Mark 12:30

     Jesus said in Mark 12:30, “...and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength…” In short, Christ was saying that we are to love our God with our whole being. Love the Lord with our hearts and souls, the spirit, the will, and the emotion. Love Him with our minds, the intellect. And love Him with all our strength, the physical.

In the Greek language, the word for "love" that's used in this passage is agapao, which means: to wish well to; take pleasure in; long for. So this verse is telling us that we should long for God with all that we are. A good example would be the writer of Psalm 42, which started with, "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God." This person felt that he couldn't live without God and is desperate for Him.

Before anything else, our love must come from our hearts. The Lord wants to commune with our spirits, abiding in us as we abide in Him. That's what He wants most: our hearts, the essence of our being. That is why longing for God with all our hearts and souls is very important.

     It is interesting to note that Jesus included our minds. Many people in the world, especially secularists, think that the Christian faith should not, and does not, involve the use of the intellect and reasoning, but merely blind faith. However, that is not so, because we see that Christ requires us to love Him with our minds as well. In the same way, the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12:2, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Again, the Bible mentions the mind. In referring to this passage, Stuart McAllister commented, “We are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, not the removal of it.”

     When we love God wholly with all that we are, it naturally follows to love God with all that we have. Loving Him with our strength, we serve Him in the places He has called us to. And God asks that we serve Him faithfully, as a physical outflow of the love we have for Him.

     It is very important to love God with our inner being first before we serve Him on the outside. If we do it the other way around, we may easily fall into the trap of doing God’s work when the effort doesn’t come from the heart, or we could do the work with the wrong motives. The physical works we do for God should be an outward expression of our will to love God with our whole being.


Blessings,
Nathanael Chong

Water On the Rock

      A few months ago, my family had a day trip, driving out of the city into the villages. It was a hot day, and we were glad we got to take a stop at a river. We cooled ourselves off with the cold water, and then we spent a few peaceful moments by the riverside.

      After a while, my mother, with her ever-present wisdom and insight, called me and drew my attention to the water running over and falling on the rocks. At this point, you may be confused as to why she would call my attention to the obvious fact that the water ran over the rocks, as it happened right before our eyes. But in reality, she was telling me to focus on that part of nature that was too often accepted at normal and overlooked. I can’t remember her exact words, but the concept of what she said to me next is as follows:

      Look at the rock blanketed by the tireless flow of the water. Unlike the surrounding dry, rough rocks, this one was smooth to the touch. Why? Because the running waters of the river eroded the surface and smoothed the rough edges, apparently. Now, notice that the force of the stream was not very strong. It was a considerably quiet river, in fact. Definitely nothing like the strength of a waterfall. So how did the river succeed in eroding the rock? One word: persistence. Continuous flowing changed the face of the rock significantly.

Photo taken by Nathanael Chong

      Do you want to impact the world? Do you want to effect a change in people’s lives? Your greatest weapon is not strength, power, or prestige. It is persistence, perseverance, and determination. You do not need to have all the knowledge in the world, the best persuasion techniques, or the best theology. You just need to be consistent in your work, and make sure that your life is not hypocritical. Persevere with the grace of God, and in due time, you will start to see the results. Let us continue to persist in our faith, like water on the rock.

Blessings,

Nathanael Chong

Shine Like a Lighthouse

      Two months ago, a group of friends and I visited a lighthouse in Malacca, Malaysia. One of the workers who was on shift at that time took us on a tour around the historical, and still operating, building, telling us various interesting facts about it and the surroundings. At one point, he led us to a small replica of the lighthouse’s lighting system. He showed us how the structure has many light bulbs that rotate, each taking its turn to shine for a moment, which is what gives the lighthouse its blinking characteristic. We later learned that, at night, the light could be seen about 42.6 kilometres away!

Photo by Eliza Tan; used with permission

      That fact reminded us how brightly we can shine in this dark world with the light of Christ, and how we are called to be such a light of the world. In the stormy seas of life, with the terrible waves of the oppression of evil, with the opaque night that renders us lost, how comforting is the light on the shore, the steady beam amongst the shifting waves, the beacon that radiates and reaches out.

      Also remember that the light is at its best when it does not conform to the darkness at all. Light and darkness stands in stark contrast to each other, and the light does not give way. We have to be careful that the Christian faith is not diluted with the influences of the world. The beams from the lighthouse does not give in to peer pressure. Will we be able to exhibit such strength? By God’s grace, we can—and we will.

      Let’s keep this challenge ever before us, and as a Christian community, let us continue to encourage one another and push one another on in the Christian walk.

Blessings,

Nathanael Chong