Titus 3 – Do what is Right!

Actually, this incident has slipped out of my mind. But on reflection after last Sunday sermon, it somehow came back.

Not sure whether to blog about this. It may sound stupid.

Well, we had our first Young Adult BSG at Lorong Ah Soo 2 Saturday ago. Being the first meeting, I thought that putting one and a half hour of parking coupon should be sufficient. We started at 6:30pm. I think the sharing and discussion was very good and before long, we actually ended at around 10pm.

When I got into the car, I realized that the parking coupons have expired by 2 hours. I did not get any summon for over parking. I could just drive off. Nobody knows and nobody cares. So I just talk out loud, “So what should I do?” (Not really praying but talking to myself)

Maybe I have been studying the Book of Titus too much long before this series of weekly sermons. Inside me gave a simple answer, “Do what is right” So, I took out 2 orange coupons and tore it off. I know this may sound stupid. But then, this is not the first time I have done that.

It is really to just “Do what is right” especially when no one is there to look at you.

I can read! I cannot read?

Can U read this?

There is this email being circulated:

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid, too. Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe tuo fo 100 anc.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!


This is where the human mind is more superior to the computer that we engineers have long been aware of!

A promise that shapes my life

Today is a special day.

On my honour, I promise that I will do my best –
To do my duty to God and the Republic of Singapore
To help other people;
And to keep the Scout Law.

Yes, this is the Scout promise. Every true Boy Scouts know that today is World Scout Day, our Founder’s birthday Lord Baden Powell, born on 22nd February 1857.

I remember on this day, many years ago when I first made the Scout Promise in public. It meant a lot to me when I recited it. It is a promise that I learn to abide by, and is still keeping it.

I promise that I will do my best …
On reflection, I can honestly say that in everything, I always do my best –
as a student,
as an officer cadet,
as an engineer,
as a reservist doing my IPPT and national service,
as a Christian,
as a member of Bethany PC,
as a father, …

To do my duty to God …
Our Founder was a Christian. I wasn’t a Christian then. Perhaps it is this promise that makes me want to know God personally. It reminds me of Ecc. 12:13

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

To help other people …
Boy Scouts are trained to serve. This is our calling. We did many services during those days. It has somehow impacted me a lot, those scouting days.

There are many good things about being a Boy Scout. Like being “Be Prepared”, develop skills and leadership. But the one thing that really shaped my life and thinking is the Scout Promise.

Is He satisfied? Is He satisfied?
Is He satisfied with me?
Have I done my best, have I stood the test?
Is He satisfied with me?

Higher Expectation for Leaders

We expect a higher integrity and morality from our leaders. And this is rightly so.

No one would be interested if I were to tell you that my Christian neighbour committed adultery and is now divorced. But, if I tell you Pastor ABC's daughter has a child out of wedlock, it becomes church news.

What is true for Christian leaders is also true for political leaders.

The sensation of the Malaysia political woman nude photos exposed in the press reminds me of the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8:1-11. The Pharisees asked Jesus: “What do you say?” Jesus did not deny her sin. But He exposed their motives. This is the best example that Jesus taught us how to judge – Justice with compassion and exposing sly motives.

The Malaysian woman is single. But she is a political leader. Did she done any wrong? What are the motives of these exposed nude photographs?

We know what the motives of her opponents are, but that is not my interset in this blog.

She told a press conference: "I wish to state that I am not ashamed of my sexuality as a woman and a single person. I have broken no laws. I stand by the fundamental principle in a democracy that everyone has a right to privacy,"

While she has broken no law and entitled to her right to privacy, we need to understand that as one get higher up in leadership, one looses more and more of her privacy. If she want to hold on to privacy, then be a common people and relinquish leadership.


This applies to church leadership also. The moment I hold duty as committee member, chairman of Christian Education ministry, BSG leader, preaching in Sunday worship services, etc, I loose my privacy. What I do and how I talk in my daily life is significant. This applies to the YA presidency also. Yep, we leaders carry a higher degree of morality and integrity – in speech, thought and action.

Like that very difficult leh!

Yes, it’s not easy to be a leader. What we Christian leaders need to do then is to maintain a close walk with the LORD - in WORD and in PRAYER.

Practice the PRESENCE OF GOD in my life.

Agape to all.

Finishing the Christian Journey

I feel sad after completed reading the Book of 1 Samuel last Saturday morning. (Started from Book of Joshua since mid January)

Very sad …

King Saul, the Lord’s anointed ended his life by committing suicide.
Why did God's anointed and first chosen king ended this way?
What went wrong?
Why did God choose him in the first place? Isn’t there any better man to be king?


Apparently, he was the best person available at that time. (Read 1Sam 9-11) OK, the best person should be Samuel, but he already held two more important offices – Prophet and Priest. The next important office is King.

David, son of Jesse was not born yet. 1Sam 13:1 (NIV) recorded that Saul was 30 years old when he became king and ruled Israel for 42 years. David became king at the age of 30 (2Sam 5:4). This meant that when David was born, Saul had already ruled Israel for 12 years.

After 12 years or more, perhaps impatience (1Sam 13), greed and integrity (1Sam 15) have gotten into him after so long as king.

