Many Christians Aspire, Few Attain

Many Christians desire to and even aspire
to serve the Lord during their pilgrimage
on earth. They love their Lord and they are
grateful for what He has done for their
lives, having been changed from something
ash-like (useless, meaningless, purpose-
less) to something joyful and full of
purpose and meaning in life.

Well and good if that can be sustained
in the long haul. In reality, however,
it’s unfortunate that our usefulness
can be stopped short just when we are
performing at our peak, as it has
happened to so many. Of the Christians
mentioned above, there’s a significant
proportion which will never make it to
do what the Lord laid on their hearts
to do. Not because of lack of resources
or time or determination in many cases,
but simply because of the lack of health
or time left on earth to accomplish
what some of them wish for so long to do.

No doubt, Scripture exhorts us to do
everything “with your might.” (Eccl 9:10)
But how can we do anything let alone doing
it with our might, when we are stricken
with so many physical, emotional and even
mental handicaps?

A recent article in the Straits Times titled,
“Singaporeans Live Longer but Suffer
8 years of Poor Health” may cause some
surprises and pull some heart strings. This fact,
I believe, is not confined to Singapore alone
but is replicated throughout the civilized
world. In addition, WHO (World Health
Organization) said the world’s population
spends an average of 11.6% of their lives in
a disability. What does that mean for you and
me? It means that we lose 8 or more years in
disability and/or poor performance for Christ,
the Savior of our soul. It also entails our
losing the most useful years of our lives in
terms of spiritual maturity as well as personal
knowledge and experiences---to say the least---
in the service of God and man.

What good can we be if we get a stroke for
instance and be confined to a wheelchair,
always needing the services of another,
instead of being of service to our fellow men?
Not much good!

If so, how then can so many of us attain
what we set out to do? The solution is
obvious: Total health is vital, not just
spiritual health (it’s very unfortunate
that so many Christians are unconcerned
or unaware of how they can make a
difference to their own physical, mental,
emotional and even social health, but they
love to play up the spiritual aspect---
nothing wrong with that---but fail to do
something concrete about building the
other aspects of health in their lives;
this is where I believe the Church has
failed miserably!). We must address this
problem, or else we might face rejection
by the living God!

....Please ponder over
this and carefully consider my blog,

“Saints Rejected by God?”