Over Easy Yoke

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:28-30‬

Yoke. I always thought it was a funny word. It reminds of that weird yellow center of an egg, it rhymes with “joke”, and it’s just a funny sounding word. So when Jesus said to “take my yoke upon you,” I never really tried to meditate on it, but I always knew that the yoke was the harness that bulls wore around their necks when they were doing farm work. I never bothered to look up the word “yoke” in the dictionary until today (see attached image). I was surprised to see that “yoke” was usually a harness made for a pair of bulls or oxen. Jesus said, “take my yoke upon you... for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus is already attached to the yoke and he has an open spot for you right beside him. And I imagine Jesus is doing all the heavy lifting.

Before God Can Work On Our Words...

Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?
James 3:10-11

Have you ever blurted something out and immediately regretted it? When we catch ourselves in moments like that, we often say to ourselves, “I shouldn’t have said that.” But for most of us, it stops right there. Have you ever dug deeper than that? I’ve been doing this more and more recently; after I’ve said, “I shouldn’t have said that,” I’ve thought about it some more and wondered, “Why did I say that? Where did that come from? What’s happening within me that’s making those kinds of words spill out?” I’m realizing more and more that our words are an overflow of our hearts. If we simply try to control our language or watch what we say, we might be simply working on the external behaviors instead of dealing with the tough work of internal spiritual health. Often times, we try to work from the outside in but what God really wants to do is transform us from the inside out. Before God can truly work on our words, God needs to heal our hearts.

The Best Way to Avoid Consumer Christianity

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing, and perfect will. 
Romans 12:2

My son had a nanny for the first 2.5 years of his life and she is one of my favorite people in the world. She’s like the aunt I never had but always wanted. She was great with our son, both of our kids loved her dearly, and she was an amazing cook who would often cook dinners for our whole family. To show our appreciation for her, we wanted to get her a gift. We asked our nanny’s daughter if there were something she’s always wanted but never purchased for herself and she told us she’s always wanted a dutch oven pot from Le Creuset, which is a really nice ceramic pot. So that’s what we got for her and she was very excited to cook in her new pot. But the main reason why she was excited for her new gift was so that she could cook great food for her family and friends. She was excited for her gift so that she can essentially give to others. This is exactly why God distributes various gifts for all of His children; gifts like teaching, generosity, prophecy, mercy, and others like it are given to God’s people so that we can bless others with them. When we don’t know and utilize our spiritual gifts, we can easily drift into Christian consumerism. We approach churches and even our own faith with an attitude of a customer. It’s easy to “conform to the pattern of this world” by treating church like we would a restaurant and talk about it like Yelpers online. “That sermon was too much meat and potatoes. That music was too loud. The ambience wasn’t to my liking.” One of the best ways to avoid consumer Christianity is to know and utilize our spiritual gifts.

Heart of Hospitality

“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
John 14:2-3

The original word for hospitality is a combination of two different words: love and stranger. The ultimate form of hospitality is when you show or extend love to a stranger, an outcast, or a person in need. When you stop and think about it, isn’t that precisely what God did for us? While we were strangers, sinners, and enemies of the cross, God sent His one and only Son Jesus Christ down to earth to pay the price that we could never pay so that we might be welcomed into His family as His children. And even though Jesus was homeless for the last three years of His life, Jesus was the most hospitable person to have ever existed because He made every stranger, outcast, and person in need feel welcomed and loved as they were. Jesus showed us that hospitality has more to do with your heart than your home and hospitality is the first step of love.

Aloha!

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”
Matthew‬ ‭25:35-36, 40‬

Aloha! That’s the word you hear all over Hawai’i. As my family and I are waiting for our flight back home, we are still hearing it at the airport. It’s supposed to make visitors feel welcomed and comforted. It made me realize that hotels, resorts, and vacation destinations make billions of dollars on hospitality, a precious service that all humans need but seldom experience. Many believe that hospitality is a practice only for a select few with the “gift” of hospitality and for people with nice homes. But we will discover this Sunday that hospitality is something Jesus expects from all of His followers and the host has just as much to benefit as the guest.