David, son of Jesse was still a boy when he was anointed (1Sam 16). How old was David when he was anointed? We can make a guess. We know that Jesse had 8 sons, David being the youngest. The first three eldest sons served in Saul’s army (1Sam 17:12,13). In Israel, only men above 20 years old could be in the army (Numbers 1:20) so assuming each of Jesse’s son was one year difference in age, David was no more than 15 years old when he was anointed by Samuel to be the next king.

Wow! Only 15 years old and already chosen to be king!

But have to wait for 15 years before really become king, leh.

So, instead of gracefully stepping down as king, Saul became jealous and plotted to kill David many times. Power struggle!! Yet, David did not once take his hand on the Lord’s anointed. In the end, Saul killed himself.

I may not be the Lord’s anointed.
But still, beware of obstacles in my Christian journey.
Be very aware!!

It’s not how we start the Christian journey.
It’s how we end.
(Like running a marathon, only those who cross the line are counted)

Still very sad … (will I see Saul in heaven?)

Valentine Day – Agape Love

I guess that everyone has his own thought about this day.
Those in courtship may think about romance. Singles and secret admires may be hoping…

Me, ah? Just sleep through the day lah!

No, just joking. This is the day when we should reflect about how we really love others, especially those close to us.

First, how does Valentine day comes about?

Check the internet lah! So simple!! (as my little daughter will tell me that)

OK, will do that for you:

Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine

There is a legend called Legenda Aurea as regard to Valentine day.

According to that version, St Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person. Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing the blind daughter of his jailer.

Legenda Aurea still providing no connections whatsoever with sentimental love, appropriate lore has been embroidered in modern times to portray Valentine as a priest who refused an unattested law attributed to Roman Emperor Claudius II, allegedly ordering that young men remain single. The Emperor supposedly did this to grow his army, believing that married men did not make for good soldiers. The priest Valentine, however, secretly performed marriage ceremonies for young men. When Claudius found out about this, he had Valentine arrested and thrown in jail. In an embellishment to The Golden Legend, on the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he wrote the first "valentine" himself, addressed to a young girl variously identified as his beloved, as the jailer's daughter whom he had befriended and healed, or both. It was a note that read "From your Valentine."

For me, being a Christian is very much learning to love others no matter how difficult it is. Since Christ went through the trouble for us (read Rom 5:8, if you don’t know this verse; http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%205:8;&version=31; must read, better still memorize it, like me!)

When I talk about love, it is God’s love or agape love. It is spell out in 1Cor 13:

1 Corinthians 13 (NASV)

4Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,

5does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,

6does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

So, think about this agape love and don’t sleep through this Valentine day, ok?


Happy Valentine!
Mark Lim

Let all that you do be done in love (1Cor 16:13 NRSV)

Who is wise among us?

Know of any wise guy?

Yah!

Who?

LKY (?) … Ah, ok, sure got this one right, must be King Solomon, lah!


According to Dr Gordan Smith, professor at Regent College, Vancouver, the first of the four marks of a mature Christian is wisdom. I was at his lecture last Friday (6 Feb) and the topic was Spiritual maturity.

Honestly, I have never thought of that. Normally when we talk about spiritual maturity, we talk about bearing spiritual fruit – love, joy, peace, … (Gal 5:22,23). No, that is not even one of the marks of a spiritual Christian. “Wisdom grows with age. A young person can never be considered wise. It is a tragedy for a person to grow old and not wise”. Although he didn’t really define wisdom in his lecture, one dictionary defines wisdom as:

having the power of discerning and judging properly as to what is true or right; possessing discernment, judgment, or discretion

To be able to make right judgment come from having right knowledge. So I quote what Professor Gordon said:

“No wisdom without knowledge
No knowledge without studies”










Wisdom begins with knowing God.

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Prov 9:10 NIV)

For those without God, their wisdom at best is still earthly wisdom, not godly wisdom. What then is the different? Godly wisdom is not just about words and thoughts. It includes action and outcome that affect everybody.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. (James 3:17)

I have been in the Bethany PC English Committee long enough to hear of many decisions being made. Different people approach differently, some more legalistic, some more logically, some more compassionate, some prefer a win-win approach (whatever that is). In BPCES, we also hear of the many decisions the church session made. Ultimately, the test of such decisions is by James 3:17. Sad to say, I feel that most of the time the wisdom of the church session when evaluate under the microscope of James 3:17 does not turn out well. This is just my opinion, no offend to anybody. (Not trying to be judgmental here, just a Share-A-Thought)

Know of any wise guys in Bethany PC?

Eh, our pastors can or not?

How about the church elders, ah?

Proverb 4:
5 Get wisdom, get understanding;
do not forget my words or swerve from them.

6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;
love her, and she will watch over you.

7 Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.
Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

8 Esteem her, and she will exalt you;
embrace her, and she will honor you.

9 She will set a garland of grace on your head
and present you with a crown of splendor


Sophia, (in Greek mean wisdom)
Mark Lim

Maybe I am at the wrong place …

Last Friday, I was sitting at the back in the worship hall at Singapore Bible College (SBC) waiting for the seminar to start. The seminar was supposed to be for pastors, church leaders and theological school professors.

