Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. (Ps 19:12 ESV)    The default thinking of human beings is to consider ourselves good. In most cases, we acknowledge that we make mistakes here or there, but overall, we consider the general tenor of our lives to be positive. The Scriptures, however, paint a very different picture of the human condition. God’s Word tells us that our hearts are deceitful (Jer 17:9) and tainted by sin that colours and dulls everything that we see. To our eyes that are darkened by sin, our own faults and wickedness do not seem so terrible and the perfect law of God does not shine with the brilliance of his holiness but appears to our sin-stained senses as something dull and oppressive.  Yet, if we were honest with ourselves, would we not be forced to admit our own desperate condition? If an invisible tape recorder were hung around our necks that recorded every single time in our lives that we told another human being, “You should…”—how many judgments would it record? And if we were to use that same tape recorder to measure our own lives, how many of us would live up to the standards that we foist on others? The truth is, we would not. We would fail and perish based on our own self-condemnation.   And if we were to condemned based on our own standard of living, how much more would we fail, if we were to be judged according to the standard of the immortal, perfect King of all the earth? How dangerous it is to think that we can attain heaven by our own good works! For none of us is wise enough to discern the entirety of our errors—including those we have forgotten or are ignorant of. Just as a lack of knowledge of the laws of the land do not pardon an individual who breaks the law, neither does ignorance of God’s holy laws pardon anyone in the heavenly courts.   The heart cry of the Christian, therefore, is that we need forgiveness of not just the sins that we are aware of, but also those we are unaware of. We as Christians are not permitted to live in sin lest we spurn the grace of God, but we as Christians must never think that our conduct before God is sinless perfection. Though we are redeemed, we are not yet what we will finally be. And so long as we live in this flesh, the only proper posture for us, is the humble acknowledgment that we need daily grace from our Saviour to cleanse us from both our known and unknown sin.  Christian, do you realize just how grand a Saviour Jesus Christ is? Just as a child cannot comprehend the extent of a parent’s dutiful care for them, neither do we as God’s children fully grasp just how magnificent the provision of God is for us through Christ. How precious is the flow that makes us white as snow! How precious is the blood of Christ that takes away the stain of even the sins that are hidden from our very own hearts and minds! God, declare me innocent of the hidden faults of my soul, for I dare not trust my own assessment of my heart!  The Gospel is good news to our souls. The Gospel tells us that we are far more sinful than we can ever comprehend, but also more forgiven and loved through Jesus Christ than we could ever have imagined. All glory be to our great and Saviour Jesus Christ!  Written by: Samuel Chua

So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD, 6 and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day. (Deut. 34:5 ESV)   Of all the servants of God who had the privilege of having their names recorded in Scripture, the mighty Moses ranks among the very greatest. Moses stood before Pharaoh and declared God’s judgment of horrendous plagues. Moses stretched his hand over the Red Sea and caused the immense waters of the deep to part. Moses ascended the mountain of the Lord and received the tablets of stone carved by the very finger of God. And Moses entered the tabernacle and spoke with God face to face as one speaks to a friend.    But we must never think that faithfulness to God can be used to sway the hand of divine justice. Our faithfulness to God never tempts the righteous Judge of all the earth to overlook our wickedness or to close an eye to our evil that is absolutely abhorrent to the One who is perfect. Because Moses disobeyed God in the sight of all Israel by striking the rock instead of speaking to it, the Lord God declared that he would not enter the Promised Land but instead die outside of it (Deut 32:51-52). And so, Moses, servant of the Lord, who had led the people of Israel faithfully through the desert for 40 years, bore with their grumblings and sufferings, and interceded with God on their behalf—died according to the judgment that God had determined for him.   Yet, despite the severity of Moses’ discipline, he did not die outside the grace of God. Moses died with the magnificent title of servant of the Lord and not God’s enemy. Moses was told that he would die as one who was “gathered to his people,” (Deut 32:50), not condemned to everlasting fire. And Moses’ body was buried in the earth with dignity, and not consumed by dogs in disgrace as Jezebel’s was.   