lovemaking, a casual flirt or sharing a coarse joke. But are such happiness long-lasting, life-transforming and all-pervasive? Is there happiness in overcoming life’s difficulties? Is there happiness in sacrificing for a good cause? Is there happiness in grief, pain and sorrow?
Last week, I was told that one of my cousins was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The cysts in her womb was 14 cm wide. The doctors even planned to surgically remove her womb, her ovaries and possibly her fallopian tubes if the cancer spreads. I can only wonder how this news could be devastating to my cousin; both emotionally and physically.
Consider the following hard hitting facts: my cousin is only 25 years old, she had just completed her undergraduate degree, she is in the prime of her youth, she is going to get married soon, and she is just entering the next exciting phrase of her marital and career life. What is even more heartbreaking is that she has yet to experience the joy of childbirth and the sweet challenges that rearing your own children bring. And all these may be cruelly taken from her because of one much dreaded physiological diagnosis. The one vital organ that defines her as a woman may be taken away from her for good. Now, all her dreams will remain just dreams. All her hopes are crushed.
This pain is intimately and viscerally experienced by Rabbi Harold S Kushner when his first child, Aaron, was born. At eight months old, Aaron stopped gaining weight. His hair started to fall off at age one. At three, the doctors delivered the medical verdict to Rabbi Kushner that no parents would ever wish to hear about their own child: Aaron has a rare physical condition called progeria or rapid aging. And the doctors did not stop at that, “Aaron would never grow much beyond three feet in height, would have no hair on his head or body, would look like a little old man while he was still a child, and would die in his early teens.” I don’t know about you, but I personally cannot even begin to understand how a parent could take in all that without feeling completely useless, faith-wrecked and helpless.
These are real pain and sorrow felt by real people in this world. In this world we live in, our physical problems abound just as sins and crimes are rife.
Fortunately, my cousin’s struggle with cancer has a happy ending. The surgery was successful. The surgeon excised two separate growths around both her ovaries and the growth carried 4 litres of water! She is now recuperating in the hospital and the cancer did not in any way compromise her reproductive organs. She can therefore marry and enjoy childbirth. Before she went into surgery, all her loved ones including me and my family prayed for her. It was a moment to savor, an inspirational gathering of faith where we prayed with conviction and determination.
Our collective hope in such time of trial soared to the heavens and tugged on the tailcoat of God for His attention and miraculous healing. And God mercifully answered our cry for help. When I heard the news that the operation was successful, something deep inside of my heart leapt for joy. It was a joy that was more gratifying than anything I had felt before. The joy of realized prayer was likened to a victory chant at the top of a hill. You just felt a great release and a renewal in your faith in God and his divine plan for your life. There is indeed joy unspeakable in overcoming life’s difficulties and I see the same joy in the teary eyes of my other relatives who prayed as fervently as I did for my cousin.
We all share the same commonwealth of faith and the day of our cousin’s healing demonstrated more clearly than ever the enduring power and love of God in our lives. Romans 8:17 puts it triumphantly, “Whatever you might be looking for, you can be sure God promised it. God has promised believers peace, love, grace, wisdom, eternal life, joy, victory, strength, guidance, provision for all our needs, power, knowledge, mercy, forgiveness, righteousness, gifts of the Spirit, fellowship with the Trinity, instructions from the Word, truth spiritual discernment, and eternal riches, to name a few. When we became Christian, we were made one with Jesus Christ. Therefore we receive everything the Father gives Him. Paul said we were made “heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ””.
Now comes the life of Aaron, Rabbi Kushner’s son. Not every story has a happy ending. Despite the prayers and the travailing, Aaron did not live past his 14th birthday. He died in an old man’s body with a young man’s spirit. Many had offered some explanations to Rabbi Kushner for his son’s premature death. The explanations were of two types: turn the blame on men or turn it on God. When the blame was on men, the explanation evolved around not having enough faith, not living a holier life or living a life of un-confessed sin. When the blame was on God, the explanation was always subtler, more noble. It didn’t blame God per se but implied that God had a hand in the tragedy for an undisclosed purpose.