A man came and sat beside me, curious to find out who I am.

Stranger: Hello, I am from Covenant Presbyterian Church. Where are you from?

Me: Hi, I am from Bethany Presbyterian Church.

Stranger: Where is it?

Me: Somewhere in Upper Paya Lebar Road, near Lorong Ah Soo.

Stranger: Are you a pastor?

Me: No, just an ordinary guy.

Stranger: (with a look of unbelief) Ya, ya, a missionary?

Me: No, just an ordinary guy. You’re from Covenant right? Rev Keith Lai, Edwin Wong’s church, right.

Stranger: (start to panic) How you know them? How, ah?

Me: (smile)

Stranger: (looking more curious)

Me: (I think I should put him at ease) Rev Keith Lai & Edwin Wong preach at my church before, lah!

Stranger: (finally a convince look that I am really an ordinary guy. Followed by a “why-are-you-here-then” look)

Stranger shifted his seat.

May be I am at the wrong place. It was an open seminar by Dr Gordan Smith, Professor at Regent College, Vancouver. The topics of his talks were Christian maturity in the morning and Assessing spiritual formation in the afternoon. Ordinary guy like me has no place for the afternoon session. I just wanted to be kaypoh and learnt how so-call spiritual giants assess us ordinary guys in our spiritual growth.

Actually, I have no intention of attending the talk, even though I like Dr Gordan Smith’s book. He is an excellent writer. I knew of his talk many months ago. Then I received Rev David Lim’s email on Monday 2nd Feb about this talk. Still, I shelved the idea of attending.

Tuesday morning, the first thing on my mind when I woke up was the seminar. Usually, I listen to that small voice whenever I woke up. It is the voice that speaks in my quiet time, sermon outlines, ideas to prepare Bible Studies material, and often helping me in my assignments when I was in SBC. Hence, I am perhaps the only odd ball in the afternoon seminar.

Maybe, I am at the wrong place …

Murphy’s Law changes my way of life

Heard about Murphy’s Law?

This Law says: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong and many of its variation.

This law means that if you are doing anything that has a probability of failure, then it will fail even though the probability of failure is small. This may sound superstitious!

The Daily Bread devotions on Jan 28 2009 (can be found at http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/our-daily-bread/2009/01/28/devotion.aspx ) brings back many memory of situations where anything that can goes wrong did happen to me. I am a strong supporter of Murphy’s Law since young even though I do not know about this Law then.

One variation of Murphy’s Law: - Every time we talk about someone who is not with us in a group (especially bad things), the next moment, that person appears in front of us!

Another variation of Murphy’s Law (especially for engineers, also my favorite): - “when we solve one problem, we create another new problem”. This is what my parents always say in Teochew: “Catch the tortoise, out run the turtle” (need someone helps to write the Chinese words).

I heard about Murphy’s Law only when I started working. (The above picture is the book I bought while in London). Here are my most common Murphy’s Law situations:

1. Designs that doesn’t work
There was once when I was designing some circuitry for a hand phone. The computer simulations seemed correct and we built the hardware. My colleague built one unit and I did another. His prototype worked as designed but mine didn’t. I then tried to build another. Still it didn’t work and my colleagues stared at me in disbelieve.

At that time, I knew that Murphy’s Law was working against me and we went back to check the simulation. This time we included the tolerance values of each component. It turned out that one component needed a 1% tolerance and the components we use to build the prototype were 10% tolerance. We measured the component that I used. My colleague happened to pick a 1% tolerance. As for me, you can guess it.

2. Last hours of the working Week
Every time when I try to do some engineering experiment late at Friday 6 pm, things just don’t seem to be right. Try the same thing on a Saturday morning (a non working day) and it works perfectly!!

3. No “Luck” at Lucky Draws
I have hardly won any Lucky Draw at company’s celebration lunches and dinners even though one out of three will get a prize. I know of a colleague who gets a prize every year.



Because of Murphy’s Law, I have always studied everything before going to an examination. That is why I love examinations and is always well prepared for it. Thanks to Murphy’s Law, even though at that time I never heard of this.

The way to overcome Murphy’s Law is PRAY before doing anything. I may sound superstitious. But God has taught me to rely on HIM and not on circumstances. He is far above all things. Prayer changes things and prayer changes me!

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.
"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
(Isa 55:8,9)

Right Translation make all the difference!

Read the translation in Chinese!!!


Using the right translation makes all the difference in your interpretation!!

Distraction - loosing focus!!

Distraction can be irritating at times. Especially when you are in the midst of something and the sense of thoughts started to shifted away unknowingly.

Last night as I was preparing the love gift for Gospel Mission to the Blind (GMB) and another Christian organization, I carelessly forgot to paste a postage stamp on the envelope as I was interrupted by my daughter. After posting the letters into the letter box, it is my habit to also pray for the organizations and the safe delivery of the cheques. It was then that I realized that I did not put any postage stamp.

This morning, I wrote an email to GMB to apologise to them of my carelessness.

Hmm, now I should pray just before posting the letters and not after!!