Finest Education for Our Children

It is honourable to hold the thought of giving our children the finest education. Our instinct tells us that the secular education for our children will be their survival in the future. This is typically for the Malaysians due mainly to our political landscape and racial polarisation. We are so afraid that our children will lose out so we work vey hard to give them a good education. I think that is acceptable and reasonable. As Christians we need to have that perspective – one that looks out for their children. But I have an axe to grind with parents who stress secular education as top priority for their children. They have a warped view of the role of education and Christian discipleship. They do not see education as preparing their children for life but instead it just a status game. Education should be holistic and not just to pass with flying colours in examinations. Education for our children should include Christian education and not just secular subjects alone.

The failure of parents to see discipleship and spiritual nurturing as more important than secular education may be the main cause of their children doing well in colleges and universities in terms of education but become lukewarm in their life of faith. What is the point of producing doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc when more and more of them are bent towards the world than to God? What is the point of our children succeeding in the world according to the world’s standard but failed miserably in upholding Christian values and maintaining upright moral behaviour? What sort of legacy do we want to leave for our children? Do we want to leave them with the knowledge that we have provided them with the finest education but no spiritual heritage for them to hold onto when they face the harsh reality of an unkind and cruel world? Do we want to just leave them with the knowledge of the world without the knowledge of God and a vital relationship with Him?

I believe that we need to encourage our children to study hard and to study smart. I believe that we need to expect our children to know the value of education. But I believe we need to teach them lessons of faith; faithfulness to God, faithfulness in serving Him, and faithfulness of uprightness. I believe that we need to educate our children “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).”
I believe it is the duty and responsibility of parents in the following areas: (1) modelling to our children what it means to love the Lord with all our lives and one another as Jesus loves us, (2) encouraging them to be involved in the Lord’s work (we need to be involved too!), (3) challenging them to take time to study God’s word – discipleship courses and/or Bible study courses, (4) motivate then to participate in short-term mission work, and (5) insisting that they put God first and learn to trust Him as they put their heart and mind into their studies.

Success in Our Career

There are at least THREE of such cultural biases that I want to highlight because unconsciously they had formed an integral part of our belief system, a part of our personal worldview.

Success in Our Career

The pursuit of success in ones career is very much embedded in the Asian culture and it really has nothing to do with urbanization. Over the last decade or so we have heard the word “kiasu” – a famous colloquial word out in the marketplace. For as long as I can remember in our Asian history, face-saving has been around. I am not saying that we should not succeed in our career BUT we need to have a proper paradigm of what is our purpose in life now that we are followers of Jesus Christ. Success in our career is a very secularized idea but work is what God has called us to do and to participate in. For many, career had a lot to do with the idea of survival. If it does not has its beginning with God it would most certainly be one of self-preservation or the accumulation of things.

Just consider this with me: if success in our career is the number one priority in our lives it could lead to compromising of our morals and ethics. Am I right? How many people would go all out to pursue their career but drag their feet to church or to be actively engaged in Kingdom business? Let’s be honest here: how many Christians today have been on the side of materialism on the pretext of advancement in their career? How many have even become idolatrous, falling into the pursuits of wealth? How many are caught up in the euphoria of the prosperity gospel? Where do you think such thought comes from? Asians, especially the Chinese, values wealth and prosperity – even if it means getting there through unscrupulous means!

AWorldview With Cultural Biases

We have developed what I call “A Worldview with Cultural Biases.” There is a host of cultural biases that laced our personal worldviews which form our church’s cultural norm in an urban and modern church today.

Affluence has sets us on a road towards materialism. Materialism is the non-verbal part of our pursuit of happiness while we echo religiously that we love God and are dependant upon Him. It is basically the trappings of consumerism and need-oriented mentality. Globalization has made our world smaller. Education and technology are readily available. The amount of information that is freely flowing through the media has not only made us a more informed people but has also educated us with its ideology, philosophy, and ethics (if there is any I questioned!).