Others find solace in the advice that “the Father knows best”. Still others adopt the hush-hush approach and resigned to the tag “God gives and God takes…live with it.” But neither answer makes any practical sense to the sufferer or the victim. Neither does it do God any favor or justice. I believe that no prayer is ever offered more sincerely than the prayer for life, for health, for recovery from illness, for ourselves and for those we love. Blaming the sufferer’s lack of faith or his blemished life is a direct affront to the love, grace and mercy of God. It also mocks the sovereignty of God by implying that He will only intervene if our lives or faith measures up. In a word, God does as He pleases and He does not need our initiatives to work miracles.
Ultimately, Rabbi Kushner knew that he had to overcome the pain and injustice he felt when his son was taken from him. Life was more than difficult for him. In some ways, it was cruel, sadistic and twisted. To see before you your beloved son growing older, weaker and frailer faster than you as his father was utterly devastating. And knowing you can do nothing about it is even more painful. But Rabbi Kushner refused to blame God. He believes that God is not the author of his pain. Neither is He the contributor.
Rabbi Kushner sincerely believes that life is difficult because it is the way it is. There are some things that happen for a reason, an unrevealed one. There are others, in the majority, that happen because it is the way life and nature have been wound up since the fall of man. God’s plan was perfect but man corrupted it. Life as we know it therefore suffers the consequences of this corruption. However, our hope is not in this world but the world to come and upon this hope rests our faith and our source of comfort. It is also upon this hope that we draw strength and courage to overcome life’s difficulties.
Rabbi Kushner wrote, “Illnesses, accidents, human tragedies kill people. But they do not necessarily kill life or faith.” He continued, “Let me suggest that the bad things that happen to us in our lives do not have a meaning when they happen to us. They do not happen for any good reason which would cause us to accept them willingly. But we can give them a meaning. We can redeem these tragedies from senselessness by imposing meaning on them. The question we should be asking is NOT, “Why did this happen to me? What did I do to deserve this?” That is really an unanswerable, pointless question. A better question would be “Now that this has happened to me, what am I going to do about it.”
When life rears its ugly head, when the going gets tough, when all hope and energy are expended, our focus should be forward-looking and not backward-groping. Some misfortunes are never meant to be answered. They are better left unanswered since finding the answer can be even more depressing and disheartening. It also saps our reserve of strength and faith looking for unanswerable answers. It is infinitely better and practical to focus on how we can overcome life’s dangerous bends and corners rather than to mope over its causes. In the end, we can rest on this empowering consolation: every difficulty, every misfortune, every adversity will soon pass and we generally grow stronger, wiser and better for it.
Let me close with these powerfully practical words by a contemporary theologian, Jack Riemer:-
“We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end war;
For we know that You have made the world in a way,
That man must find his own path to peace,
Within himself and with his neighbor.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end starvation;
For you have already given us the resources,
With which to feed the entire world,
If we would only use them wisely.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God,
To root out prejudice,
For you have already given us eyes,
With which to see the good in all men,
If we would only use them rightly.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end despair,
For you have already given us the power,
To clear away the slums and to give hope,
If we would only use our power justly.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end disease,
For you have already given us great minds with which
To search out cures and healing,
If we would only use them constructively.
Therefore we pray to You instead, O God,
For strength, determination, and willpower,
To do instead of just to pray,
To become instead of merely to wish.”
Monday, July 21, 2008
Spiritual Cuckoos
I would like to close this letter on a word of caution. I have been sharing as your leader for the past two years (since May 2002). Our group has learned quite a few things. You guys has blessed me deeply. It is now embarrassing to admit that I initially avoided being your cell group leader. I tried to act “blur” and hoped that my mother-in-law would not appoint me as your leader when her cell multiplied. I guess God saw my reluctance and wanted me to “feed His sheep” any way. God knew that my Christian walk was on a plateau and the only way out was to take on this responsibility, this spiritual mantle.
