I was informed today by my parents that one of my grand-aunties whom I was quite close with has passed away. She was not a believer. :( Her name was Po Po Nia (whom I affectionately addressed her as).
She died in an old folks' home. Her children decided to place her in the home after she became blind due to severe cataract and she was also unable to walk due to weak knees. She had diabetes as well.
I mentioned I was closed to her before because she used to stay just two levels below my old flat in Lavender Street. I used to go to her place when my mother wanted to cane me for creating problems in school or when I got myself in trouble when I was out with my gangster-friends.
She was a nice lady - always offering me food to eat and always advising me to be a good boy which I hardly was when I was in primary school. I always got myself into fights or just simply could not be bothered to study just so that I could make my mother angry for always comparing me with the rest of my cousins.
After I moved from the old flat to a new estate, I seldom kept in touch with her. We only see each other during the Lunar New Year or some family gatherings.
I am saddened by her passing and at the same time, I am also angry with myself for not having done more in sharing with my grand-aunty about the God whom I believe in and has done so much for me.
The question was "Why?" Why did I not share with her about Jesus Christ since He has been so good to me? Why is it that only when someone dies then a Christian regrets that he or she could have done something to share his or her faith to the deceased?
Is it because I felt there was still time to do so later rather than now?
As I reflect about it, I realised I must have been kidding myself. In my immediate family, my brother still does not know who Jesus Christ is and I hardly share with him about God because I thought to myself that I can do it later when he is more ready. I think if I continue to have that attitude and mindset, then it is already too late because tomorrow may never come. If that happens, it would be my fault that he died without knowing who Jesus is, simply because I did not see the urgency to share with him the Good News.
Is it not ironic that a good news should be shared immediately to someone else and yet many Christians (me included) who have the Good News are not doing so? Is there something wrong with our faith that makes us not eager to share something good to another who does not know it?
A dear friend of mine, as I am typing this blog, is with her friend now watching a movie called "The Nativity Story." She saw the need to share the Good News to her friend. A seed has been planted in a life tonight.
If I could have taken more effort to share my faith to my late grand-aunty, perhaps she might have become part of God's eternal family now. But it was not to be.
All Christians should make use of every opportunity to share his or her faith, not later but now. Once we hesitate or procrastinate, it might already be too late!
I hope in my pilgrim's journey here on earth, I will progress in my outreach effort from one of waiting to do it later to one of doing it immediately by creating opportunities. We have been given the freedom to use the 24 hours given to us daily - if every Christian can spare 30 minutes or one hour daily to share his or her faith to someone over a meal, then in 30 days, 30 seeds would have been planted in 30 lives. In 365 days, 365 lives would have been reached out to.
For the church I am currently worshipping in, there are 800 members. If one can reach out to another daily, then in a year, the church would have shared the Good News to 292,000 lives (800 members x 365 family members or friends).
Some may say sharing the Good News to one person a day is too much. Perhaps it is. Realistically, even I myself may find it tough to do so. But think again, even if we halve that, it is still a staggering number of 146,000 souls whom we may possibly have won into God's eternal kingdom. If we quarter the initial figure, it would still be an awesome figure of 73,000 lives.
Statistics, at the end of the day, is not the focus. It is more so my willingness to reach out to someone who is a part of my life - he or she can be my family member, relative or friend. If I cherish this person, then I will not, in any way or have any excuse, to not share Christ to him or her now.
Sorry, Po Po Nia. :(
"Therefore my people will know my name;
therefore in that day they will know
that it is I who foretold it.
Yes, it is I."
How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
"Your God reigns!"
Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
together they shout for joy.
When the LORD returns to Zion,
they will see it with their own eyes."
Isaiah 52:6-8
She died in an old folks' home. Her children decided to place her in the home after she became blind due to severe cataract and she was also unable to walk due to weak knees. She had diabetes as well.
I mentioned I was closed to her before because she used to stay just two levels below my old flat in Lavender Street. I used to go to her place when my mother wanted to cane me for creating problems in school or when I got myself in trouble when I was out with my gangster-friends.
She was a nice lady - always offering me food to eat and always advising me to be a good boy which I hardly was when I was in primary school. I always got myself into fights or just simply could not be bothered to study just so that I could make my mother angry for always comparing me with the rest of my cousins.
After I moved from the old flat to a new estate, I seldom kept in touch with her. We only see each other during the Lunar New Year or some family gatherings.
I am saddened by her passing and at the same time, I am also angry with myself for not having done more in sharing with my grand-aunty about the God whom I believe in and has done so much for me.
The question was "Why?" Why did I not share with her about Jesus Christ since He has been so good to me? Why is it that only when someone dies then a Christian regrets that he or she could have done something to share his or her faith to the deceased?
Is it because I felt there was still time to do so later rather than now?
As I reflect about it, I realised I must have been kidding myself. In my immediate family, my brother still does not know who Jesus Christ is and I hardly share with him about God because I thought to myself that I can do it later when he is more ready. I think if I continue to have that attitude and mindset, then it is already too late because tomorrow may never come. If that happens, it would be my fault that he died without knowing who Jesus is, simply because I did not see the urgency to share with him the Good News.
Is it not ironic that a good news should be shared immediately to someone else and yet many Christians (me included) who have the Good News are not doing so? Is there something wrong with our faith that makes us not eager to share something good to another who does not know it?
A dear friend of mine, as I am typing this blog, is with her friend now watching a movie called "The Nativity Story." She saw the need to share the Good News to her friend. A seed has been planted in a life tonight.
If I could have taken more effort to share my faith to my late grand-aunty, perhaps she might have become part of God's eternal family now. But it was not to be.
All Christians should make use of every opportunity to share his or her faith, not later but now. Once we hesitate or procrastinate, it might already be too late!
I hope in my pilgrim's journey here on earth, I will progress in my outreach effort from one of waiting to do it later to one of doing it immediately by creating opportunities. We have been given the freedom to use the 24 hours given to us daily - if every Christian can spare 30 minutes or one hour daily to share his or her faith to someone over a meal, then in 30 days, 30 seeds would have been planted in 30 lives. In 365 days, 365 lives would have been reached out to.
For the church I am currently worshipping in, there are 800 members. If one can reach out to another daily, then in a year, the church would have shared the Good News to 292,000 lives (800 members x 365 family members or friends).
Some may say sharing the Good News to one person a day is too much. Perhaps it is. Realistically, even I myself may find it tough to do so. But think again, even if we halve that, it is still a staggering number of 146,000 souls whom we may possibly have won into God's eternal kingdom. If we quarter the initial figure, it would still be an awesome figure of 73,000 lives.
Statistics, at the end of the day, is not the focus. It is more so my willingness to reach out to someone who is a part of my life - he or she can be my family member, relative or friend. If I cherish this person, then I will not, in any way or have any excuse, to not share Christ to him or her now.
Sorry, Po Po Nia. :(
"Therefore my people will know my name;
therefore in that day they will know
that it is I who foretold it.
Yes, it is I."
How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
"Your God reigns!"
Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
together they shout for joy.
When the LORD returns to Zion,
they will see it with their own eyes."
Isaiah 52:6-8
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