https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/25/pulled-to-safety

In my eulogy for my father, I wrote of two instances where my father had pulled me up to safety. Once when I nearly fell into a fast flowing monsoon drain during a downpour, that was just about 50m from a river and another time when I fell into a fresh water pond. Today’s ODB story reminds me of those two times my dad had saved my life. It also reminds me of Peter who was walking on water suddenly overcome by doubt and fear and began sinking and Jesus pulled him to safety.

I’m sure there was divine intervention when my father pulled me to safety in those two instances. Or those times when I was travelling on the PLUS highway (I have been doing this daily for the past 21 years except since WFH due to MCO etc) and had averted a serious accident after being able to avoid the car in front by a whisker. I remembered clearly even after nearly 20 years when the car in front suddenly jammed its brakes and pulled to a full stop, but I managed to swerve to the left to avoid colliding into it, by just a mere split second. It was a multi car collision but I was saved. Praise the Lord! It was really good that there were no cars at the left lane then. Or that time when a car had turned in to the left lane to let me pass to suddenly turn back into my lane! Fortunately, I managed to react in time. Surely God was in those situations alerting me quickly to the situation at hand so I could take immediate remedial action.

There were also instances in the past when the Lord helped me out of a crisis at work by giving me an idea out of a difficult situation or helping me to come out with a viable compromise to break a deadlock. Or rescuing me when others had abandoned me at the pit. Sometimes we become casualties due to structural changes in the organisation or just plain personal agendas or political games at play. But if we love God and are called according to His purpose, He will make all things work out for good. If He has a plan for us, He will make sure His plan is fulfilled and not derailed by human machinations. Humans may manipulate situations for their own purposes but God is sovereign and above all things. He will protect His flock and will rescue us.

The point I like to make today is that the Lord does rescue people as we can see of countless examples in the bible as well as my own experience in life. Christ is alive and real. He rescues even if it was our stupidity and naivety that had put us into that delicate situation in the first place. Look at the big picture – it could all be part of an elaborate plan of God for our lives. Just flow along and go with the flow. Put our trust in Him as even the waves and wind still know His name! Let go my soul and trust in Him, even the waves and wind still know His name! Amen!

https://youtu.be/YNqo4Un2uZI

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/24/feeling-dusty

I guess one of the unavoidable circumstance in life is aging. Two things are certain in life – death and taxes. But the latter will figure less and less prominent in our life as we age and retire from gainful employment. Aging and death are part of our human life because of the sin of Adam and Eve at the Garden of Eden at the start of creation. Man lost his immortality due to sin but Jesus restored it by dying on the cross for our sins and in the process, through His resurrection, defeated sin and death and as the first fruit of His victory, we look forward to that glorious day when we will all be ressurected like Jesus and sin and death will finally lose its sting over us. Though we die, we will live as Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life!

Until that day comes, we will, as the ODB writer puts it today referencing Warren from his ministry team, feel dusty. Feeling dusty or old is a natural progression in life. As we age, we get illnesses and diseases. We need to take medication. Our memory becomes worse. We are not as quick as before. We tire more easily. Few will sympathise with our cause because the world only looks at what you can give them. That’s the rhythm of the world. So if you don’t meet their expectations, they will show you the door. That’s the world.

But God is not the world. He is used to His people not meeting His expectations and standards. During ancient times and even today. God recognises that man is inherently weak, due to sin. With Jesus dying for us, He overlooks our sin with the redeeming blood of Christ covering us. Yet, if He were to pierce the veil of Christ, He knows we are not as holy and clean as we would like to be. Yet the LORD is compassionate and loving. He gives us a way. As we follow Him and obey His law, He will transform and mould us as His Spirit lives inside us. Despite our age and that we are aging on the outside, we are renewed snd strengthen on the inside. That is what that matters in eternity, our inner man. Also God’s love and compassion are not dependent on how we can be of use to Him, how much we contribute to His Kingdom. What we do is always important in the larger scheme of things, but it will never detract us from His love and compassion. So long as we trust Him and put our faith on Him, He will be there for us.