Well, I thank God for the opportunity. I have indeed learned a lot these past two years. Let me count my personal “achievements”…..read the Bible with understanding from cover to cover, became more conscious of God’s presence in my daily working life, prayed more when I was faced with a problem, evangelized to some of my clients, saw healing of the soul and emotion, had my faith bolstered by testimonies in our group, became wiser in the Lord….I had also collected a library of Bible literature, which I am proud of.
Now, I have to lay the ground rules for you guys. I have been a Christian for nearly twenty years and, believe you me, the years didn’t add up. In these twenty years, I had gone from one extreme to the other.
I had prayed non-stop for two days (with breaks of course). I had seen the possessed delivered by our pastor. I had cast out demons – some very fake ones even. I had been slain by the Spirit (falling whilst standing up). I had tried to laugh in the Spirit but only managed short outburst of sweet giggles. I had preached fire and brimstone. I had scared young believers with stories of hell and sufferings. I had argued for the existence of God and the fate of the devil. I had evangelized in shopping malls, going cold turkey. I had been mocked by non-believers and complimented by believers. I had also tried ascetic living by abstaining from tv, magazine, newspaper, and coke. And finally (but not least) I had fasted for a few days.
Then, I swung to the other extreme. I had backslided a few times in my heart. I had used religion to exploit people. I had a mouth that didn’t know when to keep quiet. I made fun of people for my pleasure. I got angry easily. I still wanted my way. I led a double life – being a weekend Christian and a weekday heathen. I sometimes did not walk my talk and talk my walk. I complained and doubted. Sometimes, my fists were raised against God for things I didn’t understand. Sometimes, they were pressed against my chest in fear and anxiety.
I am far from perfect. I am just glad that I could catch a glimpse of my best when I am with you guys on Friday.
Armed with the above experiences, I self-appointed myself this sacred task to warn you guys against spiritual extremism. Since I had experienced it (on both sides), I think I am now qualified to offer you some helpful tips. Here are my three senses’ worth.
1st Sense : Test all revelation and experience against the infallible Word of God
Always test all things (1 John 4:1). Do not be easily sold to an idea, suggestion or “revelation” that you are uneasy with. Do not chase after experiences or feelings. Experience is not the benchmark of true spirituality. Good feelings do not mean good living. All things must be guarded against. Remember the devil is committed to your fall. He led Eve to fall. He seduced many with his lies. He is wolf in sheep clothing. He will not let up until you are washed up in the shores of disappointment, defeat and discouragement.
We are his prime targets since he can’t get back at God. He hurts God by hurting us. Charles Spurgeon puts it cleverly, “There is nothing that Satan can do for his evil cause that he does not do. We may be halfhearted, but he never is. He is the very image of ceaseless industry and untiring earnestness. He will do all that can be done in the time of his permitted rage. We may be sure that he will never lose a day.” Sounds like a pretty good worker? Alas, on the wrong side of the fence.
Your feelings or emotions can deceive or work for you. Joy, peace and love are emotions you feel when you draw near to God. By the same token, you may feel the same, almost indistinguishable feelings (of joy, peace and love) when you are drawn away from God or when you embrace erroneous teachings as truth. Your emotions may lift you up to greater spiritual heights. It can also perpetuate a facade of spirituality without deepening your relationship with God.
So, Michael, are you saying that we should not trust our emotions? So ask you. Well, I believe that emotions or your personal feelings are secondary to true spirituality and maturity. The primary focus should be obedience and submission, that is, subjecting our will, mind and emotion to God. How do we do it? Well, by opening our mind and emotion to the depth of God’s love. By understanding and knowing more through His word. By increasing our awareness to sin and our unworthiness. By subjecting our fleshly desires to the cross. By nurturing a smitten and humbled heart. These are but some of the spiritual disciplines we should be engaged in. With these disciplines come a submissive spirit and an obedient will. Genuine emotions will then follow suit.
