All we have to do is to live long enough, and we will see sufferings. People suffers. How should Christians respond, when we see others around us in pain?

 “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:4-5)

Don’t assume that they deserve it more than us! In fact, we all deserve to suffer, because we are all sinners. The fact that we are spared, it is not because we are better, but because of God’s mercy. Therefore, let the undeserved mercy of God humble us.

A brother once remarked to me how it amazes him that others more righteous and more fervent than he is have suffered more than he has. Indeed, if God measures to us what we deserve in strict justice, where would we be today! Hence, it is an occasion to examine ourselves, and confess our sins to God. “Do you not know that the goodness and mercy of God is meant to lead you to repentance?”

Have the sufferings around you led you to a deeper humbling of yourselves before God, dear brothers and sisters?

“Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.” (John 9:3-5)

Seeing a man blind from birth, the disciples philosophized: Suffering is the direct result of sin. Whose sin? Is it his sin, and if so, did he sin in the womb since he was blind from birth? How great a sin can one commit in the womb, to reap such great punishment? Or could it be the sin of his parents? 

Jesus’ response? Not why, but how! We may want to know who is responsible or why it has happened. There could be a time and place for that. However, more critically, the question we must answer now is: How can I help him? Our 1^st response ought not be to philosophize, but to render practical help.

To unbelievers, actions are always louder than words. While they may have many difficult questions about suffering that we cannot always answer satisfactorily, yet they have no answer when they see Christian Love in action. 

Dear brothers and sisters, is there someone around you in pain? Let us response with real help to them.

WEI En Yi

You don’t live alone. There are men and women, boys and girls around you and next to you. What do you see when you meet them? Do you see them as sinners — sinners because of Adam’s sin, and sinners because they commit sin? Do you see them as miserable, having lost communion with God, are under His wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever? 

I am not talking about strangers, but about your parents, your children, your uncles and aunties, your nephews and nieces. Will you do something, anything to save them? Why, everything that can be done should be done! But are you?

“It’s nothing to do with me!” is a common excuse, but is it true? Look at the disciples in the book of Acts, the early church in the New Testament. It is true that there are special messengers/preachers/evangelist, men like Peter and Philip. But it is not true that only the special messengers evangelise. 

“Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.” (Acts 8:4) We read of the church at Rome and also the church at Antioch. Who founded these churches? We also read of churches in Judea and Galilee, in Phoenicia and Cyprus. Who evangelised and planted these churches? Not the apostles, because all of them were kept in Jerusalem at that time!

The picture we have of the disciples in those days were people who spoke to everyone and anyone about Jesus Christ. They spoke from a full heart, for they could not help but speak what they know is true. And they have a lifestyle that backs their message up. 

What did Jesus say in Matthew 28:18-20? “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Disciples must be taught to obey all things that Christ has commanded. And what has He just commanded? Go and makes disciples!!

Christians, it has everything to do with you. Face it honestly. Unless we make effort to evangelise, we are living in direct disobedience to our Lord. Think Matthew 28:18-20.

WEI En Yi