https://odb.org/MY/2023/03/01/finding-rest-2

Today is 1st March 2023 and marks a full 9 months since I took on my new job. It has been a journey of adjustment as I was at my previous company for many years. Different work cultures from an entrepreneur-driven organisation to a government like entity, for example, with much emphasis on controls and processes but not enough on speed to market. Also, in this new job, we are embarking into a new industry.

At the personal level, we have moved down to Petaling Jaya, spending our workdays here and only returning to Seremban on weekends and holidays. Travelling time to and from work is much reduced, but running two households has its own challenges.

In terms of rest, we get better rest at our Seremban house compared to our PJ apartment as there is constant traffic noise even high up in the air. The density, of course, is high in an apartment complex and also in the bigger city, especially during rush hours. There are just so many more vehicles and people going somewhere every moment and minute. When we look out, everyone seems to be in a rush.

Thus, it is amazingly good that Jesus reminds us today in Matthew 11:28-30 to come to Him all of us who are weary and burdened as He will give us rest. He exhorts us to take His yoke upon us and learn from Him, for His heart is gentle and humble, for we will find rest in our souls in Him. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. His heart is gentle and humble. He is for us and understands our situation. He will not scold us for our inadequacies, weaknesses, and shortcomings.

He will give us rest as His yoke is easy, and His yoke is light. I think what that means is that even as life still goes on as it is, we will be energised and strengthened inside us as we live our lives for Him. Further, we will find satisfaction and closure in the things we do instead of always chasing after the next deadline. Of course, with Jesus in our lives, we have eternity in our hearts, our final destination secured.

I think the message today is that if we go to Jesus today, we will find rest today and here on earth in Him, in the Father. We certainly do not want to find rest only when we finally rest in peace! That would indeed be just too tragic.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/02/28/a-baboon-a-donkey-and-me

In Numbers 22, we read the account on Balaam, whose donkey he was riding on, had diverted from the path and was beaten 3 times by Balaam. The donkey then spoke and asked Balaam why he had beaten it when it was the only donkey he had been riding, meaning to say, he would have no donkey if it had died and it had been a faithful and hardworking donkey all this while.

Later, the LORD showed Balaam what the donkey saw, which led it to divert its path. It was an angel of the LORD with a sword drawn, and Balaam bowed down to the angel. This episode was narrated to tell how the LORD blocked a non-Israeli prophet and diviner from cursing the people of Israel as commissioned by the King of Moab. In the end, the angel allowed Balaam to proceed, and instead of cursing, he blessed the Israelites.

The oft-mentioned spiritual principle from this episode is that if God could use a donkey, how much more could God use us as human beings? There is no denying that principle, and it is very true as history has shown how simple uneducated men were made the first disciples of Christ who spearheaded the early propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Ordinary people could be turned into a powerhouse of faith by the glory of the risen Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit!

However, a note of caution. As much as the speaking donkey is both miraculous and even magical, the quest of a servant in Christ is often long and ardous. In reality, there are magical moments of the supernatural breaking into the natural in terms of miracles, signs, and wonders, and healing, but mostly, it is a mundane and long suffering life as God’s faithful.

Moses was 40 when he responded to God’s call but spent another 40 years in the fields and mountains caring livestock before he actually started his mission to bring the 600,000 Israeli men and their women and children out of Egypt into the Promised Land of Canaan. Abraham spent many years on the road, including time in Egypt due to famine, before finally settling on Canaan land. Joseph was sold into slavery and spent at least 13 years in a dungeon for a falsely accused crime before he started ascending into the corridors of power in Egypt.

Even Jesus spent 30 years as an unassuming carpenter before he started His ministry even though his birth was greeted by the star of Bethlehem, which guided the Kings from Orientland to bring Him gold, frankincense and myrrh as well as a host of heavenly angels rejoicing and proclaiming the birth of Christ, the Messiah to shepherds tending to their flocks at night!

As much as God can take whatever we have and whatever we are and turn us into beautiful sculptures of faith for His glory, it takes time and much investment on our part to be that person God wants us to be. Nothing happens overnight, and it will likely take our lifetime to achieve all that the Lord has planned for us. It will take all that we have and all that we are.

