https://odb.org/MY/2021/12/23/how-theyll-know
I recalled that I used to identify myself as a Christian when young because I had a Christian name, or what some will say a Western name to my Chinese name. In fact most of my friends then with such names were usually Christians. I used to justify that by saying that my dad was a Catholic and Catholics were Christians. However, as I seldom go to the Catholic Church and thus was not schooled in Catholicism, I wasn’t sure exactly what it really meant to be a Christian. As I used to study at the Anglo Chinese School, we had religious classes and since I professed to be a Christian, I was placed at those classes and it was there that I first learned about Christ. Later after I moved to the East Coast, a close friend encouraged me by writing to me about Jesus Christ and with the English-Malay New Testament at home, this led me to seek out God and when an outstation teacher in my little town offered to bring me through a Navigators bible study, I jumped at that chance. That was how I accepted Christ and became known as a Christian, who now have had a proper beginning or what we would call a “born again” experience.
Being identified as a Christian may or may not have implications in present day Malaysia as Malaysia is more keen to know whether you are a Malay Muslim or a native of Borneo in terms of your constitutional rights. However, if we are known as strict religious adherents to our faith, there could be issues of practicality and being less street-wise but issues of integrity will be the least of a concern. But as believers, we know that if we have God on our side, we will be better at what we do, at doing our job and the effects of that will be felt as part of our work output and deliverables. So long as we are hardworking, responsible, trustworthy and not calculative, we should be able to be good at what we do and master our job requirements and perform. It is good to work more than others even if we are not paid as much as the more we work, the better we will be and over the years we will be very good at what we do. Doing more is always good although it is not the fairest of situations. But when was life ever fair, right?
The time may come that being identified as a Christian may become a liability. Like during the days of Paul and the Apostles. When Greeks became to be known as Christians and the faith was no longer perceived as a mere sect under Judaism and thus became to be looked upon as a threat to the Roman Empire. A time will come when being a Christian may be perceived as a threat because we are different and are not bowing down to a man-made symbol of humanity and thus perceived as anti humans, as against the human race. We could face a similar situation as that faced by Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel Chapter 3. Will we bow down and relent in order to live on or will we plough on holding on to the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord? The time will come when the label Christian may not be something to boast of, to be proud of and may be looked upon like scum, like a criminal, a condemned person as Jesus was – on the cross stripped naked and left hung to die. Where will we be then? Will we still be known as Christians?
Ronnie's Thoughts 