Nice Guys Finish Last
Life is an endless series of competition to determine our place in the food chain. From the playground to the classroom and tuck shop, and thence to the office and shops, we are engaged in competition with our fellowmen which subjects us to the law of the jungle.I realize that we can't eliminate competition from our lives without eliminating capitalism and without competition progress would halt. However, in this fallen and imperfect world, with all our imperfect habits, sensibilities and aspirations, competition is seldom accompanied by justice and fair play.
It's not always the ones who compete fairly who win the prize. In school I lost often to my classmates who cheated in their assignments by copying my work or someone else's, but were the ones rewarded with the glory that had been others' dues. A smattering of us who worked hard, competed fairly, and shared our notes, because we were naïve enough to believe in the golden rule, was robbed of glory in that way many times.
Ergo, I do not believe that nice guys always get the prize - not in this fallen world. For this reason I set my eyes on another prize - one that is attainable and is eternal, whose reward is from the Father. This reward is for standing firm in my faith.
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7).
The Atheist's Onus
In my debates with atheists, I've come across several who maintain that Christians have the onus to prove that God exists. As if atheism is the default position. I beg to differ: in every culture there's a desire inside every human being to know God and an innate sense of His existence.
I'll go out on a limb to maintain that children also have an inherent sense that God exists. Chynna Phillips (of 90s band, Wilson Phillips fame), the wife of actor William Baldwin, testifies that as a young girl, she knew Jesus and who He was. I can personally attest to this myself: as a young child of four, when I was taught by some uncles to pray, my inclination towards accepting that God existed was a natural and instinctive one. (Perhaps intrinsic is a better word than instinctive.)Consider next the anthropological evidence: in our world's many cultures and civilizations, there appears to be a desire in their denizens to seek God, to debate about Him, to pray, to organise religion and worship, and to call on Him for help when disasters happen. All of this must attest to there being a living God who has placed this desire for Him in each one of us.
C S Lewis put it succinctly when he wrote:
“Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires can be met.”
Since our desire to eat is met by food, and our desire to learn by exploring nature, so our desire for God can be met personally by the Creator of this universe who actively seeks us out.
Therefore, theism is the default position, and atheists have the onus to prove otherwise.
For only 'the fool says in his heart "there is no God”' (Psalm 14:1).
Miracle or Blind Chance?
Many a skeptic and naturalist is convinced that miracles can't happen. They contend that if miracles are that common why are there not more books written about them and why haven't more people heard about them. Whereas it's true that there aren't many books on the market published about miracles, there are many testimonies and narratives of miraculous occurrences that one can read about on the Internet. It's just a matter of wanting to look for them.
Accounts of miracles one can find on the 'net include those experienced by the World War 1 allies who were saved on enemy lines by supernatural entities in white raiment and the delivery of the Israeli soldiers by God's angelic host during the 6-Day War.
Choosing to eschew miracles, the naturalist subscribes to the credo of attributing all of life's events to random chance. However, I've had enough experiences of the unexplained and the uncanny to pronounce chance as unacceptable and tenuous a belief as the belief in coincidences. I would much rather offer a teleological explanation for all of my own experiences. Let me illustrate why with a tale of a miraculous deliverance I had several years ago.
It was the week before my relocation to New Zealand to live with my husband of three months. I had been to the bank to withdraw a large sum of money that was to sponsor my air passage to NZ and sustain my new life there for the next six months. After carefully concealing the money in my purse – a black leather handbag with a long sling that had been my mother's present to me which she had bought in Singapore – I left the bank to get my car and pick up my mother who was shopping close by.
I was heading for my car when I heard a distinct voice clapping above me warning me to transfer the cash from my purse to my shopping bag. This was a thin plastic bag inside which was a same-day acquisition I had made before my excursion to the bank. Well, that's a rather unsafe place to stash a wad of bills, I thought to myself, but I nevertheless heeded the disembodied voice in my tympanum.
