Perfect Gift

'Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.'(2 Corinthians 9:15)

 

Today unfortunately Christmas has become the most commercialised festive celebration. Reading some of the inspiring Christmas stories has now become one of the ways for me to recapture the true meaning of Christmas. Here is one such story:

 

The writer wrote ‘during the summer of 1944, my father sold everything they owned, took all the money and disappeared from our lives.’ His mother suddenly found herself having to take care and provide for the five boys.

 

He is thankful to his mother for remained positive throughout this difficult time, put in her best efforts she could, doing all the man tasks such as ‘horse-drawn plough, haul hay for the cattle, and harvest crops.’ Then Christmas approaching and the writer noticed his mother didn’t smile as much as before. Later he came to know that it was because she was worried that she couldn’t afford to buy Christmas presents for the children.

 

One day he saw his mother returned from the forest with a stack of tree limbs. She would cut these pieces of wood into different shapes. On Christmas Eve when the family gathered around the Christmas tree, his mother gave out the presents. His brothers opened the packages and found ‘brightly coloured trucks, tractors and trains’, all ‘beautifully crafted’. As for the writer, his present was a hand-carved bow and a quiver of arrows.

 

The writer concluded that, ‘Looking back, my mother’s determination and perseverance changed the harsh reality of that time, transforming our poverty into a memorable Christmas filled with delight’.

 

This story really warmed my heart. Truly, Christmas is about giving oneself, making sacrifices, just like Christ.

Grace

“If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness.” (Nelson Mandela)

“Gone is the distinction between Jew and Greek, slave and free man, male and female—you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:2)

 

The world has recently lost a great man whose moral and political leadership enabled his country to enjoy peaceful transition from apartheid to one that pursues forgiveness and reconciliations. Many were in fact fearful when he came to power as in his early years he had a rebellious streak, and was branded as terrorist. Nelson Mandela shown otherwise by exemplified such values himself, which in turn sowed these seeds amongst his people.

 

I read that during one of the ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ hearings after Mandela became its president, a policeman gave an account how he and his colleagues shot a teenage boy and burned the body to destroy the evidence. Years later he returned to the same house and bound the boy’s father and burned him before his wife. The judge asked what the woman wanted from this policeman. She answered, “He took all my family away from me, and I still have a lot of love to give. Twice a month, I would like him to come and spend a day with me so I can be a mother to Him. And I would like him to know that he is forgiven by God, and that I forgive him too. I would like to embrace him so he can know my forgiveness is real.” The policeman was so overwhelmed that he fainted there and then.

 

Such is the amazing grace that transcends any human understanding. Grace is God's unmerited favour, kindness from God we don't deserve. We are merely used by Him to dispense His grace.

Body, Soul & Spirit

‘But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.’ (1 Corinthians 2:14)

‘Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.’ (Amos 5:23-24)

 

Recently we had a small gathering amongst ex-high school mates. One of them suddenly asked a tough question- why many English great authors like Jane Austen and Charles Dickens ‘attacked’ Christianity in their books? A close friend came to our rescue, explained that religion was a popular theme as it played a very significant part in the people’s lives then.

 

I think ‘attack’ is not an appropriate term to use, after all, these are just novels. If you are a book critic, you are not supposed to ‘judge’ the characters in the novel. In those days, authors often incorporated the prevailing religious experiences into their story plots. For example, ‘The Crucible’, is based on historical fact about the colony of Salem Massachusetts. It was governed by way of theocracy, a system combines state and religion, where those in authority claimed that they were ordained to do God’s work. The community developed a very strict, repressive system in order to ensure social and religious conformity. Most forms of enjoyment and celebration were condemned, and expression of individuality is not allowed. In a sense, it was a kind of religious ‘legalism’ which Jesus warned of, as it emphasizes strict adherence to the letter of God’s teachings rather than the spirit. There was hardly any presence of God’s mercy and grace in such society, only many religious rituals, rules and regulations to follow.

