#165 Till the end (2nov07)

Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able'
Luke 13:24

I had one of those rare vivid dreams last nite. It was not about the movie, "Lusts and Caution" for I have not watched it, but the temptations of the world was very real in my dream. I did not even get a pass rate in living my faith and thankfully, it was a dream, but rest assured, even with the my failings in my dream, it will still be rated suitable for children.

'I tell you, Nay; but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish'
Luke 13:5

This morning, the lingering feeling of guilt, of rejecting God, and accepting the wiles of the world, still permeates my soul. What if it was not a dream but a real life situation. Would I be able to will myself to seek the Lord and move myself away from carnal desires?

'Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways'
Haggai 1:5

For those who happen to read the newspapers this morning, there is an interesting ongoing case of a man suing his recently acquired, and even more recently dumped partner for a large sum of monies, for passing him diseases acquired from her previous flings. The price to pay for one's indiscretions might possibly be monetized in the courts.

'One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple'
Psalms 27:4

God is good. As we seek Him even in our imperfections, He keeps us focussed, He brings us back into His fold. He sancitfies and cleanse us of our sinful desires and instead, places that God given desire in us to love Him and to love others as ourselves.
Life is good, with the Lord and we are not talking about bliss in the secular sense.

'..Fear not, Daniel; for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words'
Daniel 10:12

Nostalgia was the route I embarked upon the past couple of sharings, saved the last one. It is good now to resume that journey, for there are always lessons to be learned.
A few years back, I had a friend, quite a few years my senior. A man of the world, with a sharp and inquiring mind. An interesting chap he was and there was never a dull moment in the way he provides his street-wise prognosis of events and situations. This friend was diagnosed with liver cancer. He had a presumably successful operation, but due to a confluence of human errors on the part of the medical professionals he dealt with or other plausible reasons, the problem was never completely resolved and the cancer took his life.

Was my friend bitter? Initially he was, with the doctors, and maybe even with God? For life for him was getting even better, what with a loving wife, great children and a brood of grandchildren being hatched.
My friend, in the rare one visit we made him at his home, reminisced about how he almost got baptized in his earlier years, but for some petty reason, he was angry with his pastor and the planned baptism ceremony did not go through. As he recalled with some humour on what was, the thought crossed his mind that his whole family are believers, and he still wasn't and he wondered aloud if he will ever be a Christian.

'I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living'
Psalms 27:13

When does one truly cross over and obtain the salvation that God has given us?
Will it be like the wedding vows a couple made and does an "I Do" truly signifies a long term and firm commitment to one's better half. The divorce statistics seem to indicate otherwise.
Truly, only the Lord knows our hearts and only the Lord can decide when and if one has truly crossed over into His kingdom.

'And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done'
2 Kings 23:37

One thing that we all can do is to be willing to let God work in our lives, by always coming into His presence. Many times, friends have told me that they agonized over the salvation of their aging parents, who have not become Christians. In their minds, their parents are good people and there is no doubt that they are living a life that is more Christlike than most self professed Christians.
The intellectual man find it hard to accept that until you believe and repent in the Lord Jesus Christ, all your good works count for nought.

But truly, the mouths of many might not speak that acceptance of salvation from the Lord, but in the way they live, in the many opportunities that they are exposed to the Word of God, to faithful Christians and Christianity in general, it is very possible that their hearts have already said yes, for the Lord our God is love, and those who walk in love, will know Him.

'I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living'
Psalms 116:9

I never got a chance to ask my friend if he has truly crossed over into the kingdom of God. Till near the last, though a more subdued man he became, he was outwardly still 'stubborn' about his non believer persona.
I believe he did crossed over. His family prayed for him, for the prayers of the faithful avails much. His outwardly hard nature belies a broken and contrite spirit that has been encouraged and healed by the many sprinklings of love from the Lord and through His harvesters.

God wants to save us all. For indeed,

'Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints'
Psalms 116:15

But why leave things to chance. Why aggrieve your believing loved ones by your disbelief.

'For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive'
1 Corinthians 15:22

God has given all till even the last gasp of breath to say yes, but He will not force the decision upon us, for He gave us all a free will.
What holds our heart could be that deciding factor in our final thoughts and if our hearts were never with the Lord our God in our succint and lucid moments, would we be able to remember Him in our final incoherent seconds?

'And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt'
Daniel 12:2

As I bring this meandering to a close, I am reminded of my recent observation every morning of this quite disheveled but determined looking man who seems to be walking perpetually. In the early morning, when I sent my son to school, we see him walking along Tanglin Road. An hour later, when I sent my daughter to school, I see the same man still walking doggedly, but this time along the upper reaches of Holland Rd. He seems to be doing that every morning, and to some extent in a dangerous manner, walking on the edge of the right lane of the road, with heavy traffic coming from his back.

For many of us, with all our nice fineries and clean cut presence, with our sense of purpose in working towards life's rewards, we seem to be a world apart from this man. But take away the packaging, are we any different? Are we not on the same monotonous grind, sidestepping or rather oblivious of the danger to our salvation, working towards what is temporal, instead of looking to God.
Like most, would we at the end of our road come to the same conclusion as the author of Ecclesiastes on the futility of a non-God centred life

'then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
Vanity of vanities, siath the preacher, all is vanity'
Ecclesiastes 12:7-8

'What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?'
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; ….'
Ecclesiates 1:3-4

'Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man'
For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil'
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Why not take a pit-stop from your seeminly meaningful but yet possibly meaningless daily grind and be like Mary which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard His word'(Luke 10:39)

'But one thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her'
Luke 10:42


God Blesses

Eng Hieang