Perhaps the most remarkable part of this passage is that the text says that “he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab.” Although the subject is not stated, Moses certainly did not bury himself, therefore, it is only sensible to conclude that in the absence of others, God himself buried him! What insight this gives us into the character and person of God! God had every right to judge Moses for his sin, yet, the Judge of all the earth looked upon the body of his faithful servant with tenderness and compassion and honored him as one would a friend. Though Moses did not die surrounded by scores of his family, friends, and people, he died in the presence of his Lord who loved him and had the dignity and unimaginable privilege of being served by God himself. God dug the hole in the earth for his faithful servant. God placed his body into that grave. And God himself sealed his grave.    How great the tender mercies of our God are! He is not a God who delights in meting out punishment, but one who weeps at the tomb of Lazarus and considers the death of his saints to be precious in his sight (Ps 116:15). And when Satan showed up to contend with the archangel Michael over the body of Moses (Jude 9), the mighty archangel declared, “The Lord rebuke you!” to that fallen angel. We are not told what Satan had to say about the body of Moses, but perhaps the Accuser pointed out Moses’ sin in killing the Egyptian or in disobeying the Lord just as he later pointed out the high priest Joshua’s sin (Zech 3:1). But the God who sees and judges us for our sins is the same God who atones for our iniquities and silences the accusations of the devil.  Brothers and sisters, let us never forget that though Moses died FOR his sin he did not die IN his sin.  For the God who disciplined him FOR his sin, is the same God who would later for PAY for that sin with his own body and blood. Christian, the God we serve disciplines those whom he LOVES (Heb 12:6)—not hates. He is a God to be feared and whose very presence causes the mountains to shake. Yet he is a God who sympathizes with our weaknesses, weeps over the death of his friends, and lays down his life for his sheep. What perfect justice! What perfect love!   Christian, do you know and serve THIS God? Or do you serve a god that you have fashioned for yourself by reading only the verses of the Bible that you like?  Do you take his commandments lightly thinking that your sin is no big thing because you have prayed a prayer of salvation? Hear the word of God from Hebrews that declares to us, that “if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. (Heb. 10:26-27).” We who have died to sin can no longer live in it. If you have suffered the discipline of the Lord in your life, know that if you repent of your sins, our Lord is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And though you may die as a consequence of your sins, remember that your Lord bore the ultimate consequences for your sins on the cross.  Brothers and sisters, let us see our God rightly—this God who is both our Judge and our Friend. He is a God to be FEARED, but he is also a God to be LOVED! And if you should die in this world, forsaken by even your closest friends such that the place of your burial is unknown to this world because of your love for Christ, know that forsaken does not mean forgotten. For the God who is your Friend, will never forget you and your death is precious in his sight. What a joy it is to know a God who is both our Judge and our Friend—an ultimate, faithful, friend who paid it all for us when we could not!   Written by: Samuel Chua

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13 ESV)    The greatest education in the world is not found where you would most expect it. It is not found in the vaunted halls of the university of Oxford among the minds of the world’s brightest scholars. It is not found at the feet of an ancient monk in a remote monastery, hidden high above the clouds on a snow-capped mountain in Tibet. It is not even found in the Ph.D programs of the finest evangelical seminaries that stand for the authority of God’s Word. The greatest education to be had in this world is found in being with Jesus.  The disciples that Jesus called were not men who were known for their staggering intellect or advanced studies. Of all the apostles, only Paul, the latecomer to the apostolic band and untimely born Pharisee-turned-Christian had the benefit of advanced rabbinical training. Yet, when the blue-collar fishermen, Peter and John stood before those towering intellectuals and scholars of the law who presided over the supreme Jewish court, the giants of their world were stunned. For all their wisdom and learning paled in the face of men who had learned from the Master, Jesus Christ, himself.  How great is the education in the school of Christ! How much divine compassion was burnt into their souls as they watched their Lord lay his hands on shunned beggars and heal them of their diseases! How much of God’s heart for the lowly and downtrodden was injected into their chests as they watched Jesus receive children into his arms and sit with the prostitutes and the tax collectors! What lessons of courage and zeal for God were permanently etched onto their consciences as they gaped at Jesus scourging and expelling the marketeers who had transformed God’s temple into a den of thieves! How much Scripture did they grasp from Christ as the eternal Word himself taught them the Word and lived the Word in front of them! For them, Christ was truly the living Word of God. For all the perfect justice, wrath, kindness, and mercy of God flowed through the very person of Jesus Christ.  