The past as an example

https://odb.org/2024/01/16/learning-from-mistakes-2

Paul used the mistakes of ancient Israelites to remind the Corinthians not to make the same mistakes (see 1 Corinthians 10:1-11). Likewise, we should look at our past mistakes and experiences as a guide and warning to us not to repeat them again. If not, there could be dire consequences.

As an example, I changed jobs in mid-2022 after 27 years at my previous organisation. Due to a change in work location, we moved down to the city to stay in an apartment we bought 10 years ago. Previously, I used to travel daily between Kuala Lumpur and Seremban, clocking not less than 500 km a week. Nowadays, my office is only 6 km away and takes me 15 mins to get to even during rush hour traffic. But a byproduct consequence of this change is that I have exercised much less nowadays when I used to do daily half-hour walks in my gated neighbourhood. My current condo is located in a full maxed-out concrete jungle. So walking around will be among buildings and traffic fumes. However, yesterday, I made a breakthrough. I went to the gym for the first time and walked non-stop with incline for 35 minutes, covering more than 3.5km. I’m looking forward to doing this daily as the experience turned out to be unexpectedly pleasant, windy, and airy with the windows at the gym partially opened. I was thinking to myself, why didn’t I do this since June 2022?

But we learn from our mistakes and move forward. There are consequences, but we move forward. We learn from our past mistakes and indiscretions and move on. The Bible gives us many examples of Israel not heeding God’s Word and breaking its covenant relationship with God, their kings marrying pagan queens, and bringing their idol worship practices into Israel. As a result, Judah was overrun by the Assyrians and the Babylonians and the Temple destroyed and her people taken into exile. In the book of Acts, we have Ananias and Saphira, whose attempt at deception led to their deaths by divine retribution (see Acts 5:1-11).

It is true that God brings us through certain life experiences to teach us some lessons in life. At the same time, He exposes us to the experiences of Israel and the believers in Christ so that we will not repeat the same mistakes in our own lives. Lessons must be learned, and warnings heeded so that Jesus’s teachings for us are not in vain. If I do not start exercising and control my diet, my health will deteriorate, I would need to deal with more issues as I age. If I do not learn from my past mistakes in my spiritual life, one day, I may drift so far away that I may be too comfortable living without God and may end up forgoing my salvation. Learn from our past mistakes and move on. Don’t repeat them and start all over, again and again!

Servant leadership

https://odb.org/2024/01/15/the-greater-win

Mark 10:35-45 records a conversation between John and James and Jesus. Basically, James and John asked to be seated at the right and left of Jesus in His glory – meaning to be the top leaders of the Kingdom of God. But Jesus replied that they did not know what they were asking. Can they drink the cup that He will drink and be baptised with the baptism that He will be baptised? Jesus was asking them whether they could go through the suffering that He would go through? After the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, the 11 disciples and Paul all suffered greatly, and all were eventually martyred. As much as Jesus said in Mark 10 that the request of John and James was not for Him to grant, that the places belonged to those for whom they have been prepared, I believe the disciples with their eventual lives would qualify them to be there at the top.

Contrary to what’s been seen in the lavish lives of some famous evangelists, leadership in ministry does not come with riches and glory. Ministry is not the path to fame and fortune. Leadership in the Kingdom of God is to serve and suffer for the flock. That is why going full-time is never an easy decision and should not be taken lightly. We should spend more time praying and meditating on the Word, speaking to God to confirm our calling. There are tremendous blessings that come with it but also intense suffering. It is a life of servanthood, serving the needs of the congregation, both physical and spiritual. Preaching from the pulpit is a necessity, but that’s not all. Leadership in ministry and the church (and that applies to lay leaders, too) is to be a servant to all. As leaders, we are meant to help everyone to become the person God wants us to be. We are to encourage and support everyone so that all of us may realise our full potential in Christ. We are there to cheer everyone in the race, even as we ourselves are running the race. We are participants and also cheerleaders.

Ultimately, our lives, once redeemed by Christ, are to be lived for Him. Whether we are in leadership or not, whether we are young believers or have known Him for ages. We can’t say he is the leader. Thus, it is for him to do. We are all responsible and accountable. We are in this together, although as leaders, we have higher accountability to Christ.

Remember, Christian life is not only about enjoying the life and presence of God. There is much work to be done. All of us are called to be servants in His Kingdom of Grace. That is why we can not be believers in isolation. It’s always a congregation and a community of believers, living in the centre of His glorious will for our lives! We need to be both Mary and Martha, not one or the other!

