Pondering 1

The world can no longer be left to mere diplomats, politicians and business leaders. They have done the best they could, no doubt. But this is an age for spiritual heroes – a time for men and women to be heroic in their faith and in spiritual character and power. The greatest danger to the Christian church today is that pitching its message too low. (Dallas Willard – The Spirit of the Disciplines)

Read Full Post »

And the tears rolled down…

It is slightly over a week since the mega quake of 9.0 magnitude rocked north eastern Japan with crushing tsunamis that swept everything in its path. In a blink of the eye, the entire costal region of north eastern Japan was levelled. Years and years of hard work that went into developing the region were erased in a matter of seconds. Thinking the worst was over and then came the news of possible nuclear reactors’ meltdown in the Fukushima plant. This is overwhelming even for a nation like Japan which is known to be highly prepared and disciplined when face with natural calamities.

Bobby was shocked by the news and was more shocked when the footages of the disasters were telecast on television. One could see how some were caught off guarded by the rushing tsunami, how others were running to high grounds to avoid the tsunami and testified the destructive power of those tsunami first hand. March 11 was when Bobby witnessed the terrifying news on television. Though shocked and dumb-folded by the videos of destruction on television, Bobby was still able to hold back any emotional breakdown.

The next morning on March 12, almost every channel that Bobby tuned into was reporting on the aftermath of the disaster. Then Bobby noticed tears started forming in the eyes and before anything could be done, the tears rolled down. Few moments later, tears streamed down! It wasn’t sadness and Bobby wasn’t known to be sentimental. In fact, Bobby had watched many news coverage on television reporting on major disasters all over the world and not once had Bobby experienced anything close to shedding tears.

After the emotional experience, Bobby became quiet, reflecting on this unusual occurrence and waited upon the Lord for revelations and understandings. Then in the early afternoon on that fateful day, a question suddenly struck Bobby’s mind. How many of those deceased in the earthquake and tsunami in Japan were Christians? Then the word, evangelism clouded Bobby’s thoughts.

How true it is that up to this day, many churches are still meddling in petite affairs and issues and somehow overlook the great commission. ‘Go then to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples‘ (Matthew 28:19). Indeed ‘the harvest is large but there are few workers to gather it in‘ (Matthew 9:37). Let us ‘pray to the owner of the harvest that he will send out workers to gather in his harvest‘ (Matthew 9:38) and when the ‘owner of the harvest‘ asks ‘Whom shall I send? Who will be our messenger?‘ (Isaiah 6:8a) we ought to respond like Isaiah, ‘I will go! Send me!‘ (Isaiah 6:8b).

Let us then response to the call to share the gospel wherever and whenever opportunities present itself. Let us put behind all our differences and spur ahead to reach all that we can with the gospel, in our workplace, in our schools, within our circle of friends, relatives and even to complete strangers. A couple of weeks ago, a dear brother of Bobby recommended a book that touches on the livelihood of Christians in the secular world. Bobby was and still is greatly encouraged by the book. Bobby takes this opportunity to recommend this book to all. The title is Spiritual Living in a Secular World by Ajith Fernando, a timely book. God bless you.

Read Full Post »

Being grateful…

Today was the first Sunday celebration service in this new lunar year. Bobby would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very blessed year ahead. The scripture quoted this morning in church was from Luke 17: 11 – 19. It was about the healings of ten men suffered from leprosy with only one men came back to thank Jesus, the healer. Most church goers were no strangers to this scripture and needless to say, it was about being grateful or thankful.

While Bobby was going through the verses, Bobby noticed two very distinct recordings that had direct implications to believers like you and me on this subject of being grateful. When these suffering men called out, “Jesus! Master! Take pity on us!”, Jesus simply said, “Go and let the priests examine you.” (verse 14). These men with leprosy indeed were men of great faith. Jesus did not physically acted out any healings. Jesus simply instructed them to be examined by the priests.