So are we feeling dusty? Don’t let that discourage us from continuing our fervent walk of faith. Don’t let that stop us from fulfilling God’s plans and purposes for us. We can still serve Him and do His work even as we age and get dusty. Strive on and serve Him! Don’t give up, ever!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/23/what-counts

Whether in church, at work or at home, we will encounter differing views. At work, it is less of an issue as there is a clear line of command. So even if we disagree, the boss makes the call and takes accountability for that decision. At home, the husband or the father is the head of the family but in practice, decisions are usually by consensus. Thus, it means that if the wife or the mother disagrees, it is rarely carried. Even though in church, there is also a chain of authority as in the elders, pastors and committee or board, differing opinions may be more difficult to deal with. This is because everyone serves on a voluntary basis and are ultimately answerable to God. In fact, attending church itself is voluntary and thus if a person with a different opinion gets ostracised, he or she just leaves and moves on to another church and there are many churches out there.

How do we deal with differing opinions? Paul advises that let peace prevail. In Romans 14, Paul teaches that we should go on a path that leads to peace and mutual edification. In a way, it means trying to accommodate everyone’s point of view and if someone will be stumbled by our decision, then we refrain from taking that action. That’s rather radical because prevailing wisdom is to go with the majority. But a path leading to peace and mutual edification is not necessarily the path of the majority. In fact it speaks of accommodating the dissenting view.

I think at the base of all decisions, we should always follow Paul’s advice to go for peace and mutual edification. What’s the point of pushing through the view of the majority if it stumbles a few whom Christ has saved? Unless not taking that action endangers the spiritual health of the whole group or church. In which case, it is for the overall good and benefit of the whole community of believers. If that’s not the case, then I think it’s better to just act in the path of peace and mutual edification, bearing in mind the spiritual well being of the dissenting voice.

At the personal level, I think a much easier approach to peace and mutual edification is to hold on to the belief that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion on a variety of issues and it is not for us to impose and neither must they conform to our way of thinking. So if someone supports BN or PN or PH, they are entitled to their viewpoint. We are not to condemn or ostracise them.

What’s the message today? Always go for the path of peace and mutual edification unless everyone is jeopardised. That should be the basis of our decisions as I believe that is the path that will be pleasing to God and glorifies His name. If possible, no one should be left behind. We should run as fast as the last man running as we want to bring everyone along if that is possible.

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/22/earth-day

God created the universe and the earth and all things in them. God then created man (humankind) and placed him in the Garden of Eden and it was man’s responsibility to work and take care of the Garden of Eden. Two distinct trees existed in Eden, the tree of life for which its fruits will ensure the immortality of man and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil whose fruit is forbidden for man to eat because if man eats it, he loses his immortality. But the serpent came into the picture and created doubt in the mind of Eve whether it was really true that if they were to eat the forbidden fruit that they will surely die and as the fruit looked good (anything forbidden will look good!), Adam and Eve ended up disobeying God and was banished from the Garden of Eden, the land that they were supposed to work and take care. In the process, man was separated from God and had to toil hard on the soil at where they were.

We will now have the opportunity to return back to “Eden” one day in the new heaven and new earth promised in Revelation 21 if we accept Jesus Christ into our lives as Jesus as the second Adam, the Son of God and yet the Son of Man, had redeemed mankind by dying on the cross as the unblemished and pure Lamb of God.

What is our land? Where is our place of influence? What has God appointed us to be? Where is this place that we are to work at and take care of? Where is the Garden of Eden that God had prepared for us?

I have shared before that the Kingdom of God is where we are. Our homes are embassies of the Kingdom. We are an extension of the presence of God as the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit lives in us. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. So our business, our place of work, our school, our college – those are our sphere of influence. That is our land, the place God has appointed us to work at and to take care.