 

Christians believed that man consists of three component parts: body, soul and spirit. Body is easier to understand as it is connects us to our five senses, hence, the material world we are in. The soul is our gates or doors to things like conscience, memory, reason, affections, imagination etc. It is the seat of human affinity. It is in from our souls that fleshly desires, passions, lusts and appetites come. The spirit is the innermost of our being, which is related to spiritual things such as worship, faith, hope, prayer. Hence, in order to understand spiritual things, the ‘natural man’ needs to surrender his own human will, letting God’s Spirit to regenerate his human spirit to understand, and appreciate the divine things.

 

It is clear that no amount of religious activities and duties a person do can to change his un-generated spirit until his own spirit come into contact with God’s Spirit. So to allow people of worldly minds and wisdom to deal with God’s things is disastrous. Chances are that they would use religion to control, manipulate people for self-gains as witnessed by the ugly history of the ruin of Christendom. People with only head knowledge about the bible will live a life of sterile religiosity.

Destiny

"LORD, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient I am. Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Surely every man walks about as a phantom; Surely they make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them” (Psalms 39:4-8)

 

Through reading a Christian book recently, I came to know the songs of Rich Mullins, a popular and talented Christian musician. When I read that he died at the age of 41 in a fatal car accident in a most unexpected way, it just kind of remind me that we are not in control of our days on this earth. Rich and Mitch McVicker, were on their way to a benefit concert when the jeep they were in lost control and overturned. Both were ejected from the vehicle. When a passing semi-trailer truck swerved to avoid the overturned Jeep, Mullins, who was too injured to move out of the path of the oncoming truck, was hit and died instantly at the scene. McVicker was seriously injured but survived.

 

Every day we are bound to come across unfortunate stories of such nature. I read some time ago how Mr Lim Guang Chin, at the age of 34, was killed in a motorcycle accident, leaving behind four children age 3 to 13. He had just lost his wife who died of colon cancer 2 months ago. Then there is the 28-year old professional footballer who woke up one morning, felt a lump in his neck, and was later diagnosed as having Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

 

Such stories can stir up fear of death in us. Someone once said that anything that caused you to fear is your ‘God’. How true it is if we do not have correct perspective on death. We can end up being under the bondage of that fear, in this case, death. If we fear cancer, cancer becomes our ‘God’. It opens the way to dark and negative forces filling up our mind, and they begin to take us over. As I entered four-and-a half year after I finished my chemotherapy treatment, I am very thankful to God for extended my life. I know He does it for His purpose and will. It is a miracle that I am still alive, given the bad prognosis of my sickness by my doctor.

 

Storms of life always strengthen one’s character if one responses positively. My life now is on a higher plane- moving from the phase of been preoccupied with anything to do with cancer, to living out a more meaningful and fruitful life, always with a thankful heart to my God, for whatever number of days He wants to add on to my lifespan.

Xenophobia

“When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien.” (Leviticus 19:33)
”You shall have one law for the alien and for the citizen: for I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 24:22)

 

 My daughter related an incident on the train that she witnessed recently. A young lady was standing alone. Upon seeing a foreign worker got into the train and stood beside her, she intuitively moving far away. It was a Sunday and this guy was neatly dressed, and not exhibiting any unbecoming behaviour. I tell myself, are more and more Singaporeans behaving this way (Xenophobia)? I think we have to strike a balance in our views especially when one reads news like these:

 

“A worker who worked as a painter at a link-way was reported to have fallen on October 6. It was believed that he was put on a truck few days later, and dumped in a back alley at another location where he was found by a passer-by. It appeared that his clothes had been changed.”

“A foreign worker suspected of dying from rat-transmitted disease. The worker together with others, were housed in a makeshift zinc-roof structure.”

The sheer size of foreign workers has reached a level that we need a strong legal framework and more staff strength to protect their interest too. Much has been done to the domestic workers (about 200,000) but more need to be done for those especially in the construction sectors (about 250,000). I don’t see how we can become a more compassionate and just society if we do not treat aliens with human dignity.

