Make a difference

We want to run to the altar
and catch the fire
to stand in the gap
between the living & the dead

Give us a heart of compassion
for a world without vision
We can make a difference
Bringing hope to our land

Yeah, that's what we are to do as believers. Yet, how often we get caught up in meaningless stuff and struggles, while life ebbs away. Wake up and get down to business, fellow believers. The world gets more trashy by the day, and I really don't see it getting better anyway. We can't change the direction that our world is headed, we can't stop the maddening pace in which it hurtles towards destruction under the guise of the pursuit of excellence. We can however, and are called to, stand in the ever-widening gap, with even greater urgency today than ever.

Make that difference. Stop being self-centred and striving for personal survival. Shine as the world darkens. It's tiring, it's discouraging at times, but if we don't press on, whatever remaining hope there is fades into the horizon like the setting sun, except that the sun will never again rise.
I was touched in a personal way by the matter-of-fact sermon from Pastor Lawrence Seow.

His impromptu sermon was entitled "Be an inspiration". Everyone needs to be inspired every now & then. We all have been through "down" moments when someone came along to lift us up. And we can be that someone to somebody, and make that difference. He shared that to be an inspiration, we should:

• appreciate God: many things to be thankful for, even the fact that we are alive, not dead; here, not in hospital, etc.
• celebrate people: be thankful for one another, not tear each other down, not criticise, not fight. Too many people, including Christians in the church, are caught up with defending their turfs, protecting their rights, and other meaningless squabbles that should never have happened in the first place.
• serve out of a sense of abundance, not lack: Our God doesn't lack anything and neither do His children. Often, we go through life failing to recognize God's provisions, and we worry about meeting this need or that to the extent that we don't have time or energy left to care about or love others. Pastor Seow put it this way: when you are saved, God gave you a package that comes with ALL MEALS INCLUDED.

I have friends telling me that they cannot afford to serve God in any way, because they are a young family with kids to raise, bills to pay, parents to support, and career to think about. They are convinced that God will understand and empathize with them, but I think God doesn't. This is one of the biggest lies Satan has been deceiving Christians with. Yeah, attend Sunday School, go for Bible study, fall in love, get married, have kids, thank God for them, and then hang a sign on the door that says "Do not disturb (for next 25-30 years). Family building in progress. Approved by God".

If we can only serve when our kids are financially independent, if we can only love & care for others when we have navigated successfully through our career, and retirement is finally in sight, with ample annuity for the last mile, our friends, relatives and neighbours who needed to hear the gospel may no longer be around, even if we are. And by the way, in the past 25-30 years, they wouldn't have suspected that you have something different that they lack or need, because you were just as busy as anyone else, fretting about jobs, kids, and what nots.

It's your choice. Make a difference with the difference that God has planted in you when He made you into a new creation, or allow that difference to ferment into foams of indifference that do no justice whatsoever to the price that Jesus has paid for you.

Thomas