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LIGHT VS. DARKNESS OR WITH GRACE OR W/O GRACE?
There was a man, who was traveling across the desert to attend a conference held by some famous evangelist. He started to feel thirsty as the noon sun started shining down on him. As he was about to enter the desert, he saw a vendor selling drinks and thought that it'd be a good idea to start stocking up on water before continuing on with the journey. He approached the vendor and the vendor started promoting his drinks. 'Come! Get a bottle of this! Drink of it and you shall never be thirsty again!!' The traveler was curious and took a sip. And to his amazement, it was enough to quench all his thirst, so he kept what was left in that bottle in his bag...
Halfway through the desert, he saw a man gasping for air in the sand... His face was like a raisin, dried and crinkled up... 'Water, give me some water!'... The traveler was in a rush for time and the conference was about to start soon, so he told the dying man, 'I'm sorry but I'm in a rush... I'll keep you in prayer... God bless you!'... and he left in a hurry...
I first read this story 3 years back when i started attending cell group... I was reminded of it recently... Have i unknowingly become like this traveler?
'Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?'
-2 Corinthians 6:14-15
Most of us know of this verse, cos it seems to be quoted very often when we hear our leaders telling us not to get attached to non-christian boyfriends or girlfriends... But this time, i am choosing to look at it from a different angle... Pardon me if i'm wrong cos i'm no theology scholar or Bible scholar... This passage may not really be talking about just BGRs, as marriage had been addressed by paul in his first letter to the corinthians... But in the process of thinking deeper into it, we may be misled into thinking that we shouldn't be hanging out with our non-believer friends as they 'dark' and we are 'light'...
Recent chain of events have led me to think about my christian behaviour. Are we really that much holier in comparison to our non-christian (NC) friends?? I beg to differ... I may not be able quote the accurate Bible verse right now but i strongly believe that the only major difference btw christians and NCs are that christians have the grace of God upon them...
I have observed that many of us christians are actually spending countless hours with our christian friends planning activities for non-christians we do not necessarily know, in the name of outreach... whereas there are actually many of our dear friends and family members just next to us who haven't known Jesus yet! For christians, a way of 'expressing' our love them is to ask them out for service occasionally or some evangelistic events... But i strongly believe that NC friends may not necessarily see that as our expression of love...
Recently, i asked one my very very good pals from dunman high, yuhui, out just for dinner, and she asked me, 'is it one of those events with your church again?' i laughed it off at the moment but that night after the dinner, i was thinking about it deeper... it hurt me to know that my friends see me like this... it may not apply to everyone though... many of my friends have told me that i seem to have disappeared after joining church... now, i'm intentionally gonna spend more time with my sec school friends by playing for the alumni band!!
are you in the midst of planning the next big thing to invite many many NCs to some evangelistic event? have you perhaps already forgotten about your ex-classmates who have experienced so much together with you? or do you feel like you are not very close to your ex-classmates? have you missed many gatherings with them in the name of church?? perhaps it's time to just spend some quality time with them... i dun necessarily mean bringing them for service or cell group, but rather, simply watching a movie, playing the ps2 like how we did in the past, or having a meal... time is a language of love that most ppl our age have these days...
'What a starving man on the street needs is not a prayer! He needs food!!'
-Jackie Pullinger (i can't rmb exact words but that's the gist)
