Value Of A Life

'For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.' Psalms 139:13-14

It was tragic and shameful, that a Singaporean woman would abuse her domestic helper to point of killing the poor young woman. The perpetrator admitted to repeated beatings, torturing and starving of the maid, eventually causing death. It was a national embarrassment that such cruelty could be inflicted by one human being upon another in a civic society of Singapore. The irate Minister of Manpower exclaimed, "Let me be absolutely clear. There is no place for abuse against foreign domestic workers in Singapore."

Singaporeans are enraged. How could such cruelty exist in our modern, successful and orderly community? We are angry not only at the particular household but also at ourselves for breeding such behaviour. 

Singaporeans are embarrassed. Where is the kindness towards another person? Did the poor girl not share in the very air that we breathe and the vibrancy of our community?

Singaporeans are ashamed. Did we not teach our children to value life? That every single life is sacrosanct and every single person, a child of God?

Now is the time for us to assess how much we value life. How much do we believe that every human being is created by God? 

If Christians believe in the dignity of life and the intrinsic value of every person, we should defend this position rigorously. We are stewards of the life God has given and we are to uphold its sanctity from conception to the grave.

God values Life. King David understood this, when wrote the Psalm 139.

• God made us. You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:13,14

• God knows us. You know me. You know when I sit down and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. Psalm 139:1-3 

• God pursues us. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. Psalm 139:7-8

• God guides us. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your hand will hold me fast. Psalm 139: 9,10

• God sanctifies us. Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23,24

David did not only write this about himself, he knew that this is God's design for every person.  A song by John W. Petersen, 'In the Image of God' can help us appreciate this. 

In the Image of God

We were made long ago

With a purpose divine

Here His glory to show

But we failed Him one day

And like sheep went astray

Thinking not of the cost

We His likeness had lost

But from eternity God had in mind,

The work of Calvary 

The lost to find

From His heaven so broad

Christ came down earth to trod

So that men might live again

In the image of God.

Now that I have believed

And the Saviour received

Now that I from the cry

Of my guilt am relieved

I will live for the Lord

Not for gain nor reward

But for love, thinking of

What His grace has restored!

I’ll never comprehend redemption’s plan

How Christ could condescend

To die for man

Such a Saviour I’ll praise

To the end of my days,

As I upward, onward trod,

In the image Of God

What is the value of Life? It is not to be measured in wealth, success, age even health. In a hedonistic society we only value ourselves. In a caring and kind society, the weakest among us will be respected. Addressing the recent concern and disgust felt by Singaporeans, years ago Joni Eareckson Tada advised 

'If you truly believe in the value of life, you care about all of the weakest and most vulnerable in society.'

Lionel

Carpe Diem, Seize the Day

 

Sunrise over Corfu

'Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. But exhort one another everyday, as long as it is called today. We have come to share in Christ ' Hebrews 3:7,13 and 14

In the 1960s, there is a song written by Randy Sparks and sung so meaningfully by John Denver entitled Today. It speaks of making the best use of the opportunities sent our way, not procrastinate and waste the chance. Those lovely blossoms on any spring day will not last forever and the song encourages us to seize the day.

Today, while the blossoms still cling to the vine

I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine

A million tomorrows shall all pass away

'Ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today

I can't be contented with yesterday's glory
I can't live on promises winter to spring
Today is my moment, now is my story
I'll laugh and I'll cry and I'll sing

While in the desert of Sinai, the Israelites cowardly took a decision not to make use of an open door presented to them by God. After sending spies out across the Jordan river, the report that came back was the Canaanites were giants and impossible to overcome. The Israelites did not venture forward. The result of missing an opportunity was to backtrack into the wilderness and wander around for another forty years. They squandered their days in a morass of spiritual apathy; a loss of confidence until the next generation plucked up enough the courage to enter into God's promise. 

