good enough (part 2)

December 21, 2009

It’s easy to condemn our hearts as bad, given all the evidence stacked against it – all the sins we commit even after becoming Christians, and despite our best intentions.  The apostle Paul could relate to that:

“For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep doing.” (Rom 7:19, NIV)

It’s a bit of a relief to hear that such an awesome man of God still struggled with sin.  But too often we just stop there, content to know that this internal struggle is common to everyone.  In fact, there’s more.

In the midst of describing his internal struggle with sin, Paul makes a crucial distinction.  He says:

“As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature…” (Rom 7:17-18, NIV)

“Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it… For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;” (Rom 7:20 & 22, NIV)

Like Paul, our sinful nature – where sin lives and from which sin oozes out – is not the true us.  On the contrary, our true self – our inner being – delights in God’s law.  And though these two natures are at constant war, it’s the sinful nature that’s the foreigner, the impostor – the one that doesn’t belong.

Of course, this doesn’t absolve us of our sin, or of our need to repent.  But understanding this gives us a clearer picture of who we are as Christians, despite the sin that clings on like dead skin.

Jesus illustrated it in another way when he washed his disciples’ feet:

“‘No,’ said Peter, ‘you shall never wash my feet.’

Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.’

‘Then, Lord,’ Simon Peter replied, ‘not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!’

Jesus answered, ‘A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean.  And you are clean…’” (Jn 13:8-10, NIV)

What Peter said sounded very humble and holy – “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” – but it wasn’t required.  It’s the same when we become Christians: we are bathed, washed completely.  Sure, we sin and we get dirty, but it’s just our feet that need washing.  If Jesus declared Peter clean, who would shortly go out and deny him three times, perhaps we too are clean.  And if God has made us – our hearts – clean, can we deny him his glory?

“…Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”  (Acts 10:15, NIV)

– Joseph Koh

good enough (part 1)

October 23, 2009

The heart.  It must be the most talked about, analysed and romanticised part of us, and for good reason.  After all, the two most important things we’ll ever do in life require our heart.  We need it to find God, and we need it to love God:

“You will seek me [God] and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jer 29:13 NIV)

“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deut 6:5, NIV)

And it’s the heart that God’s interested in:

“… Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7, NIV)

The heart really is at the heart of all things.  It’s who a person really is, and how we see our hearts is how we see ourselves –  “As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.” (Prov 27:19, NIV)

Many people view their heart based on a verse from Jeremiah:

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9, NIV)

But God’s answer to a deceitful heart has always been, and still is, in a sense, a heart transplant.

“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.” (Eze 11:19, NIV)

“Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.  For why should you die, O house of Israel?” (Eze 18:31, NIV)

A new heart and a new spirit are at the start of our transformation into new life.  For whoever is in Christ “… is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  (2 Cor 5:17, NIV)  That includes a new heart – and a good one at that, which we’ll need if we’re going to grow in God.  As Jesus said when he explained the Parable of the Sower (Lk 8:5-8, NIV):

“But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” (Lk 8:15, NIV)

And because we have a new heart God’s willing to fulfil its desires:  “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Ps 37:4, NIV)

If God’s happy to go with our hearts, then perhaps they’re good enough.

– Joseph Koh

an irrepressible prosperity

August 16, 2009

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  (Jer 29:11, NIV)

God said this to the Israelites who were carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.  And while God indeed planned to deliver the Israelites and restore them to their promised land at the appointed time, his will was for them to prosper even in their exile.  He said to them:

“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.  Marry and have sons and daughters… Increase in number there; do not decrease.  Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.  Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”  (Jer 29:5-7, NIV)

From the beginning, God has wanted his creation to prosper – to be fruitful and to multiply.  And while there are seasons of fruitfulness, prosperity does not need an appointed time.  In describing a righteous man, the psalmist said:

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.  Whatever he does prospers.” (Ps 1:3, NIV)

There is something extraordinary about a person walking so closely with God that his “leaf does not wither”, even in the most dire of situations.  We can see this most clearly in Christ, who even on the cross overflowed with life: he took care to entrust the welfare of his earthly mother to a faithful disciple (Jn 19:26-27), he prayed forgiveness for those who crucified him (Lk 23:34) and gave eternal life to one of the criminals crucified at his side (Lk 23:40-43).  In the darkest hour, the Light of the world still shone; his soul still prospered; his goodness still overflowed to those around him.

