Ronnie's Thoughts

Feed the hungry

https://odb.org/2024/10/24/food-for-the-hungry

In Isaiah 58, Isaiah prophesied in verses 3 to 9 about God’s rebuke to the Israelites about their self-serving fasting to fulfil their religious obligations, hoping to gain some personal benefit for themselves. Actually, there is nothing wrong with such an approach to fasting except that at the same time, they ignored the needs of the less fortunate before their eyes – the hungry, the unclothe, and the homeless. It was much worse if they had fasted and were also the ones who oppressed the needy. Verses 6 to 9 are reproduced below:

NIV 6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to lose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clother them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk.

The poor and needy will always be there. In a laissez-faire economy, you work and earn your keep. Some for lack of education or opportunities earn less, but if they are willing to hold two jobs, they are likely to get through unless they have large families to feed. There is nevertheless a question of practicalities of living within your means. Still, there are others who live in a cycle of drug addiction, crime, violence, unemployment, and imprisonment to the extent that it might be better for some to be inside than outside without food or shelter.

We as individuals can never solve the needs of society. But we must have compassion. In anything we do, whether we have a role in government policy or not, we should support efforts to eradicate poverty, homelesness, and hunger. Everyone should be given a roof over their heads and a hot meal.

The message in Isaiah 58 is that we must know our God and what is in His heart. He seeks to help the unfortunate the downtrodden and the oppressed. We can not solve the woes of the world, but at the very least, we must not be part of those who perpetuate such injustices. Instead, we must be selfless, have compassion, and do our part whenever we can. In the end, what’s in our hearts must match our actions in praying and fasting. Then, the glory of God, the LORD our God will be our rear guard!

The Comforter

https://odb.org/2024/10/23/the-spirit-is-present

After Jesus died and rose again, He ascended to heaven 40 days after His resurrection. On the 50th day, it was the Jewish festival of Pentecost, which celebrates the giving of the Torah to Moses at Mount Sinai. The night before Jesus was crucified, He had the last supper, and it was the day of the Jewish festival of the Unleavened Bread, also known as the Passover which celebrates the passing over by the Angel of Death over Jewish homes in Egypt marked by the blood of an unblemished lamb. Thus, we will see that Jesus’s last days on earth had a lot of symbolism intertwined with the festivals in the Jewish calendar, somewhat tying Christ to the Old Testament religious laws introduced by God during ancient times.

When Jesus ascended to heaven, it left a vacuum in the hearts of the disciples of Christ (Apostles), although with the 40 days Christ spent with them and other close followers, they caught the vision of His true mission on earth. The physical Jesus was no more, even in the form of His glorified body. But that held the promise of what we could expect of our bodies at the end of age. Jesus gave the disciples a promise in John 14 25-27 NIV:

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.

The promise was His Father in heaven will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who will teach them all things and remind them of everything Christ had said and taught them before. The Holy Spirit descended in a rushing wind and tongues of fire on the Apostles and other believers on Pentecost and empowered and emboldened the Apostles and other believers. The rest, as they say, is history. The faith spread like wildfire engulfing Jerusalem, Judah, and Samaria and across the Greek world of the Gentiles and later to the rest of the world. We are who we are in Christ today from the first fire 🔥 of Pentecost with the descension of the Holy Spirit. The faith spread and prevailed despite persecutions and all sorts of obstacles by the ruler of the world.

Going back to the original promise of Jesus in John 14, for us modern believers who have both Jesus and the Holy Spirit in our hearts, be reminded that the Holy Spirit will comfort and encourage us like He did the disciples. Do not be afraid or be troubled when we face difficult situations in life or at work. Be bold and courageous like Joshua! Trust that the Holy Spirit will help us and embolden us as we plough through life. Jesus is our Lord and Saviour, Father God is our Heavenly Father, but the Holy Spirit will teach us all things and grant us wisdom and discernment in our walk of faith. He will prompt us to do the right thing at all times, He is the voice in our conscience and more. He will lead us to what God’s will is in all situations. He will lead us to fulfil God’s plans and purposes in our lives and for us to live in the centre of His will!

