The Externally Focused Life

During the EFC Leadership Summit 2010 last April, I bought the keynote speakers Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson's "The Externally Focused Life".

This title had attracted my attention more than their earlier published "The Externally Focused Church" and newly launched "The Externally Focused Quest" because I was eager to read how ordinary individuals like me are making a remarkable impact through their service.

Having put it aside for two months, I managed to finish reading it once this week before my semester break ends.

I especially liked the following excerpt from Chapter 1:
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"We have a story we are writing with our life choices, one moment at time. God desires for his story to intersect with our stories and for our stories to be changed--for us to realize that we are more than our past and our present circumstances. Between our first day and our final day, there is a much bigger story that wer are part of. More important, it's not only about us. Our lives can have a significant impact on someone else's story!

God wants people to discover his story, and God can use us to help others do exactly that. Think of Paul's words to the curious in Athens: "God who made the world...gives all men life and breath and everything else...he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:24-27). As God is involved in orchestrating people's lives--their jobs, their neighborhoods, their life situations--he desires to use us to tell his story so that others will seek and find him. We are an integral link to the connection God desires to have in others' lives.
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Sometimes our lives may look like insignificant cardboard puzzle pieces--not even a border piece or one with an obvious place to fit into. We might even think some of the puzzle pieces in our box belong in other boxes! We wonder what good our lives are--not much value, not much significance, nearly useless. But this is God's picture, his puzzle. He knows what he's doing. If the Bible is right, then God indicates that our parts of the puzzle are needed, valued, and planned for.

So who are we? What are our lives? That all depends. We can simply collect all that has been tossed into our beings. We can be defined by our successes and failures or limited by the unfortunate things that have happened to us. Or we can be a people who see our lives as ones to be used, enjoyed, and lived in such a way that God's story is being written through our stories--and our stories are impacting the stories of others."
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Rick Rusaw asked the reader a question in Chapter 3:
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"Have you ever been so focused on yourself or something in your life that you didn't even notice the other people all around you or in front of you--much less make an effort to help meet their needs? It's time for us to pay attention--to focus on others."
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I have made it a resolution to live an externally focused life in order to add life to my years rather than add years to my life on earth.

Breakthrough Parenting

During my fruitful visit at Thai Kuang bookstore last October, I discovered another very interesting book "Breakthrough Parenting".

The author's name John C. Maxwell had attracted my attention in the first place. He is the founder of EQUIPE, an organization offering the MLM programme which I had been following for more than one year.

I was only familiar with his leadership series and had never associated him with the topic of parenting. Out of curiosity and of respect for this world renown leadership expert, speaker and author, I decided to buy this book, even though its title seemed to have nothing to do with me.

I clearly remember that before I was leaving Thai Kuang that Saturday, I saw two Calvary Care Home(CCH) boys in the same bookstore. They and others were having an outing with Albert P. To them at that time, I was just someone who often appeared two hours at CCH in Tuesday afternoons to supervise their homework, and who smilingly said hi to them at the church on Sunday mornings.

Never had I expected that God meant this book for me to serve these children better later. As I desired to establish stronger relationship with them, most of whom had become teenagers, John C. Maxwell's sharing, from his parents' experience as well as mistakes of his own, provided and still provides me with biblical parenting skills.

As a care giver to the CCH boys, now I see them as they could be, not only as they are.

Here is an excerpt from Breakthrough#1:
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Model Growth as a Parent

Nothing is better for encouraging children to reach their potential than positive growth modeled by their parents. People do what they see, and that's especially true for children. When our kids are young, they'll do what we say regardless of what we do. But by the time they reach their early teens, they begin doing what we do even when it differs from what we say.

Parents who are continually working to develop their own potential mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically have children who will see that process as normal. Parents who aren't growing won't be able to guide their children's growth effectively. They can't lead their kids down a path they've never traveled.

When it comes to personal growth, most people fall into one of three zones:

1. The coasting zone: The person in the coasting zone often focuses on what he has done in the past because he's not doing much in the present. For him, life is a series of bare-minimum days. This person keeps a low profile. And if it's possible to do less today than yesterday, the person in the coasting zone will do exactly that. He doesn't want to hear about his potential.

2. The comfort zone: The person in the comfort zone may work hard but may never grow. She sticks with what she knows because it's safe. She may acknowledge that growth is a good thing, but she's not willing to pay the price to grow herself. As a result, she'll never reach her potential.

3. The challenge zone: The person who lives in the challenge zone is constantly striving to reach his potential. He's not content to live on yesterday's victories. Nor is he content only with today's successes. He's constantly trying to do what he's never done before. He's learning and growing every day. He knows he may never fully realize his potential, but that doesn't stop him from doing all he can to reach it.

