Friday, April 29, 2011

Life Seasonings - Principle 9 of 10

Principle 9:  Rooftop principle 
(Don’t even go there)

I coined this principle while studying and teaching from the life of King David in 2 Samuel 11. Up to that point, David had reached the height of his glory as a king. He ruled over a vast empire and accumulated much spoils of war in his capital. In the midst of all these successes, he fell into the sin of adultery, which set off a chain of events that caused him to break almost all of the Ten Commandments.

Here’s a man, purported to be a man’s after God’s heart (1 Sam 13:14, Acts 13:22), yet in a simple careless act, he compromised his entire future. He forfeited his own personal right to build the Temple of God (2 Samuel 7:12-13, 1 Chronicles 22:7-8). The privilege went instead to his son Solomon. From 2 Samuel 12:7-12 we notice that to David, there was the withholding of financial blessings (v.8), the doors were opened to a spirit of violence (v.10), it brought about a curse (v.11), he was exposed to public shame (v.11-12) and a spirit of infirmity and death came upon the family (v.14-15). On top of that, he experienced the heartbreak of rape and murder within his own family. He lost his throne to his own son, Absalom, for a brief moment as well.

If you were to trace these tragedies to its very root, it came about from 2 Samuel 11:1-2. When kings were supposed to go to war during spring, David decided to take a holiday. An innocent thought no doubt yet was disastrous to the very core in its outcome. After siesta one evening, he walked on the rooftop of his palace, enjoying the cooling effect of a day coming to an end. We may not be looking for temptation but often it finds us at our unguarded moments. David saw a beautiful woman bathing and he sent someone to find out about her. Curiosity and lust got the best of him in spite of finding out that Bathsheba is Uriah’s wife. An unwanted pregnancy followed this adulterous affair. Hoping to cover his track, he invited Uriah back from the frontline in the pretense of finding out how the war was going. He sent him back home hoping that Uriah would sleep with his wife thus covering up the source of the pregnancy. Uriah being a man of honor refused to go back and instead slept at the servants’ quarters. David’s second attempt by making him drunk yielded the same result. What a man who held his honor even when he is drunk!

With that failure, David set in motion plan B by writing a letter to General Joab to sent Uriah to the frontline where the fighting was the fiercest. Uriah carried his own death sentence in his hand and after the mourning period, David married Bathsheba.

As I reflected upon this story, I can’t help but go in retrospect to the palace rooftop. What if David had not gone to the rooftop? Often we can place ourselves unwittingly on the rooftops of our lives, where we are most unguarded spiritually because everything seems to be going well. This reminded me of my early career years as a sales engineer. Being one of the top performers, we are regularly sent on incentive trips to places catering to a man’s sexual fancies like Bangkok, Haadyai or Cebu. Being an international conference, men would disperse to ‘tourist spots’ after dinner and I knew I had to pro-actively do something to prevent myself from even going near these places. Christians would often naively say that they can go to some of these places to identify with their non-Christian friends but they need not indulge in sinful activities. How one draws that moral line defies my logic. I know how wicked my heart can be and I don’t trust it. Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”

So I flee. I prayed for a Christian friend and God gave me a fellow engineer from Singapore whom I caught up with each time after dinner during these conferences. I suppose you can say we saved each other from our rooftops!

Being careful with our lives is not only about starting well, but finishing well too. A single careless and foolish act can cost us everything. No committed Christian seeks to sin deliberately but through an unguarded moment, we can compromise ourselves. Be very harsh and discipline with yourselves. What or where are the potential rooftops of your life? Don’t go there or near them! That’s wisdom in life!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

An interesting note from a reader

Here's an interesting email from a reader. I have his permission to reproduce it here:


Hi Pastor Chris,

I've been following your blog all this while and it has been a real encouragement and support to my Christian life. I came across this analogy of spiritual life which was really good, thought of sharing it with you. An excerpt of it is below:  

When a track star is running a 10-kilometer race, he does not run the race at full speed. Running at full speed will deplete his energy prematurely, and he will be unable to finish. We should approach our Christian service the same way. We are not doing God any favors by pushing ourselves beyond our limits. We can do far more for God by living a long, consistent Christian life than by burning ourselves out in five years.