Back in those days, only a priest could determine whether a leprosy sufferer was fully healed and to conduct a ritual of purification so as to enable the sufferer to be accepted back into the community and could go back to their family. The ten men were not healed when they were told to go and let the priests examined them. They could have doubted Jesus or at least could have asked Jesus to heal them first before they went to the priests to be examined. How could they let the priests examined them when they were still suffering from leprosy?

These ten men, whom were full of faith, got up and went. The second part of verse 14 stated that, “On the way they were made clean”. Wow, wasn’t this exceptional? Their obedience in acting out their faith by believing in Jesus brought forth healings to all of them. This was the first recording that had captured Bobby’s attention. All these ten leprosy suffering men had faith.

The second recording that caught Bobby’s attention was in verse 17 and 18. Jesus said, “There were ten men who were healed; where are the other nine? Why is this foreigner the only one who came back to give thanks to God?” These verses showed us that out of ten faithful men, only one was grateful and the grateful one was a foreigner, a Samaritan to be precise.

We all could be any one of the ten men, full of faith, called out to Jesus in our moment of distress and then experienced God’s deliverance. We were healed, we were blessed, we were delivered and we all enjoyed God’s faithfulness. We knew that with faith, when we called out to our Saviour, he will always be there. He promised us that he will not leave us nor forsake us and he will be back to take us to our heavenly home one day. We knew we could count on Jesus for anything and everything, every time!

Yet how grateful were we to our Lord and Saviour? How often did we thank Him for all the goodness we have had from Him? And how often have we noticed a foreigner being more thankful and grateful than us, the believers? Having faith and being faithful is one thing but as a believer, being redeemed by the blood of Christ, shouldn’t we be ever more thankful and grateful to our Lord and Saviour, not only for the salvation but also for the endless grace and goodness we continued to receive every single day of our life?

Indeed being grateful is one of the often forgotten virtue among believers. Let us then, together as a family of believers, exhibit gratefulness to our Lord and Saviour ever more and therefore may this new lunar year brings more joy and gratefulness to all believers as well as to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. God bless you.

Read Full Post »

Greed, Greedier, Greediest

Our bible is full of wisdom on how Christians should avoid greediness. Yet greed has been around and consistently creates havoc within Christian families. Churches sometimes also fail to live up to biblical expectation on monetary issues. There are churches who display the tithing amount of each of her members on their notice board and there are also churches who give different receptions based on the financial wealth of her members.

Naturally there will always be wolves in sheep’s skin roaming around trying to capitalise on this soft spot of greed among Christians. Christians are normally taught to be gentle as doves but seldom to be as cautious as snake. Therefore at times, when Christians are caught in doubtful circumstances, they might not be firm enough to run away like what Joseph did when Potiphar’s wife was trying to seduce him as recorded in Genesis 39:12. When Jesus sent out the twelve newly appointed apostles, He told them this: “Listen! I am sending you out just like sheep to a pack of wolves. You must be as cautious as snake and as gentle as doves (Matthew 10:16)”.

Some weeks ago, Bobby witnessed first hand on how the scheme of a would-be con man works. Followings were summaries of the encounter.

• The only thing this person said about himself was that he is called Mr Lee, only surname, holding a UK citizenship and currently residing in US. He resisted giving out any contacts including his phone number or his address in KK.
• He consistently said he is representing an organisation in US where this organisation has tons of money to help the poor. However he seemed lost when asked in what ways or form will this organisation help the poor. However he repeatedly said that he can tithe the church with money from this organisation.
• Prior to this money thing, he introduced himself as a student coming to Sabah to research on his thesis for his master degree in US. However, he refused to say which university, what course, what thesis title, what area of his research or what is the name of his Professor. He requested us to help him get contacts for his thesis research but he was unable to let us know what he need, when he needs it. The conversation quickly turned to the US organisation with tons of money to give away through him.
• Suddenly out of nowhere, he disclosed that he had a company in Orchard Road, Singapore. We can check this company if we want to know more. He also said that the US Embassy (did not say which country) also has his details. We can refer to US Embassy if we want to know more about him.
• Suddenly from his bag, he took out an old cheap recipe book saying he was also researching on food and his family was in the restaurant business in US. When asked where this restaurant is, his refused to say.
• Out of the blue he said he wanted to open a restaurant in KK and asked if I am interested or if I can introduce anyone who might be interested. To have a bit more idea of his restaurant, he was asked again on what type of restaurant his family is running in US. He then said he has yet to start any restaurant in US but he has RM2 million in hands to start a half shop lot restaurant in KK. Is there anyone interested to invest with him, he repeatedly asked.
• When asked more about his concept of his intended restaurant (especially with RM2 million for half shop lot), he suggested we go to a nearby cyber cafe to browse some online recipe!
• After seeing this conversation going nowhere, we decided to end it. When we depart, he refused to shake hand. 