Such influences do go very deep into our psyche but with an Asian mindset of circular thinking and our culture of superstitions, the influences of the thoughts and teachings of the world major religions (Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism), the revival of spirituality, and our historical background of idolatrous upbringing, our personal worldviews (I called it an “Asian Urban Culture”) is pretty much a mixture of modernism (Western thoughts) and a diehard and unquestioned Asian cultural biases.

In my observation I tend to think that this Asian Urban Culture has already penetrated into the Church today. Even as a Christian one was not taught what it meant to decisively denounce some glaring cultural biases that could hinder us in our discipleship. There are at least THREE of such cultural biases that I want to highlight because unconsciously they had formed an integral part of our belief system, a part of our personal worldview.

Discipleship Fault-line

I have been rather inactive for some months now. Sorry about that. Discipleship in the Asian context has been a preoccupation for me over the past many months and I thought it would be good to express it here and hope that I could get some response. So here it goes ……

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There had been many voices crying out about the need for discipleship in the church today. There had been many resources been churned out about discipleship. For most of us ministers of the Word, we know that discipleship is vital; it is important to the growth of a new believer, it is important in obeying the great commandment of the Lord to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them” (Matthew 28:19). Honestly speaking I have been thinking a lot these days concerning discipleship. It is not the case of not knowing the importance of nurturing and discipling but rather what do we do in the process of discipling others? In other words, what is the content of our discipleship process? It is easier for us to hold the idea of mentoring, coaching, and apprenticeship but not that defining sometimes in reality.

I would like to suggest that we get over some of the faulty worldviews that had developed over the years and unpacked them one by one; deconstruct them rather so that we can begin to rebuild a theology of discipleship that has the right ingredients for proper nurturing of the flock of God placed under our care.

Here, I am presenting to you SEVEN ASPECTS of what I called the discipleship fault-line that are hindrances to the growth of those under our pastoral care. I would have to put up a disclaimer: I am presenting a personal view of what I believe I saw and observed in the church generally but more so in my own church setting in this contemporary world and urban setting.

UPDATE

Well….I must apologize for such a long silence. There’s really no reason to it except that I was not very motivated this past 2 months, plus a lot of planning to do for the next 4 months, plus lessons that I needed to prepare, plus my external drive that contains all my works got screwed up with no backup at all, plus my car went through major repair that cost me a bomb financially, plus laziness. Well…really there’s no reason to it!

Let me just give a little update of my life for the last 2 months:

1. My weight before I went on a strict diet and exercise was 102 kg but now I weigh 94 kg Well…I still have 14 kg to shed!!

2. I celebrated my birthday with my family enjoying a wonderful dinner prepared by their mum and me eating a small piece of grilled chicken breast and a piece of bread and vegetables! Ha ha

3. I took my wife and family to a Korean Restaurant to celebrate my wife’s birthday. It was a great dinner and costly too!

4. I have been given a new position in the church – Executive Pastor over all the English Churches (Island & Mainland). The task seems daunting. Besides that I am still overseeing the Equipping and Mission of the Church. I pray that I can cope with the new role.

5. I attended Plan09 in Malacca – a Youth Mission Conference. It was wonderful, awesome, and great. I enjoyed it. I met YB Hannah Yeoh – Assemblyman for Subang Jaya, Selangor. I was encouraged!

6. I am reading books on Justice, Human Rights, and Ethics. It’s really awesome.

Well…that’s about all that I can write at this point of time. God bless

What Is Intimacy and/or Christian Spirituality?

I have been thinking about the whole question of intimacy with God, having a vital relationship with the Lord. What is it? How can one experiences it and knows that and be changed by that? There have been many people talking about walking close with God. Has it got to do with more praying, more worship time, and more reading of God’s Word? Some talk of intimacy like Adam “knew” Eve – such close proximity as of one making love to his wife. How do we come to that kind of “knowing” with God in our relationship. Yes…it is the ideal place to be in BUT HOW, HOW, HOW?

