Come Naked, Return Empty

“The greenish is your car, bro?” my friend asked. Your car? That sounds awkward though I answered him this way: “Yes, it is.” For almost a year now I never consider thinking that that pieces of metal is mine entirely. I paid for it monthly because, really, by law, the car is not mine but belong to bank. I loan it!



Pic from: kevinvisel.blogspot.com

 Sometimes God reminds us that our life, wealth, health and all we possess are in reality – on loan, as long as the Master to whom everything belongs pleases. Sometimes we are reminded that we came into the world with nothing (just look at newly delivered baby), and we shall take nothing with us when we leave (remember the last funeral ceremony that you had attended this year). But nevertheless, what we loan here on earth should be taking care of with full responsibility because it has been entrusted to us.

The are many of Jesus’ parables where a king or a rich man going away to a far country and committing a responsibility to his servants, then come back to check them out. For example; “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags to another and one bag of silver to the last – dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.” (Matthew 25:14-15NLT)

Today our Master has entrusted us to take care of (could be); our abilities, natural talents, our possessions, our bank accounts and if it’s not convincing enough – may I say – our life itself! It is clear that the main message of Jesus’ parable above is that God has given us responsibility on loan, and He expects us to be faithful, to use it for His Glory, to be fruitful. Remember, we are on probation. There are 24-7 CCTVs in Heaven, childishly saying. We are stewards, God is the Master. We are expected to be reliable and responsible to what had been entrusted to us. Paul reminds the Corinthians that can be directly applied to us, “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” (1 Corinthians 4:2NIV)

Take a look on all that we possess today as loan from God (yes, even your car!). This is biblically true that we shall well remember. With this kind of perspective, it helps us to get our priority right. To be more responsible and faithful to what we have at this present moments. Loan, not yours! [at least, not yet]

“To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away'.” (Matthew 25:29NLT)
THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

The Driving Power of the Gospel

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, long dead hero of mine, once writes,

Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon
(19 June 1834 – 31 January 1892)
was a British Particular
Baptist preacher

“God [has] appointed a day in which He will judge the world, and we sigh and cry until it shall end the reign of wickedness, and give rest to the oppressed. Brethren, we must preach the coming of the Lord, and preach it somewhat more than we have done, because it is the driving power of the gospel. Too many have kept back these truths, and thus the bone has been taken out of the arm of the gospel. Its point has been broken; its edge has been blunted. The doctrine of judgment to come is the power by which men are to be aroused. There is another life; the Lord will come a second time; judgment will arrive; the wrath of God will be revealed. Where this is not preached, I am bold to say the gospel is not preached. It is absolutely necessary to the preaching of the gospel of Christ that men be warned as to what will happen if they continue in their sins. Ho, ho, sir surgeon, you are too delicate to tell the man that he is ill! You hope to heal the sick without their knowing it. You therefore flatter them, and what happened? They laugh at you; they dance upon their own graves. At last they die! You delicacy is cruelty; your flatteries are poisons; you are murderer. Shall we keep men in fool’s paradise? Shall we lull them into soft slumbers from which they will awake in Hell? Are we to become helpers of their damnation by smooth speeches? In the name of God, we will not.”
[Quote from Spurgeon Gold by Ray Comfort. Copyright © 2005 by Bridge-Logos.]

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

What You Value The Most?

“Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” (Luke 12:34NLT)

Questions: How you spend your free time? What kind of entertainment do you enjoy? Who are your best friends? What do you think about most? How do you spend your money?

Possible answers: Sleeping and ‘lepaking’. Play online games all night long or/and watch MTV non stop. Gossipers and pretenders. Sex, revenge, and power. For myself… yes; me, myself and I.

Your answers might be more positive than what I’ve suggested above [Pardon me, I’m naturally pessimist who want to be more optimist in the near future]. Here is the reason why I ask: your answers to these questions show what your values are. Whatever you consider important, whatever you call useful, whatever you think worthwhile – in short, Jesus says, ‘wherever your treasure is’ – is what you value the most. There is no such thing as ‘Excuse me, I don’t have any values’. That statement is simply not true. You and I have values, either good or bad. That’s it!

Question: therefore, since we all have values, what kind of values do you have? Godly or worldly? You see, the problem comes when we don’t have God’s values but instead, worst, we let the world’s values to shape us. Our values are clear to those around us because what we do (and don’t do), how we spend our time and money (and how we’re not), and what we talk about (and what we didn’t voice out) show exactly what our value most. Let me give a higher example, God. What He does and says in the Scriptures shows what He values most; the glory of the Son, the majesty of the Father, the power of the Holy Spirit and the salvation of mankind.

For your sake (please, I’m not promoting human self-esteem; just want to encourage you), God made you in His own image – that show how much He value you! Your eternal future is so valuable to God that He sacrificed His own Son so that we could live with Him forever. See?! His actions reveal His values. We too, our actions reveal our values. Ronald A. Beer writes, “What you do shows what you really believe – or better yet, who you really believe in. When your actions reveal your belief in God, you open the door for God’s transforming love to break through into the lives of others.”

May I ask these questions again: How you spend your free time? What kind of entertainment do you enjoy? Who are your best friends? What do you think about most? How do you spend your money? WHAT YOU VALUE THE MOST?

