Productive Or Fruitful?

Productive Or Fruitful?

“The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens.” Mark 4:28 NLT

A few weeks ago, I happened to catch the screening of the film, The Martian, at the Bedok lifestyle hub. It was about an astronaut Mark Watney who was presumed dead after a fierce storm.  He was left behind on Mars by his team. He had to find a way to survive on the hostile planet with only a meager amount of supplies and to wait for his team to rescue him. In the opening scene, the  astronaut found hope in a blade of leaf pushing through a stony path. 

The leaf blade pushing through the path is an inspiring metaphor of the power of love that is beyond ourselves. It depicts how God sows faith in our hearts. But it is very difficult for the seed of faith to take root in our heart when it is a path. Lent is a time for a check up on the state of our spiritual heart. It is a time to reflect on the direction of the stories of our lives:

What does the story of my life reveal about my attitude towards God?

What does the story of our small group or church reveal about our relationship with God and one another?

What are the idols in my life - acceptance, adventure, hobbies, fitness, wealth, fame, success, pleasure, fun, food.....?

How am I making use of opportunities to sow mustard seeds of love to others? 

How can I see the presence of God in all people?

Am I seeking to live in the kingdom of God? 

Is heaven nowhere or now here?

We are tempted by the god of our appetites to seek success in this world by being productive in what we do. My heart is a path when I am a slave to the values of the world and the acceptance of others. My heart is a path when I am alienated from God and filled with the sins of lust and greed.

The season of Lent is a time to respond to God’s invitation to live as a citizen of heaven - to be fruitful in my life and my death - to change the story of my life and death to a lived experience of the story of Jesus in the world. The parable of the growing seed is to teach us that it only be God’s grace that we can become God’s masterpieces of love. Our task on this earth is simply to ask, seek, and knock:

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-‬8 NLT

In this season of Lent, I am learning that to ask is to persevere in prayer; to seek is to find joy in giving, and to knock is a commitment to fast. I felt led to wake up at 5.30 am to spend time in prayer and meditation. As I did so, I found that it was like waking up to go for the sunrise service on Easter Sunday. I began to look forward to my 5.30 am appointment with our Lord - to wait on God and to pay close attention to see how God is working in the circumstances of my life. It is to increase my awareness of the opportunities each day  to partner Him to encourage and minister to others spiritually.

God does not expect us to be superheroes - He only wants us to be fully human. It is our small acts of giving that are important. We do not have to find the Big Answers to the Big Questions of Life. We are to live out the Big Questions of Life through answers that may be as small as a mustard seed. This is one of the important lesson of the parable of the mustard seed - we are not called to be productive in spectacular acts but to be fruitful through mustard seed acts of love. Surrendering our lives begins with obedience to God’s prompting in the small and mundane moments of our lives.

It is God who sows the seed of faith. We just need to break up the path of lust and greed in our heart for God's seed of faith to take root. The parable of the growing seed is to teach us that our  hard work lies in examining our spiritual heart through the discipline of repentance. When we do so, God will perform the hidden work to circumcise our spiritual heart and transform our minds with the "be-attitudes" of meekness and poverty of spirit.

The hidden work of God in changing our heart will be revealed in the storms of life. All of us will face storms in life - we are either coming out of a storm, going through a storm or will be facing a storm. Storms drive us to rest in the Lord:

“Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28-‬30 NLT

To find rest for our souls we need to change our mindsets about fasting. The discipline of fasting is not to deprive ourselves of the pleasures of life but to enable our bodies to rest from the stress caused by the sin of gluttony and to cultivate the fruit of self control. Recent studies have found that intermittent fasting has many health benefits from losing weight to the control of diabetes and prevention of heart disease and cancer. Fasting is therefore more than a penitential practice for our spiritual growth - it is a very important habit for our physical health as well as helping us to have an alert mind and a thankful heart.

The disciplines of prayer, giving and fasting are therefore not rules that we are to bear during the Lenten season. The apostle Paul reminds us that rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires (Colossians 2:23 NLT).

Prayer, giving and fasting are spiritual habits to change our attitude towards God -to open our minds and soften our hearts that the seed of faith may find the fertile soil to grow in our lives. Lent is a time to hunger and thirst for the banquet that our Heavenly Father is preparing for us. 