Brothers and sisters, to know Jesus Christ—to be intimately acquainted with his person and his works—is to have divine knowledge of what is true, right, and holy. It is the greatest knowledge in the world and no amount of gold and silver nor volumes of encyclopedias can compare with it. You may not hold an advanced degree from some great university. Your daily work might be labeled as unskilled and replaceable. But if you know Christ and are known by Him, then the Holy Spirit of the omnipotent, immortal King lives in you! And should the most fearsome magistrates or government officials drag you into court and demand that you speak to them, the Lord has promised that in the very hour of your greatest need, you will be given what to say. For it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. And though you may stand in the presence of the wisest men in this world, our God can so empower you that none will be able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which you will speak. They will look at your face and see not the timidity or fear of an uneducated country bumpkin, but the face of angel (Acts 6:10, 15)—the shining face of one who has looked upon the glory of God and not died because of the redemption that is in Jesus Christ.  So do not fear, child of God, that you are insignificant or foolish in the eyes of this world. For those who have sat in the school of Jesus are the wisest in the eyes of God. None who wish to enter his school will ever be cast out, and the unaffordable cost of tuition for your education has already been paid for by the infinitely valuable blood of Christ. So, let us draw close to our God that he might draw close to us, and learn well as Mary did, at the feet of our supremely wise Master.  Written by: Samuel Chua

Now what was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox and six choice sheep and birds, and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance. Yet for all this I did not demand the food allowance of the governor, because the service was too heavy on this people. 19 Remember for my good, O my God, all that I have done for this people. (Neh 5:18 ESV)   Our world measures success in tallying up how much we have gained. More degrees that grant a string of letters behind our names is considered a success. An 8-figure bank account is considered a success. A life full of hobbies and expensive vacations to the sun-kissed white-sand beaches of some tropical paradises is considered to be a successful life. The mantra of our world is “He who dies with the most toys wins.”  Yet, such richness in the eyes of the world is poverty in the eyes of God. In the inverted kingdom of Christ, the one who hoards gold and silver in these last days with no thought to being rich towards God gathers only incriminating evidence of a godless, self-centred life that will shout his eternal guilt in heaven’s courtroom (Jam 5:2). Those who would afflict, crush and rob the poor of their meagre wealth will not escape unscathed but will face the judgment of the Lord who will rob their abusers of their very own lives (Prov 22:22-23).   Nehemiah could easily have lived comfortably serving as the cupbearer to the Persian king, however his heart would not let him. For Nehemiah’s heart was filled with grief for the things of God and as a result he gave of his time, energy and finances to attend to the rebuilding of the wall in Jerusalem. But Nehemiah did not accomplish this work in the ways the leaders of this world do by lording it over those who were subject to him, nor did he exploit those who were unable to defend themselves. Instead, Nehemiah stopped the oppression of the poor in the land and encouraged the builders when opposition arose. Nehemiah refused to take the rights and privileges of a governor and to eat the food allowance, but rather chose to give to the dozens of men who sat around his table daily. What an example to us of Christ-like servant leadership Nehemiah is to us!  Christian, have you poured out your life in serving those who cannot repay you? Have you impoverished yourself of your time and money so that others might become rich in Christ? Has your service to others cost you your health, and no one around you appreciates just what you have sacrificed for the sake of the kingdom?  Come now all you mothers who labour at your daily routine of wiping spills off the floor and folding endless amounts of laundry! Come all of you who care for the needs of aging parents who can no longer remember your name! Come all of you who give so quietly to the poor, helpless, and hungry, that your left hand does not know what your right hand is doing! Come all who have poured out the tears of their hearts over the lives of those who stubbornly refuse to come to Christ.   Come all, for your Father in heaven has a wedding feast prepared for you in his kingdom. In his land, you who have chosen the lowliest seats will hear the Master say to you, “Friend, move up higher,” so that you might be honored in sight of the angels and the other shining saints of heaven. There, our Lord Jesus who said, “It is more blessed to give than it is to receive,” will grant you the gift of an eternal kingdom from his Father. For you fed our Lord when he was hungry, clothed him when he was naked, and welcomed him when he was but a stranger. Though the world and people might forget your righteous deeds, our Lord will never forget your acts of service of him. The Lord our God sees all and not even the sparrows of the field escape his notice.   Therefore, Christian, do not grow weary of doing good, for you are not ultimately serving people, but our God. And in your times of greatest discouragement, call out to our Lord as Nehemiah did, “Remember me, O God, for all that I have done,” and revel in the fact that your Father who will not forget even one hair on your head, will never forget the deeds you have done in his name for his glory.  Written by: Samuel Chua