I have read about lives that were ruined because of a wrong “prophetic word” uttered or a so-called revelation proclaimed. There was a young lady who ran away from home, from her parents after she heard a prophesy over her life. The prophecy was about her future husband. It was said that she was to marry a man twice her age. She knew the man as he was a church member. However, she had always treated him as an uncle at best. As a result, she left the church and her home and married the first man she met along the way. As expected, the marriage ended up in a divorce.
Another questionable revelation came to an elderly couple. They were enjoying their retirement when they claimed they heard the prompting of the Lord asking them to become missionaries to some remote part of Africa. After months of reservation, they put up their house for auction, sold their car and bade farewell to their family and friends. They then boarded a plane to Africa. When they arrived at their so-called mission field, and before they could minister to the people, the couple was shot dead by straying bullets. Apparently, their mission field was in the middle of a civil war!
Testing all things also means that we suspend all judgment and action on the experience and revelation. We do not act on it without thought. We let it drift for a while. We flip the pages of the Bible to check its authenticity. We seek counsel from a pastor or a church leader. We examine the emotions that we are feeling to see whether we have exaggerated, distorted, or even marginalized them. We apply our reason to validate the experience.
What’s important is that we are not given in to a spur of a moment’s spiritual high. That we are not taken in by messages from the pulpit that sounds good but feel dubious. That we are not hoodwinked by signs and wonders and signs that do not transform lives or convict the heart of sin.
I have read about a lady who told a well-known pastor that God had told her that she was getting married. The pastor was extremely puzzled as she was already married. So, the lady clarified and said that God wanted her to divorce her current husband and marry her home cell leader (who was also married). The pastor then asked her why she would want to do it. She said that she was merely being obedient to God’s directions!
So, we should take our experience and revelation seriously. When you hear something from the pulpit, from your friends, from your inner spirit, or from a page of a Christian literature, always ask for discernment from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s roles are varied. He will teach you all things (John 14:26). He will remind you of everything Jesus has said to you (John 14:26) He will testify about Jesus (John 15:26. He will guide you into all truth (John 16:13). He will tell you what is yet to come (John 16:13).
2nd Sense : Don’t follow men; Follow God
I learnt this lesson the hard way. When I was a brand new Christian, I revered my youth pastor, my cell group leader, and my close friend. I treated what they said as gospel truth. When they said that drinking coke is sinful as it affects your health and body (more so, since your body is the temple of God), I stayed away from coke like the ebola virus. When my friend telephoned me and told me that he was possessed and he wanted to see me in Botanic Garden for exorcism. I galloped to Botanic Gardens with a group of my friends and carried out the exorcism in public eyes only to find out years later that it was all a personal hoax. When I was told that slaining in the spirit was a true sign of spirituality, I scampered to the altar for the “falling” experience hoping that I could earn more spiritual brownie points with God. However, I soon realized that the experience was more painful than helpful.
Here are more suspicious examples. One pastor (a very famous one) wrote that he was transported in spirit (whilst he was preaching on a Sunday) to a place where he saw (with his spirit eyes) his supposed fiancé having an adulterous affair with a man in his car. After that, he told his congregation that the wedding was called off based on this “revelation”. Imagine, being accused of committing adultery through a vision without actually committing it! I have also heard that a cell group leader who was conducting a all-night prayer meeting with his cell group members. He then told his members that God wanted all of them (ladies and guys) to regress to the time of Adam and Eve when nudity was both natural and accepted. What the cell group leader was asking his members to do was to shed their clothes!