In this season of Lent, may God give us complete knowledge of His will and give us spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way we live will always honor and please the Lord, and our lives will produce every kind of good fruit. Then we will grow spiritually as we learn to know God better and better (Colossians 1:9-‬10 NLT).

 

Sowing Faith

 Sowing Faith

 “Worshiping the Lord is sacred; he will always be worshiped. All his decisions are correct and fair.  They are worth more than the finest gold and are sweeter than honey from a honeycomb.  By your teachings, Lord, I am warned; by obeying them, I am greatly rewarded.” Psalms 19:9‭-‬11 CEV

 The gospel message on the first Sunday in Lent is on the Temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. Jesus was led into the wilderness right after his baptism after his identity as the Son of God was revealed. He was tempted to worship Satan through the sins of lust and greed:

“Finally, the devil took Jesus up on a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms on earth and their power. The devil said to him, “I will give all this to you, if you will bow down and worship me.” Matthew 4:8‭-‬9 CEV

But Jesus overcame the temptation with God’s Word, the Sword of the Spirit, and answered:

“Go away Satan! The Scriptures say: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’ ” Matthew 4:10 CEV

Likewise, when we commit ourselves to live out our identity of the children of God, we have to be prepared to go through the spiritual wilderness where we will face distraction, discouragement and deception by the forces of evil. God’s seed of faith cannot take root in a hardened, deceitful heart that is like a path. We need the spiritual discipline of meditating on God’s Word to transform our stony and disobedient heart into a fleshy and responsive heart. We need to hunger and thirst for God’s Word which is sweeter than honey and more precious than finest gold. The teachings of scripture are to warn us about the temptations of evil as well as to empower us to overcome them through God’s promises of His providence, power and presence.

Lent is a time to prepare our hearts for God to sow the seed of faith. The discipline of fasting is not an act of penance or a ritual to secure God’s blessings but a symbolic action to express our desire for the Kingdom of God. Our physical hunger and thirst are to draw us to satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst through prayer and meditation. Instead of filling our stomach with food and allowing our appetite to be a god we can feed our souls with God's Word.

It is our desire to love God that will keep us from desiring pleasure, power and possessions. But without feeding on God’s Word and seeking God as much as we seek physical food, we will slowly  and surely drift away from God’s presence through discouragement, deception and distractions. Our heart will then be hardened into a path where God’s seed of faith cannot take root. To build faith, find joy and create hope I need to hunger and thirst for God’s Word as well as to make time with God a priority each day.

Lent is a time to reflect on the changes in the story of my life that I need to undertake especially in the autumn of life. It is a time to recognize the reality of spiritual warfare. I will tempted to be the author of my life - to be the master of my own destiny. But to do so is folly as there is no way I can be in control of my future.

Jesus is God’s S.O.S. (Story Of Salvation) and we are invited to be part of God's beautiful Story - to live out the mystery and miracle of God’s Love that is revealed in the teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Lent is a time to let God be the Author of my destiny and purpose and for me to be just a pencil in His Hands.

 

 

The Path Of Our Stony Heart

The Path Of Our Stony Heart

 “Then those who had seen what happened told the others how the demon-possessed man had been healed. And all the people in the region of the Gerasenes begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone, for a great wave of fear swept over them. So Jesus returned to the boat and left, crossing back to the other side of the lake.” Luke 8:36‭-‬37 NLT

The story of the people in the region of Gerasenes begging Jesus to go away and leave them alone after witnessing the deliverance of the demon possessed man is a demonstration of the truth when our hearts are hardened by worldly values and materialism we will ask God to leave us alone.  When our heart is hardened into a path, our lives will fulfill the words of Isaiah 6:9-10:

“When they see what I do, they will learn nothing. When they hear what I say, they will not understand. Otherwise, they will turn to me and be forgiven.” Mark 4:12 NLT 