At that time Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, "Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon." 13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. 14 There has been no day like it before or since, when the LORD heeded the voice of a man, for the LORD fought for Israel. (Josh 10:12-14 ESV)   The world is full of mighty and powerful forces. The bubbling magma that resides deep within the earth’s crust periodically finds its way to the earth’s surface and erupts from volcanoes that send hot, molten lava into the air, burning everything in its path. Deep-sea earthquakes that arise from the shifting of tectonic plates suddenly displace millions of tons of water that coalesce into massive tsunamis that slam into coastal cities, sweeping away everything that its raging waters touch. Category five hurricanes terrify us as they pass through cities, picking up entire buildings and flinging them as if they were rag dolls. The forces of the natural world are indeed powerful and awe-inspiring, yet the Scriptures tell us that prayer is far more powerful than all of these.  In this account, Joshua was fighting with one of Israel’s enemies as they sought to obey the Lord’s command to conquer the promised land of Canaan. As the battle drew long, Joshua, the astute military commander, realized that the day was quickly drawing to a close and that his soldiers would not be able to continue fighting. In a moment of spontaneity, driven by his great need and also his great trust in the LORD, he cried out a prayer to God in the form of a command. Gazing up at the burning sun that hung in the middle of the sky and the dimly lit day-time moon hanging to the west over the valley of Aijalon, Joshua called out in faith to God for the heavenly bodies to cease their movement—and the Lord God answered and listened to the voice of a man!   Never before had there been a day like that in the history of the world. Joshua had never seen such a thing in all of his life—no Israelite had. Yet, because of his belief and trust in a God who rules over all things, Joshua prayed. He knew that he was obeying the will of God by conquering the Promised Land. He knew that Israel was not making the progress they needed to defeat their enemies before sundown. He knew that the sun would follow its normal course and set on the day before the battle was over if nothing changed. So, driven by his convictions, he cried out to God for what is humanly impossible—the stoppage of the movement of the heavenly bodies, so that he could accomplish the LORD’s mission.  How much hope this gives us as Christians! When we stand upon our immovable convictions that are grounded in the Word of God, we have surety as to what direction to take even when the path we must walk is humanly impossible. What should we do when there is no humanly possible way to make our monthly budget? Pray to our Lord who owns the earth and its fullness thereof and wait expectantly for our Father in heaven to send his ravens to feed us even in the midst of famine. What shall we do when we are threatened with death for believing in Christ? We cannot deny him, so we must pray boldly either for the angel of the Lord to defeat our enemies or for divine strength and joy to go to our deaths with a song on our lips and heavenly hope in our hearts. What shall we do when we are fighting the Lord’s battles and waging wars against the powers and principalities over this dark world as we preach the Gospel? Let us ask our Lord to defeat the darkness and to shine light where this is none.  Christian, do you tremble at the awesome power of the mighty gift that God has given us in the discipline of prayer? Do you realize that prayer not only moves mountains, but the very sun, moon and earth? What obstacle in your life are you facing that is as vast as the sea and as violent as a storm on the sea of Galilee? Can you fathom the thought that your greatest problems can be solved in an instant with divine aid because prayer moves the very heart of the infinite, almighty, and all-knowing God? What a powerful and priceless gift prayer is to the children of God!  So, when we are faced with what is impossible with man, let us boldly look at the mountainous obstacles that stand in our way as we seek to obey the will of the Lord and say, “Sun, stand still… mountain, be cast into the sea,” and stand in awe of the power of our God.    Written by: Samuel Chua

"You sum up the whole of New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one’s holy Father. "If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new, and better than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God. "‘Father’ is the Christian name for God. Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption… Adoption is the highest privilege that the Gospel offers…justification is the primary blessing, because it meets our primary spiritual need. We all stand by nature under God’s judgment… So we need the forgiveness of our sins, and assurance of a restored relationship with God… But this is not to say that justification is the highest blessing of the Gospel. Adoption is higher, because of the richer relationship with God that it involves…." A quote from J.I. Packer