Then there is a famous evangelist who told his congregation that God would take him away if he was unable to raise eight million dollars by a given deadline. The money was meant for building a medical center. Fearing for the evangelist’s life, the church gave and funds poured in. However, when the medical center was built, it closed down two years later. The evangelist then told his congregation that it was God’s plan to close down the medical center since its main purpose was already accomplished – that is, to let the world know about the existence of the medical center. The evangelist then concluded, “yes, the mission has been accomplished in the same way that after the three years of public ministry Jesus said on the cross, “Father, it is finished.”
It is always dangerous to build your faith on the cult of personalities. Men are fallible. I am fallible. You are too. Jesus did not say that his disciples are the way, the truth and the light. He said that he is. He commanded us to follow him, to carry the cross, to do the same works as He did (if not greater works since we have the Holy Spirit). We are warned that in the last days, many will call themselves savior or the Christ. They will preach similar gospel. They will perform some signs and wonders. They will heal the sick. They will give good counsel. But beneath the facade, lies a sinister motive.
One minister received a so-called prophetic word from the Lord in the form of a letter. Initially, the contents of the letter were biblical and the scriptures quoted were on target. Then, one paragraph of the letter talked about the Body of Christ as a naked woman on the operating table and the minister was going to give her a navel! This letter must have freaked the minister out. Later, their investigation revealed that the author of the letter had a sexual problem.
So, be on your guard. We are God’s vessel or instruments for His use. Our lives must reflect Jesus’ character and deflect all glory back to God. We are not to allow ourselves to be the center of things, to be adored or worshipped. Jesus said that we shall know them by their fruits – that is, the fruits they bear in their lives. A tree may look good but if it bears bad fruits it should be chopped down. In the same vein, a man or woman may sound good, look spiritual and act upright. But in the long run, what matters is a life that bears good fruits (Galatians 5:22-26).
3rd Sense : Always pray for Discernment and lead a balanced life
This is where I touch base with you. In Philippians 1:9-10, it is written, “This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.” There is no easier way to say this about Godly discernment: We are called to love and know more about God in order to discern for ourselves. This only comes through the discipline of our thoughts and actions.
In our thoughts, we are to take the spiritual posture as contained in Philippians 4:8, “finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”
In our action, the same verse continues, “whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice.” By words alone, we can never be transformed to love God and love others. Our proclamation, our profession, our confession must be supported by our conduct. This is a sign of true spirituality, an authentic mark of a genuine believer.
On a balance Christian walk, Charles Swindoll puts it best:-
“Balance is always preferred to extremes. So as I previously reminded you: Keep your balance in all things. A scriptural word for it is moderation. Stay reasonable, Christian friend. Don’t go home and start praying for some middle-of-the-night visions; that’s not biblical. Keep a level head. Don’t get weird.
Don’t start looking for the face of Jesus in an enchilada. Or try to convince me that some cloud formation represents the Last Supper. Don’t start setting dates for Jesus’ return. Don’t play with snakes and scorpions. Don’t sacrifice your solid biblical roots and orthodox theology on the altar of bizarre experiences….
The anointing is a knowledge. You know something. You discern something. It is an inner awareness. It is a surge of strengthening assurance. And never forget it always exalts the Lord and gives all glory to God.
Let me add: Stay with the Scriptures. Whilst our individual experiences may vary somewhat as the Lord uses each of us in unique ways, we must never – and I mean never – get too far from the revealed and reliable Word of God. If you do, you will begin to use your experience as a basis of your beliefs, and the Scriptures will diminish in importance as you make more and more room for more strange experiences.”
So, I hope you are now more careful with the things that are happening around you. Please understand that our God is a God of order and rationality as well as a God of miracles and wonders. His rationality works on a different level from our limited human understanding. God works rational miracles, orderly miracles. His miracles are life-transforming. His wonders convict heart.