You may love to learn and grow. If you do, I commend you and encourage you to keep doing what you're doing. But if you look at yourself honestly and find yourself in the comfort or coasting zone, I want you to know you can change and become someone who is growing and developing his or her potential. At first it may be difficult, but with each step, the process gets easier and more enjoyable.

Consider areas where you would like to grow, and begin reading books and listening to tapes on those areas... You can become the person God intended you to be, no matter how old you are or what your personal history is.
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If you want "to make a breakthrough in the way you think about parenting, having recognized your ability to create life-changing breakthroughs in your children's lives", you should not miss this book.

The Hole In Our Gospel

Besides the notebooks, I had never bought any reference books from the MLM class. Two months ago, Piek See was promoting a few books during the break. After her recommendation, I was attracted by "The Hole In Our Gospel" written by Richard Stearns, president of World Vision US, and immediately bought the book.

Here’s an excerpt from the Chapter 1:
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More and more, our view of the gospel has been narrowed to a simple transaction, marked by checking a box on a bingo card at some prayer breakfast, registering a decision for Christ, or coming forward during an altar call. I have to admit that my own view of evangelism, based on the Great Commission, amounted to just that for many years. It was about saving as many people from hell as possible--for the next life. It minimized any concern for those same people in this life. It wasn't as important that they were poor or hungry or persecuted, or perhaps rich, greedy, and arrogant; we just had to get them to pray the "sinner's prayer" and then move on to the next potential convert. In our evangelistic efforts to make the good news accessible and simple to understand, we seem to have boiled it down to a kind of "fire insurance" that one can buy. Then, once the policy is in effect, the sinner can go back to whatever life he was living--of wealth and success, or of poverty and suffering. As long as the policy is in the drawer, the other things don't matter as much. We've got our "ticket" to the next life.

There is a real problem with this limited view of the kingdom of God; it is not the whole gospel. Instead, it's a gospel with a gaping hole. First, focusing almost exclusively on the afterlife reduces the importance of what God expects of us in this life. The kingdom of God, which Christ said is "within you" (Luke 17:21), was intended to change and challenge everything in our fallen world in the here and now. It was not meant to be a way to leave the world but rather the means to actually redeem it. Yes, it first requires that we repent of our own sinfulness and totally surrender our individual lives to follow Christ, but then we are also commanded to go into the world -- to bear fruit by lifting up the poor and the marginalized, challenging injustice wherever we find it, rejecting the worldly values found within every culture, and loving our neighbours as ourselves. While our "joining" in the coming kingdom of God may begin with a decision, a transaction, it requires so much more than that.
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Christianity is a faith that was meant to spread--but not through coercion. God's love was intended to be demonstrated, not dictated. Our job is not to manipulate or induce others to agree with us or to leave their religion and embrace Christianity. Our charge is to both proclaim and embody the gospel so that others can see, hear, and feel God's love in tangible ways. When we are living out our faith with integrity and compassion in the world, God can use us to give others a glimpse of His love and character. It is God--not us--who works in the hearts of men and women to forgive and redeem. Coercion is not necessary or even particularly helpful. God is responsible for the harvest--but we must plant, water, and cultivate the seeds.
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As a reader with a preference for biographies or autobiographies rather than fictions, I always love to know how others go through their lives. As a Christian, I am eager to follow the steps of those who have "set aside worldly success for something far more significant, and discovered the full power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to change their own lives".

The true story of this former corporate CEO has truly inspired me to be one of those who use their journeys "to demonstrate how the gospel--the whole gospel--was always meant to be a world-changing social revolution, a revolution that begins with us".

The Road To Reality

Last May when I went to "Bible Gateway", I noticed that the website was giving out free copies of K.P. Yohannan's "Revolution In World Missions". I had never heard of the book nor the author, but I was interested in knowing more about missions after reading Brother Andrew's "God's Smuggler" early this year.

As Malaysia was not in the list of the countries where the book could be delivered to, I requested Emi to sign up on my behalf, hoping to get it when I was in Japan in June. During my stay, the book still did not arrive. Several weeks after I came back, Ah Yu posted it to Batu Pahat from Japan. I spent two days to devour the whole book, putting aside others that I had bought earlier but had not even browsed through a single page. This founder of Gospel For Asia, a ministry that trains and supports native missionaries, inspired me a lot with his obedience to the Lord and his compassion for the lost souls in the remote areas in Asia where the Gospel was not yet preached.

During my outing to Mahkota Parade several weeks ago, I walked into Thai Kuang bookstore. There were two long rows of new and used books for clearance. My eyes were sharp enough to notice the names of a few Christian authors. K.P. Yohannan's was one of them. This was his second book published in the USA where he had been a popular speaker at missions conferences to raise awareness about God's unchanged calling to Christians to spread the good news of salvation to the ends of the earth.

Here’s an excerpt from the Chapter 6:
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The Lost Message of the Cross

But something is still very wrong.