No sooner had I made the change than a motorcyclist sped towards me and in one fell swoop disinherited me of my purse. Dumbstruck and nursing a reticulated welt on my forearm which was sustained during the surprise snatch, I could merely glare at the motorcyclist in disbelief. It was much later at home that I thanked the Lord after I realised that all I had been bereft of were my expired credit cards and six dollars. I believe this experience was a miraculous intervention by the Lord.
To this day I believe God had supernaturally thwarted the snatch-thief's scheme so that nothing could sabotage His plans for my new life in New Zealand from forging ahead.
"But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one" (2 Thessalonians 3:3).
If Jesus were Coming to Dinner Tonight
'While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”'
'After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives' (Matthew 26:26-30).
What I would give to be a fly on the wall of the upper room above Mount Zion where the Lord and His twelve disciples were situated on the evening of their last supper. Jesus Christ - Yeshua HaMoshiach - broke bread and drank wine with the twelve before Judas Iscariot betrayed Him to the authorities.I'd give even more to be a guest at any of the Lord's dinner parties. And I've thought a lot about what I would do if the Lord were my own very special dinner guest.
Certainly, there'd be a multitude of questions I would want to ask Him and a myriad of things I want to do with Him. The possibilities would be infinite and only limited by my imagination. However, one evening with my God and Saviour would not accommodate an infinity of questions and activities, so I should mention the top three things I would like do with Him.
First of all, I wouldn't waste the night feeling harassed about the catering because after all Jesus - the Bread of Life - was the One who had fed the 5,000 with three loaves of bread and two fish, and turned water into wine. But I'd get a camcorder poised to record the whole rapturous experience.
After the initial formalities – greetings, introductions and salutations – are out of the way, we'd get down to dinner. But even this would be a formality, for who could think of food at a time like this? Between the bread and wine, I'd ask Jesus, first and foremost, what He does with all my tears after He has bottled them up. One of my favourite verses in Scripture is the cryptic Psalm 56:8:
“You number my wanderings, put my tears in Your bottle; are they not in Your book?”
I sometimes meditate on this verse when I find myself adrift in my sea of tears. To know that the God of the universe cares to mind my tears is sufficient consolation for me. But it's such a verse for curiosity, isn't it? This is what I'd like to know from the Lord.
The second thing I'd do is ask Jesus to settle once and for all the standing debate between my husband and me on whether we'd be eating in eternity. I'm fixated on food and can't imagine giving up chocolate and cheesecake. My husband's position is that there'd be no need for eating. My contention is that when Jesus appeared to His disciples after He had risen from the dead, even He ate fish in their presence. Perhaps in our resurrected and glorified bodies eating would not be a necessity but an option, not to be exploited as Hellenistic pleasure but as an opportunity to declare God's bounty.
Finally, and this would be the piece de resistance of the evening, I'd ask the Lord to reprise His 6-day creation fiat in real time. How wonderful would that be – to witness with my own eyes the Genesis 'Big Bang', which led to the universe and all the planets, stars and galaxies coming into existence. To witness the creation of all the animals, the plants, the seas, and then the first human beings. And I'd be watching all this grandiosity in my own living room ensconced on my front row couch.
The second thing I'd do is ask Jesus to settle once and for all the standing debate between my husband and me on whether we'd be eating in eternity. I'm fixated on food and can't imagine giving up chocolate and cheesecake. My husband's position is that there'd be no need for eating. My contention is that when Jesus appeared to His disciples after He had risen from the dead, even He ate fish in their presence. Perhaps in our resurrected and glorified bodies eating would not be a necessity but an option, not to be exploited as Hellenistic pleasure but as an opportunity to declare God's bounty.
Finally, and this would be the piece de resistance of the evening, I'd ask the Lord to reprise His 6-day creation fiat in real time. How wonderful would that be – to witness with my own eyes the Genesis 'Big Bang', which led to the universe and all the planets, stars and galaxies coming into existence. To witness the creation of all the animals, the plants, the seas, and then the first human beings. And I'd be watching all this grandiosity in my own living room ensconced on my front row couch.