My dear readers,

(Extracts from RPG, Jan – Mar 1998, Edited by Dr SH Tow) 

1.            MARKS OF TRUE CONVERSION

LUKE 5:27-39, RUTH 1:16-17

 Levi obeyed the Lord.  Levi heard the Lord's call, "Follow me".  It was no easy thing to do, for he had a rich source of easy money, "sitting at the receipt of custom".  But Jesus' words touched Levi's heart and "he left all, rose up and followed him".  True conversion is to follow the Lord truly, leaving behind the sinful past regardless of the cost.  Gaining Christ is all that matters.

 Levi rejoiced in the Lord.  Levi had said goodbye to his corrupt past for the new life in Jesus.  He had become a "new creature:  old things are passed away; behold all things are become new" (2 Cor 5:17).  To express his newfound joy, he called his friends to a great feast.  The day of one's conversion is better than the day of one's birth.  It is the day of translation from death into life everlasting, something no money can buy.

 Levi desired the conversion of others.  Levi thought of his unsaved friends, his fellow "publicans and sinners" still outside the Kingdom of God.  He wanted them to meet the Saviour and to follow him,  so that they too might find everlasting life.  So he made the great feast an occasion for his friends to sit with the Son of God and be enlightened in the more weighty things of life, of righteousness and repentance, of peace and forgiveness of sins.  True conversion must be shared.

Levi was not ashamed of Jesus.  Levi recognized who Jesus was, God's Son and Saviour of the world.  Levi was grateful to Jesus for calling him and saving him.  Therefore he was not ashamed of Jesus, the "stranger from Galilee" whom the world despised.  But Levi honoured Jesus before men.  So should every true convert.  Jesus said, "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven" (Matt 10:23).

THOUGHT:  One day ALL men will confess Jesus, but it is best to confess Him NOW. 

2.            TRUE CHRISTIANITY

LUKE 9:23-27, PSALM 108 

Our Lord gives three basic essentials of true Christian discipleship. If you think you are a Christian, check yourself against each point and see whether you stand the test. 

(a)  A Christian must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Christ.  Are you doing this?  Denying self means to say no to the dictates and desires of self; it is to crucify the flesh, to turn the back to the world and to resist the devil.  Paul says, "I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:  but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection ..." (1 Cor 9:27).  It is a daily warfare, a spiritual battle.  Taking up the cross daily is to follow the Lord, walking with Him and walking like Him. 

(b)  A Christian must lose his life for Christ's sake, and not cling on to it for what he can get from the world.  It is a question of loyalty and affection:  which comes first in your esteem:  your life or Jesus Christ?  If you are intent on "saving your life", it means you have put the pleasures, riches, honours, position and power of this world first in your esteem.  When you have got them in your grasp, you will find them but empty bubbles that do not satisfy.  And even if they do please you for a time, death ends it all too soon, and your soul is forever lost. 

(c)  A Christian must not be ashamed of Christ and his words, for if he is, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when He shall come in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels.  This is a serious matter:  are you afraid of letting others know that you belong to Jesus; that you love His doctrines, His precepts, His people, His name?  Do you fear men more than you fear the Lord?  To be ashamed of Jesus is to deny Him.  It is proof of unbelief and ingratitude.  He was not ashamed to die on the cross between thieves, in order to save a wretched sinner such as me and you. 

QUESTION:  Why then should we be ashamed of Him? 

3.            WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM

LUKE 6:39-45, PSALM 6:39-45 

WE ARE NOT PERFECTED YET.  There is a great chasm between our highest and our Master's lowest;  between where we stop and He begins:  between our light, which is twilight at best, and His meridian glory.  When we compare ourselves with ourselves, or with our neighbours, our standard is altogether too low; we should compare ourselves with Him, the beloved Master.  Job, who was reputed perfect, abhorred himself, and repented in dust and ashes when he had seen God, of whom he had formerly only heard. 

BUT WE SHALL BE PERFECTED ONE DAY.  That has a hopeful ring.  But to what period does the Master point?  Not till sorrow, sanctified by God's grace, has done its work; not till the snow and frost, the light shower and the bitter wind, the earth and sun, have contributed their shares to the desired quota.  Not till the perfect image of Jesus has emerged from the sculptured stone; not till the molten metal reflects each lineament of the glorified Lord. 

WHEN WE ARE PERFECTED WE SHALL BE AS OUR MASTER.  "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."  It seems altogether too much to expect!  To think that we shall be changed into His image; that we shall bear His impress; that we shall be as like Him as Gideon's brethren to Gideon, of whom the princes of Midian testified that they were like the children of a king.  Yet it shall be so.  The Lord Jesus became  like unto us in our low estate, that we should become like Him in His glory.  There must ever be the limitation of the creature as compared with Him by whom all things were made.  But in our measure there shall be the same perfect beauty – His beauty upon us – for a mountain lake may perfectly reflect the wide blue heaven as an ocean. 

A GLORIOUS PROSPECT:  "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness:  I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness" (Ps 17:15).

God bless all readers.

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service,

Dr SH Tow, Sr Pastor