This is a description of our spiritual sickness and Jesus came to heal us of our sin filled human nature. The comforts of life and wealth can become so much more important than living a life that matters. It is in success that we will face our greatest temptations and live in denial of the futility and emptiness of a life that is outside the will of God. It is not the will of God for us to suffer or to be in hell.  Evil forces are seeking to keep us from the Kingdom of God. Jesus taught his followers the secrets of the Kingdom of God through the parables so that they can have a foretaste of heaven here and now. And the parable of the Sower holds the key to understand all the other parables:

“Then Jesus said to them, “If you can’t understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables?” Mark 4:13 NLT

The COVID 19 pandemic has turned the world upside down so that we can be turned right side up with God. Lent is an excellent time for a spiritual heart check-up - has my heart been hardened into a path? What are my dreams that God has to break so that I can see more clearly His beautiful dream for me? How am I being tempted to worship fame, wealth and success? Before Jesus began his ministry, he had to face the temptation to worship Satan:

“Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.” “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” Matthew 4:8‭-‬10 NLT

God will seem far away and unreachable when our sins cut us off from God - our separation from God is always a matter of our own doing. But the good news is that God is not far away - not even five minutes away - when we exercise our will to have God in our life and to live our life in God. Danny Morris discovered the spiritual truth pronounced by the prophet Isaiah:

“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity.” Isaiah 59:2‭-‬3 NKJV

Danny Morris gives us the following prescription:

“If you are to know God fully, there is no substitute for this complete, total surrender. When you surrender your will to God, so that you will for you, what God wills for you, it is done. You are living in God and God is living in you!”

To live a life of total surrender involves the spiritual disciplines of prayer, giving and  fasting. In prayer we demonstrate our repentance as we turn to God. In giving to the church we express our trust in God’s providence. In fasting we are reminded of our need to rest in God.  These disciplines are not rituals to earn God’s blessings. They are our concrete responses to the love of God that we have experienced - just like a wife who submits to her husband in response to his love for her and not to manipulate him to love her.

Furthermore, a life of total surrender does not guarantee a life that is free from pain and suffering.  It is to have a life that is filled with meaning and purpose and freedom from fear and despair. We will have the peace that is beyond human understanding and joy unspeakable to face whatever life throws at us when God's presence is with us in our dark valleys as well as our exhilarating mountaintop experiences.

Our hearts will be the soil for the seed of God’s love and we have the confident hope of salvation when the Holy Spirit fill our hearts with God’s love (Romans 5:4-5). But when the spiritual condition of our heart is a path, we will be like the people of Gerasenes who asked Jesus to go away and leave them alone. Let us pray for God to take our life and make it His. Lent is a time to explore spiritual “experiments” - to find new ways of praying, giving and fasting to break up the path of a hardened heart that we may live out Wesley Covenant Prayer:

“I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to thy pleasure and disposal.”

 

 

A Life & Death That Really Matters

 A Life & Death That Really Matters

 Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord ,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.” 1 Kings 19:4 NLT

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent.  We are reminded of our human mortality and our need for reconciliation with God. Ashes placed on one’s forehead in a formation of the cross symbolized the call to “turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel” or "remember that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.”

The story of Elijah who was so depressed when Queen Jezebel said she will kill him after he had successfully eliminated the prophets of Baal, can help us understand the need to examine and understand our spiritual hearts in order to live a life that really matters and to die a death that will bear fruit in the lives of those we live behind. Even though we are dust and to dust we will return, the appearance of Elijah with Moses on Mount Tabor is a revelation of the spiritual dimension of life. In some of our churches, Transfiguration Sunday is celebrated on the last Sunday in Epiphany before Ash Wednesday.

The season of Lent challenges us to face the reality that we cannot live a life that really matters and die a fruitful death without being embraced by the love of God that is rooted in our identity as the beloved children of God. Danny Morris found that happiness can never be found by those who try to find it. The secret of a happy life lies in having a life that matters. We are wasting our time and playing the fool until we are ready to surrender our life to God totally - to die to self so that we can be alive to God.

In this season of Lent, I felt challenged to meditate on the parable of the sower and to live out the parable in the next forty days. It is a time to examine the condition of my heart and to go on a journey to transform the soil of my heart from a path, a stony ground and a thorny ground into a fertile soil.

