Commitment: Fulfilling the Promise At All Costs

Did you hear about 40 Martyrs of Sebaste? Forty soldiers who were devout Christians tortured to death by pagan Roman emperor name Licinius who wanted to eliminate Christianity during his time. One of his cruel supporters name Agricola was responsible for the forces in Armenian town of Sebaste. Under his supervision was the 40 elite soldiers likened to the presidential guards of our times. It came to his attention that they were devoted Christians and Agricola was determined to force them to renounce their faith. He summoned the forty and gave him an alternative whether to offer sacrifice to the gods or in case of defiance, be stripped with their military rank and face death. In response, they didn’t compromise their faith as a consequence, they were thrown into jail. One winter morning, they were led to the lake naked and ordered to stand through the night in the freezing waters with guard watching. The next day, the evil judges were enraged why the soldiers are still alive. They were taken back to prison and subjected to torture. The bones of their legs were crushed by sledge hammers and burned their bodies. Because of their martyrdom, they stood out like stars and served as inspiration to all believers to be committed to Christ even to the end.

This is the topic of our discussion for this week, Commitment. It simply means, fulfilling what you had promised at all costs, even your life. As what Jesus said in Luke 14:26,  “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” Are we really committed in following our Lord Jesus even it will cost our precious life?

Commitment not only applies to our faith as what the context of the 40 martyrs story that I have shared but to life in general. During my wedding day eighteen years ago, I made a bow to my wife with God and people as witnesses to love her and promise to be true in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, for better and for worst, till death do we part. It is a commitment I have to fulfill the rest of my life at all costs. I know it will not be easy as said, but by the grace of God, I have to end well this life with only one woman as my loving wife.

 

Because of the imminent threats from NPA rebels and the terrorist groups, I observed the police and military visibility at strategic and critical roads and choke points in the Davao City. To keep us sleep well at night, our men in uniform are committed to serve and protect Davao City from any form of threats. In fulfilling this commitment, some of our men in uniform even made an ultimate sacrifice by giving their one and only precious life in dispensing their duties. For example, we have a total of more than 100 fallen soldiers and policemen in Marawi conflict. This is a clear manifestation of their true commitment and dedication for God, country and people. A hand salute to our fallen heroes!

Commitments may come in many forms, there is a lifetime commitment like marriage and some happen in short period of time. There are big like paying a million dollar debt and small as being always on time when reporting to the office. Can you list your top five commitments in life? How are you doing in pursuing these commitments? Refresh your mind and memory with these commitments and be faithful in fulfilling what you have promised. In doing so, God who is watching up there will be smiling, our spouses and kids will be happy and the people around us will surely appreciate us. Amen!

 

Prayer: The Daily Pill for Survival

In the midst of war or a dangerous situation, many people will ponder on spiritual dimension of life. During World War I, there was a famous saying that circulated in the battlefield that goes, “There are no atheists in the foxholes.” It is a reality that even though how courageous they are, soldiers are afraid to die. Regardless of religious affiliations, people acknowledged somebody up there as higher being who is sovereign and powerful.

We can imagine the ongoing battle and skirmishes of soldiers against the Maute terrorist group in Marawi. We learned that the majority of the government forces’ casualties were due to sniper fire. Snipers usually prepositioned themselves at a strategic and elevated location with a good view of any target. They are operating with the creed, “One shot, one kill.” This scenario created a negative psychology to the maneuvering forces because of uncertainties, apprehension and fear. In order to sustain the advance and recovery of the remaining areas, this is an opportunity for our soldiers to call to somebody higher than them. With this, prayer became the daily pill for their survival while serving at the front line.

Though we are not in the middle of the combat zone, we face our own battles in daily basis. We are operating and running in trenches of life and we don’t know how long we can survive. We are expecting that our struggles and pressure would someday end but it seems that the daily grind is unending. With the demands, stress and busyness of life while playing the roles and responsibilities of being an employee, a professional, a father, a husband, a community member and church officer, who can survive this life apart from God? When will this end? I think it will end, when we are already resting six-feet below the ground. As long as we are still alive, we have to face these hard and harsh realities of life.

According to World Health Organization, someone dies by suicide in every 40 seconds somewhere in the world. What does it mean to us? We cannot take everything on our own hands. We need somebody who is higher and powerful to intervene or else, we will break down. After attending a prayer at the church, I felt true rest inside. When I surrendered everything to God, I experienced that something heavy was lifted on my shoulder. Though the problem is still there, I felt peace and assured that God will sustain and carry me through. That’s the reason why I made it a commitment to God to have time with him in prayer. It is the time of solitude, surrender and pouring out everything to Him. When was the last time we really prayed hard and felt rested after?

Like one of the favorite children songs, “Have you ever to talk today?” I suggest that we will go back to your schedule and mark our calendar with prayer as the priority. Our Lord Jesus said, “Come to me all of you who are heavily laden and I will give you rest.” Let us take life easy. Remember, that He’s got the whole world in His hands. So, be still and know the He is God. Like soldiers deployed at the front lines, we can only do as much. To keep our sanity, let us try prayer as a daily pill for our survival. Amen!