Therefore, keep a healthy balance of all things spiritual. Do not look for sensational testimonies, hyped up miracle meetings, emotional-frenzy crowd, and unique but skewed teachings as the anchorage of your faith and hope. Just as there is a true and living God, there is also a counterfeit one. You will do good to bear this in mind, “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness; and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:3-8)
Well, I thank God for the opportunity. I have indeed learned a lot these past two years. Let me count my personal “achievements”…..read the Bible with understanding from cover to cover, became more conscious of God’s presence in my daily working life, prayed more when I was faced with a problem, evangelized to some of my clients, saw healing of the soul and emotion, had my faith bolstered by testimonies in our group, became wiser in the Lord….I had also collected a library of Bible literature, which I am proud of.
Now, I have to lay the ground rules for you guys. I have been a Christian for nearly twenty years and, believe you me, the years didn’t add up. In these twenty years, I had gone from one extreme to the other.
I had prayed non-stop for two days (with breaks of course). I had seen the possessed delivered by our pastor. I had cast out demons – some very fake ones even. I had been slain by the Spirit (falling whilst standing up). I had tried to laugh in the Spirit but only managed short outburst of sweet giggles. I had preached fire and brimstone. I had scared young believers with stories of hell and sufferings. I had argued for the existence of God and the fate of the devil. I had evangelized in shopping malls, going cold turkey. I had been mocked by non-believers and complimented by believers. I had also tried ascetic living by abstaining from tv, magazine, newspaper, and coke. And finally (but not least) I had fasted for a few days.
Then, I swung to the other extreme. I had backslided a few times in my heart. I had used religion to exploit people. I had a mouth that didn’t know when to keep quiet. I made fun of people for my pleasure. I got angry easily. I still wanted my way. I led a double life – being a weekend Christian and a weekday heathen. I sometimes did not walk my talk and talk my walk. I complained and doubted. Sometimes, my fists were raised against God for things I didn’t understand. Sometimes, they were pressed against my chest in fear and anxiety.
I am far from perfect. I am just glad that I could catch a glimpse of my best when I am with you guys on Friday.
Armed with the above experiences, I self-appointed myself this sacred task to warn you guys against spiritual extremism. Since I had experienced it (on both sides), I think I am now qualified to offer you some helpful tips. Here are my three senses’ worth.
1st Sense : Test all revelation and experience against the infallible Word of God
Always test all things (1 John 4:1). Do not be easily sold to an idea, suggestion or “revelation” that you are uneasy with. Do not chase after experiences or feelings. Experience is not the benchmark of true spirituality. Good feelings do not mean good living. All things must be guarded against. Remember the devil is committed to your fall. He led Eve to fall. He seduced many with his lies. He is wolf in sheep clothing. He will not let up until you are washed up in the shores of disappointment, defeat and discouragement.
We are his prime targets since he can’t get back at God. He hurts God by hurting us. Charles Spurgeon puts it cleverly, “There is nothing that Satan can do for his evil cause that he does not do. We may be halfhearted, but he never is. He is the very image of ceaseless industry and untiring earnestness. He will do all that can be done in the time of his permitted rage. We may be sure that he will never lose a day.” Sounds like a pretty good worker? Alas, on the wrong side of the fence.
Your feelings or emotions can deceive or work for you. Joy, peace and love are emotions you feel when you draw near to God. By the same token, you may feel the same, almost indistinguishable feelings (of joy, peace and love) when you are drawn away from God or when you embrace erroneous teachings as truth. Your emotions may lift you up to greater spiritual heights. It can also perpetuate a facade of spirituality without deepening your relationship with God.
So, Michael, are you saying that we should not trust our emotions? So ask you. Well, I believe that emotions or your personal feelings are secondary to true spirituality and maturity. The primary focus should be obedience and submission, that is, subjecting our will, mind and emotion to God. How do we do it? Well, by opening our mind and emotion to the depth of God’s love. By understanding and knowing more through His word. By increasing our awareness to sin and our unworthiness. By subjecting our fleshly desires to the cross. By nurturing a smitten and humbled heart. These are but some of the spiritual disciplines we should be engaged in. With these disciplines come a submissive spirit and an obedient will. Genuine emotions will then follow suit.
