When Character is Lost, All is Lost

'When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.' This is a quote from Billy Graham that struck me this week. Billy Graham is such an inspiring and a passionate evangelist.  I am so overwhelmed with joy to know that he is still existing this time, continually living and walking with God. I have never met such a man before who has this courageous faith to preach the gospel ever since he was young until his 96-year of existence this time. I am so well-impressed how God used his life to be a great impact to the world. 

I love the quote from Billy because somehow I can able to relate. I experienced poverty, poorness in physical health and also once was lost in character. But then, I thank God that He transformed from the inside out and even until this time, He is still working on me to make me what I ought to be. I thank God for the new life I received from Him. I could still remember during the time, when I was still a new convert, I was too much on fire to render my service to Him. I made my very best effort to serve God with all my mind, heart, soul, and strength. I was very eager to evangelize my neighborhoods, classmates, relatives, friends, and acquaintances. Just like Billy, I really wanted to make an impact to the world.

Today, I wanted to pray to God to bring back the passion I had before reaching out the lost at this present time and prayerfully it will persist in coming days, months and years. After I will graduate in BTC, I want to apply what I have learned inside the missionary. I want to grab every opportunity, if God would nudge me, to share the gospel to anybody with the Spirit's leading. I desire to honor God all the days of my life. I love to be a reflector of the great Light wherever I go, to the places where the He leads me :).

Hard Work Pays Off

"Hard work for God ultimately pays off a great reward". I am so blessed with the lives of Charles Spurgeon and David Livingstone. I could see in their lives how they valued industry and this really manifested in their personal lives. David, at his young age, experienced to  work in a cotton factory while Spurgeon also came from a humble state, not being a degree holder, had spent so many time for personal studies without a formal education. Then, God never treated them as a garbage despite their status in life. God has honored their diligence and helped them to be the person that God wants them to be.

Not to brag about my being a studious student, I am thankful to God for putting me a desire to love learning. Ever since at my young age, I craved for knowledge and I put a great interest in it. I thanked God that since I became a Christian, I have learned not only to chase knowledge but to ask God's wisdom above all. Honestly speaking, I could say that I know a lot but truly I am too lazy to apply most of the great principles I have learned in life. It's not enough to say that you have an idea about something but in practically speaking, you just have less hands-on experience. I praise God for bringing me here at BTC because I have realized that to be a Christian is also to bear fruit and it can be seen through your works. In the Scriptures, we can find the sin of omission, "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin" (James 4:17). Wisdom speaks louder than knowledge. It is dishonoring God if we just hide the light that is in us because He wants us to let the light shine to the world. How can a Christian influence the world if he or she doesn't act out what he or she knows or believes?

I am so very guilty to God even until this time that I am so poor in wisdom. Every time I see this weakness of mine, all the more I get closer to Him. What an encouragement to see the lives of my co-believers in Christ walking in wisdom. Yet in my case I should not pity myself and even being hard on myself, knowing that God is patient with me and He never gives up on me and He never will. I know that God gives chance to His children. I can choose the path of wisdom daily and I can't do it by myself. From this day forward, I want to be serious in praying to God to be more diligent in doing good for Him. It's because my works for Him will never be in vain. I want to encourage myself each day that I will not grow weary in doing good for at the proper time I will reap a harvest, if I don't give up (Gal. 6:9).