The Upper Room Diaries

Category: Calling

November 11, 2011

Compassion is Key

Matt. 9:36 – Jesus had compassion on the multitude when they were “like sheep having no shepherd.”

Matt. 15:32 – Jesus had compassion on the people when he fed the 4,000.

Matt. 20:34 – Jesus had compassion on two blind men when he healed gave them their sight.

Mark 1:41 – Jesus had compassion on a leper and healed him.

Mark 5:19 – When Jesus removed the demons from the man, Jesus told him to go and tell his friends about the compassion (or mercy) that the Lord had for him.

Luke 7:13 – Jesus had compassion on the widow of Nain when He raised her son from the dead.

Whenever Jesus did some big miracle, it was out of compassion. At Mark 1:41, the translators even went on to say that Jesus was “indignant” — which means a feeling of being angered by unfair treatment.

Sally, one of my esteemed colleague, used to be based in Hong Kong with OMF International. During her time there, she was the personal secretary of James Taylor III. James Taylor III was the great-grandson of J. Hudson Taylor, one of the legendary missionaries to China in the 1800′s. James Taylor passed away some three years ago at the age of 79. I recall that just this Tuesday, Sally told me some things about the Taylor family that little people knew about.

1.   James refuses to speak to her in English, always in Mandarin.

2.   There was once James’ children came home and told him and his wife to hide because their school friends were coming over. The children thought that their parents looked too different from the rest of the people, and are ashamed to introduce them to their friends. They forgot that they themselves are also Caucasians! The children thought that they were the same as the Chinese locals.

3.   When James’ son got married, they are so proud of their daughter-in-law. This is because their daughter-in-law is a Taiwanese, and they say “finally we have Chinese in our blood!”

This is the extent of their dedication to the Chinese people. When I first heard all these from Sally, tears filled my eyes. I cannot help but think “wow, God can really bury the love for a certain people so deep in the family that it runs for generations!”

Now, my point.

I am not trying to say that since Jesus had compassion, so must we. If that was my point, many of you must be thinking, “but that was him, God gave him that love for the Chinese, not me.” Or, “thats Jesus! Jesus is God, but I am not God!” Now this is precisely my point — compassion is God-given. Compassion cannot be mustered up within ourselves. Compassion is a state of being, we either have compassion or do not have compassion. You cannot have more compassion or less compassion. We cannot minister without compassion; but God gives compassion.

“How much do I love the men and women in their culture? How much do I believe that God loves the children? How much confidence do I have in the potential that God has put in the youths?” When I was driving back home today, I found the Holy Spirit asking me these questions before hitting me with the key word “Compassion”.

Ask the Lord for that love for the people you minister to. Ask God to flood your heart with love for the His people. We cannot minister without God touching our hearts. God needs to meet with us today.

“Lord, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. Sever me from any tie but the tie that binds me to your service and to your heart.” - David Livingstone, a legendary missionary to Africa.

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August 10, 2011

Never Stop Writing

This afternoon when I was in the toilet, I saw a peculiar dead fly on top of the sink. This fly was twice the size of the usual fly. I mean it was huge, and since it was dead I got the chance to observe and note it’s characteristics (hence I know it was a fly despite the size). After awhile it got disgusting and I do not want to leave it there for everyone to see, so I took some water and washed it down the sink. After it was cleared I saw some small white-transparent worm-like things in the place of the dead fly. I would not have saw them if not for black dots that marks the movement of each one of them. Yes, they are maggots. Small and almost invisible worms of destruction. As soon they are spotted, they got washed down the hole.

I figured that this sighting is a proper illustration of what is going on in my life. Maggots are spotted and I am resolved to get them cleared. One of them is this blog. I have long wanted to bare my heart on my fingertips but it seems that I have became an increasingly private person. There were times when I have an interesting thing or two to blog about, but when it comes to the actual writing, the passion either gets replaced by a tweet, or a Facebook status post, or it would just fizzle out. As a result, no particular train of thought gets truly recorded to be re-visited. Yes, blame it on time, or work, or tiredness, but I guess these are mere excuses to justify my guilty lack of passion.