Personally Bobby does not know this person. He looks like a well dressed, average size Pilipino, wears spectacles and is about 5 feet 10 inches. He speaks good English but have a light slang when speaking Malay.He claimed that someone introduce Bobby to him and said that Bobby can be of help to assist him in his thesis. Yet for the entire conversation, the thesis discussion was less that 10% of the time spent. He said he was wondering among churches in KK to seek help. After Bobby’s encounter, the following day Bobby was told that this Mr Lee came to the church office again to talk to the pastoral staff and some well off church members. This time he said he has contacts in China and is interested in bringing in Chinese tealeaves and asked if anybody is willing to invest with him. He did not say anything about him being in Sabah to research on his thesis. Anyone interested to invest with this Mr Lee?

1 Timothy 6:10 says that the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil. Hebrews 13:5 says that, ‘Keep your lives free from the love of money and be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never leave you; I will never abandon you.”‘. These scriptures do not suggest that we stop working to improve ourselves financially. However if our love of money or greediness becomes the priority in our lives, we will definitely fall into countless temptations that will bring adverse effects on our wellbeing as well as the ones we love. ‘Well, religion (Christianity) does make a person very rich, if he is satisfied with what he has. (1 Timothy 6:6)’. This Mr Lee is still around and is actively speaking to numerous people. Beware and be warned. God bless you.

Read Full Post »

I Want My…

Bobby was at Toyota showroom this morning to service the car. While waiting for the car to be serviced, Bobby took a casual round around the showroom floor and noticed that a brand new model was on displayed. It was the Prius, a hybrid car and was also a car that Bobby fancied some years back. Immediately a thought raced through Bobby’s head suggesting that it might be time to get a new car and Prius obviously, was the prime choice.

Then a verse cropped up within Bobby. ‘For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil (1Timothy 6:10a)’. Thereafter, an intense justification began to surface within Bobby. It went like this. “Hey, the love of money is greed-lah. I am not greedy. I am okay with money. I pay my income tax on time and tithes monthly. I only want to have the Prius,…er… no… no… I am thinking of having the Prius only. You know, the Prius is a hybrid. It is technologically advance and it saves on fuel. It is economical to use.
And environmentally friendly…
And the look is cool…
And it is quite luxurious…
And I think it is within my financial means to own it…
And I think I need a new car…
And I think I should buy it…
And I think I must buy it…
And yes, I WANT my Prius!”

While thinking it was justified to buy the Prius, a second verse cropped up. It was Philippians 4:12. ‘I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have more than enough. I have learnt this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I AM CONTENT, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have too much or too little‘. This verse indeed was the wake-up call. The car that Bobby sent for service was an above average 4WD. It was what Bobby needed for all a car should be but because of the Prius, Bobby got carried away.

It was indeed a timely awakening. Our Father in Heaven will always look after all our needs as stated in Matthew 6: 24-34. However Christians need to be careful with their wants. Wants are actually greed in disguise. Christians ought to be tactful so as not to fall into the trap of self-justification on one’s want. To satisfy our wants, we will need to justify our greed. When we start justifying our greed, we will need loads of money to satisfy our wants. It is an unending cycle. It will come a time when greed will overwhelm us that we will start to compromise in our effort to make more money. Evil thoughts and actions will follow. It is not sinful to be wealthy but if one compromises on righteousness to gain monetary returns, then it is evil.