It can be very frustrating trying to wrestle through such abstract conscept which at the same time is also within one’s grasp experiencially. It is definitely NOT illusional but almost paradoxical to even attempt to explain how it works. That’s what I am wrestling with nowadays. Like I said in my earlier blog entries I am on a new journey of faith NOT in finding God but in reality in finding myself so that I could be properly related to God in my relationship with Him.

There are many things that are going on in my mind and in my heart. I am suddenly more aware of my need for God as never before. I am suddenly more aware that after being a christian for the last 39 years to realize that I have yet to know God, to know my Father in heaven – my daddy God. I thought I had gone through a lot of grinding, stripping, testing, and spiritual wilderness in my life just to realize that I am only taking a baby step in the journey of brokenness – “fellowship of his suffering.”

Well….perhaps intimacy has a lot to do with brokenness!!

An Epistemological Somersault

For whatever reason I found myself reading my blog entries in January this year. On January 21 I wrote “Can Losing Weigh be Part of a Christian’s Spirituality?” and the next day (the next entry) I wrote “An Epistemological Delimma.” In those two entries I was trying to rationalize my struggle in losing weight. I argued that knowing the need to lose weight is not enough a motivation even if that knowledge is critical. It takes one to know God who holds our life in His hand – a knowledge that gives one a clear understanding of what it means to live a life that is right in His sight.

Amazing! Months later I woke up with a sharp pain in my right leg and I knew I had gout. Well…I went to see a doctor and took some medication. Within two days the pain is gone and life can go back to normal. Yes? No…in fact, I suddenly felt that I should live my life with better stewardship than I have been thus far. It never dawn upon me that that thought would spark a new journey in my life of faith.

It has been about 6 weeks now that I have completely changed my lifestyle – eat only 1/3 of what I normally eat, sleep early, go to the gym or take a walk with my children, do not overwork in front of the computer anymore, and drink lots of water. I spend more time in personal devotion and prayer. I try not to get easily upset and angry but smile a lot more. Amazing how I came to this conclusion!

Anyway there is still a long way to go for me and I would be lying if I said it has been easy. It is not but I am not giving up except all the tasty hawker food like hokkien mee, char koay teow, beef, mutton, etc. etc. Oh….what’s going on. Before I started on my lifestyle change I weigh 102 kg and now (after 6 weeks) I weigh 97 kg. My gym couch keeps my body weight.

I have to tell you it is not knowing I need to lose weight that motivated me to change my lifestyle. It has to be the hand of the Lord. It is trully a part of my christian spirituality.

God Is Good

In my last post I mentioned about starting a strict regimen in food intake and exercise for my health sake. Praise God I am still on it. In fact I have gone to the gym. My wife paid for my gym exercise last September but I never step foot into the gym until two weeks ago. It’s really a miracle. But after two weeks and a few rounds of exercises I felt good. It is not as difficult as I thought it would be. I am glad I have lost 2 kgs so far. I need to shed at least 18 more kgs. Oh….God help!!

I am learning to relax and de-stressed myself. I am learning to sleep early. Tonight I have broken that. I should be asleep by 12 the latest. It’s 12.50 am now. After this entry i will go to sleep. Promise. There are many things that i deliberate do that I normally drag doing; (1) I sleep early, (2) I ate 1/3 my normal intake, (3) I go to the gym, (4) I attend prayer meetings, (5) I work less unless it’s necessary, (6) I spent more time with my children, and (7) I enjoy serving God – no more complaint!

Well…that’s all for now. Bye

Something Hit Me Real Hard

I have been avoiding talks on dieting, losing weight, and what not. I often try to justify by giving my two-cents worth about the fact that stress is the culprit and I am not one who is easily stressed out. I have been living in denial for quite sometime now until last week. I work up with a terrible pain in my heels. Guess what? It’s gout! I went to see the doctor for some painkiller. Besides that he took my blood pressure and found that I had a rather high bp. I have been saying to myself that I have no high bp to be humbled  that I indeed do have. I was overweight and I have not been exercising at all.