But the beauty of all that is God will be with us all the way and will bring us much further than what we could ever be if we did our best on our own. A journey of faith serving God is really heaven on earth as the LORD dwells in the midst of His people. It is Revelation 22 in the present as we serve Him and give our lives and hearts to Him. Even if He leads us through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil for His staff and His rod comfort (protect) us. Be encouraged and strive on in our service for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/02/27/seeing-a-need

The focus on Acts 9 is usually Saul’s conversion (he then became known as Paul) and supernatural encounter with the Lord on the road to Damascus. I’m glad to read today in Acts 9 about Peter raising up Tabitha (also known as Dorcas in Greek) from the dead. This is similar to Christ’s raising up of Jairus’ daughter and also those by Elijah and Elisha of ancient times. Sometimes, when we read Scripture, we tend to skim through the events as there could be many, but raising up someone as helpful as Tabitha would certainly have encouraged many at that time. The widows who benefitted from her generous help rejoiced. But as she had died and had been prepared for burial, her resurrection must have caused shock waves throughout Joppa and was a great precursor to Paul’s later forays with the Gospel into the land of the Gentiles. Indeed, Acts 9 recorded many believed after hearing about Tabitha.

This brings me to the question some of us briefly talked about yesterday during lunch. Why did God take away young promising leaders in ministry and church? For the past two years, we have seen quite a few pastors and church leaders passing on due to Covid and other illnesses. Could the Lord have pre-warned some of them, especially those with a heart condition or even other illnesses? There is so much work still not done. If these church leaders had lived longer, more could be done. In the case of Tabitha or Lazarus, the Lord did intervene.

There is no right and wrong answer here, but I think work, especially Kingdom work, will always be unfinished, no matter how long we live, and we get weaker as we age. Also, the same principle as God’s calling for us should apply – if we don’t respond, God will raise someone else. The work will get done whether by us or someone else. Also, for the person who passed on in the Lord, it is surely better to be with the Lord than remain here on earth with the evil, pain, and suffering in our broken world. As Paul has so wisely put before, to die is gain, but to live is Christ.

The message this morning, I believe, is that the work is much bigger than us and can never be done by us alone. We do our part. We see a need, and if God prompts us, we try our best to meet the need. Jesus said before in relation to Mary and the expensive perfume she poured out for Jesus, the poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me (John 12:8). In the same rein, the work will always be there, but what’s important at any one point is to meet that specific need as the Lord prompts. Thus, it’s never a waste for any servant of the Lord to die young. Perhaps God’s plans and purposes have already been achieved in that person’s life.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/02/26/is-it-a-sign

More often than not, when we are desperate, we clutch at whatever comes our way. I guess there is where the expression ‘clutching at straws’ came from. It is not ideal, but we don’t have much of a choice if that’s our only choice.

However, in today’s ODB life example, a job opportunity came to someone who had been laid off. Instead of grabbing at the first opportunity, he paused to ponder on the job offer itself. It appeared that the company was a little dubious and had been flagged for corruption before. So, although he needed the job desperately, he rejected the offer, believing that God would provide him with other opportunities.

The bible has the perfect example of opportunity not equating to God’s will in 1 Samuel 24:1-7. Saul, with 3,000 men, was looking for David and when Saul went into a cave to relieved himself, David with his 600 men who was hiding in the same cave had the perfect opportunity to kill Saul. Instead, David just cut a piece of Saul’s robe, rationalising that he should not take things into his own hands as Saul was anointed by God to be King. If it is God’s will that Saul be dethroned, then God Himself should decide and do it. Thus, the right thing for David to do at that point is not to kill Saul although he was presented with the opportunity. This occurred again later in 1 Samuel 28, and again, David restrained himself.