We thank you, Lord Jesus and Father God, for giving us the Holy Spirit to be our Advocate and Comforter, to stand with us in all that we do! Amen!

Transformed from the inside

https://odb.org/2024/10/22/transformed-from-the-inside

One of the struggles faced by any believer, I believe, is the desire to be true to God from the inside. The journey of transformation may go this way. We conform on the outside but remain carnal and selfish on the inside. People can only deduce who we are from our external self, like the way we speak and act, but no one knows what is really in our hearts, even Satan doesn’t know. Thus, we become hypocrites like those people Jesus condemned in Matthew 23:23-33. We are “spiritually” beautiful externally but rotten on the inside. No one can really tell, except God, our Heavenly Father.

Then, later, we realised that being a hypocrite is not only terrible but also tiring. It’s just a facade, an appearance that’s illusionary. In a rebellious streak, we show the world who we truly are. So we do not conform anymore, and our external become like that of our inside; carnal and selfish. We only have one life to live. Why should we live any other way but the way we want? Children raised in strict Christian families have a tendency to morphe this way and just throw caution to the wind as they grow up and become adults. A time may come when they may break free from the shackles of strict family rules and become who they truly are.

Actually, I think the best way is to gradually transform but always from within first. Battle within ourselves. Pray for our Father’s intervention in our spirit. Ask for the strength of the Holy Spirit to break free from our natural tendencies. Learn to be selfless from within. This way, our external self will reflect Christ who transformed us from within. This, I believe, is the message of Matthew 23:23-33. Clean the inside first, and the outside will be clean.

Ultimately, even if we may fool everyone in the world, God knows who we are. Jesus knows our true self. On that day when we face Jesus, our true self will be for all to see. Jesus looks to our hearts and not our outside as only our spirit will face Him. How are we to explain to Him that after all those years of His grace and goodness, we are still as rotten on the inside like we were before we knew Him? The gift of the gab and twisting words will not help us when what’s seen by all is only our spirit. We have nothing to conceal our inner self on judgment day as it is our inner self that is judged. Our salvation may still be intact as we are justified by our faith in Christ, saved by the grace of God. But what a hollow victory will that be? Can we hold our heads up high to Jesus and say we have fought the good fight if we had been a fraud all this while?

No amount of rationalising will help as Jesus knows our hearts, our true self. Work on insides in ernest. In the end, what’s inside us that counts. Discard our old self, our carnal nature, and our selfishness, and embrace and become the person God truly and always wanted us to be, even before the foundations of the world! Fulfil His plans and purposes for our lives. Strive for the prize that awaits us as we look upwards to Christ, the author and finisher of our faith!

Jesus, the branch from David

https://odb.org/2024/10/21/the-branch

Jeremiah 33:14-15 NIV: 14 ‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfil the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah. 15 ‘In those days and at that time, I will make a righteous branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land.

The sculptured Cross at the Chapel of the Holy Cross, Sedona, Arizona

Just the day before, as we were talking, my wife just mentioned that one of the significant differences of our faith that reflects the reality of God is the fulfilment of the various prophesies in the bible. Jeremiah, a prophet of God with the book that bears his name, active during the reign of King Josiah until the fall of Jerusalem prophesied about the coming of Christ during those ancient times. God spoke through Jeremiah of raising up the Messiah, which is Jesus Christ, the righteous branch, through the line of David. The sculptured cross at the Chapel of the Holy Cross, Sedona, beautifully symbolises, by its old dead vertical trunk, the old tribes of the Israelites who rejected God while other trunk that is reaching upwards and branches out represents the flourishing tribe of Judah and the line of David.

Jeremiah 33:14-15 is one of the many prophesies of the Old Testament fulfilled by Jesus Christ. In the New Testament, we have a whole book of Revelation that speaks of the future, the signs and times before the second coming of Christ, the great tribulation, the Great White Throne of God, the Bema Judgment Seat of Christ until the new heaven and new earth, and the new Jerusalem with Christ and God living among His people once again.

