In this society, there are many people who are good at using things to advance themselves. They are good at making use of the environment, the timing of events and the people around them to achieve their goals. Sometimes we call these people shrewd, some even consider them smart. Some even consider them as professionals. It becomes a skill to acquire. While it may be good to have a certain sense of shrewdness so that we can read the times well, we should learn to allow the Holy Spirit to prompt us and guide us. If not, we can actually fall into the trap of manipulation easily. We can be so confident that we depend more on our knowledge, experiences and techniques. We can end up always asking what we get in return and how worthwhile is our investment. We can get so consumed by our goals that we manipulate the conditions. We can end up twisting God’s arm or even tying up His arms. We may just be waiting to get something back from God in return.
Are we a utilitarian trying to make use of those things around us so that we get what we want? Don’t think we are so smart lest we commit the sin of witchcraft when we manipulate things and people. Don’t be too goal-orientated, so much so that we think that everything we do must accomplish our purpose. There is room for enjoyment and relaxation too. Don’t always think that we must get something in return. Jesus is the best example. He died for us without any conditions. In fact, He emptied Himself and humbled Himself so as to be an Instrument of God. In the same manner, we can give of ourselves like how Jesus gave His life for us. We need to learn to let go rather than always trying to control and manipulate things to accomplish our goals. Are we only willing to invest in things that can give us a profitable return? How about lives? When we invest in the kingdom of God, do we know that we may not see immediate return? Are we willing to invest in an area that is hard to evangelise or we are only interested in areas with the fastest growth rate? Are we keen to spend time to disciple someone who is weak and seemingly with no leadership potential or are we only interested in people who are promising? The utilitarian always need to get something in return in order for him to invest time, money and energy. But those who know God see the return in heaven, and continue to plough faithfully because the Lord calls them to the work. If God calls us to a ministry that is tough, stick to it faithfully, even if we do not see the immediate result. Do not just merely measure the work of God as the world sees it. When God calls us to a work, there will be a purpose in it.

We live in a world that value qualifications more than character. If we have the qualifications, people assume that we have the intelligence and therefore the competence to get the job done well. Perhaps it is because qualifications are more tangible and measurable. This causes many to overlook character as the main criteria. As a result, people are focusing more on getting qualifications rather than building character. Actually our academic pursuit should encompass character building too. The two should not be dichotomised. But due to the fact that our society values qualifications more than character, people are looking for ways to get their qualifications within the shortest time. In this way, they ignored or cut short the character building process.
This thinking has influenced the church in the same manner. Bible institutions can end up focusing more on teaching biblical knowledge rather than character formation. Churches can end up focusing too much on doing ministry rather than shaping the being of their believers. We, ourselves, become more concerned about our academic qualifications and social standing rather than transforming our lives. There is a need to integrate the two again. The purpose of biblical knowledge is to transform our lives so that we can pass on the teachings of God correctly and truthfully. The purpose of Christian ministry is to glorify God so that more would come to taste the goodness of God. The purpose of our lives is to conform to the image of God so that we can be effective witnesses for Him. If we are not careful, we would end up building this generation with big heads, big hands and often big mouths but with small hearts. This would put the Church into a crisis. Let us return to the call for character formation for this is the will of God. Let us never forget to translate our knowledge into shaping our character. What we do should be an outflow of our being. Let God grow our hearts big enough to contain the kingdom of God.

In our daily life, we seldom forget to take our meals regularly, especially for those who are health conscious. Not only do they take their meals on time, they also make sure that they have a balanced diet. Of course, there may be a few occasions when we miss our meals because of our busy schedules.
How are we taking our spiritual meals today? Do we take them regularly? Do we have a balance diet? Or do we just focus on those bible passages that we like? Are we so busy that we give our spiritual meals a miss? The Bible tells us that man shall not live by bread alone. This implies that spiritual meals are actually more important than physical meals. We can miss our meals through fasting, but we cannot miss our spiritual meals. This is also true for those who are teachers of the Bible. Ironically, Bible teachers often forget to feed themselves while preparing spiritual food for others. But the truth is that we must always feed ourselves first before we can feed others. Or else we faced the risk of running on empty tanks. We should always encounter the truths of God first so that they bring conviction to our hearts before we can teach others effectively. Don’t think that we are so noble because we sacrifice our time to prepare our teaching without feeding ourselves first. We may just be serving God with our knowledge and not with our hearts. This is perhaps the only thing that we should get selfish about. Always feed ourselves first before we feed others.