May you value God (and the things of God) the most.
Jesus, sir, ma'am, is the Treasure and where your heart should rightly belong.
THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

How to be Perfectly Miserable

1. Think about yourself.
2. Talk about yourself.
3. Use “I” as much as possible.
4. Mirror yourself continually in the opinion of others.
5. Listen greedily to what people say about you.
6. Expect to be appreciated.
7. Be suspicious.
8. Be jealous and envious.
9. Be sensitive to slights.
10. Never forgive a criticism.
11. Trust nobody but yourself.
12. Insist on consideration and respect.
13. Demand agreement with your own views of everything.
14. Sulk if people are not grateful to you for favors shown them.
15. Never forget a service you may have rendered.
16. Be on the lookout for good time for yourself.
17. Shirk your duties if you can.
18. Do as little as possible for others.
19. Love yourself supremely.
20. Be selfish.
21. THINK SMALL.
22. START HUGE.
23. GO SHALLOW.

[Source for no. 1 to no. 20 are from; The Speaker’s Quote Book by Roy B. Zuck © 1997, 2009 Published by Kregel Publications.]

God, the Source of Our Strength

Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens,
and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28NLT)

What a verse to treasure. We love it because it came from the mouth of God written by the Holy Spirit through human being for the good of mankind. But it’s not the only time God said this kind of promises. Isaiah, for example, had recorded it thousands years ago: “He [God] gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” (40:29-31NLT)

‘Come to me’ is Jesus’ way of inviting us to ‘trust in the Lord’; to trust in Him – in His Word, in Living Word, we are encouraged. God will give us renewed strength when we grow weary. When we come to Him in praise, He refreshes our heart. When we come to Him in prayer, He refreshes our soul. When we come to Him in meditation, we refreshed our mind. When we come to Him in solitude, He refreshes our body. When we come to Him with thankfulness, He refreshes our perspective.

In this tiresome world and daily weary life, don’t forget to practice these disciplines. Daily we need to releases the burdens of life and draws strength from God – God, the source of our strength. He is One and Only source of our strength.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

When an Interruption Comes, It is an Opportunity

Every time I read the Good Samaritan story (Luke 10:29-37), Jesus, the Lord, the Master of Storyteller, never fail to gives new lessons over and over again. Today I learned that: an interruption, no matter how uninviting it is, maybe a divine appointment from the Lord.

The story is basically about a Samaritan who made his way down to Jericho and encountered a wounded Jew lying alongside the road [Here I need to remind you that during the New Testament times; the Jews hates the Samaritan]. Others had hurried by, too busy with their own affairs to be interrupted even for a moment… even for a wounded brother. But surprisingly, the Samaritan, who was hated by the Jews and would be expected to pass by like others, was “felt compassion”. He “soothed his wounds… bandaged them… put the man on his own donkey… took him to an inn… took care of him.” (Luke 10:33-34NLT)

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God’s divine appointment comes to us in strange ways, often in the form of interruptions. What a surprise! Just when we think our duties are done for the day, when the office hours is finished, when we’ve settled in for a quiet and peaceful evening at home or at our favorite place – someone for example, calls on the telephone or shows up on our doorstep or a sudden rush at our present asking for our time… precious time. “Are you busy?” they ask. What you gonna do?

The best thing to do is to stop looking at these ‘annoying moments’ as interruptions. Instead, we should (learn to) take them as opportunities that God is sending us to serve those in need. Maybe to listen to them, to show love, to help them on their journey in relationship with God etc. – no matter how uninviting it is, an interruptions maybe a divine appointment from the Lord.

Love is not only word to say, it is the duty that we should translate into actions. The Samaritan ‘when he saw the man [the wounded Jews], he felt compassion for him”. He was interrupted along his way (probably busy too!), but instead of passed by, hurried by his own affairs – he stop to take the opportunity to show God’s love toward this wounded brother. May we are prompted to do the same. May we learn this lesson well.

Lord, if I’m feeling rushed today,

I need your eyes to help me see,

That when an interruption comes,

It is an opportunity.

(Unknown) 

THINK BIG. What would Jesus do?

START SMALL. By Start seeing interruptions as God’s divine appointments
GO DEEP.  The more you want to show God’s love toward others, the more God’s love shows in your life.

Jesus’ Balanced Rhythm of Serving

“Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.” (Luke 5:16NLT)

It’s tempting to think that God is most pleased, most happy, and most glad by our constant service. Sometime we serving God (so we said) in a false assumption that the more we work, the more productive we are and the more God will love us. Therefore –we tend to legalize God’s love by doing constant service to gain more heavenly ‘rewards’ and so on. Read what Luke writes about our Lord; “Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.” He withdrew, go aside – OFTEN!

If you read the gospels carefully, you’ll find that Jesus always modeled a life of balance between socializing and solitude, action and reflection, mission and meditation, work and pray. Balance. He often work hard to help others, to performed miracles, to proclaimed the Kingdom of God, to visit others, to performed religious duties, to do discipleship; and then, ya know what? He took time for spiritual renewal. It’s so important that the gospel’s writers also said that he often ‘left in a boat to a remote area to be alone’ (Matthew 14:13) and ‘went up to the mountain to pray’ (Luke 6:12).

He balanced His earthly life by not being driven by human pressures (which some of us are familiar with) and always allowing Himself to remain open to God’s direction and God’s rhythm through prayer and solitude. Doing service is good, the world need it; but don’t keep on your constant service without having time alone with God – balance. It is about keeping the right rhythm (Eugene Peterson’s language ‘rhythm’, I like it!) in life – "not moving so fast that you miss God’s direction, but not moving so slow that you miss the opportunities God sends you", writes Ronald A. Beers. Remember this: Not every opportunity is the call of God. Therefore, as your fellow pilgrim in our walk with God, remember to balance your life and experience God in the process.

Anonymous once writes,
“A Christian worker is good; a worker for Christ is better;
but Christ, in a worker, working out His will through him, is best of all.”

Enjoy serving, enjoy resting! Balance your life. THINK BIG.START SMALL.GO DEEP.