Umm, me? Pharisee? No!

On one Sabbath, they walked in as they always do, with their long garments, spiced with that Sabbath-best look of holiness. Carefully diced, rightly sliced with a dash of cinnamon. They owned the show. And so they went about their business; busy here and there. Not stopping to look, not stopping to care. Why should they, why would they? They are the leaders, remember?

Oh but one entered through the same gates, quivering, desperately crying for attention. Guess what happened! They rushed to help and all was well, right? I also thought so but nay. Nobody paid attention to him. He held his mat tightly to his chest, as if it was the only possession he had. But the truth is the mat knew all his pain, his anguish as he fought for his life; if mats could speak, his would sure tell how he shrieked in pain all those decades he had been sick.

The day wore on; it was business as usual. Then hushing all the music, some ‘strange’ sight grasped their attention. Smack-dabbed, their eyeballs seemed to pop out. It could be an understatement to say that they were all shocked at what they saw… but there he stood, the once sick man. He was uprightly standing, with an elastic step that easily made him the healthiest in the room. He had been healed!

Amidst shocks and gasps, one of them gained the courage to speak.

“Howbeit that you carry your mat on the Sabbath day?”

Ha-ha! Yeah why carry it on the Sabbath brother, you know better, no?

Ok straight face on, really? Is that the question to ask? What happened to ‘how did this miracle happen?’ or ‘praise the Lord you are finally ok!’?

Talk about missing the mark!

Sometimes we get so caught up in rituals that we miss out on the important detail that lies in wait of being understood, and being appreciated. Sometimes, we miss the mark so greatly that the things that were meant to be blessings have become yokes, huge burdens that people do not want to bear.

Rules, rules, rules! That is all people see. What happened to the God behind all these ‘rules’? Do people know Him, do we even show Him? Holiness is not right living; rather it is Christ in us, the hope of glory! Christianity has become a set of thou shalt nots, that breaking the law is the central focus and not breaking the heart of the Friend that gave the law.

This is not even about being liberal or conservative; it is about missing the point. Why is it that they failed to recognize the Messiah when He was in their midst? Because they had run away with the doctrine and left the Man of the doctrine. It had all become about sticking to rules, doing it right… on your own. Why, because the one who gives power was ousted, completely from the picture. And as is all self-righteousness, it made them cold, heartless, and gave them a form of godliness that denied the power thereof.

There is so much we need to unlearn; we all need that life-giving power that will breathe life in all of us. It won’t make us lower the standards, neither will it make us tolerant, it’ll just make us realize that we can be cheerful, caring and loving law-keeping Christians, because that is who Christ is!

Entangled

She had this way of doing things; it was not entirely common so much that everyone thought it was quite weird. I mean, most of the time, if not all of the time, she had a different perspective, a different way of regarding things so much she would easily pass as the strange nerd only without glasses.

But, like everybody else, she had a story.

She still had some imaginary friends… pretty creepy right? I would say the same thing, well until I knew her full story.

The worst part is they all had names, the imaginary friends that is. There was the smart one, the lazy one, the ladies-man and then the strong woman, more like the woman of steel. She described all of these with a strange precision that almost made you think that they could be alive somewhere. Could it be the reason why she was all over the place, like she had conversations going on in her mind?

Digging deeper, I discovered that those were actually defense mechanisms; methods she had developed to express certain emotions that she dare not blurt out for fear of being looked down on, misunderstood or prejudiced. So she bottled all the envy, the fear of failure, the shock, the pain, the anger, the lust, the grief… she bottled them all up in a place where no one would find out. And for a while, it seemed to be working. Everyone thought she was pretty tough, like she would bear all the reproach, all the scorn without expressing a wink of defeat, or sorrow, oh but when the lights were out,  a few Curious Ears would hear her sob all night long, surrounded by this deep darkness that she couldn’t break open. Then when morning came, she was the same person as the day before, bubbly and social.

And so am wondering… do we live in a world that stops people from being themselves, do we live in a world that easily judges people who are different simply because they are different, without at least trying to understand their story?

Are we so quick to put out a candle then curse the darkness?

Sometimes, if we only cared as much as we judged, loved as much as we hated, embraced as much as we criticized, then maybe people would be less depressed, maybe people would be less distrustful… if only we had a world that embraced in love, and then sought out to correct your flaws than a world that first uses the rod!

