I no longer live

I no longer live

This Friday at Wisma Eagles, we were privileged to attend the Graduation Ceremony for my sister and listen to the Graduation Message given by Pastor Tony Tan from Singapore.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

The text for the message was just this one verse, but how meaningful a verse it is. It holds the secret by which the great apostle Paul was able to endure all that he endured, going through almost every kind of hardship imaginable. Beaten, whipped, jailed, stoned, shipwrecked and having his life threatened at almost every turn, it is inconceivable how Paul stood firm and continued to pursue his mission relentlessly to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. The truth of the matter was that Paul considered himself a dead man…. You can hurl every kind of insult or abuse at a dead man or tempt him with the most desirable things. It will not matter, the dead man will not respond to you. Money, possessions, comfort, lust or pride mean nothing to a dead man.

Indeed, so many of our problems in life are due to “self” – My rights, my wants, my face, my time, mine, mine, mine.  If we could learn to consider ourselves dead to self, dead to the world, dead to sin, things would be very different in our lives. Truly, we would be set free to follow the Lord’s commandments in a much more powerful and meaningful way!

Pastor Tony shared a true story of a famous Evangelist who was once asked by God to preach in a remote place in Northern Canada. Upon arriving at the site, he found no one, only a few deserted cabins of a logging camp. Still, he felt the Holy Spirit urging him to preach, and despite the absurdity of the situation, surrendered to God and preached anyway, as if he was addressing a congregation. Many years later, a stranger approached him and exclaimed “At last I have found you”. Amazingly, the stranger had been there on that faithful day, in one of those old cabins, and through a crack, had heard the entire message and was convicted of his sin. Subsequently, he recommitted his life to God and began sharing the gospel with others, eventually leading 1000 souls to Christ.

In another story, a devoted Christian lady was called to go and teach in a college despite her limited writing skills. One day, as the renewal of her contract drew near, she was asked by the Head to write a paper as educators often did to improve their prospects in their occupation. Despite facing heavy pressure, she realized that she could not do it, and after much prayer, decided to just go to the Head and tell him that she could not do it. Amazingly, not only was her contract renewed, she was actually promoted!

Besides that, in Singapore, a friend of the Pastor felt his high-paying occupation was taking too much time away from his relationship with God and his family. In faith, he quit, and amazingly, just 2 months later, another job found him, with a management whose philosophy was for staff to just work during office hours and not a moment more, an almost unheard of working environment in Singapore. If we believe that our circumstances will never change, we are right. However, if we believe that God can change our circumstances specially for us and obey Him in faith, we will certainly be amazed and what He can do for us!

May the Lord help us learn to die to self, but be alive to Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

God bless,

Jason