Aug 2009

Dear Evangelites and Friends,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ

Iris and I have been meeting with brothers and sisters in the Bedok EFG. We have begun using the RBC study on “Surviving the Storms of Stress.” In our first discussion, we focused on 1 Tim 6:6 which says, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain.”

Some important pointers we brought home after that discussion were:

• Contentment for contentment’s sake may not be good because it can lead to complacency and even laziness.
• Contentment motivated by a desire to compare and compete so that we can always be better than others will only lead to an insatiable quest for more.
• Contentment motivated by godliness implies that there is a place for “holy discontentment” in our lives. This holy discontentment can express itself in various ways. For example:

1. “I am not contented because I have yet to be and do my best for the Lord.”
2. “I am not contented because I can still make a greater difference for the Lord in who and where I am.”
   

• “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation …” (1 Tim 6:9). Desiring riches is not necessarily wrong in itself. In fact, this desire may stem from a godly motive—e.g. to be able to generously support God’s work and help the needy. However, the danger is that even such a godly motive can be negated by the deceitfulness of the human heart. The word “fall” in v. 9 carries the idea of a sudden accident rather than a premeditated action, like a champion ice-skater who uncharacteristically slips while performing. In the same manner, v. 9 is giving us this caution—we may start off with a godly motive for material success, but we must constantly guard our heart which can deceive us and floor us with a sudden turn. Perhaps that’s why a godly person with noble plans can start off well yet end off disastrously.

I left the EFG meeting that night wonderfully blessed by the sharing of those who were there. One question that weighed heavily in my heart—“Am I willing to give up what I view as my success or what I treasure most to the Lord if He asks for it?” That seems to me one real test of my state of godliness with contentment. Honestly, one event has reminded me that I am far from that state.

My thumb drive became faulty recently, corrupting a good number of my written sermons. Worse still, many of these were not backed up. So I had to face the possibility that these corrupted files would be completely lost. That thought really pained my heart. Besides the hard work put in, I had intended to rework on them in the future. A friend had offered to help me publish them if I could organize them as chapters based on different book titles. These written sermons would serve as my data bank when I decided to take up his offer. As I struggled with this setback, I suddenly realized how materialistic I was—so unwilling to lose these sermon files that were really material in nature.

By the Lord’s grace, I was able to partly recover most of the corrupted files. Most of all, I have learnt that giving up our success or what we treasure most to God is really giving in to Him rather than losing out in this world.

I trust that you are also learning precious lessons from the Lord in your respective EFGs and journeys in life.

By the way, the EFG is a good avenue to touch BASE with one another, and I have just learned something interesting using the acronym B. A. S. E.

• Relationship through Bonding
• Faithfulness through Accountability
• Perspectives through Sharing
• Applications through Experiences
  

May the Lord bless you with wonderful times as you take time to touch base with one another.

A Fellow Pilgrim in Him,
Pastor John

Tel: 6749-2990 (O) 9789-2414 (HP) Email: johnyuencw@gmail.com