And so somewhere out there is a weirdo, and she might continue to be that way until someone will be bold enough, loving enough to let her share with you what is it really that bugs her, what is it really that brought her to this level, what is it really that makes her the way she is… so until that happens, don’t lift your hand to criticize, don’t even think about making her or him the laughing stock, don’t be the one that thrives on inflicting more pain… if you can’t help then don’t hold anyone in derision simply because they are a little different…

“God grant me the courage to change what I can, the serenity to accept the things I can’t and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Mostly quoted, mostly loved but rarely applied words.

Sustained Revival

The countdown was officially over, the Mission Empowerment Conference we had all been praying and planning for had finally come. And so, sitting in the corner, looking at how everything was coming together, the excitement on people’s faces and everything that goes with it, I was so excited to be part of what promised to be a reviving experience.

Sermons, seminars, lunch, seminars- the cycle went on until five days later. And then I found myself in that empty hall again, this time with no people, no décor and no sermons being preached, and it finally dawned on me that that was it; the conference was done. Time for life to continue as usual, or should it?

So often we attend weeks of prayer, revival campaigns, evangelistic seminars but all these eventually come to an end and so does the spiritual zeal. But should that be the case? Are we entitled to only have a five-day, or four weeks long revival? We are all too familiar with that spiritual high experience, the peak of our religiosity that makes us think that should Jesus come today, I am ready for translation! But weeks later, we are back to our usual self, the flickering flames of our so-called revival burn out and what remains is a dark, cold, lifeless fireplace. However, such should not be the case. I believe the purpose of all these revivals is not only to create a spiritual thirst but also to encourage a continual growth that quenches the thirst.

And so like many others, the question that really bugs at the back of our heads is how do I stay fired up? How do I ensure that this revival am experiencing is not short-lived? The good news is the Bible provides an answer. Jesus told a parable in Matthew 13, which He aptly explains in verses 20 to 23:

“20. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21. yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becomes unfruitful. 23. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

So, there is a Sower or a bearer of the message as well as the message itself or the seed but the results are different. The problem is not with the seed, neither is it with the sower, no. The problem is with the ground. Sometimes we receive the world but because we have not yet surrendered entirely to God, the experience only endures for a while. There are still those cares and concerns of this world that we have not resolutely decided to let go of and consequently, the word we receive is choked and we go back to life as usual.

There were, and still are times when I come back from a wonderful worship service and am convinced that I had been with the Lord but going back home, because I have not uprooted those thorns and thistles that always stand in my way (notice the word uproot and not cut), days later am back to my old self, with an inconsistent devotion. This experience even gets more real when you read the excerpt from Christ’s Object Lessons.

“The seed sown upon stony ground finds little depth of soil. The plant springs up quickly, but the root cannot penetrate the rock to find nutriment to sustain its growth, and it soon perishes. Many who make a profession of religion are stony-ground hearers. Like the rock underlying the layer of earth, the selfishness of the natural heart underlies the soil of their good desires and aspirations. The love of self is not subdued. They have not seen the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the heart has not been humbled under a sense of its guilt. This class may be easily convinced, and appear to be bright converts, but they have only a superficial religion.

It is not because men receive the word immediately, nor because they rejoice in it, that they fall away. As soon as Matthew heard the Saviour's call, immediately he rose up, left all, and followed Him. As soon as the divine word comes to our hearts, God desires us to receive it; and it is right to accept it with joy. "Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth." Luke 15:7. And there is joy in the soul that believes on Christ. But those who in the parable are said to receive the word immediately, do not count the cost. They do not consider what the word of God requires of them. They do not bring it face to face with all their habits of life, and yield themselves fully to its control,” COL 46.3,4.

Deep! But, there is hope… it is not God’s will that we should be he hearers who are likened to the stony or thorny ground. In fact, Inspiration records that God is more than willing to bestow such good gifts as an unbroken and consistent walk with Him. Just notice the word privilege in the passage below.

“It is the privilege and the duty of every Christian to have a rich and abundant experience in the things of God…The bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness shine upon the servants of God, and they are to reflect His rays,” New Life: Revival and Beyond, p. 18, 

What! Privilege? In other words, it is a right, an entitlement for every Christian to enjoy a rich and abundant experience. However, this cannot be done by ourselves.

