Running's good, in a way. Strengthens the cardiovascular system, enabling the heart to work less, lungs to extract oxygen more efficiently, muscles to be toned & developed. Just that it leaves you dog tired after that. No need to go a marathon, just 5km is good enough to kill. In my opinion.

Even when it comes to living a life well-lived, that also constitues a race. How faithful have we been in "fighting the good fight, finishing the race, keeping the faith (2 Tim 4:7)"? It's not about how much we've served, the number of people we've brought down, but simply, at the day of judgment, God will ask, "So how well did you utilise the talents that I have gifted you with?" Naturally, if He blesses someone with a lot, and yet another with less, the rules of proportion apply. You don't expect one blessed with the gift of prophecy to be as efficient in leading people to Christ as one gifted with the aura of evangelism.

In the Bible it is written of one servant who was given 5 talents, another 2, and the last one with the single solitary 1 talent. The servant with 5 manged to reproduce 5 more, the servant with 2 doubled his talents too, yet the servant with 1 chose to hide it and return it untouched to his master when "he could have deposited it in a bank and earned interest on that". *Note: The talent in this parable is not an ability, it is a measure of money! Which led to Jesus issuing the warning that "For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." (Matt 25:29)

And faithfulness with using what God has provided for you, is just like running a race. Every step of our journey with God, what He wants to see in our actions, thoughts and deeds is simply faithfulness. Are we being obedient to Him, and the purposes He has created us for the day we said the sinner's prayer and devoted our lives to Him? This race is not a 100m sprint, it is a marathon, probably spanning over a good few decades till the day we die. And God will be waiting. Happy to see that we are joining Him in eternity praising and worshipping Him, and yet sad to see if we have not remained faithful in doing what we have been assigned to do.

"¹It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers..." (Ephesians 4:11) and now we "are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?" (1 Cor 12:27-29)

So He has given us roles to be. For "in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." (Rom 12:5)

Are we going to keep the faith? Or fall away from it? Only He can bring us through this race, and He will. Trust in the Lord your God, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will keep your paths straight! (Prov 3:5-6)

Joel.

"I am a new creation, no more in condemnation, here in the grace of God I stand..."

It's so easy to forget how sometimes we're saved by grace and therefore we stand blameless in God's sight. For as long as we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and forgives us (! John 1:9)! Because even when He forgives all the time we will still feel that tinge of guilt somewhere. And when it's a repeated sin (e.g. lying) it only compounds the matter, and we can only shy away like Adam when God comes. "I heard you coming, and I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid."

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him (John 3:17)! So we can boldly approach the throne of grace with renewed confidence. That even though we have been guilty, the blood of Christ has washed us clean again.

So are we to remain as we are, blaming ourselves for being sinful, or carrying on sinning in our old ways? Now when we believed in Christ, our sinful nature was shed already, giving rise to a new creation, a new person, a new meaning in life, birthed by the mercy of God and the blood of Jesus Christ. Though we are imperfect human beings, we sin, but we know there is a gracious Father above who will cancel out all the old records because He loved us so and because His Son sits at the right hand of His throne interceding for us! Now that is a wondefrul sight to behold. When all our soiled rags come off and we are given clean white robes to wear. WOW.

Joel.

It's catching up, definitely. And it has been decreed from the time we were conceived in our mother's womb, to when we were given birth, to the time when we become toddlers, adolescents, teenagers, young adults, adults, middle-aged, elderly, that we will eventually die because our human body was not made to last eternally, unlike God, who is forever to be praised.

For God did mention in Gen 6:3 that He would not allow man to live past 120 years, because of all the sin in man's life. They went after other gods, indulged in sensual pleasures, and gave up serving Him only. That prompted Him to cause that flood to wipe out all sinful mankind and start anew, just that they foolishly started sinning again after stepping off the ark onto dry land. Of course, it is the propensity of man to sin. Why? Each inclination of his heart is evil. Which is why, as time progresses, man will find new ways of sin, each one worse than the one before. Promiscuity, alcoholism, gambling, homosexuality, etc, each one is getting worse, and the moral decay is such a stench in the eyes of God, back then, and even now.

Yet God wants people saved. He wants them to return to Him. He sends disasters, hurricanes, earthquakes, to let people know that He is there, but they are so clueless, so steeped in ignorance that they don't know He is. Or they may be going after their Buddhas, Krishnas, Guan Yins, the modern day equivalents of Chemosh (of the olden day Moabites) or Molech (of the olden day Ammonites). It is even recorded in 2 Peter 3:9 that He does want people to come back to Him.

Is it a wonder, then, that more people are turning to God? And Christianity is suffering a multifarious attack from all other religions, in countries where the main religion is Islam, or Buddhism, or Hinduism, or some other main religion, it would be from those religious leaders; in the developed regions of "Christian" America and Europe, people are turning to the godless gospel of evolution, preferring to think that they are not accountable to anyone and therefore won't suffer any judgment in time to come. And continue living steeped in sin. It's delusional, yet in the end times, it has been prophesised that people will want to live their own way, INDEPENDENT of God, which is the biggest sin of all -- pride. Failure to acknowledge that they are fallen beings, incapable of redeeming themselves.

It's time to change that mindset. But who will go? Those whom God have chosen, and those who have availed themselves to go. How can they just go like that? They need intercessors, and that is basically what I will do the whole of next year. Praying for others. It is time for me to take up an active role in furthering the gospel of God to those unsaved, not to those saved already.

Joel.

Seems as if I'm talking about life, albeit lately. Was at a funeral of my friend's mum, the poor woman having suffered 11 years for cancer before passing on. Worse thing was, she never had the chance to know God personally. And my friend, well, beleaguered as he was, still had to be up and running, serving guests all around for the funeral. He, too, never had the chance to know God, though I did speak briefly with him about it in Vietnam.

2 days ago I was at the funeral wake, and I saw many old acquaintances and friends that I'd lost contact with. All of them, offering the same distasteful incense to a dead person who would never receive it, and having the wrong impression that she'd be leading a better life in the other world by now. Which is so totally false. Religion can do a number on your future in eternity.

Human perception is flawed. He's the best model student any teacher can ask for. He's constantly availing himself for any school project, scoring very well in all sorts of tests and examinations, plus the fact that he's got a PSC scholarship to study in Shanghai's Fudan university, all expenses paid, and when he comes back he'll start a lucrative job in the MOE. Even I sometimes am inclined to think that he's perfect. YET. If he doesn't believe in the grace of God guiding him through, rescuing his life from the dust, he's no worse off than any other criminal who doesn't know God. Sad, but true. Definitely.

Which is why I'm making that decision to move off from the youths at the end of this year, and join the intercession ministry, and try to do something to overturn these ideas. It's tough, but I'm giving it a big shot this time.

Joel.