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JOY IN TROUBLED TIMES

by Ong Kok Bin

In these days of skyrocketing prices, economic turmoil and political uncertainty, we may feel a little melancholy and quite at a loss as what to do. Our temporal flouderings are laying siege to our spiritual state of being. We run the risk of becoming 'the seed that fell among thorns'. 'The worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth' might be crowding out the little remnants of faith that may still linger in us (see Matthew 13:18-23).

If this describes you, do not despair and do not go to seed either. You are not alone. Do something positive to overcome the earthly melancholy. You are a Christian and a Christian has advantages over a non-Christian. It is not that we have better clues to solve all the world's problems, but it is that we are equipped with something that others do not have - 'God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ' (Ephesians 1:3).

One spiritual blessing we have is that we have accepted the love of God (John 3:16). This means that we have invited God into our lives and God is working in us 'according to his good purpose' (Philippians 2:13). And 'if God is for us, who can be against us?' (Romans 8:31).

Another spiritual blessing we have is that we have been adopted as God's children (Ephesians 1:4-5; Romans 8:16). This means we are 'heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ' (Romans 8:17). Heirship gives us entitlement to inheritance - not of the earthly kind but of heavenly treasures. Earthly treasures may rot or be destroyed or stolen, but heavenly treasures are everlasting (see Matthew 6:19-21). Above all, heirship gives us the right to share in the glory of God (Romans 8:17; cf. 3:21). This is the highest distinction any human mortal can aspire to.

A third spiritual blessing we have is that God has seeded in us a character that has the ability to persevere through all forms of hardship and suffering (that is, if we have allowed God's hands to so mould us).

This steely character produces a fourth spiritual blessing: we have a hope that 'does not disappoint us'. This hope does not disappoint 'because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us' (Romans 5:5). The hope is as good as realised because God not only has promised, but he has acted on his promise. He has sent his Son to die for us and he has sealed us that believe with the seal of the Holy Spirit, who acts as the guarantor of our promised inheritance (see Ephesians 1:11-4).

When we have such spiritual blessings in Christ, melancholy has no place to roost in our hearts. There can be joy only (Philippians 4:4).

Short-Takes
1. Conspiratorial Misrule
2. Redeeming the Time
3. It's an Oily Business
4. Lifting Holy Hands in Prayer
5. A Gracious People
6. Words, Words and Words
7. I Know Whom I Have Believed
8. Of Oddballs and Heroic Fights
9. The People Delivered a Tsunami
10. Joy in Troubled Times

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