By Sharon Mah
Last night I felt called out… Not in a bad way… A familiar sensation of the Divine eyebrow being raised in my direction with an affectionate smile. "I see ya and no worries you're still My gal."
Hearing faith friends drop truth bombs like…
Our lack of margin could actually be repeated attempts to validate ourselves…
We fall into busyness maybe because we believe Jesus will love us a little more for being productive…
There's a story in the Bible about a father with 2 sons, who couldn't be more different. The younger son demands his share of the inheritance and runs off to squander it in decadence, only to return back in poverty, tail between his legs. Dad is ecstatic at his choice to return and throws him a huge homecoming party, no recriminations. It's the elder son's reaction that hits me every time.
‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here (working for you, being productive, bringing in results) never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’
Look what I did. See what I’ve done. I did the job. I was the one.
See me.
Notice me.
The corporate clamor. The professional push.
Even the religious rush… I read that faith without works is dead, but when does faith in action start to become slavish striving? Ouch…
But it’s a good ouch. A reminder to me that my own faith journey is a perennial onion-peeling of masks (productive and otherwise) accumulated over years of validating myself through what I do.
"The way of the Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility in which our world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility ending on the cross,” according to Henri Nouwen. The cross where there’s no hiding from all the ways in which I am broken.
But I need this, for here is where I begin to grasp why Christians call the gospel ‘good news’.
Tim Keller explains it so well. "The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”
And God knows I need this, so that I can hear dad’s reply to the elder son… “My boy, you and I are very close, and everything I have is yours.”
You have everything already. Not because of what you do.
I see you. Broken pieces and all. And I love it all enough to still give you everything. Gospel. Good news.
In Singlish (Singaporean English), we have a local phrase, “Liddat oso can!?” (English - Like that also can?) It is usually in “response to feats of achievement or actions which are almost impossible, or unexpected. Usually with a tinge of awe, sarcasm or scepticism.”
Gospel. Good News. Liddat oso can!? Can. :)
Sharon Mah is a Senior Consultant at ROHEI Learning & Consulting in Singapore. She is a part of our Resource Global Family as staff, teacher, and mentor.