https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/03/love-your-neighbor-3

Leviticus 19:18 contains God’s commandment to the Israelites to love your neighbour as yourself. There were a series of commandments starting from verse 9, including the concept not to be too efficient in harvesting so that there is a little left for the poor and the foreigner. The divine instructions continue, and among these is not to rob or defraud your neighbour, do not show partiality for the great but judge your neighbour fairly, do not spread slander among your people, and do not do anything that endangers the life of your neighbour. It goes on to say – not to hate a fellow Israelite in your heart, rebuke your neighbour frankly so you do not share in their guilt and finally but not the least, do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself.

The context of the series of instructions in Leviticus 19 is harmony and unity among the people, the Israelites – how they should treat one another, including the foreigner who lives among them. But a notable difference is that these instructions do not extend to others beyond the nation of Israel. For example, to the Amalekites, the Moabites or the Edomites, the Israelites’ traditional enemies in Canaan.

However, when Jesus reiterated the Leviticus 19:18 commandment in the Gospel (Matthew 22:36) that you should love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul and mind and then to love your neighbour as yourself, Jesus spoke of people in general and He meant it to include our enemies. No more a question of communal harmony but a deeper spiritual meaning that basically distinguishes believers from non-believers as people who practice “right side up” living. We are the light and the salt of the world. We give light to darkness. We give colour, life, meaning, and purpose to an otherwise spiritually lifeless and dead world. Although we are in the world, we are of heaven.

What’s the message to us today? I believe Jesus is saying to us that as much as the Old Covenant remains relevant, much of it is already superseded by His teachings and concepts in the New Covenant. The standards are much higher and the context different and wider. While the Old Testament was more concerned with the actual natural life of the Israelites on earth (often looked at from the perspective of the nation of Israel), the New Testament focuses more on our spiritual journey here on earth to ensure that we are on the right track and destination to a life of eternity to be lived with God and Christ.

Thus, if we apply Malachi 3:10 and give unto God like the Israelites gave their first fruits to God for the people of the Temple (the Levites who served the spiritual needs of the Israelites then and didn’t get a landed inheritance from the LORD to earn a living), the floodgates of heaven that will be opened will not necessarily be physical monetary blessings in return. But surely we will be storing our riches and treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:9-12) as Jesus taught, even as we do so. Thus, if we have wealth, giving unto God and sharing it around (including to the poor and foreigner) is probably the easiest way for us to store up our treasures in heaven!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/02/our-refuge-2

The creation of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, the life illustration of today’s ODB, does remind and point me to God being our refuge. The 15,000-acre Refuge in Denver, Colorado, is a sanctuary for wildlife covering nearly 300 species from black footed ferrets to burrowing owls to bald eagles and roaming buffaloes. It is a place where wildlife may thrive and flourish as nature intends without, ironically, interference from humans. What’s amazing about this wildlife sanctuary is its urban setting near a large city like Denver, Colorado.

I think a wildlife sanctuary is a good picture of our life in God. When we accept Christ, we become a part of the universal church, the family of God, also known as the Kingdom of God. This means that we are like part of a protected zone, what some Psalmists like to call under the shadows of His wings. We are under the protection of God. Not so much from the hustle and bustle of life, but from the concerted attacks and deception of the evil one in the spiritual realm, whose only intent is to bring us along with him into the eternal flames of fire. He knows where he and his troops will end up one day and thus will attempt to bring as many as possible with him by enticing us with the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. The tiger doesn’t change its stripes, and it is the same with the devil and his tricks.

The evil one knows that he is powerless when we are in God’s zone. His powers do not work. So he needs to entice us out of the safety zone, like how Adam and Eve ended out of Eden after the fall. That’s the beauty of the safety zone, the sanctuary our LORD built for His people. That is why He is our refuge and our rock. He is our rock and our salvation. See Psalm 62: 5-8.

When we are in God’s zone, we may tap upon His supernatural powers and bring heaven down on earth, with the spiritual realm breaking through and into the natural, bringing along the blessings and the power of God to heal and to set the captives free from the bondage of sin.