Well to cut the long story short, the doctor said that I need to have a drastic lifestyle change. For the last 5 days I finally started exercise, cut my food intake to 1/3 of my normal daily intake, drink a lot of water and sleep early – like 11 pm – 12 am instead of the regular 3 am. The physical is just one aspect but the Lord has been really on me lately too. I was struggling. I was challenged in many things. I had to fight through stress in my ministry, in the home (more like responsibility), and in my personal discipline. Please pray for me.  It had never been so tough for me. I had taken life quite easily until now.

What is God saying in all of this? I found myself praying more and taking a step back to reflect on my life and ministry. I found that I have come to a place that I don’t want to serve just because I have the time or I make time to serve. I want to take a serious step back – pray more and seek His face. Of course, my colleagues will think otherwise. They think I am one person who does like to pray. How wrong can they be? I just don’t like too much of corporate prayer unless there is a specific purpose. But generally I do pray. For now it has increased even more. I am not just a brain person – most of time being accused of it – but I am sentimental, romantic, and passionate in my relationship with God. Well, some people will not understand that for sure.

Please pray that I will continue in my strict regimen to cut down my weight, bring down my blood pressure and pray even more. I need God’s intervention.

Store Up the Word of God

The scripture is very explicit when it records that the way to prevent ourselves from sinning against God is to store up the Word of God in our hearts. Storing up the Word of God in our hearts would also stop us from wandering away from the commandments of the Lord. Now that is simple enough to understand its implication. It is simple enough for us to take note of. But the problem so often is not in knowing the need to store up the Word of God in our hearts. It is rather what do we mean by storing up the Word of God? How do we store the Word of God in our hearts?

The Sunday School song “read your bible, pray everyday and you’ll grow, grow, grow” is too simplistic. I believe it takes time, effort, and certainly discipline to store up the Word of God in our hearts. Let us just consider the words of Paul to Timothy about “instruction in righteousness.” What do we understand by the word “instruction,” “education,” and “training” in righteousness? Let me make a suggestion here: there can be no instruction, education, and training that bypass the faculty of the mind. So storing up the Word of God in our hearts comes through being instructed in God’s Word. This instruction is gaining knowledge in our mental faculty thus becoming the resource where the Holy Spirit can translate it into our everyday reality!

“Instructing” and “educating” requires learning and studying over time with effort and discipline. We need to study the Word of God. We need to spend time gaining knowledge of God that will bring understanding. I believe that when we do all the studying and learning it is a process of storing up the Word of God in our hearts. It is understanding that will help us to remember – to keep the Word stored up in us.

Consider with me: How could we pray and intercede intelligently and according to the will of God unless we have the Word of God stored up within us? How could we share the gospel with others if there is no understanding of the message of the gospel? How could we give the answer of the hope that is in us if there is nothing within us to give? Let us not despise the careful study of the Word of God. There are a few things to consider very carefully when we study God’s Word.

First, it is more than reading the bible through the year although that is important.

Second, it is more than a devotional approach to God’s Word – a word a day keeps the devil away – although that is important.

Third, it is more than memorizing all the promises of God so that we can draw it out of the chest-box whenever we need though scripture memorization is critically important.

I believe we need to DIG deeply into the Word of God so that we can be theologically sound with a biblical worldview and a truly Christian mind.

Consider Jesus and His temptation in the wilderness. On three occasions the devil tempted Him by telling Him half-truths and part-truths. Jesus was able to detect the sinister motivation of the devil and His response on all occasions was “it is written.” I believe Jesus did not mechanically quote the scriptures. He did not quote the Scriptures just because it is there in God’s Word. I believe He quoted the appropriate text because He understood the meaning, the implication, and the meaning of the text. The Word of God was the sword of the Spirit in the hands of Jesus wielding at the lies of the devil at an appropriate time.