HOW COME? .... Who Will Go For Us?

Revelation 3:17-18
You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

These words to the Laodicean church caught my heart. Something resonated. Often how we think of ourselves may not match what others think of us, ... especially what Christ thinks of us. They thought they were rich and didn't need a thing. In effect, they were pitiful, naked, blind!

Blind?
Hmmn ... even without a statistical survey I wouldn't be wrong in saying that 95% of Malaysians are blind! We were not born with that condition; but our fears, our hardness of heart, and our wanting only happy things has struck us with a great blindness.

A Great Blindness?
Yes, How come we keep getting hit every few years and months .. and still have not learnt? JE, SARs, Bird flu, Tsunami, floods? What did we do? We were rocked for awhile, then sighed a relief that we weren't terribly affected, and forgot all about it. Same with the conditions of our socio-economic imbalance and injustice. We see the rising crimes, the unequal distribution of resources, the discrimination. We feel violated. Then we go our way, thanking God we weren't terribly affected. How come?

How Come?
How come the effect didn't move us enough to do something? Where are the Christians and the CFs, helping to clean out the remains of the terrible floods? Where are we in talking with the flood victims and holding their hands? The same happened in all the issues I mentioned above. We sent our money, we prayed a prayer, and stayed on in our comfort! We have cut ourselves off and are unwilling to get our hands dirty. We do not want the inconvenience of not having easy answers, struggling the long fight against injustice and discrimination. We have left the Lord's question to Isaiah (Isaiah 6:8), "Who will go for us?," unanswered.

Who Will Go For Us?
Jesus called the church in Laodicea to buy from Him gold refined in fire, clothes to cover their nakedness and salve to put in their eyes. I am calling myself and you to this, too. My friend, we cannot pretend any longer that we are rich. We must answer the call, "Who will go for us?" in Malaysia, into our society, into people's lives. We need to be out there, pouring out our lives into our nation, society and other people's lives. The newspapers reported that they needed 1500 counselors to help the flood victims to walk through their trauma. We may not all be counselors, but we can hold hands, can't we? Will you go?

Maybe you have a different view, or your own heart's concerns. Do share, yeah?!

You Tau Kah?

Do you know who your neighbour in campus?

Looking back at my campus years……
I remember when I first stepped into the campus; I was given the opportunity to meet so many new friends, as we were all going through the same phase together. Staying in campus gave me the opportunity to get to know my friends – their different backgrounds, hometown, course, religion, race & even language. I remember having 3 groups of friends. The first group were friends that stayed at the same block as me. We went for lunch & dinner together. The second group of friends were my Christian friends in Christian Fellowship and the third group of friends were my course mates. I don’t know about you, but I searched for a place where I could belong. I found it in my group of friends where I felt comfortable and could just be who I am.

I believe campus is a place where we are given the opportunities to reach out by just being a real friend to people around us and sharing with them the journey we go through. Do you know that Christian Fellowships exist for its NON-MEMBERS? If we are so caught up being only with Christian friends, organizing activities that only builds our own members up, then we’ve got it wrong.

Do you know who your NEIGHBOR in campus is?
- course mates, room mates, apartment mates, project/assignment mates, lecturers, tutors, cleaners, admin staff and the list goes on-

Can I challenge you to open your eyes and see the needs around you - the people in your campus. Come let’s build genuine friendships with them, inviting them to know our lives and our stories. Let us learn to receive their lives and their stories, creating a place where they feel safe & allow them to be themselves.

Let us re-examine ourselves & our CFs……Do you know who your neighbor in campus? You Tau Kah?

You Dare Meh?

Honestly, I wish it was a plea instead of a dare. But Christ himself was unapologetic in this tour-de-force of counter-culture. 3 chapters out of the 1189 chapters in the Bible: that’s just a small fraction. 0.25231 % to be exact. Yet, the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is Christ saying potently “See, this is how you should live. This is the pattern of your Legacy”.

The question is: “You dare meh?”

You dare meh? To capture the SHOCKING SPIRITUALITY of being blessed for things that are weak and useless; of the poor in spirit, of the mourners, of the persecuted. (Matt 5:1-16)

You dare meh? To pursue the AUTHENTIC RIGHTEOUSNESS where anger and lust spell murder and adultery, where exacting justice meets its match in God’s perfection in loving even our enemies. (Matt 5:17-48)

You dare meh? To possess an AUTHENTIC RELIGION of no more charades and masks, but only to stand alone before your Father in giving, prayer and fasting. To possess a heavenly treasure and leave behind earthly worries. (Matt 6:1-34)

You dare meh? To enjoy AUTHENTIC RELATIONSHIPS with men and with God to “do to others what you would have them do to you”. (Matt 7:1-20)

You dare meh? To embrace AUTHENTIC COMMITMENT and choose the small road and the narrow gate, to build your life on, and ONLY on, the foundation of Christ. (Matt 7:21-29)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s (1906-1945) study of the Sermon on the Mount carried the title “The Cost of Discipleship”. It was to cost him his life as he died in a Nazi prison for daring to be counter-culture. Prevailing culture with its blend of materialism and moral relativism does not parade itself as blatantly as what Bonhoeffer had to stand up to, yet Marva J. Dawn recognises how this culture creeps into our lives and the life of the church. She lists some of its effects: Postmodern Pluralism, The Loss of Truth in Postmodern Times, The Loss of Authority and Mentoring in Postmodern Times, The Loss of Community in Society, The Quick-Fix Mentality and the Breakdown of Disciplines and Practices and The Rejection of the Actuality of “Sin” (M.J. Dawn, Unfettered Hope, 2003). Run a checklist of these with our lives, it sounds awfully too familiar, doesn’t it?

It’s time to live Counter Culture, Christ has shown us how, but it’s going to cost us. It’s going to cost us being popular, common, conventional, regular, standard and usual. The Sermon on the Mount provides a blueprint for leaving a true legacy behind: a shocking, peculiar and authentic legacy. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:21a). Will you READ it? STUDY it? LIVE it? You dare meh…?