By Not Known
Many years ago, I was in my sister’s car when she drove to her campus during her examinations period. Traffic jams are common occurrence in Jakarta during peak hours. We had wanted to set out before the peak hours to beat the jam but unfortunately, my sister burnt midnight oil the night before, so she got out of bed late.
As we were running late, my sister drove very close to the car ahead. Just at that very moment, the light turned amber. The driver of that car did the right thing; he stopped his car, even though he could have beaten the red light by speeding through the amber. My sister flew into a rage, pounding on the horn furiously, screaming hysterically at the poor fellow who stopped his car. I noticed him looking into his rearview mirror in shock. Suddenly, I felt ashamed of my sister and myself. That incident revealed our true human nature.
On bad days, we sometimes do things contrary to our Christian behaviour, and those are not just confined to our behaviour in our driving. I am also not referring to our persistent struggles with particular sins; the kinds we wrestle with, and repent of often. I am referring to those knee-jerk reactions that smear the reputation of Christ; the kinds that make us look no different from the world around us.
We may get through a Sunday service all right, but the minute we are out of it, we may not look so holy anymore. We become as self-absorbed as the world around us. We revert to the world’s rule of life, which is to devote our entire life to our own self-interests, because all of life is about having things our way.
The apostle Paul urges us to devote our life to God because all of our life is a spiritual act of worship. How do we devote our entire life to God? How do we represent Him 24-7? Romans 12:1-2 provides some answers; ‘Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will’.
To live a life that is holy and pleasing to God, we can do the following:
Firstly, we must be astounded by God’s mercy. If our motivation for serving God is anything less than a response to God’s mercy, we will only appear to be pleasing God.
Secondly, we must offer our bodies as living sacrifices in that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. That means we are not only to stop doing wrong but we are to start doing right and keep doing right.
Thirdly, in order for us to live a life holy and pleasing to God, we must learn to see all of life as worship. We cannot dichotomize our life, thoughts, words and deeds, into God’s things and our things. They are all under His rule and reign.
Herna Kong