Just last Sunday, the Drama Ministry put up a skit about the Prodigal Son. As part of the intro, a very funny Hokkien song was played where the singer was musing about what he would do if he had a million dollars. This included sitting on a plane, getting himself a wife, eating Sushi in Japan and soaking up the sun in Hawaii.
You can watch the skit here:
Pastor P then posed the question to the congregation: If you had a million dollars, how would you spend it?
When I was in the varsity, a brother of mine from the Christian Fellowship told me that there are only 2 things that are eternal: the Word of God and the souls of men, and how wise it would be for us to invest in them.
I also recall my-then Bible Study Leader, Jeff Khaw recommending a book by Tony Compalo entitled "Who Switched the Price Tags", where the author talks about how the devil has switched the "price tags" of items in this fallen world, such that it esteems highly titles such as "PhD" and "MBA", and despises titles such as "Child of God".1. The Word of God
Our Lord Jesus said in the synoptic gospels that heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will remain.
Matt 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Mark 13:31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Luke 21:33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
From a believer's perspective, it is thus wise for us to invest in the Word of God. I use an electronic Bible and have purchased several versions (NASB, Amplified, NIV, the Message) over the past 3 years. In Jan 07, I also bought the entire catalog of sermons and books of a pastor whom I opine to be an anointed man of God.
2. The souls of men
Man was created a spirit being, and like other spirits of the world, cannot die. He will either end up eternally in heaven fellowshipping with the Triune God; or in the lake of fire of Hades weeping and gnashing his teeth.
It is therefore also important for us to invest in the souls of men. Examples are as follows:
(1) Tithes and offerings
Our tithes and offerings to the local church is not only being used to pay the staff's salaries, but also channeled to the work of missions and evangelism, which is a form of investment into the winning the souls of men for Christ.
(2) Blessing those in our oikos
It is a privilege to sow into the lives of those whom God has placed around us in our "oikos". When we bless those in our cell/cluster by compiling photo albums or by buying a suckling pig to celebrate the Year of the Pig during Chinese New Year, we are in effect investing in the souls of men!(3) Buying Bibles for our loved ones, domestic helpers, etc.
I was at Tecman a week ago and was amazed to see the different translations of the Bible available in Singapore -- in Mandarin, Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia, Korean, etc. In fact, when we buy a Bible for a brother or sister in Christ, it is "two for the price of one" because we are investing in both the Word of God and the souls of men with one single act of sowing :-)
Coming back to the point of blessing those in our oikos, this brings to mind something very close to home regarding my daughter Rachel and my sister Yvonne.
In an earlier blog entry, I have shared about how my precious daughter Rachel put 33 1/3% of her weekly allowance into the offering bag one Sunday morning.
Now let me share about her again, but this time as a recipient in the "sowing and reaping" process.
About 5 years back, the table you see on the right was placed in the patio. There were also several pingpong bats and balls that were lying around unused in drawers. One fine day, my daughter happened to take out those bats and started to use this table to have a game of makeshift pingpong with my dad. (I have placed a pingpong net on the table to give an idea of how "makeshift" it was -- its length is probably a third of, while its breadth is about half that of an actual pingpong table)
When my wife and I got home from work, a common sight would be to see Rachel and her grand-dad having a game of "makeshift" pingpong. We would then "relieve" my dad, so to speak, and take turns to play with her as well.
My sis Yvonne must have beheld the sight of her enjoying the game of makeshift pingpong, so that Christmas, the Lord prompted her to bless my daughter in buying an actual pingpong table! Imagine the joy on the face of Rachel when she saw that table sitting in the middle of the patio in place of the makeshift one! She could now play proper pingpong with her family members.
Having developed the interest in this sport at such a young tender age, it was only natural of her to take up table tennis as a Co-Curriculum Activity ("CCA") in school. And just this month, she was appointed Captain of her school's table tennis team!
Here again we see the principle of sowing and reaping in effect. Back in 2003, my sister Yvonne sowed into Rachel's life by blessing her with a pingpong table. 4 years later, the reaping has already begun, with the harvest being manifested as her being appointed Captain of her school team. [Sis, thanks for sowing into Rachel's life.]
I remember back in 2004 when I was having a tough time at my previous workplace. What I looked forward to when I got home from the office each day was a time of bonding with my daughter over several games of pingpong. Out of a game of 10, I would probably win 7. Last year, we were more evenly-matched. Well, I just played with her a couple of months ago and nowadays, she wins me in straight sets :-(
The world constantly bombards us with advice to invest in this property or in that company's stock, because it can yield returns of 15% or 50%, etc. But the best form of investment is in that which is eternal, because the returns on investment are measured from God's perspective in God's economy.
And the returns on investment in God's economy is not in terms of 10% or 50% or even 200% that we read about in the newspapers or see on TV. It is in terms of 30-fold (3,000%), 60-fold (6,000%) and 100-fold (10,000%) (Matt 13, Mark 4) .
So coming back to the question posed earlier. If you had a million dollars, how would you spend it? As for me and my household, we will invest it on the Word of God and the souls of men! Amen?
Shalom
Malcolm
No comments:
Post a Comment