I think the lesson this morning when it comes to job opportunities to the laid-off unemployed is to listen for the Lord’s still small voice. As desperate as we are in having enough to pay our bills, we must not go for the first given opportunity unless that’s the right one. Of course, in difficult times, we mustn’t be too choosy. But neither must we be indiscriminate and take whatever that comes our way. An open door does not equate God’s will as much we may want it to be so. Both are distinct concepts, and although correlated, they are nevertheless not the same thing. This principle applies to other aspects of our lives, too, like choosing a room, a house, and especially our life partner. Always pray and seek His will in all that we do, and we will make the decision and choice.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/02/24/praying-in-difficult-times

Psalm 61 is an example of a prayer with petitions and yet protests. David proclaimed the greatness of God; the LORD is his refuge and a strong tower against the foe. He asked to be led to the Rock that is higher than him. Yet David also said that he is calling God from the ends of the earth and his heart is growing weary. He called on to God to hear his cry and listen to his prayer. David was not literally at the end of the earth, but because of the situation he was going through (likely at the time, Absalom, his own son, drove him out of the kingdom), he felt so far away from God. His heart was growing weary, faint, and overwhelmed. At this time, David was no longer the young man pursued by Saul but much older, around 60. Thus, he was tired, having to go through the same thing again. He was also sad and distressed that he had to face the rebellion of his own son.

I think if we are facing difficult times, we could lament and protest a little in the presence of God. Just don’t overdo it and don’t turn our backs to Him. The Lord hears our prayers and will respond in His time. Our faith and trust in Him must not waiver. We must not doubt His love for us. We just need to carry on despite the difficulty, despite the uncertain future.

I have been in my new place of work for more than 9 months now. In that period, I witnessed the excitement of being in a startup on one hand and the uncertainty of its future, on the other hand. The mother company is as conservative as it gets, originally a government department. It has, over the years, become a conglomerate, and yet its old mindset is there, and thus, there has been lots of resistance to change. But just a few days back, I was instructed to have a dotted line reporting to the group general counsel, and it may potentially end up as dual reporting. In addition, I will likely be involved in the parent’s M&A exercises. There are new complexities I need to manage if the dual reporting becomes true, but at least the security of the future is much more assured.

The message today is that we must continue to believe in the promises of God for our lives and strive to achieve His plans and purposes. The difficulties we face are just temporal. The uncertainties will be resolved. Jesus hears our prayers even if we petition and protest and lament. Be patient. Things will get better soon. The Lord God is with us all the way!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/02/22/be-humble-day

It is interesting to read today that humility was regarded as a weakness in the ancient world as the norm then was to proclaim our achievements and strengths. Honour (pride and respect) was the prized virtue, and thus, boasting of who we are was expected. I guess the reason is probably that the greater our honour, the more we will be respected and feared, and that will increase our chances of survival. This is especially true for kings and lords ruling large territories.

According to historians, it was only after Jesus, who was in the nature of God, gave up or did not exercise His divine attributes and became a servant to humanity and died for our sins that led to humility being regarded as a virtue, something to aspire to. Jesus Christ paved the way to show Himself as the perfect example of humility personified.

But the paradox is God loved a humble person well before Christ came into the scene as a man here on earth. In Proverbs 15:33, the LORD teaches that the fear of the LORD is the instruction on wisdom, and before honour is humility. In Proverbs 11:2, it is written that when pride comes, then comes shame. But with the humble is wisdom. Saul was proud and thought he could do as he wished when he decided to offer the offering to God instead of waiting for Samuel and see what happened to his kingdom and legacy? In fact, it was Lucifer’s pride that brought him down from heaven.

Be humble before God and men because God loves a humble heart. Why is there a need to boast when what matters most is what God thinks of us? If He thinks highly of us, isn’t that good enough? Respect, honour, and appreciation from fellow human beings will come in due course. But if those things never come, it’s not a loss if we have honoured God with our life and testimony. Before honour comes humility.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/02/21/protect-your-heart

As mentioned in my blog post yesterday, Jesus taught before that it is not what’s outside that defiles a person, but what comes out from within us. So if we didn’t follow the tradition of our elders in washing our hands before we eat, it is not fatal to our spiritual life (although that could lead us to consume bacteria together with our food). What could be detrimental is our evil thoughts and intentions that lie within us. https://ronnielim.com/2023/02/20/traditions-versus-gods-law/

Thus, coming back to the weighing scale judgment system employed by some faiths for salvation, I also mentioned before one problem; it may cause us to be mathematical in our good deeds and evil actions and yet not changing our hearts inside us. Thus, we may continue to do evil even as we do good deeds, as we may atone for our evil later. https://ronnielim.com/2023/02/17/white-as-snow/

A fundamental change that comes with believing in Jesus Christ is the change of our hearts, and that to me is one of the more significant goals of the Gospel. The message of the Gospel brings salvation to our souls, but its overarching aim is to make us to be more like Christ, and that is most importantly, in our hearts. It is only with a genuine change in our heart that we may depart from the natural human tendency to repay evil with evil. We will not be able to be kind and forgive those who hurt us (one meaning to the concept of turning the other cheek and loving your enemies as advocated by Jesus) if our heart is still that of our past and not the new creation in Christ. Our hearts must turn towards God and remain so. The one that is of the world will, however, try his level best to turn us back to our old natural self so we are evil again.