As for the Prius, Bobby gave it a few more glances, appreciating its design and marvels at the sophistication of its technology. Then with a smile Bobby turned around and walked back to the waiting lounge. Oh that Prius – a good car but not now. God bless you.

Read Full Post »

Repenting the Good That You Have Done…

Bobby is utterly concern with a recent teaching in the church involving young adults. The teaching stresses that Christians not only should repent on the bad, immoral, sinful behaviours but should also repent on the good that they have done. It is now evidently clear that this teaching is slowly taking roots in the church especially among young adults. This group of church goers started repenting publicly on the bad and good things that they had done. This misconception seriously brings forth scriptural inconsistency.

This misguided teaching is somewhat similar to some of the previous misconceptions. There are three of these that Bobby would like to share here. First is about the rich. As stated in Luke 18:24, 25, Jesus said that it is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. In other words, it is virtually impossible for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God. So naturally, the misconception here stresses that being poor is next to holiness. The second misconception is about tithing. The often quoted scripture for teaching of tithes is taken from Malachi 3:10. Bring the full amount of your tithes to the temple, … I (God) will open the windows of heaven and pour out on you in abundance all kinds of good things. Needless to say, some churches capitalise on this scripture and treat it like a ‘sure strike’ lottery ticket confusing church goers.

The third misconception is quoted from a scripture in John 5:39, 40. You study the scriptures because you think that in them you will find eternal life. And these very scriptures speak about Me! Yet you are not willing to come to me in order to have life. Another scripture that bears some similarity on this is from Ecclesiastes 12:12. My son, … watch out. There is no end to the writing of books and too much study will wear you out. The teaching that base on these scriptures often teaches the church goers to act, to serve, to be in action and avoid idling by reading scriptures.

All these misguided teachings as stated above only touches on the superficial part of the scriptures, often taken out of context. In actual sense of the words, these scriptures touch on one universal truth and that is the heart, the motive behind. As the psalmist reminded us, guard our heart. During Jesus’ ministry on earth, He often rebuked Pharisees because of their motives. Their heart is not right. The Pharisees often acted superficially like praying long prayers in public as a show of holiness, taking the reserved seats in synagogue to feel important, wearing long robes just to be greeted respectfully in the marketplace, observing all religious rules to make one look righteous in the eyes of God and many others.

So what should be the teaching on repentance? It is not repenting about doing the good deeds. It is about the motives behind doing these good deeds. If the motive is not right, one should repent. My brothers, not many of you should become teachers. As you know, we teachers will be judged with greater strictness than others (James 3:1). Should one inspire to teach, one must equip oneself seriously and correctly. With this age of advance technology and easily obtainable reading materials, one can be easily fooled into feeling adequate and knowledgeable to teach. Beware and be warned. God bless you.

Read Full Post »

Whoever is NOT Against Us is FOR Us

Unity is the true essence of Christianity. When Jesus died on the cross at Calvary some two thousand years ago, he died for humanity. When Jesus rose three days later, He completes the redemption of humankind. All are saved and that everyone who believes in Him may not die but have eternal life (John 3:16). If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised Him from death, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).

When that redemption was completed and the way to receiving it was made known, the disciples started witnessing in Jerusalem, in all Judaea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8) with the help and by the power of the Holy Spirit. The era of evangelism and missionary started.

Up to this day, there are still countless missionaries witnessing for Christ by making known the redemption through sharing the Gospel at all corners of the earth. Churches were planted. People of all races, cultures and social standings congregate together to proclaim the salvation and to celebrate the Saviour.

As people from all walks of life congregate, denominations were established to uphold unique identity of deferring groups but all are witnessing the same God in unity. Different cultural background, social norms, traditions and academic achievements somehow created different ways and methods of proclaiming the salvation and celebrating the Saviour.