Do not depart from God’s zone. Keep within the safety of His sanctuary, within the shadows of His wings. Do not venture out. Keep our eyes and focus upon Jesus Christ, the author and the finisher of our faith. As He is the alpha and omega – make sure we end up in omega even as He called us in the first place, alpha. Let our lives be from alpha until omega as Christ had intended and planned even before the foundations of the world! Christian life is less about finishing first and at the top of the class than about finishing the race. Like a marathon runner, we are not keen on winning the winner’s trophy than being awarded the finisher’s medal! We have finished the race and had fought the good fight; that’s our goal and our motivation! Remain in God’s sanctuary, His safety zone, and we will be safe for He is our refuge, our fortress, and our salvation!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/30/parting-words

It is possible that some of us may have forgotten that one of the tenets of salvation is repentance from sin. While it is true that salvation is by the grace of God and not our good works like in the case of other faiths, we always need to remember that salvation is not merely saying or professing the sinner’s prayer. The public utterance of our lips is our proclamation that Christ is our Lord and Saviour. It is the confession of our hearts that Jesus died for our sins and rose victorious, resurrected from death to give us the hope of glory that one day we would likewise be resurrected like Him in our glorified bodies although when we die our flesh will return to the ground – from dust to dust.

Yet at the foundation of our proclamation is the confession of our hearts that we are sinners (in fact Christ called us to be His own while we were yet sinners) and that we repent from our sins. Repentance is to completely turn away from the path of sin and to begin the walk on the path of righteousness. We can only take one road – either the wide way that leads to destruction or the narrow road to eternal life.

As we have said in these pages before, we do not become sinless overnight, and we still need the blood of the Lamb to justify us. But that’s not a passport to continue to sin and do evil and attribute that to the weakness of our flesh. In other words, there must be real and concerted efforts towards righteousness because liberty from sin is real and achievable with the empowerment and strength of the Holy Spirit. Even if it’s a constant battle between our old flesh and our new creation in Christ, it’s a battle we must continue to wage. We must never give up and give in to the devil. This is a battle we must always fight. If we had compromised and lost, we must pick ourselves up and continue the fight. That, to me, is the true meaning of repentance. We turn away from sin and continue to turn away from sin. If we sin, we need to confess our sins before God and continue on our journey on the path of righteousness.

Even if our acceptance of Christ has given us the ticket to be on the boat to eternal life, we must make sure we are still on the boat, the boat where Christ transforms us each day more and more into His image as we allow Him to mould us. Having the ticket but not being on the boat that Christ has appointed for us will mean that we may not land at the right place to present the ticket for entrance into eternal life. Make sure we are on the boat while tightly clutching to the entrance ticket. Repentance is a sure way to ensure that we are still on the boat to eternal life!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/28/when-youre-lonely

It is inevitable that we will experience loneliness one day. For example, if we outlive our spouse. This is especially real as it is getting more common nowadays for the husband to pass away first as more women outlive men. The spouse who is left behind will thus be lonely and some for a considerable time. Of course, we may have children, but then they have their own lives to live. Surely, we can not rely on them for companionship until we grow old. In fact, there are single parents staying together with a single adult child who ended up outliving their adult child in the case of the grey-haired sending off the dark-haired.

There are also those who chose to remain single when younger for various reasons – perhaps the right person never came along. Or some just wanted to play the field and didn’t want to settle down. Some may be called to singlehood or just prefer to remain single. Or some were married before but, sadly, their marriage ended up in divorce. The clear advantage of being single is that there is no need to share anything with someone else. We make all decisions ourselves. The clear disadvantage and reality is that without a spouse or children, we will grow old alone and will likely lead a lonely life.

As Christians, how do we deal with loneliness? We could immerse ourselves in work when younger or get more involved in ministry or missions. We could stay in a home with single male or female believers and thus serve God together and have fellowship among the brethren. Once retired, we could live in a community of retired folks – senior communities are getting more popular, even in Malaysia.

Of course, the best and probably the most obvious way to deal with loneliness is to develop a closer relationship with God Himself, with Jesus Christ. Psalm 23 then becomes very real to us. He is our shepherd, and He will lead us to clear and safe waters and bring us to pastures for our nourishment. Even if He were to bring us through valleys of shadow of death, we will fear no evil for His rod and staff comfort me (protect me). We may live in the shadow of His wings. After all, how long more will we be here on this earth after we have retired if we are single or if married, after our spouse has passed on? 30 or 40 years more? What is eternity compared to that? In the new heaven and new earth, we will be reunited with those who love God. In the meantime, serve God with all our heart, all our mind, and all of our soul! Make Him our main, if not our sole pursuit, and we will find that loneliness will slowly but surely tinker away – fade away in the horizon into a thing of the past. We will get to see our loved ones again on the day of Jesus Christ! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/27/heaping-coals-on-enemies

I think that it’s pretty special that this principle taught by Jesus to love your enemies was already recorded and taught during ancient times in the book of Proverbs. The book of Proverbs was believed to have been written by King Solomon and contained ancient wisdom that has proven to transverse time as thousands of years later, it is still relevant whether during Jesus’s time or present times and I believe will still be relevant until the day of Jesus Christ.