I vividly remember my time at the Eagles Leadership Conference (which I had the awesome privilege of attending), at which the words of Peter Chao and John Ng managed to combine their strength to motivate my weary heart. Below is the their combined quotations which I still manage to remember loosely. Peter Chao started off by saying how appalled he was, at ministers who would choose to stagnate at their vocations. Here is the gist of what they said:

“The difference between a good preacher and a great one is just 3000 words. I do not understand how a preacher can stay the same after preaching for 10 years. If God has called you to be a preacher, work on your vocabulary! Always strive to learn new words and to express yourself in a different manner . . . be prepared to pay the cost. If you refuse to pay the cost, someone else will.”

Their point is note-worthy. It is this word called “passion” — the paying of costs — that proves to others that God has indeed called us to do this very thing. I believe this principle applies to all sectors of society. If God has called us to work on a certain task, what God does is that He gives us an unnatural passion for something that not everyone likes. This then translates to our physical and mental stamina for the given task.

One good example is Jesus. Jesus was sent to die for Mankind so that God would forgive our sin on his account. Jesus persevered to that divine moment on the cross. Another example would be the apostle Paul, who got so arrested by the cause of Christ that he endured all the scorn, stone and shame that became like a vest of suffering unto him. No natural person would want to go to these predicament, but Jesus knew his call to die for all Man and Paul knew his call to preach to the Gentiles.

Call = Passion = Stamina

If you believe that God has called you to fly, be prepared to fall. Never allow your fall to hinder you from flying again. Our hearts must be dutifully guarded so that our effectiveness may shine through. Never stagnate. Never allow maggots to get into you. As for me, never stop writing.

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June 8, 2011

Being Comfortable with Your Unique Call

Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. (1 Samuel 17:38-40)

Who would have thought that a small boy could slay a giant with just a sling and a few stones? David wanted to use a slingshot, but Saul wanted him to use his armor and weaponry. Everyone of that time knew that Saul’s advise was obviously better, but David knew that the popular choice do not fit him. He went ahead with what he felt comfortable in, trusted the Lord, and to the surprise of many, he gained success.

God wants to use us, but many times God did not pin-point the “how”. The variety of methods exponentially increases as globalization and technology matures. What that is not possible five to ten years ago, may be the most effective thing today. Inversely that which was effective five to ten years back may not necessarily be effective now.

This however provide the framework for a problem. Often times it is a tendency for us to look into the past and use that as a measure of success. Many times we do this to give ourselves some sort of identity which is recognizable by people. Some times we do this to ourselves, other times people project their thinking onto us. Often, this is an unconscious effort.

Let me give you an example. A traditional missionary is one who goes overseas and live among the community he or she ministers in. It was known to be the most effective form of missions as they are the ones who would be able to blend into the way of life and understand the thinking patterns of the community they are in. Today, given globalization and technology, who says that only a traditional missionary can be effective? It largely depends on the strata of the society you are reaching. If you are aiming the upper echelons, many are tech-savvy, financially influential and well versed in English.

Let me give you a local example. A pastor was known to be one who preaches and teaches on the weekends. However today, we can do the same online and almost at every moment! And the format need not be the same as the usual pupit-sermon. Today, gospel content could be found on msn, sms, facebook, twitter, in text, video, graphics, songs, dance, the possibilities are just endless! I learnt in my preaching class that the term “Preaching” is basically a time of proclamation with regards to the Word of God; and “Teaching” is a process of guiding people to discover the content on their own. It did not say how we are to proclaim or guide. It is the society that projects their understanding of the terms to be one of weekend pulpit speaking, or in the case of “Teaching”– classroom speaking. In other words, I could possibly be preaching to you now as you are reading this blog. Everyone can do the same!

Given these two examples, we must not limit our potential to peoples’ understanding of the terms. I mean, aren’t we are all seeking to obey God? Are we not giving ourselves to Preaching, Teaching and to Missions just like how our pastors does it? Do we even need a title to be spiritual? No. God wants all of us to be like Jesus . . . and Jesus does all the above-mentioned.

Jesus tells us to fulfill the Great Commission but he left it to us to strategize. I (wildly) presume that Jesus gave us this freedom because in his all-knowing, he knows that times change. Thus the methods should change while the message stays the same. People, do not be a Saul. Do not be someone who seeks to mould people into his or her image. Be brave and be like David, who dared to stick to what he is good at, rather than allowing himself to be moulded into an image which he is not. When we become comfortable with who we, the power of God flows through us in a greater and more powerful manner.

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