There is an ancient Greek race where the winner is not the first one to cross the finish line. The winner is the first one to cross it with his torch still burning. Sometimes we are so busy with life’s activities that we are in danger of allowing the torch of our spiritual life to be extinguished. There is a real danger that we will run too fast and will be unable to keep our spiritual torch lit. Be aware of the barrenness of busyness and the busyness of barrenness.

Thanks again for the blog and do keep writing!

God bless,
Mun Yen

My reply:

Sure, you are welcome! Glad the articles are helpful. Can I post your comment below on my site? Thought it is good insight.
By the way, that’s the reason why Sabbath was instituted. If we learn to be rested in God every 7th day, every 7th year and every
7th the 7th year cycle, we can cross that finishing line with confidence!

Hi Pastor Chris,
Sure thing :) Sabbath every 7th year sounds fantastic! Lets see whether I can do it in 7 years time!
God bless,
Mun Yen

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Life Seasonings - Principle 8 of 10

Principle 8:  Life is short 
(Don’t waste it)

One life verse that caught hold of me as a 22-year-old in university was this: “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:14b) This verse is quoted as part of my email signature for many years. For the benefit of those who are unaware what a “life verse” is, it is simply a bible verse that has a special significance personally, that spoke to you at a special circumstance and a special time of your life, that profoundly change the way you think and the way you live your life. It acts as a daily reminder, and an underlying philosophy that guides you in all your decisions. You don’t try to make it “fits” you; rather, you make yourself “fit” to what it teaches and espouses!

At the young age of 22, I had anticipated a whole life time of opportunities and I could almost feel like time is limitless. Certainly, the finishing line was farthest from my mind as I dreamt about the journey of opportunities. The danger in thinking that way is the tendency to put things off, thinking there will always be a tomorrow. In a blink of an eye, I am now approaching 49 in three months, just one year from the Big Five-O, half a century! Maybe it’s something to do with aging and approaching the finishing line. Say what you like about thinking young, having a positive attitude and calling us as “matured and wise”, the body does show signs of deceleration and you know it. You are confronted with your mortality and it dawns on you that you are not going to live here on earth forever!

The Bible speaks about our life being 3 scores and 10 years, i.e. 70 years (Psalms 90:10). It is really not a very long runway compared with eternity. Those of us who had dabble with the term “infinity” in mathematics, with the symbol ∞, we recognize it is an immeasurable unit. A simple layman’s definition is this: “If you remove a part from infinity or add a part to infinity, still what remains is infinity.” Therefore the sense of urgency is very dependent on one’s worldview of eternity. If there’s no eternity, that life starts and ends on earth randomly, then what we do really doesn’t matter. We are just a fluke of nature. But if what we do matter for eternity, that changes the equation!

We are sojourners and pilgrims on this earth (1 Peter 2:11, NKJV) and Apostle Paul said it with absolute certainty in his desire that it is far better for him to be with Christ in eternity, but for our sake, to remain on earth with “fruitful labor” (Philippians 1:22-24). What drives some to forsake the pleasure of temporal earthly living to look forward to eternal rewards? This is what I call having an eternal perspective, or a balance and right perspective of life and eternity.

Often we are asked a hypothetical icebreaker question meant to provoke our minds: “If you have only one month to live, what would you do differently?” This may be hypothetical for us, but for those who had to literally live with that “death sentence” due to a terminal disease, it completely changed the way they live their lives. Two powerful books[1] come to mind and it would benefit your soul to read them.

With this perspective in mind, let me ask you the same question in a different way: “At whatever stage of your life journey right now, what would you do differently and how would this influence the way you will be living your life from now on until the finishing line?” It is not my intention to have you look back and then live with regrets. It is asking the hard question of changing course if there’s a need to. If we make regular and wise midcourse corrections, we can avert many life crises. Are we able to close our eyes and see in our mind what our final lap and the finishing line will be like? Some of us have a longer runway than others, but whatever it is, you can do something about it from here on.

What is your life verse that can help you to live life more deliberately and intentionally, not just for yourself, but for those you have influence over, especially your family members? King David prayed this way: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalms 90:12)

Have a great life!