In the span of our lives, we may have received our own fair share of prophesies. Be patient and continue to persevere on in our walk of faith. The day will come when the prophesies for our own lives will become reality in the course of the LORD’s own timing in accordance with His perfect will. Some prophesies may only be fulfilled when we are spiritually ready in our hearts. Don’t give up believing and trusting God. Instead, continue in our steadfast love for Him, serving Him with all our strength, soul, mind, and heart; allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us day by day into the image of Christ!

Have an examplary week ahead, everyone fulfilling God’s plans and purposes for our lives! I pray that the LORD our God will grant us wisdom and discernment in our daily tasks as we discharge our responsibilities at work, in college, at home, and in church! Amen!

The payoff

https://odb.org/2024/10/20/the-payoff

When we think about the payoff for our faith, we inevitably look to the present and the natural. In fact, this is how most believers pitch the Gospel, that Jesus will transform our lives for the better. Jesus will heal us. God will break bondages and the shackles of sin. The deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt is a picture of how God brings us from a life of slavery in the world to a life of freedom and victory in the Promised Land. From living under the rulership of the ruler of the world to the kingdom of God where we live in the centre of the will of God for our lives. On earth, the best place to be is the place where we are fulfilling God’s plans and purposes for our lives. The kingdom of God is where His children are living in His will, wherever we are is the kingdom of heaven.

The promise of a better and more fulfilling life is premised on one of the fundamental teachings of Jesus Christ recorded in Matthew 6:33 NKJV:

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

As Solomon in all his wealth and grandeur and wisdom concluded in Ecclesiastes, everything is meaningless unless we have God, Jesus teaches that if we seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first, all these things shall be added unto you. On top of a place in eternity in the new heaven and new earth in Eden recreated, we will have an abundant life here on earth too! A life lived with God and Jesus as our Lord. Will a father give you a snake if you ask for a fish? Luke 11:11-13. Surely God will not give you a horrendous and difficult life if you are His child? We will not escape the daily struggles of life that everyone goes through by becoming believers, but we will have the Holy Spirit and Jesus going through life with us. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you!

The payoff will thus be here on earth as well in heaven. The goodness of God and His grace and mercies and blessings will follow us for the rest of our days as we dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever.

Have a great time worshipping God today! Let’s give Him all glory and celebrate His goodness in church today! He deserves all honour, glory, and worship! Amen!

Elijah fleeing from Jezebel

https://odb.org/2024/10/18/scraped-butter

In the Transfiguration, Jesus met Elijah and Moses. Spiritually, Jesus represented the New Covenant while Moses represented the Old Covenant and Elijah the Prophets. Or seen in another perspective, Jesus represented the grace of God, while Moses represented the Law, and Elijah represented the power of God. Besides Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as the forefathers of the faith and Moses, the bearer of the Mosaic law, Elijah can be considered as one of the key and major figure of the Old Testament. He performed miracles with the power of God, foretelling the coming of Christ and the latter’s healings, signs, and wonders.

In 1 Kings 18, at Mount Carmel, Elijah called fire from the heavens and consumed a drenched bull followed by rain during a long period of severe famine and drought. The 450 prophets of Baal tried from dawn till dusk to call fire and failed. With the victory, Elijah killed all the 450 prophets of Baal. When Queen Jezebel, the patron of Baal during the reign of King Ahab, heard the news, she vowed to kill Elijah. Elijah, just fresh from the highest peak of his career as a prophet of God, feared for his life and ran as quickly and as far away as possible from Jezebel. After reaching Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant behind and travelled one day into the wilderness, and then as he laid down to rest, he asked God to take his life. He confessed to God that he was no better than his ancestors.

The LORD did not take his life but sent an angel to later wake and feed him twice. After that, he travelled 40 days and 40 nights to Mount Horeb and, in a cave, met God in a still small voice, a silent whisper. God was not found in the wind or the earthquake. In the process, the LORD relieved Elijah of his calling and instructed him to mentor and pass on his anointing to Elisha.

