He Stands at the Door and Knocks

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me"

- Revelations 3:20

"Here, then, is the crucial question which we have been leading up to. Have we ever opened our door to Christ? Have we ever invited him in? This was exactly the question which I needed to have put to me. For, intellectually speaking, I had believed in Jesus all my life, on the other side of the door. I had regularly struggled to say my prayers through the key-hole. I had even pushed pennies under the door in a vain attempt to pacify him. I had been baptized, yes and confirmed as well. I went to church, read my Bible, had high ideals, and tried to be good and do good. But all the time, often without realising it, I was holding Christ at arm's length, and keeping him outside. I knew that to open the door might have momentous consequences. I am profoundly grateful to him for enabling me to open the door. Looking back now over more than fifty years, I realise that that simple step has changed the entire direction, course and quality of my life"

John Stott

Reading this excerpt was moving indeed, as it made me remember the day I opened the door. And now I wonder how many of you reading this used to be like me, or used to be like Mr Stott.

Just Follow Law

“Follow law la... no choice what!”

Some people like to talk like this, and they mean to say that laws are non-optional. You don’t have a choice!

But I don’t think so - laws are always optional, because you can always choose to break it what. However, you can say that laws are non-negotiable. In that it means that when you break a law, there is a logical follow up or consequence.

Now, we Christians have a law – it’s called the law of Christ and it is summed up simply as a “commandment to love others” (Galatians 6:2, c.f. John 13:34). In the same way as with other laws, this is optional but non-negotiable. It’s optional in that you can choose not to care about others, or not to even care about trying to love one another, that is clear.

Yet, how is it non-negotiable? Look at the words “law” and “commandment” – the Bible isn’t joking around. The fact is, if you want to prove that you are His disciples, or in other words, ‘Christians’, then you have to love one another (1 John 2,3). Not negotiable. If you choose to take the option of not actively loving others rather than being obsessed with yourself, then sorry, the consequence is that you forfeit your right to be called a Christian in its fullest sense.

Not because I say so, but because Scripture says so. Look into it and prove me wrong if you think otherwise.

I’m not out to brand some as ‘real’ Christians and some as ‘fake’ – I have no such divisive purposes. All I want you to do is ask yourselves whether you’re living up to God’s name (Christ-ians bear the name of God in their titles) or you’re just pretending.

You figure it out for yourselves, and if you still can’t, ask Him – He sure know one.

Wake up!

Sleeeeeeeeeep. We've been doing a lot of it (some of us more, and some of us less :P) our whole lives, but we still don't get bored of it. I know I'd get bored if I tried playing 7-8 hours of StarCraft 2 a day for all my life for a year a couple of months just a single day, so obviously sleep must be super good right. I think. Whatever.

With too much stuff to do that tends to give me late nights, this sem has been a killer for my sleep life. For now I'm healthy as ever, but I know for sure I shouldn't keep this up for too long. Thank goodness short semesters end at Week 7, and now that there's no classes for some time I can stabilize my sleep.. I think.

Sleep early, wake up early, run!

Home

Today at Bible Study/Prayer Meeting we sang a few songs. Many of them were about the life that is to come, and the hope we place in them - with one in particular that really moved me.

It's an old country song, like all the songs that we sang during the meeting - and though I've been exposed to many modern worship songs with elaborate instrumental arrangements, I don't ever recall being so moved by a single song before in a long, long time. So we sang together in that room (no harmonizing) with Uncle Samson hacking away at his guitar:

"This world is not my home, I'm just a-passing thru'

My treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue,

The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door,

And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

O Lord, I know I have no Friend like you

If Heaven's not my home, O Lord what will I do?

The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door,

And I can't feel at home in this world anymore."

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqRpyG0W96k&feature=related)

Today has been a different day for me. As you might be able to tell from my previous post, I've been thinking about all the things I've been getting involved with around me. Just today, I celebrated a sister's birthday, I ran 11km with the uncles, I read Scripture, I started planning for a big upcoming event, I thought about next week's CF session that I'll also be co-chairing and I went to Bible Study/Prayer Meeting to have fellowship and to build the church.

Yes, these are all things I value. I value my brothers and sisters, and my friends. I value the challenge of improving myself through running. I value these events that I believe can enrich other people's lives, as a corollary of being light and salt. I value the CF as the Christian presence on campus. I value the church that so gracefully accepted me and gave me a foundation of fellowship in Kampar. I value the experience of deepening one's insight in His word.

Yet, at a moment like this all of these are overwhelmed with a singular longing, which is to be in Heaven at the side of Jesus - who is a dear friend like no other

"Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far, but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body."

And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

Commitments

I don't think there's a single thing that I'm involved in or that I'm busy with that I don't believe in.

In fact, I only say yes to things that I have a real conviction about: things that I really believe in and are important to me.

The problem is, I realize that this isn't exactly the best modus operandi either because the ideal situation is that we have many convictions - about God, about society, about our academic life, about our family and even about the environment, but if we start heavily involving ourselves in every single thing that we have convictions about, we'll probably just be overworked and maybe produce poor results in many of those things.

"See a need, meet a need" - not a motto that we can operate with. There is just too much need in this broken and incomplete world - too much even for everybody to handle, and what aggravates matters is that only a minority of people are stepping up to the plate.. I'm not sure what the rest are doing.

So how ah? On my own part, I need to assess priorities while I still can while asking God for strength. And well, if you're reading this and you feel that you're not doing much.. wanna give it a shot?

The Small Gate and the Narrow Road

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

These days it has really struck me just how small the gate and narrow the road it really is - and it makes me feel very sad indeed, that so many people don't want to find it.

But you know what? In spite of being small and narrow, it is very beautiful, and the place that it leads to is even more beautiful.

Sometimes I don't know why people don't walk this way, and I don't know why people can't even take their eyes off that big path that leads to destruction. It makes me think of the winding, mazy path that leads to that beautiful sanctuary of Rivendell, in contrast with the colossal black gate that leads to the black lands of Mordor.

But I guess that's where we come in. I'm not exactly the best guide, but I do know the way to the narrow path, because the greatest Guide of all has brought me there. Through I know how to get there, it might be quite hard for me to lead others, but then maybe in the midst of trying, the original Guide will appear and take over - He knows I'm not that good on my own.

Thank God for God

Strictly speaking, there is a distinction between help that comes from God and help that comes from the people around you. However, we can't ever limit His flexibility, and I dare say I thank God for being who He is, and bringing the right people at the right time to come and say the right words and do the right things, totally without realising it.

Thank you God for being God, and when the chips are down my short-sightedness gets a little better and I can see You for who You are.

Who will He send me next, a Timothy to nurture, or a Paul to rebuke? Maybe Priscilla and Aquila to show care, or an Epaphras to be a fellow-prisoner. Perhaps even a nameless good Samaritan.

Never limit God, my friends, and never limit how He uses the people in your midst.