How do we guard our hearts? It practically means to keep watch and be vigilant for anything that may draw us away from God and His righteousness. Proverbs 4: 20-27 teaches us to internalise the Word of God and resist temptations. The Psalmist prayed that God would create in us a pure heart (Psalm 51:10). Paul taught in Philippians 4:8 – whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable; anything that is excellent or praiseworthy, think those things. In verse 7, Paul then exhorted us that as we rely on the Spirit, the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus!

Guard our hearts, and pray that God guards our hearts for us by His Holy Spirit. It is the gateway to our soul. It must remain pure, holy, righteous, and true to Him until our last breadth.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/02/20/whats-truly-needed

In Mark 7:8, Jesus admonished the Pharisees and Scribes for focusing on the traditions of the elders but neglecting the spirit of the law. So when the Scribes and Pharisees questioned Jesus why His disciples ate without washing their hands, Jesus turned around and asked them why is it that they had set a rule that allowed the Jews to neglect their parents if the Jews had committed to support them financially? Meaning to say that the financial support to the temple allows the people to disregard their responsibility to their parents. Is that right, Jesus asked? Jesus then continues with the teaching that whatever that is external does not defile a man and that what actually defiles a man is what comes from within. Thus, external traditions like washing of hands before eating is just a human tradition and is not as crucial as the Mosaic Commandments, for example, not to kill, not to steal or not to covet which all stemmed from evil intentions and thoughts from within. It is Jesus’s teaching here that led to believers today to be free to eat any animal (except blood and food offered to idols for other reasons) as compared to the Jews that have strict rules on kosher food.

I don’t think Jesus advocated the total discard and disregard of human traditions as these practices are passed down from generations. There would be good practical reasons for such traditions. But times have changed. For example, the size of ovens and thus there is no present need to cut the meat into two when the reason why that was done in the past was that the meat couldn’t fit into the oven. Thus, with the refrigerator, there is no need to preserve meat with salt and sun, and yet this tradition is continued as people like the taste of such meat.

Yesterday, I led worship in church but forgot that it was a communion service and thus did not prepare a communion song as was our church tradition. But as our service was hybrid (vis Zoom too) and there were slides involved, a last-minute song inclusion would have been too complex to manage a few minutes before the service started. Fortunately, the master of the ceremony (chairman) was understanding and used my last worship song as the communion song. The song was about our love for Christ but has no mention of His blood or Calvary. Our pastor elder was equally understanding when he sang the same song as the end of service/closing song.

Human traditions have their merits. Like the communion song, which provides order to the service and gives emphasis to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Nevertheless, the important thing is still that God is worshipped, and His goodness is celebrated during the worship service, and the other songs did just that. In our daily lives, be prepared to break our own human traditions or the way we do things as the Holy Spirit prompts and leads us or as the situation or circumstance may demand.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/02/19/revival-comes

Most of us who have been Christian for a while would have, at some point in our lives, hope and prayed for a revival in this land. We marvel at the transformation that comes with a revival, the power of the move of the Holy Spirit. Revivals are usually accompanied by true repentance of sins, and from what I have read about revival in other places, these are usually preceded by some spiritual marvel like the physical appearance of an angelic being or manifestation of signs and wonders or deliverance from demonic forces.

I think for Malaysia, we have experienced a few notable revivals that had a lasting impact on the populace. The first is the revival brought by John Sung in the late 19th and early 20th century, which swept across Malaya and brought many in the Chinese community to turn to God, particularly the Foo Chow in Sitiawan. Till today, the Foo Chow community has been strong adherents to the faith, although it has been more than 100 years now since that John Sung revival. Yes, many of the Foo Chow were already believers in China before they stepped foot in Malaya, but this John Sung revival would have converted those who were not and sustained their strong faith till today.