The preplexing thing about arguably the most powerful prophet of God as recorded in the bible is that despite his witnessing of God’s mighty display of power before his very eyes, he feared for his life when he was threatened by Jezebel. After proving that Baal was nothing compared to Yahweh at Carmel, he ran for his life. He admitted that he was no better than his ancestors. He was afraid and fell into depression despite being one of the most powerful of prophets.

I feel that the lesson for us is that no matter what we may have achieved for God in our lives, we may still reach a stage when we may suddenly feel we are unworthy of God’s love. We may feel God is not there for us anymore. Or that we have exhausted God’s grace or anointing. Or that we are a spent force or have burnt out. We may, like Elijah, fall into depression. It may not be as soon as Elijah, so soon after his peak. Nevertheless, depression may come.

None of us are immune from depression. We need to be watchful and always go back to God. In Elijah’s case, God nursed and stregthened him back to strength. Later, the LORD met him at Mount Horeb and gave him a new commission. If we are ever in such a situation, seek out Jesus for Him to give us rest and perhaps a new calling and commission. We will then have a new lease of life in God. From Carmel to the wilderness to Horeb! Amen!

Manna from heaven

https://odb.org/2024/10/17/gods-provision

It is one of the great and amazing miracles in the Bible that the Israelites could survive in the desert for 40 years without any proper farming. In fact, a whole new generation was raised in the wilderness to enter the Promised Land with Caleb and Joshua. To put the scale in perspective, there were about 600,000 able bodied male adults (20 years and above) who were delivered from Egypt, and if we were to include women and children, the Israelites in total should number circa 2 million.

God fed them manna from heaven every day, where a new ration will come in the next morning, and they were to take as much as they needed for their daily needs. The manna can not be kept overnight except for the ration that came on the day before the Sabbath, which would last two days. It speaks of the daily provision of God in our lives, that as believers, we somehow will never go hungry. God provided water from the rock that Moses struck with his staff. The Israelites were not moving about in the wilderness in those forty years as they actually spent most of their time in an oasis south of Canaan called Kadesh Barnea. As much as God is a God of miracles, He is also practical in using nature, which is also His creation and provision for humanity.

An important lesson for us today, I believe, is that no matter how much we may be struggling in our lives, our God will meet our needs. He will ensure that we will not starve. In fact, over time, He will prosper us and give us an abundant life here on earth, a life that is filled with His love, joy, and peace. Do our part. Obey Him and serve Him. Believe in His provision and providence. Commit our lives to Him. He is El-Shaddai, the Almighty God, the All Sufficient One. He is Jehovah Jireh, our provider. Amen!

Speed of joy

https://odb.org/2024/10/16/the-speed-of-joy

“Speed of joy” is a phrase coined by Sheridan Voysey, a writer based in Oxford, United Kingdom, who regularly writes for Our Daily Bread. It speaks of the pace of working, a pace that brings us joy instead of too much pressure and anxiety.

At work, we either work frantically, complete our tasks as soon as possible, or work at a more leisurely pace. In privately owned enterprises, the tendency is the former. While for government linked organisations, it is more the latter. Of course, a lot depends on the urgency of the work. Even for GLCs, if it is to respond to an outside tender, the pace is still frantic as tenders usually have very tight deadlines. But when the timelines are in our hands, GLCs don’t rush because there are many things to consider, and thus, a more conservative approach is taken. There are a few layers of bureaucracy, and compliance is emphasised rather than commercial expediency.

A work pace that is quick is actually quite necessary in the real world. Opportunities come and go, and don’t wait around for anyone. So, if we are slow to respond or fail to plan well in advance, we will be left behind. The aerotrain situation at KLIA is one example as well as the current predicament faced by MAS, which failed to periodically refresh their fleet. But a fast-paced work-life does bring unwanted pressures and anxieties that may lead to health issues. For example, long hours may tire us so much that we have little leisure time leading to little family time or lack of exercise, causing mental as well as physical issues.

