When it’s all been said, when it’s all been done

S: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

Philippians 3:7-10a I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.

O: Years ago, we participated in a yee sang toss with friends from church, and they were saying all the traditional yee sang toss things, about wealth, prosperity, that our children will be successful, etc. and something made me say that may our children be committed to Jesus. It may have been because I had friends who were committed to Jesus, but whose children had wandered away. And I was reminded of someone who said that, if his children were prosperous, successful, etc. but did not follow Jesus, they wouldn’t really be successful.

A few days ago, my wife and I were alerted by 2 different circumstances that both our girls were walking with the Lord. That’s such a blessing to know. They’re still in their late teens, the older one in her first year of degree and the younger one in her foundation year at university, so they still have a long journey ahead of them, but it is very encouraging to us that they’re sincerely seeking God.

Philip Sandifer wrote this song:

Well I could talk for hours about His coming
But the louder that I speak
I’d just grow deaf against his call
And I could pray for years
I could bind my ails and my fears
And even believe I have the answer to it all

But when it’s all been said
And when it’s all been done He’ll ask me
Did you go my way child
Did you know my Son

And when it’s all been said
And when it’s all been done he’ll ask me
Did you find your way within my Son

A: Even at my age, I must continue daily taking the daily steps to find my way within Jesus. I still have so many flaws, so many things more to bring into conformity with Jesus.

The next day after those incidents that showed that my kids were walking with Jesus, I messed up in two different ways and had to repent of it. One of them my eldest was the one who called me on it. Thank God for her.

So, I’m still a work in progress. Daily, I must work out my salvation in fear and trembling, while being assured that God is working in me, giving me the desire and the power to do what pleases him. (Philippians 2:12-13.)

P: Father, thank You for Your grace. May I find my way within Your Son, growing in Christlikeness day by day. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Second Chances

S: Acts 13:13; Acts 15:36–41; Colossians 4:10; Philemon 1:24; 2 Timothy 4:11

O: Mark was basically one of the early second-generation Christians. Acts 12:12 says that his mother’s house was where the believers gathered in Jerusalem, and church tradition identifies it as the house that contained the κατάλυμα (guest room) in which the Last Supper was held. (This is the same word traditionally mistranslated as “inn” in the Christmas story.)

In Acts 13:13, Mark “chickened out” on Paul and Barnabas’s first missionary journey. Now, in Acts 15:36–41, Barnabas, the “Son of Encouragement,” wanted to bring him along again for their second missionary journey.

Paul didn’t want to have anything to do with that. I can imagine the argument:

Paul: I don’t want that quitter coming along again! He’s useless!
Barney: He’s young. We need to nurture him so that he will grow.
Paul: If we bring him, he’ll just chicken out again! Let him learn at home here in Jerusalem!
Barney: If we discourage him now, we could set his growth back years!
Paul: I’m not bringing him! He doesn’t have what it takes!
Barney: I love you, you love me… 🤣

Okay, maybe not exactly like that. 😊 But Luke does say, “They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas.”

Interestingly, if we move forward several years, we find Mark working alongside Paul. In Colossians 4:10, Paul mentions Mark and tells the church to welcome him. In Philemon 1:24, Paul lists Mark as one of his fellow workers.

And in 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul goes even further: “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.” What a turnaround! The man Paul once refused to take on a missionary journey had become someone he considered useful to his ministry.

A: God is a God of second chances, and we, as His people, should be willing to give others second chances, too. I know it’s not always easy, especially when someone has let us down. Sometimes, like Paul, we may have good reasons to be reluctant to trust that person again. Giving someone another chance doesn’t mean pretending that nothing happened or ignoring the need for growth and accountability. But Barney had the right idea. Paul had forgotten that he himself was one of Barney’s “encouragement projects.” I guess Paul later learned to be more like Barney, too.

Note: I wrote the first draft myself, but I did get AI to do some editing.

When Jesus is not Jesus

S: Acts 13:6-12

When Barnabas and Saul got to Paphos on Cyprus and shared the Gospel with Sergius Paulus, the sorcerer Bar-Jesus opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. But the Holy Spirit filled Saul and had him say, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.”

As a result, Sergius Paulus believed in Jesus.