Why are so few living out of the "not I but Christ" life-style that Paul describes in Galatians 2:20? Although God eagerly desires to manifest Himself within us, I believe it is because so few of us have learned to let the cross do its deadly work in our flesh on a daily basis. We haven't yet come to a full understanding of the cross.

We must return to Calvary. The glory and presence of Christ will return to our lives and churches only when we have rediscovered the cross of Christ.

The cross has two operations. First, on it Christ paid the penalty for our sins and thus bought our eternal salvation. But it doesn't stop there. The second work of the cross provides for our ongoing sanctification -- the daily, continuous crucifixion of our flesh. This great doctrine is not very popular lately because it requires a voluntary acceptance of death to ego or self.

Someone has put it this way, "If self is on the throne, then Christ is on the cross. If Christ is on the throne, then self is on the cross."

This is why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:10 that we are "always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." Accepting death to my ego is the only way to manifest the life of Christ. Putting my "self" to death is the only way to exchange my life for His.

I believe that this is the real meaning of Galatians 2:20 where Paul says, "I'm crucified with Christ."

So here is the spiritual law of the flesh: The measure to which I will manifest the life of Christ is the same measure to which I am willing to put my "self" to death.

When Jesus walked on earth, God was showing us not only what He was like but also what He wanted man to be like. Jesus had authority and power because He constantly submitted Himself to the will of the Father in every matter. Christ pleased the Father and reflected the Father perfectly because He perfectly put to death His flesh. And we repeat this cycle as we submit to our head, the Lord Jesus.

This is the life that is connected to Jesus, the head, on a decision-by-decision basis. It is the submitted, dead-to-self life that the Lord can animate and used for His glory. It is the only kind of life He will empower and use.

If we're rightly connected to the head in this way, it would be hard to imagine making any decision without first submitting it to Christ for His approval. What would that do to the way we spend our time? What does Christ say about TV and the films we view, the music we listen to, or the catalogs and magazines we read?

What about our activities -- church, clubs, leisure time, friendships, hobbies, prayer, service, sports and study?

What about our relationships with boyfriends, girlfriends, mentors and role models? Whom do we idolize and pattern our lives after?

What about our purchases, both the large and small ones? Is our shopping basket under His control? Does He direct the checks we write? What about the "big buys" -- our car, home and insurance?

And of course, there are those major decisions in life -- full-time missionary service, career and job plans, education and the choice of a mate.

For the Christian, none of these things is any longer a personal decision. It is not what others say, what self says or what circumstances dictate. The only valid question is always, What does Christ say to me about this decision?

But most of us find ourselves making even the big decisions without prayer and waiting for guidance from the Holy Spirit.

Obviously, the gap between this kind of biblical Christianity and the shallow spirituality of our day is a significant one. How different is this kind of self-sacrificing faith from the pleasure-seeking, self-serving, wimpy religion so often preached and practised in our churches!
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This message is not only for the western countries. If you are a Christian like me who is so blessed with material comfort, I highly recommend this book to you.

Oh, Man! Where Are You?

When I was a student in France, Ernest used to talk to me about God's love. I never felt that he sounded like a preacher. Now, when it was my turn to talk about how God's words had changed my life and to encourage him to read the Bible that he had left on the shelf among his reference books, he found me religious.

In an email in March, Ernest wrote:
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I imagine Lee Sah in black robes, surrounded by a pile of books symbolizing the knowledge of the Bible. On that coming day, we'll be very proud of you...
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It made me smile. At the same time, I also seriously thought of this question "How to serve God full-time without being a pastor?" I like to tell people about God's love but I would not see myself preaching to a congregation inside the four walls of a church building.

The answer became clearer when I started reading the book "Oh, Man! Where Are You?" that I had bought from the "Su Fes" bookstore one month later.

The author wrote:
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If you are willing to open the Bible to read through it, you'll realize that the whole Bible is turning around a main topic. That is, God is looking for man.

One who serves God full-time, regardless of the service, as long as he insists that he does it for the sake of the Gospel, that he may share in its blessings (1 Corinthians 9:23), is a preacher, a full-time preacher.

Even if our jobs do not seem to relate to the faith and look like any other secular jobs, we don't define our jobs as holy or not.
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The author used examples in the Bible to show that serving God full-time does not necessarily mean to give up our talents and skills like Simon and Andre who immediately left their nets and followed Jesus.

The writer also mentioned a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias who had received a vision from God to lay his hands on Saul, so that Saul's sight was recovered and that he was filled with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 9:10-17)

This book inspired me to be another Ananias that God can use to touch one person at each time, who, like Saul later become Paul, might reach out to thousands of people.

Knowing that God is forever looking for men, I shouted to Him in my heart, "Father! Here I am. I'm willing to serve you full-time with the language talent you've given to me!"

Do you hear God's calling?