The other revival that I know of is the one in Baram, Sarawak, that turned an entire Kelabit community to God, which came in 4 waves, and the last of which is the Ba’kelalan revival. https://christianitymalaysia.com/wp/the-bario-revival-the-four-waves-and-its-impact/.

Another revival that I know and am a part of is the one in the late 70s and early 80s, which swept across West Malaysia and brought the power of the Holy Spirit into many lives and led to the birth of many churches including the mega ones in the Klang Valley today. My family and I were beneficiaries of a group of University Malaya students who gave their lives to God and went into full-time ministry, which led to the planting of many churches across Malaysia, including my local church in Kota Bharu, Kelantan

I believe fervent prayers will turn the heart of God and bring revival to the land, but I also believe that discovering the sovereign will of God in what He is already doing and will do in our midst may be the more practical key to finding where is His revival. Ultimately, it is His absolute discretion, grace, and compassion on when and where to move, and we can not dictate our hope and wishes on Him, although if we fervently and collectively pray in one heart, we may move the hand of God. Continue to pray for revival in our land, and one day, we may see it happening right before our eyes! Perhaps a good start will be more of us repenting from our sins, turning away from our wicked ways and returning to God!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/02/17/cleansed-completely

Most religions use the concept of a balancing scale between good deeds and evil acts to adjudicate what happens next in our afterlife. Religions that believe in heaven/paradise and hell will send you to the former if your good deeds outweigh your evil acts, and if it’s the other way, then it’s off you go to hell. For religions that preach reincarnation, then the weighing scale will have you reborn at a minimum as a human and, perhaps, a better status human if your good outweighed your bad.

At first glance, the weighing scale appears to be a fair and reasonable determinant. Who can argue against more good deeds versus bad? Surely, the good should prevail and be accordingly rewarded. Except that we do not have a proper scale for the plusses and the minuses. How much good is good and how much bad is bad? If you donate a million dollars to charity, will that counter weigh your murders? Criminals certainly hope so if they survived the rigours of criminality and grow older, but do we know the scale of destruction brought to countless lives with, for example, pushing drugs? Can our donations outweigh the destruction we had wrought? We do all sorts of evil things as all powerful politicians but turn all religious when we retire to atone for our sins. Is that right if we get to go to heaven? Isn’t that somewhat like a backdoor entry?

For us who follow Jesus Christ, we know that salvation is by grace, not by works. After accepting Christ, we have to have works and become a better person like Christ. No matter what we do, we know we can not outweigh the sins in us as our sins originated from Adam. Humans on their own cannot atone sufficiently for their sins. When the LORD introduced the law through Moses for His first chosen nation Israel, the children of Israel struggled for years to follow. In fact, the Jews have introduced a whole body of interpretive laws to put even more details into the law, and modern-day religious Jews are near drowning from the sheer weight and complexity of such laws.

This leads us to the second problem with the balancing scale concept – it doesn’t really make us a good person in our hearts. It’s possibly all external, and sometimes it could just be a ‘show’ to do good while we are still evil and rotten inside us. We would tend to treat all this mathematically even though we don’t really know how it all adds up. We may want to look at it like we need to meet a certain threshold to qualify for the ticket to get past the Pearly Gates. Unfortunately, we may not have changed much inside. Thus, even as we are doing good deeds to atone for our past evil acts, we may do an evil thing again right now since we may atone for it later. If we are not transformed inside, nothing will stop us from continually being evil even when we are doing good.

The way to heaven is only through Jesus as He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is God in flesh, the creator becoming the created to live among us. The only way to salvation and to one day be a part of Revelation 22 with the new heaven and earth and the new Jerusalem with God living amongst us is believing in Jesus Christ by faith. As we invite Jesus into our lives and allow Him to work within us, we will be transformed to be like Him. And if there is a weighing scale at the end of our life after we knew Christ, our good deeds will surely outnumber and outweigh our evil acts and by many fold, as the latter will be so few and far between!

As a child of God in Christ, we are cleansed free from all sin, white as snow. The work now lies ahead to fulfil His plans and purposes for our lives and to become more like Christ within us with the power of the Holy Spirit living in and amongst us.