Unity is then set in motion. With all the deferring denominations and churches proclaiming the same Gospel, it is a testimony that Christianity is indeed universal and that salvation is for all. Though the approach and application defer, all are worshipping the same God, exist to witness the same universal theme as stated in John 3:16.

In Mark 10:38-40, Jesus taught us to appreciate unity. True enough, the Pentecostal worshipping sessions sometimes feel more like a rock concert, the evangelicals worship in such lifeless way, the Seventh Day Adventists (SDA) insist that Sabbath must be on Saturday, the Baptists’ only acceptable method of baptism is through immersion, etc…, all are essentially worshipping the same God, proclaiming the same message and celebrating the same Saviour.

Indeed whoever is not against us is for us (Mark 10:40). Unity therefore is a rich heritage of Christianity. No Christian should despise another Christian because he or she worships differently or is from different denomination.

Let Christians the world over uphold unity and reject uniformity. As long as the truth within the scripture is uphold in its entirety, we are all Christians, proclaiming the same Gospel, worshipping the same God and celebrating the same Saviour. Hallelujah. God bless you.

Read Full Post »

Our Ears

Bobby was at church this morning listening to a rather long sermon on servant hood. As the preacher preached, she quoted a scripture from Exodus 21:5b & 6 that went like this, “… and (the slave) does not want to be set free, then his master shall take him to the place of worship. There he (master) is to make him (slave) stand against the door or the door-post and pierce his ear. Then he will be his slave for life.”

For awhile, Bobby kept thinking, why pierce the ear? Why not a bracelet on the arm or a necklace on the neck or a chain around the feet? Were not these objects more apparent than piercing the ear? Just then, Bobby was reminded on the function of the ear. Oh yes. We hear with our ears. In those days, slaves could not read. Their master had to instruct them verbally. Therefore, by piercing the ear, it symbolised obedient.

All humanity was either slaves of sins or slaves of the righteousness. Christians had publicly confessed through baptism that they had chosen to be the slaves of righteousness. However, how many slaves of righteousness had their ears pierced? By having our ears pierced meant how willing were we to be obedient to our Master, our Lord and Saviour, our Redeemer Jesus Christ?

Let us reflect on our Christian walk with Christ. When we were faced with options, were we readily decide upon the one that pleases Christ most? When we needed to forego our rights, our benefits, our conveniences and even our lives for the sake of being faithful to the call of our Lord, would we willingly respond? When we were wronged, falsely accused, would we want to get even? Were Christians still practiced life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise (Exodus 21:23b – 25)?

Were we involved in church ministries? How was decision made? How was meeting conducted? How was finance managed? How was election conducted? Few years ago, Bobby had witnessed a newly elected Bishop bulldozed his way into office in a merciless way like corporate takeover. Bobby had also witnessed how ugly denomination elections as well as church elections could become and how bickering and backstabbing took place just for the sake of to be elected into office.

Have we had our ears pierced for the sake of our Master? Have we committed ourselves to the one and only living God, the ever faithful and true God? God bless you.

Read Full Post »

The Leader in You

Today was the installation of the district committee of the denomination that the church Bobby attended belongs to. Naturally the pulpit message was about being a leader and what it takes for the process of leadership to mature within one selves. The scripture quoted was from Colossians 2:6 – 10. It was a beautiful passage to encourage any would-be leader. When the preacher reached verse 8, a stirring occurred within Bobby.

Verse 8 goes like this, “See to it, then, that no one enslaves you by means of the worthless deceit of human wisdom, which comes from the teachings handed down by men and from the ruling spirits of the universe and not from Christ“. How was it possible to be a leader and not be influenced by the surrounding body of knowledge which was not of Christ? The Holy Spirit then impressed upon Bobby that to be a leader, one must acknowledge the Leader in oneself.

After a moment of silent, the still small voice explained that the Leader within was the one residing in one’s heart. He is Christ our Saviour and Master, our Redeemer and our Leader. At that precise moment, Bobby felt like there was a light bulb being switched on inside Bobby. How true it was. True leadership meant humble servant hood. A leader was someone who was willingly submissive to the Leader within.

