God and Wealth

We either serve God or Mammon. No one can serve two servants.

The author of the book of Ecclesiastes puts his powers of wisdom to work to examine the human experience and assess the human situation. What he has experienced was within the boundaries of his visible world as his wisdom cannot penetrate beyond that beings. Wisdom is better than folly. Life is nothing but meaningless if it is not rightly related to God. We think we can master the world by laboring away and build up our kingdoms of wealth, forgotten that this life is not in our control. Who, can be confident that when he will still be alive the next second? Are we pursuing unrealistic hopes and aspirations, are all our works and efforts futile? As free will allows, we can easily muck up our life thinking that that is my life, I want to live it my way. Without God, we toil foolishly and all our striving under the sun after unreal goals will just lead only to disillusionment.

The element of God cannot be taken away from any equation applicable to this life. Godly wisdom and reverence towards God and His word ensure us not ending up beating the air. Knowing God means knowing our purpose.

Riches, if not being gifted by God and receiving with gladness of heart, are meaningless.

In Ecclesiastes 5:8-20. the author gives everyone who is willing to listen a great wake up call. Undeniably, we can be easily entangled, not realizing that we have been a slave to the money.

"Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless." V10

One of the best and worst attitude is to want more. If we desire more of what God has for us, God is honoured. But if our heart is blinded pursuing our goals in life and as a result leaving God on the shelf, we are wicked. If we do not find the satisfaction in God, we will never be satisfied with everything that we have. How true it is that in the society, everyone is eyeing after another or a position, climbing the social ladder and accumulating wealth even to the stake of our health, never realize that someone will still out-perform us and it is an unending race of sadness.

"The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep." V12

The rich grieves and often lives in sorrow and great anxiety. He is afraid of intruders and wealth being stolen. He has no good sleep. Contrary, he who lives in contentment worries no.

"Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand." V15

Isn't it an alarming statement? Can one bring a billion notes into the heaven? No! Not even a single coin! What's on earth cannot go into the eternity. Therefore, store our treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy nor thieves break in and steal.

"When God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work - this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart." V19-20

Everything comes from God. God he gives and he takes. For sure our loving God as if our earthly father would give the best to his children. However, God knows us deeply and even much more of what we know about ourselves. We might question God's fairness for not everyone is rich. The truth is that everyone's strength and gift are different. Our calling can be different. Not everyone is a good keeper. Not everyone is diligent. God sees the heart. God knows best. God never promises everyone to be rich, not as what the prosperity preaching is about. God sees prosperity beyond our understanding of material and wealth.

Don't get me wrong, God doesn't forbid us from pursuing wealth. In fact those who have he will give more. The benchmark is that we sore what we reap and God must be included even in our investment. Every move that we make, may it be to the glory of God. Do we purchase property before seeking God, or after? Find the contentment in God and be grateful when God gives. God gives man wealth and possessions and enables them to enjoy that. It is a gift of God. But do not let the heart dwell in reflecting the days, but be occupied with thanksgiving unto God.

God wants the best for our life. Check the status of our heart today by pondering the following statement:

"When God gives and blesses, we welcome, receive and be thankful. When God takes or asking us to give back to him, will we give cheerfully or being reluctant and sorrowful? Ponder that. Ponder about the parable of the rich young man in Matthew 19.

Will we walk away sad?

Am I a Pharisee?

"These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men." Mark 7:6-7

Jesus used the exact words of Isaiah to describe the hypocrisy of the Pharisees in Isaiah 29:13. In fact, in the New Testament, Jesus didn't get along with the Pharisees in almost all the occasions. So, who are the Pharisees? There were three major religious societies of Judaism during the time of New Testament - the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. The name of Pharisee in its Hebrew form means separatists, or the separated ones. They were also known as chasidim, which means loyal to God, or loved of God - extremely iconic to what we know of their great opponent towards Jesus throughout the New Testament.

We are taught not to be like the Pharisees. Jesus accused the Pharisees of their hypocrisy and pretentiousness, and pronounced a succession of woes upon them. Hypocrisy is insincerity wearing a mask of sincerity. Too often, we find our identity similar to the Pharisees. I don't know you but I confess that many times, I found myself behaving and acting like a Pharisee. It is a big deal that I need to work right with God. Though I didn't pray at the junction of the road, there were times I did not practice what I preached and I found it so hard to reconcile with God. The word of God can remain just mere head knowledge and I crave for His grace to overcome. Too often I found myself crawling to the foot of the Cross to ask God to unmask me. Much to be pruned.

Question: Am I doing my works to be seen by men? Am I seeking praises and attention from the world? Am I seeking acknowledgement and approval from the people around us? Am I a stained glass masquerade? Does pride hold me back and prevent me from practicing what I preached? Is my thinking and action in contrary to my conscience? Am I a Jekyll and Hyde?

We must be different than the non-Christians in our lifestyles. How can we impact the world if we are the same as the world? We do not want to be the blind leaders of the blind as when a blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch. In fact, we should be the light guiding the blind.

I want to say, and do.

Fear and God

Fear and God cannot co-exist.

When I was young and relevant enough to say that when I was young in faith, one of my greatest fear was darkness. Staying in a two-storey house, I would never dare to go up alone to turn in for the night. I had the habit of turning on all the lights in the house just to keep myself comfortable. The alternative was to make an approaching noise by merely stomping softly on the floor as I walked to my room (being considerate of the adjacent neighbour at least!). At the same time, little chilly ghost stories shared by many ones always intensified my fear towards darkness. There were many occasions where I tried to close my eyes while taking the cold shower, all I could imagine was horror scenes and fear. Peace was absent. I think many kids will most probably go through and share the same fear that I have. As I grew older, the fear of darkness gradually subsided.

However, in life, many of us succumb to certain types of fear throughout different stations of life. Sometimes the fear can be so overwhelming that causes destructive impacts to our lifestyle. It can be fear towards discouragement, failure, loneliness, exam, being unloved, poverty, rejection and etc. The best friend of fear is anxiety which knocks down many ones. Fear is common and is seen to be part and parcel of every life. However, lets look at what the bible talks about fear.

One familiar story where fear exploited God's disciples is in Matthew 8. The story is about Jesus and his disciples were travelling on the same boat where a storm stroke while Jesus was sleeping soundly. The disciples were fearful. Not knowing what approach to adopt, they woke Jesus up in tremble and fear, asking their master to save them.

However, Jesus rebuked them by saying "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?"

We all know that Jesus calmed the sea and his disciples were amazed. However, do we see the similarity of us in the disciples? We have the tendency to think that how faithless those men were at that point of time as we read through the bible, but have we ever truly thought what will be our response if we were in their shoes, in those scary fearful moments where the storm was so furious and the water was on the verge of getting into the boat?

In fact, the disciples had responded in a quite acceptable way as most of us would today. Just ask ourselves, when is the time we cry out to God with great intensity? Isn't it during our weakest time or when death is a step away? I believe I will react the same as the disciples when facing the same circumstance. Sometimes it is just beyond our imagination the real fact can turn out to be in comparison to what we actually know and perceive.

However, the lesson we can learn from the disciples is that, if God is for us, who can be against us? I believe Jesus rebuked the disciples for a reason. "I am here right on the same boat with you. Why are you so afraid?" Yes, Jesus was with them on the boat! Inches away!

Lets ask ourselves, if Jesus lives and dwells in us, why should we be afraid of any circumstance or challenge in our life? Jesus gave his disciples a clear message: "I am with you, do not fear."

Fear and God cannot co-exist. Once we start to fear, it is the best time for us to do a check up if the living Almighty God is absent in us. God is omnipresent and He would love to stay in every heart that welcomes Him, but we can choose to shut Jesus out of the door. It is our choice. It is our faith. Cast our fear to Jesus! Nail it at the Cross!

2 Timothy 1:7 says "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."

Of the Lost

“What goes on in the minds of battered [not literally, but by their children’s sin] parents when it comes time to pray? Often a sense of defeat takes over the spirit, a cloud that can descend even when the parents have forgiven the young person and have real love in their hearts. The problem is that parents often have a fixed negative image of the child. He or she is seen as unchangeable, an image that may be powerfully reinforced by the recollection of the adolescents many failings: repeated acts of rebellion, words of rebellion, and looks of rebellion.

The devil knows how to use this image to undermine effective prayer. He suggests to the unsuspecting parent that this image of cold resistance is the final vision of the child. “This thankless child cannot be changed,” says the Master of Darkness. Listening uncritically to this voice, the praying father or mother then naturally lets the mind become fixed on the child’s stubbornness. Who can pray effectively when the mind is clouded by this picture of steely resistance?

To overcome this, simply shift the mind to the promises of divine grace found in the Scriptures. As a parent, focus your faith by meditating on a great biblical passage like Luke 15, in which you see the great images of faith. You discover the Father’s grace in action. Lost things do not remain lost; they are found. The dead come alive. The lost sheep is found by the shepherd, the lost coin by the housewife, and the lost son is welcomed home with almost scandalous warmth by a loving father. When you think about these things, you’ll realize that the Father loves even you, the parent, as a lost child that has been found. Will he not love your child the same way?”

The extract above is taken from Come Back, Barbara by C. John Miller and Barbara Miller Juliani about a family's struggle to love and believe for the salvation of their daughter who rejected Christ.

The lost cannot remain lost. It must be found. Our God is a God of All Possible and Almighty, He can actually command every soul to turn back to Him as everything is in His hand and control. But ever wonder why God choose not to? Perhaps God allows it so that the believers can pray in faith to witness the greatest conversion one day, to witness the power of prayer and God to reveal himself in the midst of our cry. Another is to develop the trust in God's perfect timing. It can be a great journey of trust and faith where we learn how to rely on God. God can use our unbelieved friends to mould and trim our character. We are preparing ourselves into a battle of believing God can move mountains and change the hardest hearts.

God's promises of faith are all that we need to cling on.

Luke 15:7 says "It tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."

Luke 15:10 says "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angles of God over one sinner who repents."

Be encouraged that every time when a man crosses from the darkness junction to the light way, angels of God are rejoicing! It is indeed a heavenly transaction when grace is captured by a soul.

I learn to pray harder for all those I know who are still living in the sinful pattern of this world. I want the angels to rejoice and dance with me.

Setting The Fundamental Truth

What makes a person a Christian is to personally believe in the fundamental truth that Jesus died for all on the Cross and resurrected, and calling on to the name of Jesus. It is about carrying the cross. It is not the practices or our good deeds that save us. We are unworthy yet the gift of salvation comes freely. It is about us setting right before God. From there it develops the reverent fear towards God and even as we meditate on His word.

Where does the truth come from? No other sources but the Word of Life - Bible. It is a collection of the unfailing word of God, commandments, truth and way to life, and promises of God that Must be deeply rooted and lived accordingly in every believer's life.

There is a tendency that the congregation of a church over desire and seek for emotional exchange and great atmosphere to feel good dwelling in those moments. We can be setting ourselves into the danger zone of neglecting the truth while all that we do and going after is all based on spirituality. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that we should not desire for great encounter with God through the awesome spiritual atmosphere where most of the time, being set by the worship team with wonderful music and vocals facilitating. In fact, true worship can bring breakthrough and set the platform for the congregation to encounter God and fresh revelation coming through. Moreover, we need to press in to the spiritual realm where the signs and wonders and miracles of God's hands moving are just so overwhelming. However, if our heart desire and attitude is grounded deep solely on great atmosphere and a perfect worship band to drive, God is not pleased. God is not pleased when we are strong in spirituality but not in the truth! One example of the vulnerability of a lopsided gain can be receiving words from an unknown blindly or rather confused due to lack of knowledge in God's word for cross referencing. God's word sets our way to life and not the experience. God's word will remain and stand forever, but experience and great moments come and pass.

What it says in the John 4:23-24, "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

We can worship God in spirit but in the absence of Truth. Here come our responsibility especially in guiding and nurturing the young believers. We need a balance in the spirituality and truth. Truth is not just the ability to differentiate right from wrong, but a conviction of where our belief is based on. We obtain truth from the word of God, the Bible.

In John 14:6, "Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Jesus is the truth. God calls the true worshippers those who worship Him Both in Spirit and in Truth. It is the same that we can't come to God half-hearted, reserving partly and not giving God the full portion. Believing God is believing the truth.

Everyday we need to wake up to the realization that we do not earn it or deserve it, but is only by His grace that we are still alive and take on to the day. Lets the truth transform our thinking by digging deep into the Word and set the foundation of our belief right before striving for greater sign and move from God.

Being Faithful is What Counts

In the Book of Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus talked about the parable of the talents. It is a great parable of learning to be one faithful servant, applicable to every believer and follower of Christ. Lets dig into and derive from the parable.

The parable talks about a master was going away on a journey, thus, entrusting his property to three of his servants. He called them and distributed his wealth among the three servants, apportioned to them according to their abilities. To the first he entrusted five talents, the second with two, and to the third with one talent. While the first and second servants eagerly invested the entrusted talents, wanting so much to multiply and please their master, the third chose to hide the only talent in the ground fearful of his wrong investment. When the master returned, the first two received their rewards, praises and most importantly, increased responsibilities while the third was rebuked for his laziness. The only talent that he had was taken away.

God knows our ability and capability, even in handling His Kingdom purposes. God knows how much we can do and our capacity. He crafted us and installed different talents in us. Everyone should have at least a talent, born that way or pick up along the way. Perhaps some of us have been focusing so much on the distinctive talents or talents that put us on top of the world. Yes there are people with outstanding talents, being the few odd ones out there. But God is more interested in the talents He has installed in us to serve Him and for the purpose of His Kingdom. Talent, is not about being uniquely outstanding and be the best of all, but fully utilizing God installment to serve the Giver to the max. Some people are born with heart-warming, soul-lifting smile, their one smile can usher people into the Kingdom of God. Some are gifted in music, writing lyrics and singing songs that bring people into the presence of God, reaching breakthroughs and encounters with God. Some are gifted in administration, being detailed with their paper works and management. Some are gifted in communication, being able to communicate effectively and productively. Some are gifted in leadership, being able to grab the attention and gather followers. There are millions of talents out there for us to search within ourselves, but the question is, are we using them for the glory of God?

God doesn't need us but He wants us. The parable of the talents clearly remind us that God is seeking after faithful hearts and not the talented ones. For what counts is the heart. There are many who are gifted so abundantly that everyone has green eyes on them, yet they are unwilling to unleash their potential. Jesus said those who have will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.

Unfaithful service led to condemnation, the removal of one's stewardship, and an eternity of weeping and gnashing of teeth in outer darkness, away from the presence of God. This parable brings an eternal significance, not just about being faithful in serving God and good stewardship over our given talents.

Never think that we are so special that God will treasure us anyhow. Moses's responsibility and privilege was handed over to someone else. Don't think that as God has appointed me to do this, no one else can do it. The truth is that, we are not irreplaceable. If we think that we are irreplaceable, we are being pompous that God's plan is solely depending on us. We are defiling God! As the parable says, God can simply find someone else to do it. He will increase those who are willing and faithful to serve.

Be mindful that whatever kind of position we are holding today, if we are not attending to it faithfully, God can just rip us off. There are many out there eager to serve God, and they are watching us.

It is not about the size and number of talents we are given, but the core of God's heart is to search for those who are faithful even with the little they have.

The Valley of Vision

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see Thee in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold Thy glory. Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision. Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter Thy stars shine; let me find Thy light in my darkness, Thy life in my death, Thy joy in my sorrow, Thy grace in my sin, Thy riches in my poverty, Thy glory in my valley.

Taken from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, edited by Arthur Bennett