We all know that love must come with actions. But there are some people who do not know how to express their love. They just keep it within their hearts. Sometimes, this love can manifest itself as aggressive and abusive actions too. It is like a typical Asian father who tends to scold and beat his child without knowing how to express his love through encouragement and affirmation. Some even use their authority to manipulate their children’s decision without trying to understand them.
There are also those who act without love. They just do a lot of things to impress or get someone’s attention.  Their focus is very much on themselves than the other party. Imagine buying a present that we like for someone without trying to find out what the other party really likes. Or it is like a big company that donates a lot of money to help the poor but the real intention is to improve the company’s image.
Now, we also see more people expressing their love in the wrong manner. Love is a matter of the heart but we tend to reduce it to a matter of material needs. A good example would be replacing our time with our children by giving them various things they want. They might end up spending more time with their computer games than their parents. We also see domestic helpers having a better relationship with the children than their parents.
Love is an art. Not only must it come with actions, the intention must be right. But intention and action are still not sufficient. We need to have the right expression too. Right expression when coupled with understanding and sensitivity, would then be able to touch the hearts of others, not just at the cognitive level but the affective level too.

In our road of discipleship, we are often told that we should count our cost. It tells us the need to think seriously before making the commitment to follow Jesus rather than making any rash decision. However, after we have make this decision, we should not just count our cost of discipleship, but we should begin to see what we gain in Christ. Paul was definitely aware of this. What he considered as a profit had become a loss to him when compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ. There was obviously a change in mindset to cause Paul to see what he gained in Christ rather than what he had to give up. Many Christians after deciding to follow Christ just continue to ‘count the cost’, as such the road of discipleship becomes tougher and tougher. We need to adopt a different mindset. Following Christ is not just about losing; it is also about gaining. In fact, we gain more than we lose. If we see what we gain is much more and has a greater value than what we lose, obeying Christ would not be so difficult for us anymore. Remember, what we lose for Christ will never be more than our gain.

There is no doubt that God can still perform miracles today. However, the way miracles are performed has changed. In the Bible, Jesus performed miracles to help those who were sick or demon-possessed. His focus was on the person. It was usually carried out in a low-profiled manner so that it would not attract too much attention. It was never done to increase His popularity or to make Him more well-known. He never allowed the miracles to point to Himself but to God the Father.
Some churches today has departed from this truth. Miracles done today are  targeted at the audience. They are for show, more like a performance. They would publicise their churches or the healer to attract more people. Well, though it is said that they wanted to give God the glory, but the preacher seemed to get more honour than God. It is not that I do not believe in miracles, but the flaw of today’s healing ministry is that it reinforces the prevalent belief of the world about ‘what works’ more than ‘what’s true’. It is not that God’s name is not mentioned but the ministry caused people to put their faith on a few individuals more than on God. I am not against healing ministry but I am calling for a better balance so that when the churches do not perform those spectacular miracles, the people would still believe in God firmly. We do not just believe in God because of those miracles but because of the greatest Miracle of Jesus Christ. The incarnation, crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest Miracle. No other miracle can replace this. Even though we may know God through other miracles, but all believers should place their faith in the greatest Miracle eventually. Our faith is never solely built on what works but more importantly, what’s true too. Glory should be given to God and not cling on a few individuals who have the ‘power’. Healing is also just directed at our physical infirmities, but includes inner healing and transformation that bring our lives to be  right with God.

Even the biggest vision starts with a small step. We must not be pressurized to do something big all the time. It is all right to take small steps. Our step can be small like a little mustard seed or a little yeast, yet the effect can be great. What is important is that we must go deep. A mustard seed can grow into a big tree because it has deep roots. A little yeast can lift up the whole dough because it works in every portion of the flour. As such, we need to build strong and good foundation for our faith and life. There is no point we seemingly make a giant leap but we have no foundation. In the end, everything would just collapse. We can take a small step at a time, but let us make sure it is making a lasting impact in our lives. With these little steps, they would accomplish great vision from God.

Many people live their lives as segments: family, friends, work, recreation and religion. This might sounds good and I do agree that there is a certain degree of segmentation that we need to apply. But the main issue is with our faith. For most Asians, they see that their faiths have very little to do with their lives. They could be swearing and cursing outside but suddenly turned very religious in their place of worship. After worshipping, they are back to their old self again. For them, there is no need to demonstrate consistency between their life and faith. However, Christianity should not be like this. God never dwells in a confined segment called religion in our lives only, He is our whole life and being. In fact, Christ should permeate every segments of our lives so that we might be changed in all aspects.
If we were to segmentize God, we would end up putting on a spiritual mask. Not only that, our lives would remain unchange no matter how long we believed in Him. It is therefore important to be connected with God in all areas of our lives. We need to open up our lives and let God change the way we handle ourselves, our family, our friends and our work. Only then, can we live out authentic Christianity. If not, Christianity would just be like an ornament – just fit for show. Let us allow God to impact our lives as a whole and live lives that are connected to God.