Both Isaiah and Peter in the the Old and New testament proclaimed that all of us are like grass. We are limp and fragile, easily influenced by temptations in an increasingly hedonistic world.  Like the Israelites, we turn our backs on God. That is why Paul warned in Ephesians 5:15-17, to make use of every  opportunity that presents itself to live according to God's will and not by the ways of the world.  

'Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.'

Putting across this opportunity comes, opportunity goes happenstance in life,  poet Robert Herrick (1591-1694), in 'To the Virgins, to make much of Time', introduced the familiar first verse:

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old Time is still a-flying;

And this same flower that smiles today

Tomorrow will be dying. 

Watch Robin Williams teach the lesson in a most inimitable way in the film Dead Poets' Society,

 

Solomon the Wise (Ecclesiastes 12:1) reminded all young people growing up:

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them.

 

Jesus Christ calls us to seize the day. He gathers us to Him. When He calls do not resist but make the most of the opportunity. God tends 'His flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to his heart.' Isaiah 40:11.  

All we like sheep have gone astray

Each of us turning our own separate way

We have all sinned and fallen short of Your Glory

But Your glory is what we desire to see

And in Your presence is where we long to be

O Lord show us Your mercy and grace

Take us to Your Holy place

Forgive our sin and heal our land

We long to be in Your presence once again

Taking our sickness, taking our pain

Jesus the sacrifice Lamb has been slain

He was despised, rejected by men, He took our sins

Draw us near to you Father through Jesus Your Son

Let us worship before You cleansed by Your blood.  

TODAY, 'Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.' Isaiah 55:6

Lionel 

In The Belly Of A Whale

Whale (Pastel painting by Christine Lee, Feb 2021)

'Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn his fierce anger so that we will not perish.' Jonah 3:8-9

On the 27 Jan 2021, the Internal Security Department disclosed that a 16 year old Singaporean Protestant Christian was arrested for plotting to attack two mosques in Singapore. He was influenced by online antipathy towards Islam. The Singaporean protestant community was in for a rude shock, that in our midst there may be individuals who have such radical views as to plot harm against our fellow Muslim citizens

Timothy Keller in the book The Prodigal Prophet (Ref 1) on the book of Jonah explained that such Christians have shallow identities resulting in some being racists. These professing Christians have a self-righteous image, blinded to their flaws and sins; hostile to those who are different.

Jonah the prophet was like that, he was a nasty and self-righteous person. He could not believe that God would save those he considered to be irredeemable. He had bias and negative views of people who are racially and religiously different from him; a toxic disdain of people with different faiths. So when God ordered him to preach to the people of Nineveh in order that they could repent and turn to God, he was flabbergasted and defiant. He simply refused and sailed away in the opposite direction. 

God punished him. While at sea a raging storm broke. What followed was a seemingly implausible event. Jonah was thrown into the sea during that severe storm and was swallowed by a big fish. In the belly of the whale, Jonah prayed, "In my distress I called to the Lord and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help and you listen to my cry." Jonah 2:1-2. Three days later, that big fish vomited him onto a beach.  

Upclose Whale-Watching@Merimbula, NSW Australia-5 Sep 2008

People who debate whether this is a real story or a fairy tale will miss the real miracle behind the Jonah story, the wonderful grace of God. Despite the incorrigible nature of the Ninevites, Jonah was sent to these people to preach repentance and a return to God. Unexpectedly, they heeded Jonah's warnings, God showed them mercy and the city of Nineveh was saved. Thus, Jonah's shameful behaviour helped demonstrate God's grace for people beyond the Christian community. God saved the city just as He rescued Jonah. 

The Book of Jonah shows how much God desires us to be peacemakers, to build bridges across different communities and faiths. It was very heartening that the day after the troubling news broke, Muslim and Christian leaders met to singularly condemn this terror plot and to reaffirm mutual trust. Thereafter the newspapers carried articles of the necessity to maintain religious harmony and respect for different races and religions.

