As We Pass Through
Life
Lee Jin (Singapore)
Life has been described in many
ways. The Bible compares it to mist that appears and soon disappears. It is
also like the grass and flowers that soon wither and fall away. The message is
clear: life on earth is temporary and transient. Each man and woman lives for a
little while and then dies. The earthly stage remains but different actors are
constantly passing through it. That is why the psalmist prayed to God to let
him realize how fleeting his life was — a mere breath — so that he would know
how to number his days and spend it wisely. We need to make this petition
before God too, so that we can lead a worthwhile life.
As we pass through life, we need
to periodically introspect, to see how we are faring in our spiritual
cultivation. “I am busy” is a prominent theme of modern day living. We rush
through our days, busy with our studies, families, careers, businesses, and
even with church activities. Day in day out we juggle with the various demands,
and over time these govern our lives; we just follow the routines without
second thought. But this is not what life is all about. As Christians, we need
to regularly quiet down our hearts and introspect; perform “reality checks”;
ask why we are doing certain things, what our motives are, and where our
priorities lie.
Many of us have been believers for
a long time. We have not grown cold in our faith and we remain an integral part
of the church. We attend church services regularly and we take up church work
assigned to us. But in terms of our faith, have we really progressed? Are we
closer to God now than before? Do His words still “burn within us” when we
listen to sermons or read the scriptures? Do we still feel a stir in our hearts
when we sing those familiar hymns telling us to “stand up for Jesus”, not to
leave this world “empty-handed”, to “take everything to Him in prayer” and many
more. How much importance do we place on service attendance? Have they become a
mere monotonous weekly event where we settle comfortably into our seats and
rest our eyes? In fact, service attendance is a form of worship where we show
reverence to our Creator, to thank Him for His bountiful grace. We should not
abuse this privilege, despite the passage of time.
Spiritual cultivation forms an essential
part of a Christian’s daily living. Regardless of how busy we maybe, we have to
find time to pray and study the Bible. We are of the kingdom of God.
If we do not have dose communion with our Father in heaven and understand His
will for us, we cannot possibly lead a life worthy of our calling and be
assured of our salvation. We may be participating in the Lord’s ministry
actively, but if we remain as spiritual babes, we may discover with dismay at
the end of our journey that our efforts have been in vain. For this reason,
Jesus warns that not all who acknowledge Him as Lord and who serve Him in their
lives will enter His kingdom. Only those who bear good fruits and do His will will be rewarded (Mt 7:2 1). If we do not diligently
pray and read the Bible daily, how can we ever know what His will is? Let us
take stock and ask ourselves whether our spiritual nature has matured with
time. The longer we procrastinate, the more difficult it will be to change,
because as time passes, we will become so set in our ways that we are incapable
of changing for the better.
As we pass through life, we have
to learn to look beyond ourselves, to lift our eyes and see the needs of those
around us. It is easy for us to be so engrossed in our own cares and worries
that we forget to care for one another. I know of people, non-TJC members, who
practice charity, who show concern over the welfare of those less fortunate
than they. As TJC members, we should surpass them, not for our own glory but
for the Lord’s. After all, we call ourselves true Israelites, the children of
God. We have to live up to this status. The question is, do we?
A beautiful testimony of caring is
found in our church in Accra,
Ghana, with
membership of around 100. Because of the poor economy, only a small percentage
of our members are employed, and even then, with meagre wages. In spite of
this, these brethren use their wages to subsidize the church’s needs and to
cover the basic necessities of the unemployed members. It would seem that we
who live in affluent societies have a lot to learn from them.
Let us stretch out a helping hand
toward our brethren in need, especially those who live in war-tom or
under-developed countries. One such country is Liberia. Our church in Liberia was
established in 1986 and the last recorded membership figure was 200. Civil war
has thrown the entire country into social and economic chaos. Many have fled
the country for Ghana, our
brethren from five different places in Liberia among them. Their lives are
full of suffering. ‘When we see news reports of the refugees’ plight, we ought
to realize that our brethren, members of our spiritual family, are among them.
How can we not help them? At the very least, we who enjoy material abundance
should offer financial assistance.
Time is not on our side. Apart
from the imminent second coming, we are in reality very vulnerable —not even
certain whether tomorrow belongs to us. But very often, whilst we acknowledge
that of course we have to care (and can even quote Bible verses and relate Bible
examples to support this fact), we have our own
problems to solve now. Therefore we murmur regretfully that caring for others
belong sometime in the future, when we find a less stressful job, when our
children are older etc. But such reasoning fails to account for an important
factor, death. Recently, I learnt of the death of a three- month-old baby,
terminal illnesses striking a four-year- old boy and a youth in his early
twenties; I have even attended the wake of a twenty-year-old sister.
All this is enough to bring home
the point that death can knock on our doors at any time, perhaps when we least
expect it. That is why “it is better to go to the house of mourning than to go
to the house of feasting; for this is the end of all men, and the living will lay
it to heart” (Eccl 7:2). The irony is, many of us
already understand this teaching. Deep in us we know that we can die at any
time. We can be knocked down by a car, we can suffer a stroke, even the food that we consume can be potentially harmful.
But like the ostrich that hides its head in the sand, we push such morbid
thoughts away, and rush through a life that bears few good deeds. It is time
that we face up to the certainty of death, and live each day as if there were
no tomorrow; stretching our hands to help those less fortunate than we.
As we pass through life, we have
to turn our youthful aspirations into positive actions. When we were in our
teens, many of us had the zeal for service. We looked at the church condition
and told ourselves that when the time comes, we would do even better. We also
resolved that when we were older and less dependent on our parents, we would be
more active in the local evangelistic and pastoral ministries, join preachers
in their overseas missionary trips and if the Lord willed, offer ourselves for
full-time ministry. Time passed. We have become older, but have also acquired
responsibilities, cares and worries. Now we still have the zeal, but again we
tell ourselves that we should wait till we have sorted out our problems first.
Little do we realize that these problems are likely to plague us for the rest
of our lives. If we continue to simply hold on to our
aspirations but not turn them into actions, we may leave this world a sad
person, empty-handed before God.
The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu
once said, “I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand.”
[Ia preacher were to relate to you the joy of
experiencing God’s guidance in missionary trips, you may forget. If he were to
support his facts with photographs of miracles of healing during the trip, you
may remember. But you will only truly understand the joy when you participate
in the ministry yourself. Time and tide wait for no man. We have to act now and
not later. Then we will have truly lived a worthwhile and meaningful life.
We are familiar with the Lord’s
saying that the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Is this not the
case today? How long shall we wait before we respond to the call? If we are one
of those who are still considering, just quietly think about what the Lord has
done for us; visualize the bruises on His body, the scars on His face, His pain
and agony on the cross, a sinless man freely offering His life in exchange for
the lives of sinners. Whilst we still can, we ought to start living our lives
for Him, and not for ourselves.
As we pass through life, let us:
“grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ,, (2 Pet 3:18)
“be a vessel for noble use, consecrated and
useful to the master of the house, ready for any good work,,(2 Tim 2:21)