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal. 2:20 ESV)  A Christian living by the power of God is truly an amazing sight. Christians are not remarkable because we wear odd clothing, speak a different language, have sensational personalities, or attend pleasant Sunday gatherings. Rather, Christians are remarkable, because there is an immense inner power—the power of another—that lives inside every single one of us. A Christian is an incredible mystery because the old life and person are dead and gone, yet what remains is not an unfeeling, putrefying corpse that reeks of death, but rather a new creation who has been born again to a living hope and exudes the fragrant aroma of Christ to all who are being saved by our God. And the secret to the Christian’s power does not lie in some sort of self-discovery of hidden inner strength, but rather in Christ—God himself, who lives inside of us.  Christian, have you ever stopped to consider the unimaginable gift that is ours of Christ living in us as we walk along the narrow road that leads to life? Every step we take, Christ does not just see from afar in heaven, but he is there with us! Even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the Good Shepherd is there, leading us through the valley, beating back the wolves of despair with his rod and strengthening our faltering knees so that we might keep pressing forward. When we are faced with criticism, slander and hostility for sharing about Christ and summoned before the powers of this world, we need not fear what we are to say, for we are told that the Spirit of Christ in us will speak for us in that very hour. When we speak the Gospel as Christ’s ambassadors in human words, our words are heard, but it is ultimately the Shepherd’s voice that the sheep hear (Luke 10:16).   When we pass through suffering that would threaten to capsize us in a sea of despair, it is Christ who lives in us who will buoy us up through the breakers that threaten to drown us. When we find ourselves turning back to God again and again in repentance for our sins, our hearts are strengthened to know that our King gazes at us with eyes of love and compassion, for our Father sees not us, but his precious Son who lives in us. We stand bold and confident before the Lord of all the universe not because of our own righteousness, but because of the righteousness of our Christ who lives in us. We labour at the ministry he has assigned us to do, not in our own strength, but with all the energy of Christ that he powerfully works in us (Col 1:29).  Believer, in your sufferings and labours for the Lord, do you remember that there is another who lives inside of you? Do you believe that the power of the Christ who lives in you is limitless? Do you have assurance in your soul that the God who gave you new birth will sustain you even now and will rescue you from the lions that seek to devour your soul and will guide you safely into his heavenly kingdom? Come now, child of the immortal King who sent his own Son to die on the cross for you. You have been gifted unimaginable, divine power to live a life that seeks first the kingdom of God. There is hope for all who would come whether this be the alcoholic, the drug-addict, the negligent, the lazy, or the violent. Hope not in our own strength, but through Christ who lives in us. And on the day our Lord calls us home and those gathered around our failing bodies sing God’s praise and also weep over a life that blessed countless others, may we whisper to them with our final breath, “Not I, but Christ in me.” Believer, may God make this the refrain of your life in all that you say and do, “Not I, but Christ in me.” Article by: Samuel Chua

One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. (Ps 27:4 ESV) Although the world we live in suffers under the effects of sin, there is still much beauty that remains in it to encourage and uplift the heart. The golden rays of the sun that peak over the mountaintops at dawn’s first light, the gentle lapping of the turquoise waters surrounding a tropical island against gleaming white sand beaches, the flashing pinpoints of light beaming from millions of stars spectating the earth set against a swirling backdrop of purple nebulae and burning galaxies illuminating the darkness of the night sky—all these are spectacular enough to rob us of our breath with their beauty. And we are entranced not just with the vivid interplay of light, colors, and serenity, but also by the absolute grandeur of what is on display.   Yet despite all these magnificent displays of glory, the ultimate desire of the psalmist is not to spend an eternity gazing at creation’s most brilliant works. Nor does he wish to be enthralled with any human beauty such as that of a bride adorned in her wedding day finery. No, the ultimate desire of the Psalmist is to satiate his thirst for beauty by spending all of eternity gazing upon the magnificent, unsurpassed beauty of the Lord God himself. And when we meditate deeply on the splendor of our God as revealed in His precious Word, our hearts can also resonate with the Psalmist’s eternal longing.  