Are there bigoted people like Jonah around, imprisoned by the narrowness of their self-righteous prejudices? God's grace can turn them around. God's love can build bridges across many communities and help maintain the harmony between the various races.    

There is a old familiar song, Wonderful Grace of Jesus which clearly states what this Grace has done and will do for all of us.

Wonderful Grace of Jesus, greater than all my sin;
How shall my tongue describe it,
Where shall its praise begin?
Taking away my burden, setting my spirit free;
O the Wonderful Grace of Jesus reaches me!

Wonderful Grace of Jesus, reaching to all the lost;

By it I have been pardoned, saved to the uttermost.
Chains have been torn asunder, giving me liberty;
O the Wonderful Grace of Jesus, reaches me!

Wonderful Grace of Jesus, reaching the most defiled;
By its transforming power,
Making me God's dear child,
Purchasing peace and Heaven, for all eternity;
And the Wonderful Grace of Jesus, reaches me!

Refrain

Wonderful the matchless Grace of Jesus,
the matchless Grace of Jesus,
Deeper than the mighty rolling sea;
the rolling sea;
Wonderful Grace, all sufficient for me, for even me
Broader than the scope of my transgressions,
Greater far than all my sin and shame
my sin and shame,
O magnify the precious name of Jesus,
PRAISE HIS NAME!

Lionel

Ref 1: Timothy Keller, The Prodigal Prophet - Jonah and the Mystery of God's Mercy. Hodder and Stoughton, 2018.

People Hearing Without Listening

"The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD, "when I will send a famine through the land - not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD." Amos 8:11

Amos is also known as the prophet of doom. Living in the 8th Century BC, he was the first to have accurately foretold the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel. He lived in a period of relative peace and extreme wealth for both the Kingdom of Judah and Israel. However, beneath the affluence, the two kingdoms were morally corrupt and spiritually destitute. Amos warned of an impending 'Day of the Lord' when God judgement will descend but the people would not listen. 

In Amos 8:12-13, he wrote "Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it. In that day the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst.” He warned of the danger of a famine of the hearing the words of the Lord. This may well be the case also for our times 

It is not that there are no bibles. The Bible has been the a best seller for centuries. Each Christian household usually has more than 2 bibles of differing translations. At times and places where the Bible was banned Christians have been known to smuggle bibles into these countries. This happened for China in the 1960s-80s until we realised that more bibles are being printed in China than in any other country in the world. 

It is not a famine of preaching and preachers either. Today many sermons can be downloaded from the Internet. We can search for sermons or Christian writings by key words. There is such a deluge of material that people tend to ignore or simply gloss over them. 

 

It is not that there are no churches. In Singapore, there are more church attendees today than at anytime in our church history. Unfortunately many flocked to churches attracted by the entertainment mode preaching or by lively praises and not for true worship. It seems we have no time nor patience to listen to God's words being preached if we cannot be entertained. Given the competition for attention in advertisements, entertainment, internet in an info-deluge world, dull preaching is given no time of day

These are circumstances similar to Amos' days. At that time, a pseudo-religiousity was introduced by King Jeroboam. 1 Kings 12:25-31 recorded that Jeroboam set up the trappings of religiosity and false religion in Bethel and Dan. He made idols, ordained priests and set up his own holy calendar but lacked the religious truth. In the same way we look for the trappings of religion today not the truth within. 

Is there something plastic in our spirituality that we listen and yet not hear, hear and yet not listen? Is there a famine in the midst of plenty? We may end up be searching for God’s words but at all the wrong places and we will not find Him. Amos warned that there is going to be an unquenchable thirst which can be dreadful. 

Let us turn to the discourse between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:7-13. This woman saw that significance of the water from that well was attached to popularity of Jacob. But she could not see beyond the mere cult popularity of Jacob to the significance of the water she was drawing for Jesus. 