But note that the expression “heaping burning coals on one’s head” in Proverbs 25: 21-22 is not a revenge action meant to cause suffering, and neither is it a form of mental torture. The expression actually came from an Egyptian ritual where a guilty person carried hot coals in a bowl on his head to show his repentance. Thus, when we repay evil with kindness, we are hoping to induce repentance on the part of the wrongdoer that he will cease to do evil.

I think when we repay evil with kindness or good deeds, we are also displaying our love for the evil wrongdoer. There could be cogent consequences if anyone were to maliciously harm a servant and child of God. In the sense that our LORD God will likely not forget the evil deed or deeds done to His servant, and thus there might be divine retribution. But if that evil person repents from his evil doing, God in His gracious love and compassion may forgive him and withhold His divine punishment. I don’t believe that evil is unnoticed by God, especially malicious evil against God’s own people, and thus, if our kindness results in a change of heart and repentance by that evil person, then hopefully he will not have to face the wrath of God.

It is astounding that this principle stressed so much by Jesus during His time on earth was already in existence in the ancient book of Proverbs! We all know that in the Old Testament, it is very much “an eye for an eye” rule of life so much so that till today, modern-day Israel who based their Judaism faith on the Old Testament still practices the same. In fact, Israel practices outright earthly retribution of equal if not of higher proportion!

As believers, we can not excuse ourselves in any way to not forgive our enemies and not return evil with kindness. Even if someone were to intentionally harm us (poison pill, fiery darts, or outright backstabbing us) because of his or her jealousy or envy against us, our response must still be kindness. Remember, God loves everyone, no matter how evil they might have been. He loves even the 98-year-old selfish stirer of hate – what more the minnows at our office or at our neighbourhood or even at our church. Repay evil with good and kindness. That’s the way to go as taught by Jesus! Hallelujah!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/26/easy-money

I just heard yesterday one of the best messages ever preached in my local church. It was preached by an outside speaker, a seasoned one. The message was based on a book called Acres of Diamonds, and its author, Russell Conwell, had himself preached the message 6,000 times. You may download the book here: (http://pinkmonkey.com/dl/library1/digi096.pdf or any other links as Google may provide, or even buy a hardcopy off Amazon).

It’s a true story of a rich and contented man named Ali Hafed, who had a large plot of land but became discontented when a priest told him that there was land elsewhere that had acres of diamonds. Because of his greed and discontentment, he sold everything he had and went on a journey to search for that land with acres of diamonds. He never found that land and later committed suicide after exhausting all his money. It was a sad and tragic end for Ali Hafed, but the irony of it all was that the land he originally had was later discovered by the new owners to contain diamonds, in fact, acres of it!

The moral of the story is that if we are contented with what we already have, we will not end up with nothing. But when we intertwine this story with the parable of the Prodigal Son, we will see that there is a way of return despite squandering our wealth (or inheritance) pursuing our greed (or going after the riches of the world). Jesus already taught what good it is to a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul? Our goal in life is to be the best that God wants us to be, not what others may want us to be or what our greed – the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh or the pride of life may tempt us or what our discontent may lead us away from God. Eve and later, Adam were tempted on these, and they succumbed and failed. But glory to God, that Jesus succesfully resisted and became the Lamb of God who died for the sins of humanity!

Contentment in life is essential to keep us focused and to persevere at whatever station in life God has given and blessed us with, including the place of service – all of which are our land, our God-given inheritance here on earth. That’s the place we need to work on and work out God’s will for our lives as we strive to live in the centre of His will. The grass may look greener on the other side, but if we diligently water our own grass, it will eventually be as green. The point is not to covet what others have but to work on what God has given us and grow that. Our church may have weaknesses, but we stay on and improve it and make it better, not just hop on to another church. If we do too much church hopping, we may not have a base after 20 years – just being visitors to numerous churches without really serving in a proper way. We need to be rooted at one place to serve and to fulfil our calling in God – as the saying goes, a rolling stone gathers no moss. A bird in hand is also worth more than two in the bush. The same goes for work and our job, we need to stay in one place for some time to make a meaningful contribution and impact and, in return, be rewarded with wealth, skills, experience, and a network.