The Lord our God is beautiful in his infinite perfections. Perfect in power, perfect in his wisdom, perfect in his conduct, justice, mercy and kindness towards sinful, fallen human beings. The pool of his infinite steadfast love has no bottom and those who plunge themselves into the depths of the divine perfection will find not the inky blackness of our earthly oceans’ depths, but rather an increasing brightness, glory, and warmth that will enrapture and enliven any thirsty soul. There in the depths of God’s perfect love can God-seekers find eternal hope and security with no hint of fear. No moral blemish or spot sullies the One who clothes himself in light as a garment, for the God whose eyes are too pure to look on evil has never even for a moment polluted his perfect purity with the stain of any evil thought. And every single one of his righteous works of gracious redemption in leading sinners to repentance is greeted with festal shouts from an entire army of angelic light warriors (Luke 15:7).    The Lord our God is also beautiful in his unique three-in-oneness. Each of the three eternal persons have no beginning nor end. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit possess infinite love for one another that finds its origins in eternity past and will continue in an unbroken bond for all of eternity future. Never has a single cross word been spoken between the members of the Godhead. No disagreements, quarrels, or sin have ever tarnished their immortal fellowship. All three who are yet one, speak and move throughout eternity in complete harmony in all their thoughts and deeds. In perfect unity, they wove the fabric of redemption for Adam’s fallen race in a synchronized performance on the stage of human history that the greatest troupe of dancers can never hope to imitate. Each has displayed the incomparable beauty of a God who saves in their unique roles in the work of redemption—the Father from his throne, the Son from the cross, and the Spirit in the hearts of those who have believed.   The beauty of Jesus Christ in his sacrificial work on the cross is without comparison. When we look at the scars and battle wounds of courageous individuals who fought to defend their country and those they loved, do we not see a beauty that is more than skin deep? Are we not attracted to the beauty of spirit that such individuals possess—beauty that can only be seen with the eyes of the heart? How much more beautiful are the nail-scarred hands of our Lord Jesus Christ! Hands that were nailed open wide to receive and carry the unbearable weight of the wrath of God so that all who would believe in Him would never have to bear the impossible burden of our punishment for our sins. How beautiful is our Saviour’s side where doubting Thomas placed his hands! For the fountain of the Lamb of God’s precious blood that was opened by the Roman soldier’s spear has healed the incurable wounds that sin inflicted on us!   Believer, if in this life, you have little rest, or your heart is filled with sorrow, or perhaps your mind is weary from fatigue or your body racked with pain, know that one day you will cease from your labours when you arrive in the heavenly city of Zion. There your eyes will finally behold the king in his beauty (Is 33:17), all because of the spotless Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. In that day, you will see the beautiful and glorious face of the One whom your soul loves and your joy will be complete. So, come and throw off every sin that entangles so closely and run the race marked out for you that you may enter the rest of God and receive your soul’s ultimate reward—an eternal life of joy and peace, gazing into the magnificent beauty of heaven’s infinitely wise and glorious king, forever. Article by: Samuel Chua

You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. 8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. (Ps. 4:7 ESV)   In the ancient world, abundant grain and wine were signs of prosperity. The man who possessed flocks of animals, fields to grow his crops, and vineyards had everything he needed to live in financial security. Such a person could afford the luxury of resting on his laurels, saying, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” In the modern world, we are no different. Although, we do not compare the size of our barns, we compare the size of our bank accounts. Although we might not have the space to plant vineyards, we envy those who can afford to pass leisurely days sipping margaritas on white-sand Caribbean beaches.   Yet, the Psalmist here says, that though his contemporaries might possess all the happiness that the wealth of this world can purchase, he is still richer than them by far! For the one who knows that their prayers are heard by God and has experienced his relief in times of distress (Ps 4:1), possesses an unshakable, divine joy in their heart that enriches not the pocketbook but the soul. No famine, drought, or economic disaster can ever rob those whose trust is in the Lord.   Old age might leave you mute and unable to speak to those whom you love, but the God of our righteousness can hear even the heart pleas of the silent tongue. A market crash might wipe out all of your hard-earned wealth, but nothing in this world can ever bankrupt the heavenly treasury where no moth destroys nor thieves enter. An unexpected, withering frost might kill the young and tender shoots and buds of the grapevine, but no earthly storm of life can ever harm the true Vine who nourishes us who are his branches. Neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor anything else in all of creation will ever be able to separate us from our Master. Whether we dive into the depths of financial ruin or are soaring in the clouds of success—our Lord and Saviour is there.  