What did Jesus offer? Jesus taught her that there is a NEW water which He shall provide. This water will be a cure for thirsty people. Jesus, the Living Word of God, provides water that shall make us never thirst again, the drinking of which will well up to eternal life. 

So often, Jesus would preface his preaching with, "He who has ears, let him hear." Jesus the Living Word brought us Wonderful Words of Life, it will do well for us to listen.

 Sing them over again to me,

1. Wonderful words of life;
   Let me more of their beauty see,
   Wonderful words of life.
   Words of life and beauty
   Teach me faith and duty;
   • Refrain:
     Beautiful words, wonderful words,
     Wonderful words of life;
     Beautiful words, wonderful words,
     Wonderful words of life.
2. Christ, the blessed One, gives to all
   Wonderful words of life;
   Sinner, list to the loving call,
   Wonderful words of life.
   All so freely given,
   Wooing us to heaven;
3. Sweetly echo the Gospel call,
   Wonderful words of life;
   Offer pardon and peace to all,
   Wonderful words of life.
   Jesus, only Savior,
   Sanctify forever;
4. 
   

Let's strip away all forms of religiosity, which are false and come back to Jesus the Word of Life. Come back to the Fountain whose water when we drink, shall never make us thirst again?

Lionel

Updated from previous article published June 2006

O Death Where is Thy Sting?

Michelangelo's Pieta at the St Peter's Cathedral Rome

"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?" 1 Cor 15:55.

This past week a friend from my 1964-69 Raffles Institution cohort died. He was an ardent Christian in his university days and early career but somehow had backslidden in recent years. However he maintained a testimony of a good friend and generous person. The cohort rallied behind him as he lay dying in hospital because we valued this friendship. So many of us went to see him in hospital that there was a waiting list just to get into the ward.

His Christian friends ministered to him, showing love and care and comforting him with singing of hymns and praises at his bedside. He responded positively; his family and we were convinced that like the prodigal son, he returned to God the father.

He died very peacefully and with great dignity.

Chairing the funeral wake, I remarked that while Christians would suffer with dignity the passage of death, at such Christian funeral wakes we celebrate the successes of life. Why? Because death has lost its sting and the grave its victory. It is not that we are somehow immune from and unaffected by the pain of grief and loss when a dear friend or relative dies, instead it means that we have a hope in something eternal that goes beyond life and death and that hope sustains us in difficult time. 

In the mourning and weeping there is also comfort and a sense of rejoicing as we recall the testimony of a good Christian life and give God the glory for the examples of dearly departed. That is the victory over the grave, the assertion that by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, all Christians have secured victory over death. For Christians, death is not the termination of life but the gateway to life. This dogma has given the early Christians courage to face persecution and martyrdom and this courage has been one of the hallmarks of the Christian witness ever since.  

As John Stott put it, "But death holds no horrors for Christian. True, the process of dying can be messy and undignified, and the decay which follows it is not pleasant" (Ref 1). But we are secured when we face death that "..our saviour, Jesus Christ, has destroyed death and has brought life and in immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Tim 1:10). 

Indeed, Christians are not afraid of Death. Life and Death are intertwined in the Christian belief and experience. Jesus taught that the mustard seed must die in order that it might produce good fruits. The writer to the Hebrews wrote that Jesus shared in our humanity 'so that by His death, He might break the power of death - that is, the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.' Hebrews 2: 14-15.

The Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, wrote a hymn 'Be Still My Soul' taken from a short and serene section of his famous symphony Finlandia.

 Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side

bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;

leave to thy God to order and provide;

in ev'ry change He faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heav'nly Friend

thro' thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake

to guide the future as He has the past.

Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;

all now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know

His voice, who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,

and all is darkened in the veil of tears,

then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,

who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.

Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay

from His own fullness all He takes away.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hast'ning on

when we shall be forever with the Lord,

when disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,

sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.

Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past,

all safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

This is a hymn extolling the dignity of death and the hope beyond the grave.

Lionel