{"id":20967,"date":"2019-11-28T08:52:26","date_gmt":"2019-11-28T00:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/?p=20967"},"modified":"2019-11-28T08:52:26","modified_gmt":"2019-11-28T00:52:26","slug":"reflection-expired-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/?p=20967","title":{"rendered":"REFLECTION: Expired HOPE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Expiration Date<\/span><\/strong>
\nI received a joke from AJokeADay.com today.<\/p>\n

Wife: \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d
\nHusband: \u201cNothing.\u201d
\nWife: \u201cNothing…? You\u2019ve been reading our marriage certificate for an hour.\u201d
\nHusband: \u201cI was looking for the expiration date.\u201d<\/p>\n

I just got married on February 2015, so I am not even close to feeling like the husband in the joke. However, the joke got me thinking about my Christian life. If you have been active in church ministry for the past few years WHILE juggling your career, the thought of \u201cwhen will this all END?\u201d, at some point, may have crossed your mind. I know I did. I remember once I fell sick after a few months packed with church van driving, choir practice, bible study class and cell group. I wasn\u2019t getting enough rest and I wanted it all to end.<\/p>\n

Your Prayer Has Been Heard<\/strong><\/span>
\nCoincidentally, there is a very familiar story in the bible that relates to this that many of us may have missed. It is the story of the birth of John the Baptist in Luke 1. It is a rather classic fairy tale-ish story of an old couple who prayed (not \u201cwished\u201d) very hard that God will bless them with a child even though the wife was barren. Then one day, an angel of the Lord (not \u201cfairy godmother\u201d) came and told them they would be with child and the child will do great things. However, the father doubted and the angel caused him to not speak as punishment of his little faith.<\/p>\n

The bible says that Zechariah (the father) and Elizabeth (the mother) were \u201cwell in years\u201d and some scholars have interpreted that they have passed their child-bearing years (menopause). So, it is quite normal, even logical, for Zechariah to doubt and question the message of the angel. I have always wondered why God was so unfair to Zechariah as opposed to Mary, mother of Jesus, who also questioned God, \u201cHow can this be, for I am a virgin.\u201d Then one day, during a sermon at church, it struck me: the angel said \u201cyour prayer has been heard\u201d.<\/p>\n

Force of Habit<\/span><\/strong>
\nIf you have not caught onto the point, let me elaborate. \u201cYour prayer has been heard\u201d implies that Zechariah and Elizabeth have been praying for some time to have a baby. If you have been praying for something for a long time, shouldn\u2019t you be overjoyed by the prospect of getting what you asked for instead of saying \u201creally? You aren\u2019t kidding, right?\u201d? The bible says Zechariah and Elizabeth belonged to the priestly division of Abijah, so praying must have been in their to-do list every day. So, why did Zechariah respond in doubt, rather than in joy when the angel gave him the good news?<\/p>\n

I believe I was feeling the same way he did \u2013 serving for so long until what is relational became mechanical. A service that was once born out of love and joy has turned superficial and habitual. A hope that was previously burning with passion and anticipation, has expired into word chanting. Let us
\nall continually ask God to renew our passion and hope in Him in the midst of our waiting and serv-
\ning of the Lord lest we become the brides who did not have enough oil for their lamps when the
\nbridegroom came.
\nby Leonard Lu<\/span>
\nGrace Methodist Church, Miri<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Expiration Date I received a joke from AJokeADay.com today. Wife: \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d Husband: \u201cNothing.\u201d Wife: \u201cNothing…? You\u2019ve been reading our marriage certificate for an hour.\u201d Husband: \u201cI was looking for the expiration date.\u201d I just got married on February 2015, so I am not even close to feeling like the husband in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48980,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,211,10],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20967"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaccmm.sarawakmethodist.org\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}