When a leader recognised the fact that to be a leader was to be a slave, one will always led with knees instead of feet. There were neither personal agenda nor personal interest. The leader will only have one motive and that was to do the will of the Master and to safeguard His holy name. Being the servant slave, the leader will need to be on the knees consistently to seek the views of the Master within, to discharge all leadership responsibilities according to the truths of the Master.

Therefore the single most important thing a leader must do without ceasing was to be on one’s knees in prayers and to spend time in reading the bible, having daily devotions to seek and know the will of the Master and to carry out all His will His way. When a leader was able and willing to be submissive to the Master within, no body of knowledge foreign to Christ will ever be able to influence him.

This was what Jesus said to His disciples some two thousand years ago in Matthew 20:25 – 28. “So Jesus called them all together and said, “You know that the rulers of the heathen have power over them and the leaders have complete authority. This, however, is not the way it shall be among you. If one of you wants to be great, he must be the servant of the rest; and if one of you wants to be first, he must be your slave – like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life to redeem many people.”‘

True leaders were to serve and even willing to give their lives. They were never the symbol of authority where the masses have to bow down. Instead they were the hope where the masses could count on to do justice and safeguard the peace. Leaders were also the ones that were ready to help at all times and were blessed with wisdom from above as to how to get things done for the benefits of the masses according to the will of the Master within. Are you a leader? God bless you.

Read Full Post »

Good Samaritan

Most Christians are quite familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan. This passage is located at Luke 10:25 – 37. A couple of days ago, Bobby heard a sermon based on this passage. At the beginning, the preaching seemed quite normal and common. However as the preaching continued, relevancy kicked in. Bobby was undoubtedly reminded on the attitude of life that the sermon was trying to guide its listeners to realise.

The focus was on the three parties involved, namely the robbers, the good guys (the priest and the Levite) and of course the outcast (the Samaritan). The attitude of the robbers was what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is also mine. With this attitude and mentality, anyone who has no regard to others can be considered the robber. This group of people seek to destroy whatever that does not belong them, try to take and keep what they desire even though it does not belong to them and guard selfishly whatever that do belong to them.

Am I the robber? Did I destroy or deface public property carelessly or on purpose? Do I keep hurting friendships and relationships? Did I take and keep what is not mine, like stationery from my workplace? Did I steal time from others by being unpunctual on work and on appointments? Do I selfishly keep everything I have and owned to myself solely like my material belongings as well as my immaterial belongings like my time and talents? Am I a robber?

The good guys come with an attitude of what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is yours. On the surface, this attitude seems okay. However, deeper reflection on this attitude reveals the ugly truth hiding behind. What is mine is mine. The good guys will not compromise on anything for anything with any of their things on whatever reasonable things. Though they do not desire what that do not belong to them, they will neither share nor extend a helping hand in times of need.

Do I possess this ‘good guys’ attitude? Am I ready to help when needs arise or do I hide away? Am I calculative on every effort shared and demand that the effort must be appropriately compensated? Am I only considerate towards myself even at the expense of others? Do I only take and never give?

The Samaritan was considered an outcast by the Jews. The attitude of this Samaritan is what’s mine can be gladly share. The Samaritan will make use of their personal strength and belongings to shape a better community. They always volunteer on worthy causes. They will never shy away even when they need to sacrifice for any of it. These Samaritans bring warmth to the community. They bring hope. They share love. They are action base people with sincere motives.

Am I a Samaritan? Do I only pay lip service to charity work? Am I willing to go out of my way to ease the difficulty of my fellow humans? Am I ready to be very inconvenient for the sake of other’s need? Am I willing to share my belongings to the needy? Am I available for both my loved ones as well as strangers? Am I willing to be a bit more concern of my surroundings? Do I fake my concern? Am I truly a Samaritan?

Who am I? Am I the robber? Am I the ‘good guys’? Am I the Samaritan? Who am I? Who are you? God bless you.

Read Full Post »