That same prosperity is reflected in the ministry of Paul and Timothy.  They described themselves as:

“sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” (2Cor 6:10, NIV)

True prosperity overflows from deep within to make others rich, in all the ways that matter.

bodywork

July 27, 2009

In 1 Kings 17 there’s the story of God’s provision for Elijah the prophet during a time of drought and famine – a time which Elijah had himself prophesied about.

At first, God sends Elijah to Brook Cherith, miraculously providing for him through ravens carrying meat and bread to him in the morning and evening.  After a while, though, the brook dries up and God sends Elijah to a widow to provide for him.

When Elijah first meets this widow she is gathering up firewood to cook the little flour and oil she has left, to feed herself and her son one last time – before dying.  Despite the widow’s dire situation, Elijah asks her to cook a meal for him first, promising that God would supply sufficient flour and oil to see her through the drought.  Taking him at his word, the widow does so, and indeed finds that her flour and the oil do not run out, so that “there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.” (1 Kin 17:15, NIV)

This story reminds me of how God works within his people, his church.  Although God sovereignly provided for Elijah at Brook Cherith for a while, Elijah ultimately had to receive God’s provision through another person.  And that person wasn’t some rich man with plenty of food stored up – it was a poor widow who didn’t even have enough for herself and her son.  But for God, even a needy person can be used to bless a mighty prophet, if they are willing.  And as the widow blessed Elijah with the little food she had, God took care of her needs.  A little later, Elijah was able to return the favour, resurrecting her son who fell sick and died.  Each gave the other something entirely different, but entirely essential.

In 1 Corinthians 12, the church is compared to a body, comprised of various parts.  Each person within the church is like a different part of the body, with different functions to perform and different contributions to make.  Each is reliant on the others, and ultimately on Christ – the head which directs and co-ordinates the corporate symphony.

Even Jesus, when on earth, sought the help of his disciples: he asked Peter, James and John to keep watch with him in prayer at Gethsemane (just prior to the crucifixion), and on the cross he entrusted the care of his mother – whom he would soon leave behind – to John.

No one is so great they don’t need anyone; and no one is so lowly then don’t have anything to offer.   If you want to be a blessing to others, just use what you have – someone needs it.

As Peter said to the cripple begging for money at the temple: “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you…”  (Acts 3:6, NIV)

–Joseph Koh

life can be a roller coaster

July 18, 2009

As Jesus rode towards Jerusalem on a donkey a jubilant and welcoming crowd greeted him.  The account in Matthew describes the scene:

“A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’
‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’
‘Hosanna in the highest!’”

(Matt 21:8-9, NIV)

A few days later the crowds shouted for Jesus to be crucified. (Matt 27:20-23).

It’s funny how circumstances can go from good to bad so quickly.  And it wasn’t only Jesus who faced such dramatic turns for the worse: Job lost his children (all ten of them) and his vast wealth in a single day, and then lost his health; Joseph went from being the favourite son of Jacob to a slave in a foreign land, then rose from slave to head of his master’s household, only to land in prison after being falsely accused.

None of these people did anything terrible to warrant such an awful turn of events.  God wasn’t angry with them, he wasn’t punishing them, and he certainly hadn’t abandoned them.  The stories of Jesus, Job and Joseph all end in triumph, and stand as testament to God’s divine purposes.

When disaster hits our life, it’s easy to question God and ourselves.  Job certainly had many questions he wanted to put to God for all that he was going through.  He didn’t get much help from his friends, who blamed him and accused him of some moral failure because they couldn’t otherwise reconcile a good and just God with Job’s predicament.

But I don’t believe that God’s sovereign provision and protection upon us stops bad things from happening.  I do, however, believe this:

“A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all” (Ps 34:19, NIV)

– Joseph Koh