Is our land a permanent physical place? Should we remain at the same place of work till we retire? Should we reside only at one house for our entire life? Should we only do that one business for our whole life and for generations to come? Our land is where we are and if God has placed us at our present work location, then that is our land. We work at it and take care of it. But be open to the prompting and the still small voice of God that doesn’t usually come in the thunder and the fire and storm but just a still small voice. Listen to the voice of God and like Abraham He may call us out of our land to another land far away, the Promised Land that He will raise generations of descendants that are as many as the sands at the seashore and as numerous as there are stars in the sky, out there in the vast universe. Like Moses, He may call us out to rescue His people from slavery and captivity or like Joseph make us go through various difficult situations before settling as the deputy to the most powerful man in the most powerful nation then, in order that the few generations of the Abrahamic may survive the great famine and live on. Or like Joshua, He may call us out to conquer our Jerichos and do battle with the sons of Anak, the fortified cities and strong armies of Canaan.

Work our land and take care of it! If like Adam and Eve we have been banished from our original land, we now need to toil and take care of the land where we are now at. Work at it, take care of it. In the end, our land is where God places us!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/21/really-alive

It’s a strange question but a pertinent one nevertheless – will we really be alive again on Resurrection Day or will it just be in our heads? I never ever thought of it that way but the author of today’s ODB says that many carry that question but few dare to speak it out loud.

If we believe that the Bible is the Word of God, then I believe that the question will probably not arise at all. This is because Revelation 21 and 22 clearly show us what will the end of days be like. There will be new heaven and new earth, the new Jerusalem where God will dwell among His people. We will have the tree of life again and we can therefore live forever again as God had earlier intended before sin came into the picture and broke our direct link to God, that Jesus had to die on the cross to reconcile man to God and break the sting and bondage of sin and death. The subsequent resurrection of Christ is the first fruit of His resurrection (1 Corinthians 15). He was the first to be resurrected as an example of how we will likewise be resurrected one day in the same glorified body as Christ did. Thus knowing what God said in His Word is true and will come true, we will have no issues looking forward to the hope that one day we will be resurrected as Christ did. That is also why many have over the ages dared to live and die for Christ’s sake. We do not pursue life for our benefit and interests only but for the goodness of God, for the sake of the Kingdom.

What’s the message today? I believe God is saying to us that whatever we do on earth will never be in vain. The heavenly reward is real. The new heaven and new earth, the new Jerusalem are all real. Jesus is really alive today and He will be alive tomorrow and forever more! Many have lived and died for Christ’s sake alone. We can also be like the martyrs and saints before us. Any injustice or unfairness or suffering we experience now here on earth can never compare to the glory and beauty that await us one day (Romans 8:18). God sees our very actions and He sees the actions of those around us too. He will protect and preserve the interests of His people, there is no doubt about that. Amen!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/20/love-is-worth-the-risk

Most of us would have known someone who had loved before and because of bad experiences in the past, chose a single’s life. Even if we have not seen a real life example ourselves, there are abundant portrayals in movies and TV dramas. Not necessarily a lonely life as one could fill up our time with our own pursuits and being single means we can, in most instances, do as we think fit. No need to align or prioritise interests with our loved one or as some say, our better half. We just pursue what interests us – like photography, fishing, badminton, running, gym etc.

I think people who decided not to open up for love again do so because they don’t want to get hurt again. They don’t want to be vulnerable, don’t want to risk getting rejected, hurt, betrayed or abandoned. But then life is like that – no pain, no gain. Or put it another way – no venture, no gain. You don’t move out of your comfort zone, you remain there and sometimes, that zone is when we were only 16, years and years ago when the first girl we fancied rejected our invitation for tea. Of course, I’m exaggerating. It could well be closer to present times but you get the picture. Our comfort zones are usually frozen in time, a time in the past – certainly not the future and unlikely the present. We have not moved on since then. We are still stuck in our past bad experience.

The message today however I believe goes deeper than that although we should come out of our comfort zone, open up to love and be vulnerable. And it should apply to all areas of our life, whether our faith, our ministry or our jobs. Maybe it’s time to move on and try something new. The world is your oyster, they say.