Like Elijah, we may be tempted to feel that life is not worth living when we are depressed. This is the life position of a person with the belief that  “I’m not ok, you’re not ok.” In such times when we feel like dying, we can choose to die to self so that our hearts and minds will be opened to the Holy Spirit. There will be times when we feel that we are of no significance and that people are just walking all over us. When we live for success, wealth and the praises of men, our life is a path and God’s seed of love cannot take root.

I was led to memories of the program, “Ten Brave Christians: The John Wesley Great Experiment” or “A Life That Really Matters” that was promoted by Danny Morris in the church I was attending some forty years ago. It was a program that challenges people to put God first by:

 - sitting quietly in prayer and meditation at five-thirty a.m. for thirty days

- planning a totally unexpected and unselfish deed daily for thirty days

- writing bit by bit over a period of thirty days at five-thirty a.m. what he expects to make of his life

It was an experiment for anyone who has real concern about himself and his relationship with God. It was not recommended for anyone who does not have that concern. In fact, it did not make sense to me at that time. However, today I realized that it was a perfect experiment to understand and to live out the truths in the parable of the sower - to transform the path, stony ground and thorny ground of my heart into fertile soil for the seed of God’s  love.

Lent is a time, not for a spiritual performance to earn God’s favor, but a time for spiritual experiments to put Jesus Christ at the center of our lives through the cultivation of healthy spirit habits to make space in our lives for what truly matter. Spiritual habits are not the goal but the means to have a deeper intimacy with God.  

Transfiguration Sunday this year was also Valentine’s Day. This gave me another perspective of Lent -that it is not about giving up things or making sacrifices for God but all about falling in love with Jesus Christ and creating space in our hearts for the love of God.

Lent is a time to pray for our Shepherd of Love to examine our hearts and to lead us in the paths of righteousness for the glory of God. Let us explore spiritual practices that will open our hearts and minds to the Holy Spirit so that we will have the singleness of heart and  a new spirit within us when God takes away our stony, stubborn heart and give us a tender, responsive heart (Ezekiel 11:19 NLT). May this season of Lent be a time for us to encourage one another and glorify God as we share the experiences of our spiritual experiments to develop healthy spiritual habits. 

 

 

The Spiritual Dimension Of Life

 The Spiritual Dimension Of Life

“And whenever those possessed by evil spirits caught sight of him, the spirits would throw them to the ground in front of him shrieking, “You are the Son of God!” But Jesus sternly commanded the spirits not to reveal who he was.” Mark 3:11‭-‬12 NLT

The healing and deliverance ministry of Jesus draws our attention to the reality of the spiritual dimension of life. Jesus did not use his healing and deliverance ministry for fame or personal gain. He healed the sick and delivered those who were demon possessed to demonstrate the power of God’s love that is in him. The gospel of Mark shows us what a human being can do when he is totally filled with the Spirit of God like Jesus. Adam was tempted to be like God and found himself alienated from God.  Jesus totally emptied himself of pride and the desire for control so that God’s perfect will can be done in his life:

“Although he was in the form of God and equal with God, he did not take advantage of this equality. Instead, he emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant, by becoming like other humans, by having a human appearance. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, death on a cross.” Philippians 2:6-8 GW

As we become more aware of the spiritual dimension of life, there is the temptation to focus and be distracted by the spiritual power of healing and deliverance. Perhaps this is why Jesus commanded the evil spirits not to reveal his spiritual identity as the Son of God. Instead of seeing the power of God in their midst, the teachers of religious law from Jerusalem declared that Jesus got his power to cast out demons because he was possessed by Satan, the prince of demons (Mark 3:22 NLT). Even his family thought he was mad:

“When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.” Mark 3:21 NLT

It is so strange that the evil spirits recognize Jesus as the “Son of God” but the Pharisees and the family of Jesus were blind to his divine nature. The bad news is that there is evil in the world but the good news is that love always trump evil - Jesus lived, died and rose from the dead to give us the Holy Spirit:

“But I tell you I am going to do what is best for you. This is why I am going away. The Holy Spirit cannot come to help you until I leave. But after I am gone, I will send the Spirit to you.” John 16:7 CEV

Jesus appointed twelve disciples to follow him - to preach the good news and gave them authority to cast out demons. When Jesus was told that his mother and brothers were asking for him, he replied:

“Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?”  Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers.  Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” Mark 3:33‭-‬35 NLT

This shows us the importance of discipleship and the need to be in a close relationship with Jesus. In fact each one of us is called to be a part of the body of Christ:

“Each person has only one body, but that body has many parts. All those different parts make only one body. It is like that with Christ too.” 1 Corinthians 12:12 EASY

To do so, we need prayer and meditation on the scripture. It is the Holy Spirit who binds us together as one body in Jesus Christ.  Hence, rejecting and repudiating the ministry of the Holy Spirit is an act that will condemn us to live in spiritual darkness. Eugene Petersen gives us a clearer picture of such an act:

“Listen to this carefully. I’m warning you. There’s nothing done or said that can’t be forgiven. But if you persist in your slanders against God’s Holy Spirit, you are repudiating the very One who forgives, sawing off the branch on which you’re sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives.” He gave this warning because they were accusing him of being in league with Evil.” Mark 3:28‭-‬30 MSG

Unless and until we become aware and confess the perversity of our hearts, we cannot follow Jesus. We need to cultivate the mind of Christ - to take our thoughts captive to Christ so that the Holy Spirit can fill our minds with the thoughts of God. To follow Jesus it is critical to affirm our need for inner healing and for deliverance from our sinful desires in order to live the transformed life of a forgiven and forgiving child of God. And one way to do so is through silent meditation - to be aware of the thoughts and feelings going through our minds as we pray:

“Please God, look deep inside me. See what is there in my thoughts.  Show me if I am following any evil way. Lead me in the right way that has always been true.” Psalms 139:23‭-‬24 EASY

 

Starve The G. O. A. T., Feed The S. H. E. E. P.

 Starve The G. O. A. T., Feed The S. H. E. E. P.

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.” Mark 2:22 NLT

Jesus came to teach us a new way to live - with new wine in new wineskins. It is a way of life that runs counter to the ways of the world.  The stories of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark are to open our eyes to what it means to be fully human and how to live the new way of living in the Spirit rather than the old way of obeying the letter of the law (Romans 7:6). In Chapter 2 of the Gospel of Mark,  Jesus addressed the issues of fasting and the Sabbath in a new and refreshing way.

It is not the observance of fasting or keeping the Sabbath that is important.  What is of paramount importance is the objective of keeping these spiritual disciplines. We may fast as an act of repentance like the disciples of John the Baptist or as an act of purification like the disciples of the Pharisees.  Jesus gives us a better and more beautiful reason for fasting:

 “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. They can’t fast while the groom is with them.  But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.” Mark 2:19-‬20 NLT

It dawned on me that fasting is to fulfill the fourth beatitude. It is the expression of our desire for our Divine Lover and God’s wedding feast:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6 NKJV

There is a G.O.A.T. (the desire to be the greatest of all time) and a S.H.E.E.P. (the attitude of seeing heaven everyday in every person) in all of us. When our Shepherd of Love is leading us, we do not need to fast for we are then living as S.H.E.E.P. However, in times when we are tempted by pride, greed and lust to be G.O.A.T.s, we need to fast - to starve the G.O.A.T. in us.

Likewise, the fourth commandment, “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” (Exodus 20:8 NLT) is God’s prescription for the nurture of our body, mind and soul. It is to feed the S.H.E.E.P. in us:

“And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27 NKJV

We cannot follow Jesus with a slavish obedience to the rules and traditions of men. Jesus invites us to  journey with Him through life with a joyful obedience that is rooted in a relationship of trust and dependence on the Holy Spirit. It is to cultivate such a relationship that we practice the disciplines of fasting and observance of the Sabbath rest.

Spending 20 mins twice a day in silent meditation is one way to practice the Sabbath rest. It is a time of letting our Shepherd of Love lead me to the green pastures and still waters of God's grace. As I become more aware of my negative thoughts and feelings, I can starve the G.O.A.T. desires in me by taking them captive to Christ.  In silence the Lord restores my soul and shows me the paths of righteousness and feed the S.H.E.E.P. attitude in me. 

So let us fast in order to hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness and let us keep the Sabbath so that we may find rest for our souls.