Deeper Longings with Teck Hao
19 May 2020
Hi everyone, my name is Teck Hao and I am a member of the third congregation.
I have been reading the book of Hebrews with two brothers from my home group. This past week, the text in Hebrews 5:11 to 6:8 reminded us of the gravity of apostasy or the abandonment of our faith. In this section of the book of Hebrews, the author addressed apostasy within the context of Hellenistic Jews. Many issues were related to how some of them might have reverted to Jewish practices in the absence of foundational understanding of the Christian doctrine. While most of us listening in here are unlikely at all to turn to Jewish practices, I hope the principles discussed within the text cannot be more relevant to us.
The text talked about three main conditions, in increasing order of severity. Firstly, he addressed Christians who were ignorant in the understanding of their faith. In other words, they cannot be bothered to know more about the Christian doctrine beyond what is on the surface. These people are at risk of not seeing their sins in the first instance, let alone understanding the importance of what Jesus did on the cross and everything that follows.
Next, ignorance breeds immaturity, which is the second condition. He addresses Christians who remain immature in their faith. Without going into the details, immaturity can blur out Christian confession and assurance in faith. Having crystal clear understanding of the Christian doctrine and establishing one’s own conviction in the matters of faith is paramount to rooting one in his or her faith so that they may not be misled into apostasy. I think that maturity referred to here is not just a good thing to have, it is a compulsory thing to have.
Lastly, ignorance and immaturity can result in apostasy. Any of us here can be as susceptible to apostasy as Judas in the Gospel or Demas in the Book of Acts who were separately recorded to turn away from faith. There is no magic cure here for apostasy beyond constant desire to know God, understanding of Christian fundamentals and having a relationship with God.
So, what is our condition today? Are we ignorant, immature or worse? The circuit breaker has provided unprecedented grace and mercy for our ignorance and our immaturity.
During this time, I have confronted the many lies in my life I use to cover up for my ignorance and immaturity in faith. Lies like how “it is impossible to do quiet time in the morning, I just can’t wake up”, lies like “it is troublesome to meet with people to read the bible, the morning hours are a mad rush, lunch hours are too short and I am usually super tired after work”.
But thanks to the circuit breaker, I now am forced to get up as early as 5am to get work out of the way as soon as possible for childcare reasons. Through this experience, I have come to realise that I am perfectly capable of getting up in the wee hours. I have come to cherish the quietness of the early hours that I can spend with God. And it gives new meaning to the notion of ‘quiet time’.
I am also quickly running out of excuses to meet with people. The extensive use of video conferencing tools has unveiled the ease of reading the Bible with church members. There is no need to find a nice quiet café, there is no need to spend time travelling to these places, we could do it in the comfort of our homes. Why haven’t we done this right from the start?
These findings exposed the selfish longings in my heart for my own time and my own space for my own purposes and fulfilling my own desires. I have been stripped bare of excuses and forced to confront myself in relation to what the book of Hebrews is warning us of. Where is the time I have invested in knowing God so that I would not be at risk of forgetting Jesus or forgoing salvation?
There is no happy ending to this story just yet and it is very much work in progress. In the meantime, let us commit ourselves and our faith to God in a quick prayer.
Dear Father in Heaven, we thank you for your grace and mercy each day. We thank you for this global time-out you have provided for our battered souls. Help us come to the end of ourselves each day, look past our excuses and expose the lies in front of our eyes. Remove from us from the lethargy in wanting to know you more, replace this lethargy with the desire to know you in our hearts. We pray that we will look to strengthen our relationship with you our Father so that we may know you more and gain clarity to the things of You, stand firm in our faith and look expectantly to your promises to come. We commit ourselves to you in Jesus’ name. Amen.