 

 

STEWARDSHIP: The Right View of Ownership

Everything started at the Garden of Eden when God created mankind in his own image. God blessed them and told them, ”Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over living creatures that moves on the ground.” (Gen. 1:28, NIV)

As God’s stewards, Adam and Even were given the authority to rule over God’s creation, but, they were also responsible and accountable to God, the Creator, in taking good care of the earth (Gen. 2:15). While at the Garden of Eden, God said, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden. But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it, you will certainly die”. (Gen 2:16-17, NIV) They were given authority to rule over earth but given the solemn responsibility to preserve, restore and make the land productive. By the end of the day, God will account us on what we have done. If we abide with his plan, we will be rewarded and if we fall short, we will surely suffer the severe consequence. Similar situation happened to Adam and Eve where they were free to eat from any tree but violated God’s command not to eat from the tree of knowledge. They eventually suffered the consequence of crossing the boundary line set by God.

On other hand, the word of God recorded the parable of the talent related to the stewardship principle. Jesus told a story about a man going to a journey and before doing so, he called his servants and entrusted to them his wealth. The first servant was given five bags of gold, the other two bags and another one bag. The first and the second servants invested and made it doubled while the last one hid his master’s money. The master eventually returned home and met the servants to account for the wealth entrusted to them. He commended the two servants for the job well-done but reprimanded and severely punished the servant who hid his gold on the ground. The moral lesson of the story is all about being a good steward by managing well the wealth entrusted to us.

In the same way, God entrusted us by talent, time and treasure in many forms. If we view all what we have in the context of stewardship, we will manage and handle our possession and gifts differently. In the company, we have been given time (eight hours), gadgets and equipment like computers and mobile phones and of course, vehicle for our transportation. We are just mere stewards of all these things not owners. Once we separate ourselves from the company, we will account and hand-over these equipment. In life, God entrusted us with gifts on writing, speaking, singing, leadership and etc. God allowed us to experience wealth and material blessings, to minister and serve the unfortunate and least of the brothers and to lead a family and a church. In every ministry opportunity and life’s blessing of many kinds, God will one day account us. Are we viewing our ownership in this perspective? We are just mere stewards not owners even to the one precious life God has allowed us to live. Amen!

The Lord Disciplines Those He Loves

After the church worship service, one of the parishioners named Paula approached her pastor and questioned, how could a good God inflict hardships to His people? How could this possibly for our good? She reacted to the sermon regarding suffering as a form of God’s discipline intended for His children. No wonder Paula has been struggling in this area because she has an abusive father and did not experience the discipline with love. For Paula, if difficulties are included in God’s plan, then, He must be vengeful and angry. When God allows hardships into the lives of His children, it is always in the context of their well-being and is motivated by love.

Our topic for this week is entitled “The Lord Disciplines Those He Loves”. Aside from Father’s Day celebration for the month of June, this topic was brought-out during our Managers’ session. In the context of our company’s values on love, the argument revolved whether to give chance to employees who committed a grave offense. The following questions were raised in relation to this discussion: Can we discipline out of love? Can we terminate people out of compassion and love?

To shed light to this topic, we will take a look at the Biblical perspective on discipline found in Hebrews 12: 5-1. After reading these verses, the first principle that I would like to underline is God sent pain to get our attention. As what C.S. Lewis who once said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain.” Through tragedy, God shout to those hardened hearts so that it will become teachable. Sometimes, God sent trials and suffering to get our attention for disobedience. The sin that entangles us (Heb. 12:1) and “in our struggle against sin” (Heb. 12:4)… God’s ultimate goal is repentance and restoring our fellowship with Him. When David sinned when he fall with Bathseba and eventually arranged the death of Uriah, his baby with her died as mentioned in 2 Samuel 12:15-25. The consequence did not end from the baby’s death but Natan conveyed a curse that the sword or trouble will not depart from his household. Through these God-sent trials, David in deep remorse wrote Psalms 51. Indeed, God sent sufferings in the life of David to get his attention.

Secondly, God’s discipline is likened to a father who dearly loves His children. If we are true sons of God, we are legitimate one. In Biblical times, a father would devote his effort to train and equip his true son as worthy heir of his entire household, property, wealth, herds of cattle and sheep. In this context, there is a presence of an intimate relationship between the father and his child. A wayward child who is groom to inherit everything cannot be trained in the absence of father’s discipline. This is the circumstances surrounding the Old Testament proverb that encourages a son to appreciate the discipline of the father as being the true son (Prov. 3:11-12).

Lastly, a positive, teachable response to discipline produces the Christ-like qualities of holiness, righteousness, and peace. The concept of discipline for both Heb. 12 and Proverbs includes both correction and instruction or training. Like an athlete who prepares for competition, it is not a single event but a continual training. There is an ongoing process of muscle, coordination and skills development. An athlete is committed to years of training and endless hours of hard work. Similar with God’s discipline, it is not pleasant for the moment but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Heb. 12:1). As Christians we are training for the most important contest in life and the stakes are even higher. Indeed, the goal of hardships in life is to shape our character and attitude.

I want to end by asking two revealing questions, are all trials God’s discipline for sin? The answer is a big No. Like what happened to Job in the Bible where he was falsely charged by his friends that the cause of his suffering was in relation to his hidden sin. The real story why God allowed Job to suffer had been to prune him to be more fruitful. (John 15:2). And another question, do all trials have the potential of producing Christ-like qualities? It is a big Yes. Suffering and hardships, though annoying and unpleasant for the moment, are worth enduring, because God’s correction has a potential to produce great payoffs in life: harmony, peace and disciplined life. Amen!