Success in God

https://odb.org/2024/01/12/gods-worker

The narrative of Joseph in the Bible highlights the success he enjoyed because God was with him. See Genesis 39. The false accusation of Potiphar’s wife led him to be thrown into prison, and despite his adverse and unjust situation, he thrived. With God’s kindness with him, God granted him favour with the warden. He was put in charge of the prisoners and was successful and prospered in all that he did.

Success or prosperity in Genesis 39 is tsalakh in Hebrew and is used in the context of Abraham’s servant finding a Jewish wife for Isaac. In other places in the Bible, success is used in the context of obedience to the Scriptures or God’s law or God Himself, or rather as a consequence thereof. Psalm 1:3 teaches that a person who delights in the Word of God prospers in whatever he does. The wisdom of the Bible is that if we want to be successful and prosperous, we need to follow and obey God as per His Word, and as He speaks to us by the Holy Spirit.

But if we read Joseph’s story carefully, we will see that Joseph was upright in all that he did. He maintained his righteousness before God. He did not sleep with Potiphar’s wife despite her seduction and constant prodding and insistence. He did not fall into temptation. Integrity before God is crucial for God to grant us His kindness, grace, and mercy, and thus the prosperity, success, and heavenly blessings that come with God being with us. Integrity and righteousness are part and parcel of us obeying His Word and law.

As the end of the week approaches and as we enter into the weeked, take time to ponder on our lives. Are we living in righteousness before God? Are we maintaining our integrity in God in the things we do. Are we following His Word and His law?

Have a blessed and restful weekend, everyone!

Our faith is always personal to us

https://odb.org/2024/01/11/a-simple-request

The answer given by Jesus to Peter in John 21:22 when the latter asked Him what about John emphasises and reminds us the fact that our faith is always personal to us. Jesus said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you. You must follow me.”

We will be alone standing in front of Jesus at the Bema Seat of Christ, giving an account of our lives. Our pastor or cell group leader or shepherd or parents or brothers or sisters, or spouse will not be there with us. Or rather, we can not argue that so and so were such; therefore, we were like that. Or we were taught this way, and thus, we were like that. In the same way that we are not competing with anyone in our race to our finish line, we can not compare to anyone else for our underachievements in Christ. We are measured against what Christ had planned for us as God’s will for us. Each of us has our own unique journey of faith and tasks, and we will be measured against that. So Jesus said to Peter – if I want John to live until I return, that’s not your concern. You just need to follow me.

Christian life is not a bed of roses. We are all familiar with that. There are ups and downs. But neither is salvation a ticket to eternal life only. Once we have accepted Christ, our lives are not our own. We belong to Christ. Our lives are a living sacrifice unto Him. To serve Him in His Kingdom of Grace. That’s why Paul said – to live is Christ and to die is gain. If we die, we will live our eternal life, but if we live, we live for Christ.

Remember two things today. One is that we will face Christ alone one day as our spiritual life is our sole responsibility. Secondly, salvation is more than just booking a place in eternal life as there is a redeemed life to be lived while here on earth.

A call to prayer

https://odb.org/2024/01/10/a-call-to-prayer

The book of Nehemiah is set at the time when the Israelites were exiled in Babylon. Nehemiah, the cup bearer for the Babylonian King, prayed on behalf of the Israelites that the LORD would forgive their past rebellious ways that despite warnings from Jeremiah of the consequences, they persisted in not obeying and following His law and percepts. The Israelites broke their Covenant relationship with God, and as a result, God scattered them away from the land He promised to Abraham and his descendants. Nehemiah was the one who started the return to Israel when he asked the King for permission to return to Jerusalem. In the end, he spearheaded efforts to rebuild the Temple and the walls of Jerusalem.

But it all started with a prayer on behalf of the people, the children of Israel. A prayer stemming from a genuine desire for the physical return of the exiles that they may prosper again as a people under God even as they now vowed to follow and obey His laws and percepts.

Our individual prayers matter. If we look at our current political situation, we despair seeing the Old Guard trying their best to find ways to overthrow or destabilise the current government. The country is not moving ahead. It is instead bogged down by these political shenanigans. The government needs to be watchful and be on guard all the time. Too much attention is now placed on political survival, thus neglecting efforts to improve the lives of the people. But the latter may well determine the former!

In our quiet time, as we commune with God and speak to Him on things that are of concern to us, pray for our country too. That we will move forward and progress as a nation. That there will be political stability. As a nation, we will live in peace and harmony despite our differences in creed, colour, and ethnicity. We should find strength and take advantage of our diversity.