Quagmire of welfare system

'Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool layeth open his folly.' (Proverbs 13:16)
 '......The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.' (2 Thessalonians 3:10)

 

The trial of a British man, who was on welfare, killed six of his children, brought spotlight into the pitfalls of UK’s welfare system. It was reported that he and his two 'partners' claimed up to 54k Sterling Pound a year in benefits to support 11 children under his custody. It was said that the man had not held any full-time job since 1991 though he is physically fit.

 

One-third of British public spending goes to pensions, unemployment benefits, housing, and health. This is not surprising considering one can get help from so many fronts, with rent, council tax, health, education, jobseeker’s allowance and even legal costs. The welfare system has become a lifestyle choice instead of short-term relief for many .Technically it is possible for a household to claim even higher than the national average earnings.

 

The original intention of the welfare system (which was started after WWII) was to provide safety net for the poor and unemployed. Now people see such benefits as their entitlements or rights and it becomes politically difficult to amend them. We have been rightfully warned of the risk of a welfare state as it will develop the so-called entitlement mentality of being addicted to government welfare. For example, this country only spent 4.1% of GDP on healthcare as compared to 9.8% for UK in 2009. The policy of co-payment is a good one. The medishield scheme(medical insurance) enabled me to cover more than half of my critical illness treatment. If we offer free medical care, the tendency is for people to over consumed medical treatments. Invest in education, infrastructure and research are better ways for a country to stay competitive.

Genetic Counselling

"I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well." (Psalm 134:14)

Some weeks ago I went for genetic counselling. Here are some of important pointers I brought home from the consultation session:

 

A person contracted cancer after 50 years old is not considered as belongs to the ‘high-risk’ group if the trend of the general population is the same. In Singapore context, currently most of the cancers occurred after the age of 50.

 

Genetic test is very expensive because it involves a sizeable number to be tested, so usually only done on the advice of the doctor. Our body system is very complex. The genes lie within the chromosomes and human beings have 23 pairs of them. Some chromosomes carry thousands of important genes while some carry only a few. There are about 20,000 genes located on one of the 23 chromosome pairs. So far about 12,800 genes have been mapped to specific locations on each of the chromosomes. .However the exact number of genes in the human genome is still unknown. That’s why genetic test is not foolproof as it is impossible to test every gene!

 

I also come to understand that present available ovarian cancer marker is not a sensitive indicator as it is often to give early signal. The reading can accelerate within a short frame of time. In other word, it is not sensitive enough to pre-empt ovarian cancer even one does it regularly. This makes ovarian cancer difficult to prevent and treat as most patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage.

Depression

The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, But who can bear a broken spirit?” (Proverbs 18:14)

 

The recent suicide of the son of a famous pastor brings spotlight to mental illness - depression. Just why some people are prone to depression and suicidal are hard to explain. They are generally kind, gentle and sensitive to others but they themselves cannot handle their own waves of despair. At some point in life everyone experiences depression. It is a more a matter of how long one stays in that state.

 

It seems that our own childhood experiences, biological as well as our genes contribute to our make-up. Psychology and environment also play their parts. People suffering from depression tend to draw their self-identity from negative symptoms around them e.g. helpless, hopeless, isolation, trapped in a vicious cycle of believing that they are worthless with no hope. On the other hand, some people despite the severity and long durations of setbacks they faced emerged unscathed despite these unpleasant life experiences.

Many find themselves able to overcome depression by changing their spiritual condition. Faith can help them to begin to revolve their lives around the new self-identity- that they are loved, cherished , and develop positive characters in their lives later on such as courage, fortitude, and determination.

 

Finding meaning and purpose in life is vital in overcome depression. Studies of suicide notes rarely mentioned problems like failing health, rejection or financial troubles. Rather, they speak more of being “tired of life” with suicide as “a way out”. Victor Frankl, a psychiatrist, discovered during the Nazi death camps that those who had no goal in life were unlikely to survive, as compared to those who had strong political or religious convictions.