The message today is not to let greed and discontent rob us of the enjoyment and joy of what we already have and possess, like what happened to Ali Hafed. Instead, be thankful and grateful for all that our Lord has given us – use all of it to the fullest for His glory. As we persevere, we will find that what we could achieve with all that we have been blessed with will actually be much more than what we thought we could have had if we had always moved around for greener pastures.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/25/remembering-the-sacrifice

The Lord’s Supper or the Holy Communion was always something intriguing that most of us, I believe, were curious when we were yet believers. But it is something that I would think all churches are strict on – you can not partake of it unless you have accepted Jesus as your personal Saviour and Lord. Some churches even insist that one may only partake of the holy sacraments upon baptism. Muslims view it as something mystical that once drank and eaten will trap someone into becoming a Christian. We, of course, know that there is nothing mystical or magical about the holy sacraments as they are made of ordinary day to day ingredients purchased from the local supermarket. Most churches use Ribena for the juice, while there are some mainline churches that use real wine. Yet although there is nothing mystical, there is something supernatural that can come about as we partake of the Holy Communion because we remember the Lord and His sacrifice for us on the cross, as He had shed His blood and had His body broken for our sins.

The first Lord’s Supper was a Passover meal taken the night before Jesus was arrested and brought for trial, which resulted in His crucifixion and death. The Passover meal was celebrated by Jews to remember the grace of God in allowing the angel of death to pass over their homes when they were in Egypt. They had to slaughter an unblemished lamb and splatter its blood on their door posts so that the angel of death knew they were Israelites and thus spared their firstborns. There were a lot of wailing and crying that night on the Egyptian side as they lost all of their firstborns, including their first child and the first offspring of their animals. That was the last straw that broke the camel’s back and led to Pharoah finally releasing the Israelites to Moses, followed by the parting of the Red Sea we spoke about yesterday.

Therefore, like the Jews remember God’s love and grace during their time in Egypt through the Passover, Jesus by initiating the Lord’s Supper on a Passover taught us to remember Him and His sacrifice when we ourselves partake of the Lord’s Supper. In 1 Corinthians 11:23-28, Paul speaks about the Corinthians’ unworthiness in partaking of the Lord’s Supper as they had forgotten to remember Christ and instead were just enjoying themselves in their meal. In those days, the Lord’s Supper was taken as a full meal and not just a piece of bread and some wine and may have become a feast of some sort which Paul was cautioning them.

But Paul’s message remains relevant today even though modern churches do not partake of the Lord’s Supper as a full meal anymore. The Holy Communion may have become too routine and ritualistic that we may have forgotten Christ in the whole mechanical process. Always be thankful to Christ for His sacrifice on the cross that enabled us to have eternal life, a life to be lived with God for eternity one day. Be grateful too for the many blessings that He has given us till today for without Him working in our lives, we would have been lost in a world of our own, pursuing our own interests and ambitions without any regard to God’s plans and purposes for our lives. Instead, we are now responding to His calling for us and are living in the centre of His will! We are now sons and daughters of God, co-heirs with Christ with an abundant and rich inheritance in glory in Christ! Amen and Hallelujah!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/23/gods-mighty-power

Exodus 14 sets out the account of the Israelites fleeing as slaves from their Egyptian masters because although the Pharoah had agreed to let them go due to the numerous plagues inflicted on the Egyptians, he changed his mind and decided to bring them back. Even though the 600,000 Israelites men plus their families were on foot, a considerable gap had been established by the time Pharoah recanted his earlier decision. The Egyptians in their chariots and horses never did catch up as the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea by the time they reached the same. They, however, continued to pursue the Israelites, and when God closed the opening He had miraculously created and engineered at the Red Sea, the pursuing Egyptians were swept away by the waters and perished.

As bible knowledge, the Israelites became slaves in Egypt after Joseph (who was then second in command to the then Pharoah) saved the whole clan of Jacob (who came from Canaan) from the great famine. They thus ended up settling in Egypt after Jacob died. Later, after Joseph passed on, the subsequent Pharoahs did not protect the Israelites, and they ended up as slaves since they were foreigners in Egypt. All in, the Israelites stayed 430 years in Egypt before God raised up Moses to free them and brought them across the Red Sea and the wilderness back to Canaan.