O: Recently Cristiano Ronaldo had a public dispute with the coach of Portugal’s national team, Jorge Jesus. Christiano accused Jesus of breaking his word twice, and there was quite a bit of public fall-out in the news.

In the above reading, Bar-Jesus (i.e. “Son of Jesus”) was clearly the bad guy, trying to stop Sergius from trusting in Jesus.

In modern times, we find a lot of people claiming Jesus but doing questionable things, especially in politics, but sometimes in other ways as well.

Paul, in 2 Corinthians 11:4 and Galatians 1:6–9, warned against people preaching a different Jesus and a different gospel.

Actually, the name Jesus is the same name as Joshua, but the fact that Jorge Jesus and Elymas Bar-Jesus happened to have that name spelled the same way, and Cristiano Ronaldo has the name of Christ, just highlights something: Someone can be called by the name of Jesus (or Christian) and not be following Jesus, or even be opposed to what Jesus wants. (Note that I’m not assuming who is right or taking sides in the Jesus vs Christiano dispute, just using the names as an illustration.)

A: We need to be authentically following Jesus if we are to call ourselves by His name, to be Christians. We must beware of others or even ourselves labelling our thing as Christian but not actually be in line with what Christ would want.

So we need to keep in fellowship with Him, read His Word, and accept correction from the Holy Spirit. Staying in fellowship with other believers who can encourage us and alert us to when we stray from Jesus is also important and helpful.

P: Lord make me like You.
Please make me like You.
You are a servant, make me one, too.
O Lord, I am willing, do what You must do
To make me like You, Lord,
Just make me like You.

Amen.

P.S. Speaking of names, it is interesting that from this point onwards, Luke refers to Saul as Paul (Latin Paulus).

Perhaps it was because of the Roman practice of adopting an adult they like and making their heir (see what happened to Judah Ben Hur after he rescued Quintus Arrius in Lew Wallace's Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ).

St. Jerome, the 4^th century theologian, historian and Bible translator, thought that Saul called himself Paul in honour of his first distinguished convert.

Other people think that Luke switched from calling him Saul to calling him Paul because he, being a Roman citizen, already had that Roman name in addition to his Hebrew name, and now he was concentrating on the Gentiles.

In all his epistles, he called himself Paul.

Pride and Prejudice

S: Acts 12:20-25

O: Herod Agrippa I was a grandson of the ruthless Herod the Great from the Christmas story. He seems to have been less notorious for cruelty than his grandfather, but he also persecuted the church. He had James son of Zebedee executed, and when he saw that this pleased the Jewish leaders, he proceeded to arrest Peter. That was calculated persecution: he used violence against Christ’s apostles to strengthen his political standing. Josephus, the Jewish historian, generally wrote positively about him but also noted that many people celebrated his death.

He also was familiar with the Jewish religion, and so would have known that it was wrong to receive worship like the Roman emperors did. Josephus portrayed him as a king who took Jewish law seriously. As a Jewish king whose position depended partly on maintaining good relations with his people, Agrippa had reason to respect their religious traditions.

Unfortunately, when the crowed proclaimed him a god, he failed to give God the glory, so God struck him down. Perhaps his earlier persecution of Christians was also relevant. Josephus said he died after 5 days of excruciating abdominal pain.

Luke supplies the detail that he was eaten by worms, which is ironic, because Josephus reported that worms was part of how his grandfather Herod the Great died as well. Josephus reports that Herod the Great's final illness was regarded by some as divine punishment for his impiety. In the surrounding account, Herod had executed Jewish teachers and their companions who opposed his placing a golden eagle above the Temple gate, an act they considered contrary to Jewish law.

The irony is striking: Agrippa seems to have taken Jewish law seriously, unlike his grandfather, yet he failed to give God the glory when the crowd acclaimed him as a god.

A: God opposes the proud and preserves His purpose. Therefore, we should remain humble, give God the glory, and take courage when worldly powers oppose the gospel. We may die like James ben Zebedee did, or be rescued like Peter, but in either case, we should stay true to Yahweh and trust that He is ultimately in control.

P: Father, help me to stay in Your ways. When I am tempted to do wrong, remind me. When I suffer for doing right, keep me faithful. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Note: I discussed these ideas with 2 different AIs and used some of their phraseology.