If it is possible, we should all work at the speed of joy, a pace that brings us joy, especially the joy of the Lord that comes from loving Him. In John 15:9-11, Jesus taught us the following:

NIV 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

Perhaps it is not possible when we are starting out in our career when we are learning the ropes. Let’s pray that the day will come when the Lord will open the door for us so we may work at the speed of joy, with a worklife balance that safeguards our health, our family relationships, our mental state and our spiritual walk and service to God.

Discipline in our walk

https://odb.org/2024/10/15/the-disciplined-life

If you’ve been to a gym before, you will know that one can go there for cardiovascular exercises. In other words, the gym is not only about doing weights to build muscles. For me, I go there to just walk and run and maybe do a few rounds of simple weights. More to strengthen than to build. The rule of exercise, however, is that we need to put in a minimal amount of time. We can not go and run for 5 mins and then go home. Whether we brisk walk, slow jog, or sprint, it’s up to our fitness level, but we need to put in at least 20 mins of effort. The good thing is that if we are on the treadmill or other machines, they have a calorie count, and thus, we can set targets like 200 or 300 cal. But fundamental to exercise is the need for discipline. For exercise to be effective, we need to do it regularly, like perhaps 4 to 5 days a week, rather than 4 to 5 days a month. There is always a start, and we can keep things slow at first, but we need to keep at it.

The use of the imagery of athletes by Paul in 1 Corinthians 9 to describe our spiritual walk was apt as Corinth hosted the Isthmian games on the years before and even after the ancient Olympic games. Thus, the early Christians could relate to the imagery the same way we could in modern times. We need discipline to maintain self-control. We need discipline to keep a regular quiet time. We should pray every day and not only when in church or occasionally. In other words, in the “busyness” of our daily routine, we need to allocate time for worship, prayer, and reading of the Word. Basically, to inoculate basic spiritual tasks that require discipline for regularity. If we do not have discipline, we may do all these once or twice a month when we should be doing it every day.

As this week progresses, besides all the things we need to do in college or at work or at home, be disciplined and set up a time for God and keep at it on a regular basis. Like an athlete, keep at it until the very end! Make it our routine until our dying day! Amen!

Try a little kindness

https://odb.org/2024/10/14/simple-acts-of-kindness

There is a Glen Campbell song I sang quite often when growing up, “Try a little kindness.” https://youtu.be/MvswocNN-g8?si=CE9uWhwApWZ7R-Dt

Verse: If you see your brother standing by the road. With a heavy load from the seeds, he sowed. And if you see your sister falling by the way. Just stop and say, “You’re going the wrong way.”
Chirus: You’ve got to try a little kindness
Yes, show a little kindness.
Just shine your light for everyone to see.
And if you try a little kindness.
Then you’ll overlook the blindness.
Of narrow-minded people on the narrow-minded streets.
Verse: Don’t walk around the down and out. Lend a helping hand instead of doubt.
And the kindness that you show every day
Will help someone along their way.

As Christians, we can not avoid being kind. Not only is it one of the 9 attributes of the fruit of the Spirit, but our Lord is by nature kind and compassionate. As we carry His name as Christians (Christianos in Greek, meaning “little anointed ones” or “little Christ”), it is impossible for us not to be kind. It is not unusual to hear about nasty Christians as we are still human, but it is uncommon. A nasty Christian is actually quite an oxymoron. It is an incompatible statement as there should only be kind believers of Jesus Christ.

When Ruth asked Boaz why he was so kind to her that he asked her to only glean exclusively at his farm, and he had instructed his workers to purposely leave behind more for her, Boaz answered because he heard of her kindness leaving her land and people to be with her mother in law in a foreign land after her husband died.

Ruth 2:10-11 NIV –

10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favour in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?” 11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.

The thing is, as demonstrated by Scripture, kindness begets kindness. If we are kind, people will be kind to us too. God will be happy with us for properly reflecting His glory in our lives, and we, in return, receive kindness from others. That is surely a win-win situation! Why then would we want to be a nasty Christian?

Try a little kindness. Show a little kindness. Just shine your light for everyone to see. Then, you’ll overlook the blindness of the narrow-minded people on the narrow-minded streets. Praise the Lord!