I have read about lives that were ruined because of a wrong “prophetic word” uttered or a so-called revelation proclaimed. There was a young lady who ran away from home, from her parents after she heard a prophesy over her life. The prophecy was about her future husband. It was said that she was to marry a man twice her age. She knew the man as he was a church member. However, she had always treated him as an uncle at best. As a result, she left the church and her home and married the first man she met along the way. As expected, the marriage ended up in a divorce.
Another questionable revelation came to an elderly couple. They were enjoying their retirement when they claimed they heard the prompting of the Lord asking them to become missionaries to some remote part of Africa. After months of reservation, they put up their house for auction, sold their car and bade farewell to their family and friends. They then boarded a plane to Africa. When they arrived at their so-called mission field, and before they could minister to the people, the couple was shot dead by straying bullets. Apparently, their mission field was in the middle of a civil war!
Testing all things also means that we suspend all judgment and action on the experience and revelation. We do not act on it without thought. We let it drift for a while. We flip the pages of the Bible to check its authenticity. We seek counsel from a pastor or a church leader. We examine the emotions that we are feeling to see whether we have exaggerated, distorted, or even marginalized them. We apply our reason to validate the experience.
What’s important is that we are not given in to a spur of a moment’s spiritual high. That we are not taken in by messages from the pulpit that sounds good but feel dubious. That we are not hoodwinked by signs and wonders and signs that do not transform lives or convict the heart of sin.
I have read about a lady who told a well-known pastor that God had told her that she was getting married. The pastor was extremely puzzled as she was already married. So, the lady clarified and said that God wanted her to divorce her current husband and marry her home cell leader (who was also married). The pastor then asked her why she would want to do it. She said that she was merely being obedient to God’s directions!
So, we should take our experience and revelation seriously. When you hear something from the pulpit, from your friends, from your inner spirit, or from a page of a Christian literature, always ask for discernment from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s roles are varied. He will teach you all things (John 14:26). He will remind you of everything Jesus has said to you (John 14:26) He will testify about Jesus (John 15:26. He will guide you into all truth (John 16:13). He will tell you what is yet to come (John 16:13).
2nd Sense : Don’t follow men; Follow God
I learnt this lesson the hard way. When I was a brand new Christian, I revered my youth pastor, my cell group leader, and my close friend. I treated what they said as gospel truth. When they said that drinking coke is sinful as it affects your health and body (more so, since your body is the temple of God), I stayed away from coke like the ebola virus. When my friend telephoned me and told me that he was possessed and he wanted to see me in Botanic Garden for exorcism. I galloped to Botanic Gardens with a group of my friends and carried out the exorcism in public eyes only to find out years later that it was all a personal hoax. When I was told that slaining in the spirit was a true sign of spirituality, I scampered to the altar for the “falling” experience hoping that I could earn more spiritual brownie points with God. However, I soon realized that the experience was more painful than helpful.
Here are more suspicious examples. One pastor (a very famous one) wrote that he was transported in spirit (whilst he was preaching on a Sunday) to a place where he saw (with his spirit eyes) his supposed fiancé having an adulterous affair with a man in his car. After that, he told his congregation that the wedding was called off based on this “revelation”. Imagine, being accused of committing adultery through a vision without actually committing it! I have also heard that a cell group leader who was conducting a all-night prayer meeting with his cell group members. He then told his members that God wanted all of them (ladies and guys) to regress to the time of Adam and Eve when nudity was both natural and accepted. What the cell group leader was asking his members to do was to shed their clothes!
Then there is a famous evangelist who told his congregation that God would take him away if he was unable to raise eight million dollars by a given deadline. The money was meant for building a medical center. Fearing for the evangelist’s life, the church gave and funds poured in. However, when the medical center was built, it closed down two years later. The evangelist then told his congregation that it was God’s plan to close down the medical center since its main purpose was already accomplished – that is, to let the world know about the existence of the medical center. The evangelist then concluded, “yes, the mission has been accomplished in the same way that after the three years of public ministry Jesus said on the cross, “Father, it is finished.”