When God challenges your prejudices

S: Acts 10:1-11:18

O: Cornelius, a centurion in Caesarea, sincerely sought God, and God answered him, sending an angel who told him to invite Peter from Joppa, 50 km away, which back then in those conditions took roughly 12 hours to walk, but usually people would take two days.

For Peter, entering a Gentile home was not a small social adjustment. In our Malaysian setting, it may feel as difficult as asking a committed Muslim to enter a non-Muslim’s home and share a meal in a way that could bring criticism from his own community. That helps us feel the force of Peter’s obedience and the scandal it caused among the Jewish believers.

So God had to send him a vision – the animals on the sheet – to persuade him to go with the people Cornelius sent to invite him, and then when he got back to Joppa, the other Jewish Christians were scandalised, and he had to go back to Jerusalem to answer their charges. He managed to persuade them by pointing out to them that if the Holy Spirit accepted them by giving them the Gift of Tongues, who were the Jewish Christians to deny them?

Even after this, Paul still had to contend with the Judaizers. And even Peter backslid and Paul had to correct him (Galatians 2:11-14). So it was definitely not easy.

A: What prejudices do I still hold against people different from me? Who is in and who is out?

The Jewish Christians were demanding that Gentiles had to “masuk Yahudi” before they could become Christians and be saved. We must not make people feel that they have to “masuk” our culture before they can come to Christ. They do not need to become like us in order to be saved.

And, even before they’re saved, remember how Jesus accepted Gentiles like the Syrophoenician woman and others. What non-Christians are God calling for me to drop my prejudices against?

And we must be open to others’ correction, like Peter was to Paul even though he was the leader of the Apostles after Jesus’ ascension.

P: Father, open my eyes to see where my own practice of the faith needs to expand its horizons. And help me to be open to others’ correction. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Selalu manise

 

I like this song very much. It has a very Nusantara feel, rather than sounding like a Western Christian song translated into Indonesian. And the term “manise” is very interesting. Literally, it means “sweet” but in this song it is used metaphorically.

Kerja buat Tuhan
Selalu manise
Biar pikul salib
Selalu manise

Ayo, kerja buat Tuhan, sungguh senang-senange
Dipanggil Tuhan, selalu manise
Membuang diri ke ladang Tuhan, Saudara
Serta Tuhan, selalu manise

This song is in Ambon Malay, where manise can mean sweet, beautiful, pleasant, lovely, delightful, or enjoyable. So the song isn’t saying so much that “Working for God is always sweet” but more like “serving God is always wonderful” or “serving  God is always a joy.”

The line “Biar pikul salib, selalu manise” is particularly interesting: “even bearing the cross is a joy.” The song isn't saying that working for the Lord is always easy. Rather, it expresses the joy of belonging to and serving Jesus even when that service involves sacrifice.

The Fear of the Lord

S: Acts 4:32-5:11

All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need. For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus. He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.

But there was a certain man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest. Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!”

As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and buried him.

About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, “Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?” “Yes,” she replied, “that was the price.” And Peter said, “How could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you out, too.” Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened.

O: Dishonesty and desire for praise turned a commendable thing into something that strikes the fear of the Lord in the hearts of everyone in the church.

Jim Bakker was a televangelist who led the PTL (Praise The Lord) ministries but he was brought down by a sex scandal and then later put in jail for financial fraud. Later, a Christian leader, John Bevere, visited him in jail and asked him when he lost his love for Jesus, to have committed such sins. Jim said he didn’t ever lose his love for Jesus – he lost the fear of the Lord.

A: We tend to talk about the Love of God these days much more than the Fear of the Lord. Both are true. Fear of the Lord is not just awe, though that’s true as well. But Yahweh is a just God, though He is also merciful. I find it relatively easy to trust God’s love, but I must also remind myself of the Fear of the Lord.

As C. S. Lewis puts it through Mr Beaver's description of Aslan, “He’s not safe. But he’s good.” God is good, but He is not tame. His love does not make Him less holy or less worthy of reverence. I need to remind myself of the fear of the Lord—not as a rejection of His love, but as a recognition of His holiness and authority—so that I will turn away from sin rather than take His grace for granted.

P: Father, thank You that You love us. Help me to remember also to fear You, recognise Your holiness, take Your commands seriously, and stay away from sin. Remind me of this whenever temptation beckons. In Jesus’ name, amen.