The message today is deeper as it concerns our love for Jesus. Do we love Jesus? Even if Jesus were to ask us 3 times, will we answer Him yes? Have our past experiences with human love caused us to be unconsciously rejecting Jesus? Are we declining to go into a deeper relationship with Him? Has our past experience with church itself cause us to refuse being more involved now? Because we were deeply disappointed in the past? Because we were disillusioned as we gave our all before and had to pick up the pieces of our faith? Love and vulnerability goes hand in hand. If we can’t be vulnerable, if we close our hearts up, we will never be able to truly love Jesus. All we will probably ever do is just skim the surface. There is much more to our life in God, I believe so – just that we need to open up and allow God to take control and take over. Put our trust fully on God and He will work all things together for good. Note that Romans 8:28 only applies to all who love Him. Read it and you will see.

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/19/come-and-worship

If you read today’s ODB text, it is writing about giving everyone a chance to worship, putting particular emphasis on a mother with 3 children – a baby, a toddler and a five year old. With the church members helping her with her eldest and the toddler, she managed to exhale, close her eyes and worship God.

However, if you go into the Scripture of the day at Deuteronomy 3:9-13, the LORD was speaking through Moses about giving everyone a chance to listen to the Law being read. To assemble the people, men, women, children, foreigners residing at their towns so that they can listen amd learn to fear the LORD and follow carefully all the words of the Law.

I recall during the nearly five years I was worshipping at another local church, the time when my eldest was around 2 to 3 years old to when he was around 5 years plus when we move on to another church, I used to bring him to walk around the corridors of the church when the message was being delivered. He refused to attend the children’s ministry session and no one from the ministry actually tried to coax him to attend or helped me to attend to him. So during those few years, I didn’t get to listen to any of the messages preached. I also recall in another church before that when we were all involved in ministry tasks, my wife used to run the children’s ministry class every week and thus she also didn’t get to listen to the message for quite a number of months.

Whether it’s the worship or the message, everyone should be given the chance to attend and experience the presence of God, to hear the rhema and logos parts of the Word preached. That is why some churches insist that everyone is present in the sanctuary hall from babies to youths to adults to the older folks and the children’s church is a separate service, not a babysitting service to the parents. If the children’s church needs to run concurrently with the main service, there must be a fair rotation of people involved so that no one is always left out from parts of the main service. Everyone should be involved in ministry but everyone should also be ministered to.

Assemble all the people – men, women, children and the foreigners. Let everyone be present to worship the Lord in all His splendour and to hear His Word being preached!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/18/witness-in-the-workplace

A big question all of us will face every now and then is whether to continue at our workplace or to leave for another opportunity. In the Malaysian context, less are inclined to make that call if they are in government service as government servants work for life because of the life long medical benefits and pension on retirement. However, even government servants have flexibility to apply for transfers or to move departments or schools.

The tension comes as we are frustrated because new people coming in are messing up our way of working. Sometimes imposing bureaucratic steps that slow things down or using constant updates and reporting as a management tool, which usually imposes additional work when the real and regular work was already challenging. I recall many years back when I was negotiating a contract abroad from morning till night only to return to the hotel for dinner and sleep but also to write a daily update on the progress of the negotiations late at night. So at the working level, people find that they have to get things moving and yet at the same time they need to spend considerable time preparing slides and reports for senior management. Or the things we want to do to streamline processes or to make things more efficient get shot down. The improvements were obvious to us but oblivious to our higher-ups. Sometimes improvements are refused because of political or personal reasons and not on merit and that makes us even more frustrated.

So do we leave or stay? Leave if we are really unhappy and the situation impacts our health and general well being. Pray that God will open a way for us to move on. However, a more pertinent prayer I believe is what is your will O Lord? Do You want me to stay on to continue with my good works here? Do you want me continue to glorify Your name through my integrity throughout the situation, that I maintain my professionalism despite the setbacks I received. We know that as a Christian, we don’t go for the door the moment we see trouble. We flee from temptation and the devil, but not trouble and hardwork. Why? Because the latter builds us up – as we suffer, we persevere and as we persevere, we build character. As we do more, we get more familiar and thus become better and that applies to new processes and bureaucratic steps.