We live a busy and hectic lifestyle. As we grow up, our responsibilities increase. Our work gets busier. Our service in church gets heavier too. We just keep adding things to our lives, hoping to keep up with our way of life. No one knows how much more we could take.
We live in a trapped situation that make us think the more the better. If our children go for more courses, they would be more competent. If we work harder, we could provide better for our family and go for more holidays. If we have more activities in the church, then we would have more fellowship and church would grow faster. The list goes on. We just keep adding and keep telling ourselves that we have no choice.
Indeed, we would have no choice if we want to keep our mindset. Unless we are willing to substract some things in our lives, we would only get busier. But taking things out of our lives would require wisdom. Without wisdom, we might actually remove the wrong things. For some, they would cut their devotion time with God or going to Sunday service. That would be detrimental to our spiritual life. What we need to do is actually to consider ways to simplify our lives with the wisdom of God. I know that it is not easy to bring down our standard of living when it has been raised. But only in simplifying our lives, then we could see how luxurious our lives have been. We could have a feel of living without whatapps or smartphone games, cutting down on TV serials or music, skipping our holiday trips or additional courses, take the public transport instead of driving around, etc. There are always things we could cut down so that we could free up our time. We could then use this time to meditate on the Word of God and pray to the Lord. We could reflect on our lives and plan for our lives. We could spend quality time with our family members. We could just relax and do nothing. There is no need to always go for more.
The church has a role to play as well. Many a times, instead of helping believers to find rest in God, the church join in the rat race too. It is as though that they are trying to compete for more time from the believers and then make them even busier. Do not get me wrong, I am not against serving God. What I am saying is that the church could not just be getting believers to do things for God without letting God do things for them. There need to be proper feeding and contemplation to build the spiritual life. If we have so much output, we would be too tired to receive spiritual input from God. The church should not tired out the already worn-out generation, she needs to refresh and restore them.
Frankly speaking, this has to start from the leaders. Many leaders think that they have so much to do. They think that God has called them to do a lot of things. They even quoted from the Bible to say that Jesus lived a very busy and hectic life, so should we. Well, we could surely get very busy in ministry, as much as we want it to be. We might even feel good to be the most important person around. It is as though we are indispensable. Sometimes, there is even guilt when we take a rest or spend time with our family. But I am worried that many today are living a life busier and more hectic than Jesus. They might be more important than what Jesus meant for them to be. They have so many meetings to chair and so many assignments to complete. They might also be more tired than Jesus. Instead of helping believers to slow down their pace in the society, they ended up speeding up the believers’ pace of life because they could not even slow down theirs. Well, there are some who use the Second Coming of Christ as the reason to push the congregation. But ironically, by serving God so hard, some ended up becoming like those virgins without sufficient oil for the lamps. They would be dried up when the Bridegroom comes! It is time the church take a step back and review our existence. It is not just our lives that need simplication, the church must lead the world in this simplication process. Perhaps we are having too many structures or committees. Or we might be having too many programs or trainings. It is time to simplify so that we could be more effective and spend more time building meaningful relationship. We must be careful not to be too carried away by our goals. We should not put programs before people since the programs are meant for the people. We could not drive people to evangelise. Neither could we compel people to stay in our church. But we could build a conducive environment for people to relate and enjoy being around. We could love and encourage people to fulfill the purposes of God. All these could only take place, if we were to simplify certain things in church. Or else, we would just end up with having more blue houseflies in church-busy running around and making a lot of noises without making real impact in the kingdom of God.
Let us stop complicating our lives and our church, simplify them today.

现在很多教会都很积极的想要建立更大的教会。虽说是为了要让更多人决志信主，但也有时候是为了数字，要自己的教会得到荣耀。教会可能以神的名誉，建立自己的国度，导致教会非常注重外表，而忽略了内心的改变。教会也会因太着重服事，而忽视了个人的灵命与成长。到头来，教会可能只是个空壳子。我们看到西方教会的衰退就是很好的例子，往年的风采去了何处，真是可悲。
今天教会可能有很大的数字，但并不代表信徒会有素质。决志与素质必须取得平衡。我们不需要为了得到数字而放弃素质。教会建立得慢，好过建没有根基的教会。而且，教会大了，分开管理也并不是件坏事，可能还可以训练出更多的领袖。让教会回到十架的根本，不要太看重数字，而要求主赐下有素质的决志。神的救赎才是最重要的。必然，人只能撒种，唯有神能使他们成长，我们又何必扮神呢？