“But the stony-ground hearers depend upon self instead of Christ. They trust in their good works and good impulses, and are strong in their own righteousness. They are not strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Such a one "hath not root in himself"; for he is not connected with Christ,” COL 47.1.

We cannot seek to enjoy this rich and abundant experience by our own might or strength; rather a power without us can achieve this in us but we need to let Him work in our lives, we need to surrender.

“Many feel a sense of estrangement from God, a realization of their bondage to self and sin; they make efforts for reform; but they do not crucify self. They do not give themselves entirely into the hands of Christ, seeking for divine power to do His will. They are not willing to be molded after the divine similitude…Christ asks for an unreserved consecration, for undivided service,” COL 48.2,4.

So herein lies the answer to the quest for a long-term revival: surrender. The admonition is to surrender our all and let God work in us. To let go of anything and anyone that can come between us and God, then and only then can we have that long-lasting revival.

Lower Bargain

The story of the Cross and all that goes with it is too overwhelming. I mean how on earth (definitely not on earth) can you explain what happened on the Cross? Why would God give up His Son to serve wretched men; what was in it for Him? What did He seek to gain by taking our place and dying a death we deserve?

I happened on this beautiful song called His for mine, which wonderfully summarizes, in three stanzas the story of the Cross.

His heart was broken, mine was mended

He became sin, now I am clean.

The cross he carried bore my burden.

The nails that held him set me free.

Chorus:

His life for mine, his life for mine

How could it ever be?

That he would die, God's son would die

To save a wretch like me

What love divine, he gave his life for mine.

His scars of suffering brought me healing

He spilled his blood to fill my soul.

His crown of thorns made me royalty

His sorrow gave me joy untold

Chorus:

His life for mine, his life for mine

How could it ever be?

That he would die, God's son would die

To save a wretch like me

What love divine, he gave his life for mine.

Bridge:

He was despised and rejected, stripped of his garments and oppressed

I am loved and accepted and I wear a robe of righteousness

Chorus:

His life for mine, his life for mine

How could it ever be?

That he would die, God's son would die

To save a wretch like me

What love divine, he gave his life for mine, for mine!

I must admit, this song had me all teared-up. So often than not, in my relations with friends, I choose to get a better share; if I am to trade off my place, there must a better prospect. But not so with Jesus, He chose the opposite. He left the loftiest place in heaven for a world so marred as ours, not to be enthroned as some earthly king, rather to die in my place! He was made sin for us, Him who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him [2 Corinthians 5:21]

Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. "With His stripes we are healed."  {DA 25.2}

And so, since by His loss we have everything to gain, is it then too much to ask if Jesus tells us to give up our all, take up our cross and follow Him?

God gave all--life and love and suffering--for our redemption. And can it be that we, the unworthy objects of so great love, will withhold our hearts from Him? Every moment of our lives we have been partakers of the blessings of His grace, and for this very reason we cannot fully realize the depths of ignorance and misery from which we have been saved. Can we look upon Him whom our sins have pierced, and yet be willing to do despite to all His love and sacrifice? In view of the infinite humiliation of the Lord of glory, shall we murmur because we can enter into life only through conflict and self-abasement?  {SC 45.1} 

Doesn’t something about the Cross awaken in us a sense of wanting to let go of all so that we might gain Christ, doesn’t it motivate us to surrender; to stop chasing after sin and yield to Him who loved us even before we knew what love was?

Mercy!

Complete Sell Out

I found a wonderful piece written by an unknown African Pastor. It is just the epitome of an experience that we all need; a radical kind of commitment. 

"I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of Christ. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I’m finished with low living, sight walking, and small planning; and I’m done with smooth knees, colourless dreams, tamed visions, foolish talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognise, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on his presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labour by power.

My face is set, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, and my way is rough. My companions are few, but my guide is reliable and my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, and preached up for the cause of Christ. I’m a disciple of Jesus. I must go till he comes, give till I drop, share all I know, and work till He stops me.

And when he comes for his own, He will have no trouble recognising me-for my banner will be clear. Amen."

A call for self-introspection, I must make haste to mention.