The message today is I believe that we should seek Jesus and His views on our situation. I believe if it is time to move on, He will show us the way and make a way. Until then, we continue our good works so that the name of our Father in heaven may be glorified through us, through our work. Ultimately, we must come across as someone who is dependable, responsible, ethical and good at what we do. We must be known as someone who will persevere through despite the challenging environment and difficult situation. Our God is greater and He will lead us to victory!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/17/this-changes-everything

There is nothing more fundamental in the Christian faith than the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. Paul took great pains to preach this and was willing to be arrested so that he could preach the same to Agrippa, the Roman Emperor at Rome, the pinnacle of the known world then.

The whole of the New Testament is really about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the fulfilment of God’s promise to redeem mankind from the original sin. The second Adam had to become the Lamb of God to right the wrong done by the first Adam that we may be restored and one day may return back to the Garden of Eden experience in the new heaven and new earth as revealed to John and promised to all of us in Revelation 21, where we will once again be able to partake of the Tree of Life and thus conquer death and live for eternity as God had originally intended for mankind.

That indeed Christ was risen because if that was false, then we are in deep trouble as nothing else matters. Our lives will then be lived to fulfil only our fleshy wants and desires and death and sin would have won. We will die as we know it and it will all just end there. That is all life is about. No greater purpose, no divine plans, no calling, nothing. Our lives are our own. We don’t relate to God. There is no kingdom of heaven. It’s all just about living here on earth. We exist and then we perish like the flowers that bloom and wither away.

But Christ is risen! The first fruit of His own victory over sin and death! He is the example of what we will be one day, our hope of glory that one day we will all be risen too, in a glorified body just like Christ’s. Sin and death shall reign no more. Tears and sadness shall be gone and no more.

As we honour and remember Christ’s sacrifice and victory over sin and death today on Resurrection Sunday, Easter Sunday – let us be like Paul and preach and proclaim Christ’s death and resurrection as fervently as we can. He is risen! He is alive! He has conquered death and sin for us. We will also likewise be victorious over sin and death through the blood and name of Christ! Let’s hold on to that hope for I know my redeemer lives and in the end, He will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God (Job 19:25-27). All this is truly a reality now with the death and resurrection of Christ! As Christ has risen, nothing else matters! Amen!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/15/simon-of-cyrene

https://www.biblword.net/what-is-the-weight-of-the-cross-that-jesus-carried/

The cross has over time become a symbol of our faith. Catholics make the sign of the cross as a way to prepare for prayer but more importantly to symbolise that they are Catholics. Non believers wear the cross as a pendant, an ornament but I believe those who do so harbour an inner desire to be Christian in faith. There are those who use the cross to identify themselves with Christianity although they may not actually profess the faith. That is why to the Muslims, it is sacrilegious for them to have anything to do with the cross as they may be branded as having crossed over to the other side. Elections have been lost with just a photo with a cross.

Although Jesus is usually pictured as having carried his cross, it is likely He carried the cross beam as that was the prevailing practice then. Also because the stake was usually already planted to the ground much earlier. It was nevertheless a heavy thing weighing 30-40 kgs. It would have been tough for Jesus to carry 30-40 kgs in His weakened state having been beaten and tortured before that. Fortunately, there was Simon of Cyrene who was forced to help Him. As it turned out, it was such a privilege and honour to be able to help Jesus carry His cross at such a difficult ahd torturous time. Of course, Jesus carried not just the physical cross but more significantly the sins of mankind upon His shoulders and won the victory. He was love crucified but arose! He won the victor’s crown! Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!

We cannot and will never be Simon of Cyrene. We are who we are, uniquely and wonderfully made by God in His image. What is within our power and control? Certainly our own life and our own actions and thoughts! Can we do as Jesus taught to honour Him? Can we be like Him more and more in our life to honour Him? Can we carry our own cross each day and crucify our old self daily that our new self in Christ may always be victorious in our life? We may not have been given the privilege to carry Jesus’s cross but let’s do our part to carry our own cross daily that His crucifixion and resurrection have some real meaning and impact in our life, that all that Christ did for each of us is not in vain. Love crucified arose indeed! Amen