Never will we go hungry for meaning life or purpose in life if our food is do the will of our Master. The one who has eaten the flesh of the Son of Man and drunk deeply of his precious blood that alone can cleanse us from our sins will always have deep-rooted joy that no amount of money or earthly love can buy. Our live are hidden with Christ and the one who has Christ for his treasure has complete, fullness of joy and unimaginable pleasures forevermore.   Believer, do you believe that Jesus Christ is not just a tool to accomplish your salvation but the treasure of your heart? Do you covet the wealth of your neighbours whose grain and wine abound and forget that with God you have infinitely more reason to rejoice than they do? For on the last day, the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved (2 Pet 3:10), but for those of us who belong to God, we will inherit the New Heavens and Earth.   Joy that is derived from investments in the food, drink and pleasures of this earth will one day leave you completely bankrupt. But joy that flows from the eternal spring that is found in the person of Jesus Christ, will never run dry, but will only increase throughout all eternity. It is the only investment whose yield is never negative and whose rate of return is guaranteed forever. You may have the strongest locks in the world, the safest investment vehicle, and the finest medical team at your disposal, but no amount of security, wealth, or medical knowledge can ultimately protect your life from the effects of early-onset Alzheimer’s or the ravages of stage four cancer.  Only when your soul is safe in the arms of Christ can you lay your head down on the pillow at night in perfect peace and say, “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's” (Rom 14:8). So, rest well each night, believer, knowing that when you put your head on your pillow, that it is your Lord who loves you and saved you by dying on the cross for you, who alone makes you dwell in safety.   The sweetest sleep cannot be purchased with all the money in the world, but only with the precious blood of Christ.  Article by: Samuel Chua

Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox. (Prov. 14:4 ESV)   The nature of this fallen world is such that all fruit-bearing endeavours are cursed to be burdensome and painful. Due to the first man’s sin, it is only by the sweat of one’s brow that any labour results in fruit that nourishes life. Work which was supposed to be enjoyable and easy became backbreaking and hard. Sin did not just introduce moral filth into this world but also polluted the beauty of the original creation with thorns, thistles and decay. So difficult is the Sisyphean task of repeatedly toiling to plant, harvest and eat that the antediluvian Lamech after 182 years of life wearily poured out a plea of hope to God for relief from mankind’s labours in the naming of his son. The Scriptures tell us that Lamech “fathered a son and called his name Noah (after the Hebrew word for rest), saying, "Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands" (Gen 5:28 ESV).   For all who have passed from childhood into maturity and experienced Adam’s curse, this proverb spoken by Solomon, the wisest of Israel’s kings, rings true. No gain in life comes from anything other than hard labour. No farmer finds pleasure in the dirty, foul-smelling task of cleaning out animal feces from the stable nor in restocking his animal’s feeding trough with fresh food. Yet, he does so because he knows that his very ability to break the ground and plant his seed is dependent on his oxen being strong and healthy enough to pull his plow. Certainly, a farmer could spare himself the agony of cleaning his barns if only he disposed of his cows! But such short-sighted thinking would leave him with not only an empty barn but an empty stomach as well.  All this to say—there is no profit without pain, no gain without grief, and no ministry without mess.  No one builds a monument to honor those who succeeded in living easy and comfortable lives devoted to their own pleasures. Those whom revere the most are those whose lives were characterized by selfless sacrifice and service to others. Likewise, for Christians, it is those who have laboured and persevered in their tasks despite their immediate circumstances that the Lord commends. As good soldiers of Christ Jesus, we are to share in suffering so that we might one day share in our eternal rewards. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits. It is only the hard-working farmer who will harvest his crops. An athlete is crowned only after he runs his race according to the rules. And so it is for us as believers. Only when we have persisted and run the race marked out for us in the stadium of life will we receive our imperishable, heavenly inheritance.  And as we contemplate the necessity of perseverance as we seek to bear fruit amidst the mires and bogs of this life, is this not the example that our Lord Jesus Christ set for us? The Son of God left the splendor and beauty of his heavenly home and came to live in a world stained by the filth of sin. Though he himself was sinless, he waded through the muck of human wickedness and even suffered the penalty for it. He died in indignity on the cross to redeem us from the indignity that Adam foisted on us when he sinned in the garden. But, because our Lord cleaned the stable of our sin, the rocky ground of our hearts was plowed and broken, so that we could receive the Gospel seed. And for this, we are forever grateful! Praise be to God!  