Peacemaking Through Healthy Conflicts

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.” 
Matthew 5:9

Did you attend a high school where fights broke out on campus? When this happens, there are generally three types of people: Just War Theorists, Pacifists, and Peacemakers. Just War Theorists are the ones who gather around the fight and enjoy watching it happen. Pacifists are the ones who find no interest in fights and want nothing to do with it. Peacemakers are the ones who actually get in the middle of the fight to break it up. Peacemakers have to be willing to enter into conflict in order to bring about peace. This is especially true when it comes to relationships and communities. Relationships or communities that do not have healthy conflicts are, at best, shallow, immature, or insincere. While we should not love getting into conflicts, we should not try to avoid them. What Jesus wants for His people is to enter into conflict in a healthy way, because when we do, healthy conflict leads to communication, clarity, and closeness.

Flow of Spirituality

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to Him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.
Mark 6:30-32

There is a constant ‘flow’ in our spiritual lives… flowing in and flowing out. As followers of Christ, we are to receive from God and other believers spiritual inspiration and renewal. This is what flows into us. There should also be a flowing out where we serve others, give to those in need, and love selflessly. When there is too much ‘flowing in’ without any outward flow, we become bloated, stagnant, or consumeristic in our faith. When there is too much ‘flowing out’ without enough inward flow, we become burned out, bitter, or lonely. This is why Jesus had His Disciples spend times of solitude before assisting Jesus perform one of the most famous miracles in the Bible, the feeding of thousands with five loaves of bread and two fish. It is in this spiritual rhythm of flowing in and flowing out that we experience the vibrancy and richness of Christian life.

Moses and Third Culture People

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.
Exodus 2:11

While Moses grew up in the palace of the Pharaoh, he knew that he was a Hebrew and not an Egyptian. He was able to navigate in both worlds, but he was also in a category of his own, a Hebrew-Egyptian. Moses was a third culture person. This made Moses the perfect candidate to lead the Israelites out of slavery from Egypt. I’ve been wrestling with this as an Asian-American, especially in the context of building church. Starting a new church is difficult, which is why I’m glad I’m not doing this alone. As we began this journey of building a new church together, I sought to have all of my questions answered. I joined various cohorts and church planting networks for the purpose of giving me clarity and assurance. But instead, I’m often left with new questions. “How can we remain faithful to biblical truths and genuinely make space for those who identify as LGBTQ? Can we blend the sanctity of traditional ‘high church’ with the relevancy and approachability of modern ‘low church’? Is there another model of building a church besides the white man’s model?” But basically, I most often find myself asking, “Is there a third way?” These questions make me more excited to explore deeper into faith with my fellow brothers and sisters.

Small Beginnings

Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.
Zechariah 4:10a (NLT)

One of the fun activities I did for my bachelor party over ten years ago was go wine tasting at a winery in Santa Barbara. My best friends and I went into the winery as charlatans pretending like we were wine connoisseurs, but we really didn’t know anything about wine. As we sat down to enjoy different varieties of wine, the wine bartender told us a lot of information on the different glasses of wine we were drinking… far more than we needed to know. Playing the part of someone who knew wine, I randomly asked, “What kind of irrigation does the winemaker use?” The bartender replied, “Our winemakers don’t really believe in irrigation. They might irrigation for a few weeks in late summer when it’s extremely dry, but for the most part they leave the vines alone. They believe the vines need to work hard to allow the roots to grow deep in order to search for water deep in the dirt, otherwise the grapes don’t turn out too good. The vines need to fully experience the various seasons in order to truly grow. The dryness of summer and the harshness of winter are just as important as the richness of spring.” What kind of season are you in? For God is with you through it all and He allows various seasons of life to happen in order for us to experience true and healthy growth.

New Year, New Goals, New Plans... Sorta

In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.
Proverbs 16:9

My life never really turned out the way I planned it. It turned out better. For example, I didn’t love and marry the girl I thought I would when I was younger. When I was a teenager, I thought I wanted a passive, submissive, and slightly less intelligent woman as a wife; but instead I ended up marrying a strong-willed, assertive, and smarter woman than myself. I also didn’t end up with the kids I thought I would have; they’re way funnier, sweeter, and more interesting than I could have ever imagined. And I ended up in the career of ministry that I’ve been running away from for many years... TWICE. I’m guessing 2019 will be more or less the same I’ve experienced for most of my life up until this point. I hope your 2019 will be similar.