I read and heard about this story of the parting of the Red Sea when I was young, and as much as it is an obvious miracle, I did not realise the magnitude of the power of God on display until today. Today’s ODB life illustration spoke about a hurricane changing the course of river waters flowing upstream for a few hours and liken that to the power of 10,000 nuclear bombs! That’s probably how powerful the east wind that blew and split the Red Sea into two, and that probably went on for hours for the 600,000 Israelites and their families and possessions to pass before the Egyptians then crossed.

This account brings to mind the phrase the angel said to Mary when she was told she was with a child, although she was a virgin. The angel said nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37). Indeed, as believers, we must also believe and cling to the truth that nothing is impossible with God, no matter what we are going through. We can believe in miracles and in the supernatural healing power of God. Jesus has said before figuratively – if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains (Matthew 17:20), meaning to say, faith in God no matter how small can do wonders because God is God.

The power of God is mighty. Live in the centre of His will, and we will experience Him working in our lives through His mighty power. Perhaps the change and transformation of our lives is itself the miracle for us! He will make all things beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11), and He will work all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/22/faith-comes-from-hearing

Paul, in stating that the Jews were not saved because of their unbelief, puts forth an interesting point that faith comes from hearing the message of the Gospel. If we believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord and we confess with our mouth that God had raised Him from the dead, then we will be saved. For it is in your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved (Romans 10: 9-10). In verse 17, Paul expounded that faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

It is thus essential that the message on Christ is shared as faith comes from hearing the message. I have always believed that our job is to share the Gospel, and it is the Holy Spirit who convicts. While that is still true, we need to be aware that faith comes from hearing the message. It is by our sharing and confession that others may likewise believe in their hearts that Jesus is Lord and confess with their mouths that He was raised from the dead. He died for our sins, and thus, we are redeemed by His blood on the cross of Calvary. In other words, there is power in the message being shared or preached. We are not merely sharing. There is power in our sharing as it could bring forth faith in our hearers to believe in Christ.

If we preach from the pulpit, know that there is power in the Word that is shared. It is essential that Scripture is read and expounded in our preaching so that we don’t end up only speaking about things in general. A sermon is not a general discourse of current affairs. It is not about how to be a better person or how to approach life. A sermon is always about the Word and the power of the resurrected Christ in our lives. We have to preach on and about Scripture. Because faith comes from hearing the message!

Be confident when we share Christ with others. As much as it is ultimately the Holy Spirit who convicts and we are mere vessels for God to move in someone’s heart, know and remember that there is power in the word that we speak, there is power in the message. Faith comes from hearing the message as it is spoken.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/06/21/step-by-step

In 1 Peter 4:7-11, Peter talks about using our God-given talents and gifts to serve others as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. Our talents and gifts are the expression of God’s grace in the sense that when we use them to serve God, we are expressing God to others. God is seen and experienced through us. Thus, if we speak (preach or share), we do so as though we are speaking God’s words, and if we serve, we serve in God’s strength so that in all things, Christ may be glorified.

In the context of the unity of the body, if everyone uses their gifts and talents to speak or serve God, then there will be unity and harmony as serving God will be serving the body, which is one another. If we are focused on serving one another, we will have less time and attention to pick on one another’s weaknesses or bicker and quarrel over small things. The big picture is always God’s will and His plans and purposes. Our service is an expression of God’s grace. So how can we not serve and exercise grace and excuse the idiosyncrasies and weaknesses of others? In the body of Christ, we see believers in their various stages of transformation and maturity. Note that our biological age or tenure as a believer does not determine our spiritual maturity. We could have been a Christian for umpteen years and still a baby in Christ because we could have resisted change and stayed at our stubborn ways all these years. We could have refused to yield to the Spirit all this while and thus have allowed our flesh, our old self, to reign supreme. We could even be an old man and have been in the family of God for many years and yet still might not have seriously studied the Word or might not have exercised our faith before and thus have not seen the power of God manisfested before our very eyes.

The message today, I believe, is to begin to serve God. As we serve Him, we manifest His grace in its various forms. God will use us and our God-given talents and gifts to bless others. It could be a helping hand to move house or a love gift for someone to make ends meet. It could be praying for someone’s healing or a direct involvement in ministry. The point is we need to serve God and thus one another in the body, and in the process, God’s grace will be manifested through us, and we will be transformed and blessed when others are blessed in parallel. Every time we bless and help others, we ourselves will be blessed and transformed by God and will mature in our faith. As we serve God and bless others, we will be made more perfect and complete to face the end of time.