peace . love . joy

Yesterday marked the end of my formal academic undergraduate life. There's still the actual convocation that's coming up in July, but technically-speaking, I'm done. I had to sit for five exam papers this semester, a first for my in my four years in university. And yesterday was the day I took the last of my five papers, the last I'll ever have as an undergraduate.

It's a weird feeling. I don't know how many people feel this way, but it wasn't a feeling of elation. Maybe I'm too used to having my road planned out for me, afterall, my 16 years of education from primary school all the way up to the university have been pretty much dictated by the consensual norms of society and the desires of my parents. Or maybe I've come to realise that just because the hurdles of academic life have passed, doesn't mean that the chains have broken off, my slave-driver has fled and I'm free; it just means I've been processed, prepared and packaged for the next stage of working life.

Anyhow, I was talking with God as I left the examination hall yesterday and He asked me two questions:

What have I learnt from all my 16 years of formal academic education?
Because what I have learnt, that is how I will begin to and probably will live for the rest of my adult life.

What kind of person will I be?

"According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw-"
~ 1 Corinthians 3:10-12

Trudging along the path of mortality towards immortality, what have I picked up along the way and chucked into my haversack?

Did I stock up on things of a perishable nature? Things temporal and of no spiritual consequence nor benefit?

I remember Francis Schaeffer calls such Christians "Ash-heap Christians". These are they who, though saved by the Savior's blood, end up standing before the Lord at the end of their journey with nothing to show, nothing brought that will bring glory to His Name. All they have are moth-eaten clothes and grey ashes in their pouches, because what they have collected have been consumed by fire.

Or have I collected items of value, the gold, silver and precious stones that Paul is talking about? Things that last for all eternity, things that bring much joy to the Lord, a smile to His lips?

"each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done."
~ 1 Corinthians 3:13

Strange, that Paul should contrast these things. In one camp, there is a pile of wood, hay and straw. Strong, comfortable, homey. Smells good too. In the other, an array of gold, silver and precious stones. Luxurious, expensive and enviable. But it is the things in the former that perish in fire, but the latter do not just survive the fire; they are refined by the flame!

What we each have in our knapsacks are evidence for what matters most to each of us, what our heart individual hearts beat for.

Über was schlägst du dein Herz?

Do our hearts resonate with the beating of the heart of Jesus?
He, who is our greatest Teacher, who is the Son, who is one with the Father, identified His treasure: people.

And it's not about the number of friends you have, or how quickly you come rushing to a depressed friend's aid, or how many people come to your party or are your friends on Facebook. It's not about the kind of friends or acquaintences you have.

No, it's about touching lives for Jesus Christ. Intentionally, truthfully, prayerfully, kindly, gently, urgently reaching out to love as He taught us to love, as He first loved us.
It doesn't matter who they are: lovers, family, close friends, enemies, people who have hurt us, foolish people, the simple-minded, annoying ones, losers, the proud and the haughty...
It doesn't matter because He came to save us all, and He did. No discrimination; no condemnation.

We have the capacity, the tools to love as Jesus loves.
We have our talents, our giftings, our own paths to walk, our own situations to face... From the most important and crucial decisions to the smallest, most invisible and menial tasks, all are opportunities for us to heap gold, silver and precious stones into our bags, things that do not perish in the fire, but last forever.

The question is

Will you?

What have you in your rucksack?
Wood, Hay & Straw -or- Gold, Silver & Precious Stones?

Are you an Ash-heap Christian -or- a Collector of Valuables?

Standing at the cross-roads of your life,
Re-dedicate yourselves to God.
Re-commit yourselves to what He is passionate over.

"If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire."