The Most Difficult is the Easiest

In his classic book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis writes,

“Teachers will tell you that the laziest boy in the class is the one who works hardest in the end. They mean this. If you give two boys, say, a proposition in geometry to do, the one who is prepared to take trouble will try to understand it. The lazy boy will try to learn it by heart because, for the moment, that needs less effort. But six months later, when they are preparing for an exam, the lazy boy is doing hours and hours of miserable drudgery over things the other boy understands, and positively enjoys, in a few minutes. Laziness means more work in the long run.

Or look at it this way. In a battle, or in mountain climbing, there is often one thing which it takes a lot of pluck to do; but it is also, in the long run, the safest thing to do. If you funk it, you will find yourself, hours later, in far worse danger. The cowardly thing is also the most dangerous thing.

It is like that here. The terrible thing, the most impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self – all your wishes and precautions – to (Jesus) Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is to remain what we call ‘ourselves’, to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time be ‘good.’ We are all trying to let our mind and heart go their own way – centered on money or pleasure or ambition – and hoping, in spite of this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And that is exactly what Christ warned us you could not do. As He said, a thistle cannot produce figs. If I am a field that contains nothing but grass-seed, I cannot produce wheat. Cutting the grass may keep it short: but I shall still produce grass and no wheat. If I want to produce wheat, the change must go deeper that the surface. I must be ploughed up and re-sown.

Indeed, the most difficult (giving and surrender our life to Jesus) is the easiest.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus, the Lord of All

...because Jesus chooses me first.

Jesus must be Lord of all of my life or He cannot be Lord at all. My whole life must be His. That does not mean that I must be perfect to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. It does not mean that I must live the rest of my life sinlessly or that I won’t struggle to give some things up to the Lord.

Most of us, for example, are emotionally attached to things such as food, friends, job and lifestyle. These give us feelings of security, identity and meaning. But as the Holy Spirit slowly penetrates our hearts, we realize our identity and security must be in the Lord.

You might say, “Well, I’m doing pretty well. I have given most of those areas to the Lord; I am holding back just one or two”. I don’t want to shock you, but that is not enough. Jesus does not want 51% or even 98% control of our lives. He wants to be in control of all areas.

Floyd McClung writes, “Some professing Christians want all the blessings of being a Christian – such as forgiveness, healing, hope and eternal life – but they do not want to pay the price of dying to their own will and letting Jesus rule over them. Jesus does not want to break our will, but He will cross it. We must put His will above ours. In that process we must die to ourselves in the sense that we will not insist on living for what we want first, but put His character and His desires above our own”.

Jesus Himself said, “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it” (Matthew 16:25NLT). I like how Eugene Peterson paraphrases this verse: “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am”. This verse assumes that if we want to follow Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we must give up our life wholeheartedly. Not some. Not most of it. But all of our life. It is a process of ‘giving all to Jesus’. The relationship we have with the Lord should be dynamic and growing – not static. His lordship must be ever expanding and increasing over each new stage of our Christian lives.

Question: Is Jesus the Lord of all in your life?

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Kamu Bukan Milik Dunia

“Jika kamu milik dunia, dunia akan mengasihi kamu seolah-olah kamu anak-anaknya sendiri. Tetepi Aku sudah memilih kamu supaya tidak menjadi milik dunia, dan kamu sekarang bukan lagi milik dunia. Itulah sebabnya dunia membenci kamu. Ingatlah akan apa yang sudah Aku katakan kepada kamu, ‘Seorang hamba tidak lebih penting daripada tuannya.’ Jika mereka menganiaya Aku, mereka akan menganiaya kamu juga. Jika mereka mentaati ajaran-Ku, mereka akan mentaati ajaran kamu juga.” (Yesus dalam Injil Yohanes 15:19-20)

Oleh sebab mereka yang tidak mengenal Yesus tidak memahami ajaran dan diri-Nya yang sebenar, kamu ada kalanya terpaksa berkorban (mungkin dari segi populariti atau disisihkan oleh mereka) supaya kamu dapat mentaati perintah-Nya. Tuhan tidak mahu kamu bergantung kepada hubungan kamu dengan Dia tatkala masa senang dan apabila ianya tidak menyusahkan kamu sahaja. Dia ber-Firman agar kamu memberi sepenuh kehidupan kamu kepada Dia – dalam susah dan senang. Dan itu kawan seimanku, ada masanya mungkin memerlukan kamu untuk mengorbankan hubungan dengan sesetengah orang yang menghalang kamu daripada terus mempercayai Tuhan yang sebenar.

Kawan, apabila kamu menghadapi situasi seperti ini, ingat: Tuhan telah mengorbankan Anak-Nya untuk dosa kamu (mereka tidak memahami pengorbanan Yesus di kayu salib kerana mereka masih lagi milik dunia). Melalui pengorbanan inilah kita dapat memahami betapa besar kasih dan keagungannya Tuhan itu. Yesus berkata, “Setiap orang yang sudah meninggalkan rumah, atau saudara lelaki, atau saudara perempuan, atau ibubapa, atau anak-anak, atau ladang kerana Aku, akan menerima seratus kali ganda apa yang sudah ditinggalkan, serta menerima hidup sejati dan kekal” (Matius 19:29). Di sini harus saya terangkan bahawa bukannya Yesus menyuruh kamu terus meninggalkan mereka apabila kamu ingin mengikuti Yesus, tetapi ayat ini bermaksud; jika ada sesuatu atau seseorang yang menghalang kamu daripada terus mentaati dan bersama dengan Yesus – tinggalkan mereka. Mengorbankan sesuatu yang tidak abadi untuk memiliki seseorang yang lebih Berharga, Yesus Kristus, pemberi hidup sejati dan kekal.

Kawan, ‘Seorang hamba tidak lebih penting daripada tuannya.’ Jika mereka sudah membenci Yesus, mereka juga akan membenci kamu – Ingat itu! Tuhan tidak menjanjikan kamu akan mendapat hubungan yang baik setiap masa (saya tidak suka apabila ada orang berkata, ‘Jika kamu menerima Yesus, segala hubungan kamu dengan orang lain akan pulih!’ Penipu! Bacalah Al-Kitab, Yesus diseksa oleh musuh-musuhNya) tetapi Yesus mahukan kita supaya terus mengabdikan diri kita kepadaNya. MentaatiNya. MengikutiNya. Kerana kita tahu bahawa Yesuslah satu-satunya jalan yang benar.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Her Respond to My Marriage Proposal

“I know, LORD, that our lives are not our own.
We are not able to plan our own course.”
(Jeremiah 10:23NLT)

Her respond to my marriage proposal:

Dear Richard,

I would love to marry you. It’s a dream come true. You’re my dream husband, oh yes baby! But there are a few things that I want to say to you, though.

I have a couple of boyfriends – well, five to be exact. Most of them don’t mean much to me, just boyfriends and nothing more… but can I keep Abang and Farizan? I just sms and call them when I’m lonely once in a while. I hope you don’t mind. I’m so happy! I must be in love that I’m willing to give up so many of my boyfriends just for you. My mom says you’re a lucky man!

There’s one other thing, can I stay with my family? I love them so much and they are getting older now. They have done so much for me that I couldn’t dream of leaving them. You wouldn’t mind don’t you? Hey, you can visit me whenever you want. I’m sure you’ll understand.

Till then, I meet you again Richard. I look forward for our wedding day!

With undying love and full devotion,

Love

If I had received this kind of reply from Love to my marriage proposal, I would not (definitely) marry her. I don’t think any of us, in our right mind, would! When we ask our love one to marry us, we expect that they would lay aside all others for us, and we would do likewise. “That is what marriage is about”, writes Floyd McClung, “committing ourselves wholeheartedly to the other person. We would feel cheated if our partner suggested any other kind of relationship”.

But sad to say, we do the same thing with God, only this time – it’s a God-size divided heart. We surrendered our life to the Lord, but not fully everything. How then does God feel when we say, “Lord, I love you so much that I’m going to give up everything in my life except ……” You name it. Could it be your job? Your businesses? Spouse? Family? Friends? Money? Church? Or whatever else is important? There is one theme that you will see repeated over and over again in the Scripture that is the extreme importance that each and every Christian turns their entire lives over to God for Him to fully handle.

You have made Jesus your Savior. However, there is now one more big thing you must do. You must now make Jesus the Lord over your life. Jesus must now become both your Lord and Savior, not just your Savior.

Question: What competes with the Lord for your royalty?

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

The Lord of All of Nothing at All

“If God is the Creator of the entire universe, then it must follow that He is the Lord of the whole universe. No part of the world is outside of His lordship. That means that no part of my life must be outside of His lordship.” (R.C. Sproul)

Jesus must be the Lord of all of my life or He cannot be Lord at all.  I’m not supposed to call Him ‘Lord, Lord’ with my lips if in fact He is non-existence in my heart or not my all in all. My whole being must be His. Not just my moral values or my mind… all must be His. Now, that does not mean that I must be perfect to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior [I told students during one of my talk that ‘God doesn’t ask us to be perfect but to be holy in the Lord’]. It does not mean that I must live the rest of my life sinlessly or speaking holy-ly or that I won’t struggle to give some things up to the Lord – far from the truth! But nevertheless, He wants all of us, as it was written in the Scripture, that in “whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17NLT)*

Most of us, for example, are emotionally attached to the things such as food, music, friends, job and lifestyle. These give us feelings of security, identity and meaning. But as the Holy Spirit slowly penetrates our hearts, as you allow the Holy Spirit to mold you into Christ-likeness, we realize our identity and security must be in the Lord, none else. When you realize that your very life (and all of the above) is in the hand of the Lord, you can’t deny the fact that God is the Lord over all things even if you want to ignore Him. Therefore, in everything, “whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father”. The key respond is: to giving thanks to God [that’s all men can do]. The key calling is: to live under the Lordship of Christ [that’s what we ought to do].

You might say, “Well, I’m doing pretty good here, Mr. Rich. I have given most of those areas to the Lord. All are His’… just that… I’m holding back to just one or two mini things.... no big deal… Cool man.” P.s: I don’t want to shock you, no heart attack please, but that is not enough. Jesus does not want 51%, 73% or even 99.9% of our lives - He wants to be in control of ALL areas of our lives or none at all.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.