Believer, do you labour at unpleasant work each day so that you might have something to share with those in need? Are you weary from the daily chore of cleaning food off the floor that your children have spilled? Do you agonize in earnest petitions before your God over those whom you love who are destroying themselves? Do you care for and serve those who offer you no gratitude because they either cannot repay you or appreciate what you have done? Do you persevere in the ministry the Lord has assigned to you despite the immensities of your physical pains? Oh, how messy and unpleasant at times the work of meaningful ministry is!  A farm that has no animals will be clean and neat but will accomplish no good for those around it. So also, the person who keeps his own life clean and neat by ignoring the messes of others will also accomplish nothing of eternal good.  Church, let us not grow weary of doing good, but in our exhaustion turn to our God for all-sufficient grace. Let us fix our eyes on the one who for the joy set before him endured the cross and despised the shame and is now seated at the right hand of God. And as we roll up our sleeves and work in the messiness of broken lives for our Master, let us remember that our work is not in vain, but that in due season we will reap a precious crop of souls who will live forever in eternity with us.   Article by: Samuel Chua

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, (Rev 1:12 ESV) The tendency of the human heart is always to craft God into our own image rather than to allow him to shape us into the image of his beloved Son. The constant danger that our souls always face is that if we are not careful, we will read our favorite texts in the Bible and ignore the ones that we dislike. Left to its own devices, the heart wants a Jesus who is our yes-man— a Jesus who is never cross with us no matter what we do and never has hard things to say to us. Yet, this is not the picture of Jesus that we see in the Scriptures. Certainly, we see a compassionate Lord whose heart was so filled with pity for the shunned lepers of his day that he healed them in an instant (Mark 1:40). But we also see a Jesus whose devotion to the will of his Father was so complete that he rebuked his close disciple and friend, Simon Peter, saying, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Matt 16:23). Jesus is not a blonde-haired, blue-eyed North American. He is the eternal Son of God whose hair shines with the luster of a white that no human being has ever possessed. It is not the dull, wispy grey of the elderly that is coupled with the feebleness of old age, but rather, a brilliant white that gleams brighter than the sunbeams reflecting and sparkling off a carpet of the purest, freshly, fallen snow. It is a white that signals the divine combination of unlimited, boundless energy and also the unrivaled wisdom of One who has seen the rise and fall of countless millennia but is himself untouched by the ravages of time.  The eyes of our Lord and Saviour are not some shade of blue or any other earthly color. They are not fleshly eyes that can gaze only at the outward appearance, but rather, they are divine eyes that burn with a life of their own. No person on the planet has “fire” for their eye color—except the Lord Jesus Christ. It is these eyes of fire that sweep through the whole earth, observing the movements of the angels and demons that inhabit the invisible spiritual realm, and discerning the very thoughts and intentions of the hearts of all his children. No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account (Heb 4:13)—especially the household of the living God. “All the churches will know,” says the Lord, “that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works” (Rev 2:23).  Believer, do you believe that the head of your Lord and Saviour is crowned with white-haired splendor and wisdom? Do you believe that it is the divine wisdom of the Lord who loves you that has placed you exactly where you need to be in life at this moment? Christian, do you know that the eyes of fire always see not just the actions of your body but also the hidden thoughts of your heart? If you are in secret sin, turn from your evil ways, for the Lord of all the earth sees. If you are suffering unjustly, take heart, knowing that though no one else might care or see, your Lord sees and has not forgotten you. If you are laboring for the Lord in secret, rest assured that your labour is not in vain, and that your Father in heaven who sees that which is done in secret will reward you on that final Day.   Church, let us not worship a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jesus of our own making who can offer no lasting comfort nor counsel in our deepest struggles. Let us worship the true Jesus whose white-haired wisdom has hand-crafted our life’s circumstances and whose blazing eyes always see and will ultimately vindicate us as we obey and follow him throughout the trials of life. He who promised is faithful and will never leave us or forsake us!   Article by: Samuel Chua