Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!
Serve the LORD with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
Know that the LORD, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
For the LORD is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
(Psalm 100)
Love Life Conference.
When I first heard the name of the conference, it didn't really sink in.
Love life. Haven't we, even as Christians, been greatly influenced by the world that life is full of sorrows and sufferings?
As a Christian of 11 years, I keep hearing people talk about focusing on the eternal home that we are going to have when we die. The impression is just to focus on salvation, bring people to church and we would have done our part.
In recent years, I realize some Christians can be most unhappy, serving our Lord not with gladness but with great reluctance and even bitterness. Serving becomes a monotonous duty, serving the institutional church rather than serving God and His people.
I even heard from a leader that "success" is when youths come back to serve the church. And I asked, "What about people who serve outside the church?" I could tell that she was at a loss for words. Something is wrong when we make such a distinction.
When we meet one another for the first time, we would ask, "Which church are you from?"
There's nothing wrong with going to church to worship God and to grow. I learnt so much from where I came from in the past 10 years from respected pastors and cell leaders. Without God using them, I would not have learnt more about God.
But I realize I grow to love and know God faster and more during this testing period. The initial period of my wilderness was very tough. God was like opening a can of worms and I had to face my wrong perceptions which I did not know existed.
Is the Body of Christ confined to a church building or are we all, as long as we profess Jesus Christ as our King, all one big family? It's not about your church or my church. It's about the Church of Jesus Christ. It's not about your ministry or my territory. It's the holy ground of God.
Maybe we can ask one another, "How did you come to know our Lord? How's your walk with God lately? How's life?"
I realized that many Christians live in great fear of man and of the unknown. Many live in shame, which can be deadly. Why do we have more fear of man rather than the reverence of God? Is it because we, like the world, only see the visible man but not our invisible God?
Are we so caught up in storing treasures on earth rather than treasures in heaven? Are we discipled by the world or are we discipling the world?
Recently, I have been telling people I lived in hell before I knew God. Now I feel like I'm living heaven on earth. Not that life is smooth-sailing but because I was in darkness then but now I'm a child of light.
I'm no longer a slave to fear and sin but I'm a child of God. I still have my irrational fears that God won't let me get away with. But now I have a Compass in life, I have the best Guidebook on life and most comforting of all, I have a Father in God, a Husband in Jesus and a Helper in the Holy Spirit.
I have everything! :D
I love God because He is so real to me through my personal encounters, through the people He sent on my path, through His word of life, through coming out of my comfort zone and embracing the faith He has in me and clinging on to the love and faith in Him.
Someone asked, "What if the person in depression does not believe in God?"
I was stunned because my honest answer to that is recovery may be temporary. Family and friends are very important but no loved one can stop me from killing myself. No one can understand whatever that I'm going through because none of them is me. Because God is my Creator, He loves me and knows me, I'm accountable to Him in this life, I cannot kill myself anymore. I cannot destroy this temple of God. I value my life now.
That's why it troubles me greatly whenever I hear of people destroying their own lives and those of others. I know the push factors because I was one of them, who by the mercy and grace of God, now am alive and writing this note of life.
Love life. Not that life has no challenges such that we can idolize our stay on earth.
Love life because God is life. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. (John 14:6)
If we love God, we would love our own lives and those of others. We would be compelled to love and care for people who are suicidal, having unsupported pregnancies, suffering the trauma of abortion etc.
We would grieve and feel the weight of sin from lives lost through murder, suicide, abortion and anything that replaces God in the throne of our hearts.
We would love and support people struggling with pornography, masturbation, premarital/casual sex, adultery, same-sex attraction, pedophilia etc. Not that we agree with the sins but that we acknowledge that behind these sins are broken souls yearning to be healed by God.
We would look at the lost and remember that we were once lost but are found. We would run after the one lost sheep and celebrate when our prodigal brother comes home.
I was once that prodigal daughter. My family in Christ welcomed me home and I never since looked back.
The overflowing love and grace that we have received from others, let's not hoard it. Let's not focus on the thorns in our lives and be choked by them.
I did not come to heaven on earth to experience hell again.
On this heavenly path on earth, I meet earthly obstacles. But I have a heavenly Father who removes all these obstacles and propel me forward on this narrow path.
We are destined to be overcomers.
In all things, give thanks.
A thankful heart every day would help us to see God's hand in our perceived sufferings. They are actually the chastening of our just and loving Father.
If we love God, we would love and treasure this temporal stay on earth. After all, eternal life is knowing God and we can't waste any more time indulging in magnifying ourselves.
What is Church?
Church is you and me, loving God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and loving our neighbours as ourselves.
Turn around and face your neighbours (anyone) who cross your path today.
No politics, no political correctness, not about how different you are from me but only one fact.
We are all made in the image of God. And that should remind us to be at least courteous to one another.
Have a day full of life, speak words of life and live a life worthy of our calling! :D
Love God, love life. Love our God of life.
