Restart

After a furlough of almost 1.5 years, I’m writing again under the most unusual circumstances. A recent medical condition has brought a sudden halt to my life and it has allowed me to see quite a few things from a fresh perspective. And with a tint of irony and perhaps prophetic touch, my last two posts were about suffering and healing.

Few weeks into this experience and I’ve realised the importance and place of compassion in healing. Certainly, the motivation for healing has to be compassion, before a desire to see the miraculous and supernatural. The gospels are marked with many examples, Matt 14:14, Matt 20:34, Mark 1:41, Mark 5:19, Mark 9:22, Luke 7:13, Luke 10:33. Jesus had compassion for those who came to him and healed them. Performing a miracle was a non-issue for Jesus, as compared to seeing deliverance for those who are desperate and in need. I’m afraid this is where we who are in the pentecostal and charismatic circles have generally gotten it wrong. As Reggie McNeal has said, we are using the wrong scorecard! If we purely chase after “signs and wonders”, without remembering that such demonstrations are signposts of God’s love, grace and justice, then we would have gotten the tree but missed the forest.

 

Authority From Suffering

A dear friend visited today as I am recuperating from my knee operation. Invariably the conversation touched on suffering and the unseen price that each of us has to pay if we are to make meaningful progress in our Christian journey.   

A thought flashed across and while the conversation continued, I was pondering about the Lord Jesus and his tremendous declaration in Matt 28:18  - ALL authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. That is absolute power in absolute terms. And it dawned on me that Jesus is worthy and capable to wield absolute authority because he has suffered more than any man has or will. It was more than just the cross, which in itself is already a cruel and excruciating sentence.

Jesus suffered…

when he came to his own and they receive him not;

when he is the light of the world and people rejected light in favour of darkness;

when he is the truth, the way and the life and few saw the truth, a handful walked the way and none experienced the life; 

when he is the blameless lamb of God and was tainted with the sins of the world;

when he is God and yet was separated from the divine community in order to seek and save the lost.  

To the measure that Jesus has suffered, to the same measure he has been given authority and that is the life awaiting before us. Authority comes not through much prayer or fasting, as important as these disciplines are. True authority is the fruit of yieldedness, which often is proven through suffering.

This is the paradox of the kingdom – for blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

They had faith

Read the gospels and one would find many incidents of healing. I was reading the gospel of Matthew today and the first few chapters are already full of people whom Jesus healed and made whole.

One thing that stood out – these folks had faith. They expected him to do something for them that no one else could. It was a diverse bunch, but they had something in common – they had faith.  From the leper who needed cleansing to the centurion with a paralyzed servant; and who can forget the friends of the paralytic, or the ruler who just lost a young daughter, and the oft mentioned “woman with the issue of blood”. All of them came, knowing that this Jesus could heal them. They were sure of what they wanted, and none too concerned of  how it would happen. Prior to their experience, there was no sermon preached, no altar call given, no testimonies shared. But somehow they had faith when they came to Jesus.

Perhaps this is what we need – to have faith in the person of Jesus, and not be concerned by the “how”.

 

Connectors

Recently, I’ve been listening to Reggie McNeal and he has some very interesting points on the role of the church. Reggie is a Missional Leadership Specialist at Leadership Network and he champions for the church to return to its missional identity. The first thing that comes to mind when we hear about “missional” is cross-cultural missions. But being missional is so much more than that. It is a paradigm shift both in identity and action.

One example that Reggie gave was the airport. The success of an airport is not measured by how many planes are parked on the ground, “close” to the terminal. Neither is it measured by the number of passengers it has in the lobby; it is not a case of “the more the merrier”. Airports serve a function and that is to connect people to their destination. The more people that an airport connects, the more successful it is. In the same measure, the church is like an airport - it is a connector. And the destination? The kingdom of God. The problem comes when we mix it up and think that the church is the destination when it is the connector. If we can see this, then we understand that ministries, cell groups, you and I – all of these are connectors. And this frees us up to “be” church wherever we are; it is no longer constrained within buildings or programs. This is really the best part, because we get to connect people to the kingdom, and that is where life truly is.

 

Purpose – Don’t Live Life Without It

We had a brilliant meeting tonight with Pastor Peter Tsukahira where he spoke on “Purpose”, in particular God’s original purpose for Israel and God’s purpose for our individual lives. It was a fresh insight into Israel’s destiny and purpose, and her unique calling as God’s representative to the world. It started with the Abrahamic convenant and through the ages, this is Israel’s role – to introduce God to the world and cause the nations to come to his light. This is where Rom 11:29 applies, the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. To the degree that Israel walks in her purpose, to that degree she will prosper.

As for the rest of us, God has a specific purpose for our lives too and we will never be satisfied or experience the fullness of life till we live our lives fulfiling that purpose. We can know God’s purpose and live in such a way to fulfil it. The question is – do we want to? Do we want to break away from the average and mediocre and live that “with-God” life? Do we want to break away from the routine and familiar and attempt the “new”? I’ve been particularly challenged with this tagline from Emirates – when was the last time that you have done something for the first time? It is about time for the “first time” now.