Salt and Light

What does it mean to be the salt of the earth and light of the world?

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” - Matthew 5:16

As a university student involved with campus ministry, my circle of friends are mostly Christians, with a handful of them being non-believers. It has been difficult to evangelise to my non-believing friends as we might only share one class for that particular semester, and thereafter I would see them less regularly. Usually, I spend that few months investing in striking up a solid friendship and modelling the Christian life by my actions. But I have come to realise that simply having good work ethic and wearing a campus ministry shirt does not automatically bring up questions about Christianity from non-believers. If anything, the campus ministry shirt often attracts the company of other Christian students! (Personal reflections - Mae-Ann Soh) 

In the workplace, interacting with non-believers might very well happen on a daily basis and are good grounds for evangelism, but for some reason or other, we still shy away from intentionally starting a gospel conversation.

Jessica Schaeffer’s article on the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics reminds us of the importance of befriending and building relationships with non-believers.

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?…So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” - Romans 10:14, 17

There are two things we can learn from Paul:

1) Belief comes from hearing through the word of Christ

2) The word of Christ goes out by preaching

As those who do believe, we are equipped to share the saving power of the gospel, so let us not limit our witness to Christ by our actions but to speak the Word boldly as well.

Prayer points:

·        Giving thanks to God for many opportunities to build friendships with non-believers at work

·        Asking God for courage and perseverance to start talking about Jesus with them

·        Praying for these friends to not harden their hearts but to be open to exploring Christianity

The Why and How of Spiritual Discipline

The student needs to study. The worker needs to work. The parent needs to mind the kids. A common struggle is cultivating the discipline to pray and read the Bible amidst our busy schedules.

But when we finally find the time to engage in these spiritual disciplines, are we satisfied because we can check it off the list and move on to the next ‘to-do’ item? Or when we get a good habit going, are we equating the amount of quiet time with the amount of favour and love showered by God?

These motivations are tricky to pinpoint because only God and we ourselves know what lies in our hearts. Steve Childers helps us to see the importance of understanding the affections of our hearts:

Prayer Points

·         To encourage others with the question ‘Why do you try to read the Bible and pray on a daily basis/regularly?’

·         Ask God to reveal and change any ungodly or misguided motivations

·       To delight in quiet time as a time of appreciating the restored relationship we have with God through Christ

Motherhood, work and our identity

As a Christian woman, I often think about how the seasons of our life can bring about great change. Earlier this year, the church camp topic was family, and one of the classic questions asked was, “Can women work full-time and have kids?”  The answer, perhaps not satisfying to some, was “It depends.” Circumstances are different for each family, some may face more pressing financial needs that require both parents to work, or the husband may not have the faculties to be the breadwinner of the household. All the same, our pastor encouraged us to ask ourselves, “Why not give up full-time work to be a mother? In fact, is it really giving up?”

As someone who is unmarried, I have not made this choice, but spending time with those married with kids has given me many things to think over. One of these friends works part-time as a doctor and stays home with her two children. She admitted that it was a struggle to do things different to her own mother, who juggled full-time work and motherhood perfectly fine. In the end, my friend was convinced that there was no better full-time work than to bring her children up in God’s word and to model out the Christian life for them. Her reason for part-time work was not to appease her parents, but moreso to retain her skills if the need arose to work while her husband pursues full-time ministry.

An article on Desiring God particularly resonated with me as Carolyn McCulley looks into the apparent identity crisis for women. Simply put, when work is our identity, change shakes up that identity and it becomes plain to see if we have confused what we do with who we are. 

Mae-Ann Soh

2/6/15 Further reflections: If unclear, my intentions are not to offend or hurt women with my personal reflection. Upon receiving some feedback, I would like to clarify that both motherhood and work can become an idol, and if robbed of that particular identity, can cause an identity crisis. I would like to encourage women to consider how tightly or loosely they hold onto their current roles and to prayerfully ask for God's help as we continue to let our identity in Christ shape our lives as women of God.

Winning God through Success

Work earns us money. Work can win us the respect of people. But does work win over God?

In an article on Desiring God, Marshall Segal exposes success as a lethal drug in our jobs, though society tries to convince us otherwise. The message of success is rehashed from an early age when we start school, and eventually can become a self-driving motivation when we start work. In fact, Australian author, Lisa Pryor acknowledges through her own experience that “No matter how much a student fights it, at law school and business school it is hard not to be taken in by the idea that the ultimate achievement in life is to get a job at a firm which is bigger, fancier and pays better than anywhere else.”[1]

Success promises us esteem, control and security – the very things we had surrendered in our sin, yet success elevated on a pedestal can easily lead us to assume that we are therefore worthy in God’s sight.

In response to this, Marshall questions if our work is a search of redemption by success or an act of worship as those already redeemed.  Needless to say, he encourages us to do the latter, by working in line with the gospel and in love for the world. Why are we able to do this?

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.”  Acts 17:24-25

Work does not win God over, because we cannot offer him anything in the first place! On the surface level, we may not subscribe to such thinking, but when we examine our true motivations for work it would be unsurprising if we thought they could somehow redeem us.

How do you work for God?

Prayer points:

·         To work out of the security in Christ that was given to us, rather than out of a need to prove ourselves that stems from insecurity

·         To work for the sake of others instead of trying to only serve ourselves

[1] The Pinstriped Prison- How Overachievers get trapped in corporate jobs they hate