Jeremiah and God’s love

https://odb.org/2024/01/09/love-beyond-counting

The book of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, is a little contradictory in the sense that it starts off with fire and brimstone threatening punishment and retaliation, and yet later it speaks of God’s love, reconciliation and rebuilding. To the generation of Israelites receiving God’s prophetic message in real time, it basically means if you don’t turn away from your disobedient, insolent and rebellious ways, Jerusalem will be overrun and destroyed, and her inhabitants killed or captured to become prisoners and slaves of the conquerers. God being God, the Word of God can not be untrue. So, the situation became – as per the warning and prediction. They were exiled twice, but later, they were allowed to return, and they rebuilt the Temple and the walls of the ruined city. As a nation, it was true, but as a person living in those times, you can either be one or the other, not both.

However, as believers redeemed by the blood of Christ, Israel of ancient days is a picture of who we are and can be in God. This means that as an individual with an average lifespan of, say, 80 years, we may be able to live through the life and times of Israel as a nation that spanned hundreds of years. We, as believers, are the spiritual Israel. Thus, Jeremiah, as a book, is applicable to us from its beginning until the end.

Approached in that manner, we are able to see God’s love for us. From the times we were disobedient and rebellious, receiving God’s punishment or discipline to the times He rebuilt our spiritual lives when we repented from our sins and turned away from our fallen ways. Ultimately, like God loved Israel, His heart is for us. If possible, He doesn’t want to see us perish like the others. His heart is always open to receive us back. To forgive us so we may, as Paul said, forgetting what is behind and look heavenward towards what is ahead of us in Christ Jesus.

The lesson of Jeremiah from a bird’s eye view is that the decision to repent and go back to God lies with us. Make that call today and give our lives back to God for us to fulfil our fullest potential and become the person the LORD wants us to be in Christ!

Christ died for us

https://odb.org/2024/01/08/willing-savior

The theology behind our faith is founded upon Adam, the first man and also his name representing mankind, having sinned when he and his wife Eve disobeyed God at the Garden of Eden. Eden is a heaven-like place on earth with God living among His creation and having daily and constant interaction and communion with Adam and Eve. There is peace and harmony in Eden, and no blood is shed because food is from fruits in trees and green herbs for mankind and every living creature. You may see this in Genesis 1:29-30.

Satan, in the form of the serpent, changed all that when he successfully tempted and deceived Adam and Eve to sin by disobeying God’s only rule, then – you may eat of any fruit except the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. That is probably why many years later, when God in the form of Jesus appeared on the scene, He taught that in order to enter the Kingdom of God, we need to have the faith like that of little children. Little children are pure and innocent beings and do not really know good and evil. Mankind was like that before.

In order to restore mankind to its rightful place as God originally created mankind back in the day in Eden, God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, to die for our sins. As a result, our souls, which live forever, shall not perish but have eternal life. But note that in John 3:16, it is written that only those who believed in Jesus shall not perish, not everyone. Eternal life is to live in the new heaven and new earth at the end of time together with God, thus recreating Eden at the beginning. Peace and harmony will once again be on earth.

The redemption of mankind requires the shedding of the blood of a pure, innocent, and sinless man, similar to the unblemished lamb offered to God as per the law of Moses for the sins of the Israelites. While those unblemished lambs need to be sacrificed annually, Jesus, as the Lamb of God, dies for our sins once and for all.

As much as Jesus has done the work for us and as much as salvation can not be earned, we have to do our part in the life given to us here on earth. We may be passing through, but we have a job to do, that is, to reflect His glory. Faith without works is dead. We have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We have our calling before God. There are God’s plans and purposes for our lives that we need to meet. Let’s get on with the work and prepare ourselves for our lives in eternity. I believe a lot of who we are and have become here on this earth will be useful to us when we start living in the new heaven and new earth.

Restore us, O God

https://odb.org/2024/01/07/ripe-for-restoration

Not every one of us has had a smooth journey with God in the sense that there are fewer ups and more downs. Of course, some of us, especially the more obedient ones, have progressed from glory to glory. That is why, in the faith, obedience is better than sacrifice and results in a fairly smooth journey of faith. However, for those of us in the first group, some may spend too long a time in the valleys, and even sadder, some may have even departed from the faith. We may have become disillusioned with the whole process and gave up on Jesus. Instead of trusting God, we took matters into our own hands. We understand that this journey of faith will not be a bed of roses, but surely it can not be a road where every pit stop is one of sadness, disappointments, tears, and disaster? Perhaps that is a question of our own perception. Maybe we can’t see the blessings of God in all that we have or are going through.

