Willing servants of the Lord

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This is the 3rd Ordinary Sunday and the readings are as follows:
[Jonah 3:1-5, 10], [1 Corinthians 7:29-31], [Mark 1:14-20]

Firstly, Gong Xi Fa Cai !

This week, we celebrate the conversion of St Paul and we are challenged to ask ourselves – are we willing servant of the Lord?

Christ died on the cross for us so that we can receive salvation of God. Jesus died with open arms because He wants to embrace the entire human race….to save as many people as possible…in fact everyone.

In Christ, we are united as one family of God with Christ as our head and we need to bring more people to Jesus. This week’s reading tell us how Jesus invited the apostles to follow Him…and they did so immediately.

How about us? Who invited us to follow Him? Perhaps, our parents or loved ones….

Do we invite others around us to follow Christ?

We need to remember that Jesus call on us to share His Word with everyone. We need to do so immediately and not like Jonah who was reluctant to do his mission. Let us be willing servants of the Lord. Let us go that extra mile for the Lord to bring God’s peace to people who need it. We thank God for giving us the strength and grace to do His work.

And once again, Gong Xi Fai Cai to those who celebrate Chinese New Year which explains why this post came late....

God is LOVE!

Image by freestone via FlickrThe action of anti-Christ was a real shame and leaving some non-Christians friends having the wrong impression that Christianity is evil. However, the truth is - God is Love (Jn 4:16). Christianity is about faith, hope and love and nothing is greater than love. I will tell you why.

This is what the often quoted John 3:16 said : “For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

So who did Jesus die on the Cross for?

Even the blind knows that Jesus died on the Cross for the entire human race “as for God loved the world” – not Christians only but everybody including people from ALL other faith.

Did God create only Christians? Of course NOT….ALL human are created by God and ALL human regardless of race and religions are God’s creation and God’s children.

Most of us are converts and if God is kind only to Christians, there will be no conversions since we are non-Christians first (and God hate us first). The truth is exactly opposite as it was God who love us first – not hate.

As I mentioned many times, Jesus said (in MT 22:37-40): 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets too.'

So again, Jesus NEVER teaches us to treat others differently but to love. And throughout the gospel, Jesus is telling us how much God love us and why we must be obedient to God and follow His teachings I.E. to love one another as how I love you.

At Novena services, we see how people from all walks of life come to pray and how God answer their prayers through the petitions of our Blessed Mother. It was God’s grace that people (regardless of faith) have their prayers answered . It was such grace by God that many (non-Christians) was converted because they know and felt the love of God. This is undeniable fact from the amount of thanks giving letters and many more petitions received.

Therefore, any claims that Christians are different from others will NEVER stand. 1Jn 4:8 says "Whoever fails to love does not know God, because God is love."

To put God in a bad light by claiming that it was God’s idea to treat people without love (such as cursing, swearing, wild allegations and treat people of other faith differently) can only be work of Satan and his disciples.

Anti-Christ is alive and lurking around us.