It is always dangerous to build your faith on the cult of personalities. Men are fallible. I am fallible. You are too. Jesus did not say that his disciples are the way, the truth and the light. He said that he is. He commanded us to follow him, to carry the cross, to do the same works as He did (if not greater works since we have the Holy Spirit). We are warned that in the last days, many will call themselves savior or the Christ. They will preach similar gospel. They will perform some signs and wonders. They will heal the sick. They will give good counsel. But beneath the facade, lies a sinister motive.
One minister received a so-called prophetic word from the Lord in the form of a letter. Initially, the contents of the letter were biblical and the scriptures quoted were on target. Then, one paragraph of the letter talked about the Body of Christ as a naked woman on the operating table and the minister was going to give her a navel! This letter must have freaked the minister out. Later, their investigation revealed that the author of the letter had a sexual problem.
So, be on your guard. We are God’s vessel or instruments for His use. Our lives must reflect Jesus’ character and deflect all glory back to God. We are not to allow ourselves to be the center of things, to be adored or worshipped. Jesus said that we shall know them by their fruits – that is, the fruits they bear in their lives. A tree may look good but if it bears bad fruits it should be chopped down. In the same vein, a man or woman may sound good, look spiritual and act upright. But in the long run, what matters is a life that bears good fruits (Galatians 5:22-26).
3rd Sense : Always pray for Discernment and lead a balanced life
This is where I touch base with you. In Philippians 1:9-10, it is written, “This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.” There is no easier way to say this about Godly discernment: We are called to love and know more about God in order to discern for ourselves. This only comes through the discipline of our thoughts and actions.
In our thoughts, we are to take the spiritual posture as contained in Philippians 4:8, “finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”
In our action, the same verse continues, “whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice.” By words alone, we can never be transformed to love God and love others. Our proclamation, our profession, our confession must be supported by our conduct. This is a sign of true spirituality, an authentic mark of a genuine believer.
On a balance Christian walk, Charles Swindoll puts it best:-
“Balance is always preferred to extremes. So as I previously reminded you: Keep your balance in all things. A scriptural word for it is moderation. Stay reasonable, Christian friend. Don’t go home and start praying for some middle-of-the-night visions; that’s not biblical. Keep a level head. Don’t get weird.
Don’t start looking for the face of Jesus in an enchilada. Or try to convince me that some cloud formation represents the Last Supper. Don’t start setting dates for Jesus’ return. Don’t play with snakes and scorpions. Don’t sacrifice your solid biblical roots and orthodox theology on the altar of bizarre experiences….
The anointing is a knowledge. You know something. You discern something. It is an inner awareness. It is a surge of strengthening assurance. And never forget it always exalts the Lord and gives all glory to God.
Let me add: Stay with the Scriptures. Whilst our individual experiences may vary somewhat as the Lord uses each of us in unique ways, we must never – and I mean never – get too far from the revealed and reliable Word of God. If you do, you will begin to use your experience as a basis of your beliefs, and the Scriptures will diminish in importance as you make more and more room for more strange experiences.”
So, I hope you are now more careful with the things that are happening around you. Please understand that our God is a God of order and rationality as well as a God of miracles and wonders. His rationality works on a different level from our limited human understanding. God works rational miracles, orderly miracles. His miracles are life-transforming. His wonders convict heart.
Therefore, keep a healthy balance of all things spiritual. Do not look for sensational testimonies, hyped up miracle meetings, emotional-frenzy crowd, and unique but skewed teachings as the anchorage of your faith and hope. Just as there is a true and living God, there is also a counterfeit one. You will do good to bear this in mind, “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness; and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:3-8)
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