Psalm 80 teaches us that if that has been our journey of faith, we may call upon Him to restore us. Like the time He brought us out of the miry clay and set us upon the rock and make our steps secure, He is able to do it again and again. The Israelites rebelled against God, disobeyed His commandments, and followed other gods. As a result, they were overrun and were exiled. Now, in their suffering and desolation, they call upon the LORD to restore them, to have the face of the LORD shine upon them again. In other words, the hand of God, His grace and mercy, to be upon them that they may be saved. They were restored when they were permitted to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple, and today, the creation and the continued existence of the state of Israel is testimony of God’s greatness.

Call upon the name of Jesus if we have gone astray and left God in our hearts. Call upon Him to restore us like He did to the ancients of our faith. May His face shine upon us again. May He restore us what the locusts have eaten as He promised in Joel 2:25.

Have a blessed Sunday worshipping God today, and may He bless our week ahead, our going out and coming in. Take care, everyone! God is good, all the time!

Follow His law and percepts

https://odb.org/2024/01/05/crossroads

I have written in these pages before quoting Joshua’s example, the exhortation given by the LORD for Joshua to lead the new generation of Israelites (the first generation had already died in desert) into the Promised Land (that was promised by God to Abraham and his descendants). God exhorted Joshua to be strong and courageous, for He will be with him wherever he goes. The LORD promised Joshua that He would never leave nor forsake him. God assured Joshua that no one would be able to stand against him all the days of his life! See Joshua 1:5.

But sometimes, we forget that there is the qualifying condition of the promise of God. Preachers also may forget as I have heard sermons on the strong and courageous exhortation without the accompanying condition.

In Joshua 1:7 – the LORD said to Joshua to be strong and courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you. Do not turn from it to the left or the right, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of Law on your lips,meditate on it day and night so that you must be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

In the crossroads of life, like the life situation in today’s ODB, we need to seek God to show the way and guide us. Should we stay with our sick spouse or carry on with our work obligations out of town?

At the base of the crossroad posers are still our standing with God. Are we righteous before Him beyond the righteousness of Jesus through His blood? Are we careful to follow and obey the law that is now written in our hearts. When we seek God, is our heart right before Him? Are we for Him or ourselves? Have we confessed our sins and sought His forgiveness? Have we forgiven those who had trespassed against us? Are we holding any grudges against anyone?

There is an accompanying condition to this covenant relationship with God. It was there at the beginning between Abraham and God, and it was there between the Israelites in Kadesh Barnea (the oasis at the wilderness) and God as spoken to and by Moses. It is still there in this new covenant relationship established by Christ for us with the Father. We need to love the LORD our God with all our heart, soul, and mind and love our neighbour as ourselves.

Be careful to follow and obey His law and percepts, and He will be with us wherever we go. No one will be able to stand against us. We will be properous and successful in the things we do for Him.

Quiet faithfulness

https://odb.org/2024/01/04/the-quiet-breakfast-guy

Work hard, mind your own business, and live out your faith as we wait for Christ to come again. That is the theme of Paul’s message to the Thessalonians. He backed it up with his own life example; he himself worked hard night and day so as to preach to them without burdening the church. In a way, Paul is a perfect example of a lay church leader, working hard in the world to earn his own living while allocating enough time to provide spiritual guidance and input to the congregation. The church remains a support, whether for financial or spiritual needs, but he himself does not add stress to the system.

Quiet faithfulness is an aspiration. We do our thing in the world. Diligently and faithfully. No drama. No fireworks. There is no need to be emotional over things. We just do our job. If you’re a manager or team leader, what you will dread most is the need to deal with human relationship issues. He said something wrong. She said something too loud. He got offended. She was irritated. Less of that and just get on with the work. That’s what we need when working. Surprisingly, also in the church. Less human infractions, the better. Conflicts and disagreements can not be avoided, but the less, the better.

Quiet faithfulness at work, in ministry, and in living out the faith. We do our part and let others do theirs. There is no need to draw attention to ourselves. The Lord will reward us one day. He sees our dedication and commitment to the cause. To righteousness and His Word. We do our best not to conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we may test (experience) and approve (agree to) the good and perfect will of God.

My prayer for myself and everyone is that we will all work hard, be good at what we do while living out our faith in order that our lives reflect the glory of God. Be the pillar of strength and source of encouragement wherever we are as Jesus is with us. We will have the favour of God, and everyone around us will be blessed.