The EE in Me

Lazy? No, I was NOT. In fact, I was busy...with work (not forgetting meetings which take up most of my time), church, friends etc etc. Busy busy busy. Isn't it great to be busy? I felt that I was the most 'important' person on earth with all this busy-ness. People needed me, or so I thought. Talk about ego. Or was I a busy sluggard?

You see, I never knew what it meant to be free. Free= lazy.I was so busy in life (getting higher pay+ promotion, frequent flying for events, meeting with the Cs [CEOs, CFOs]) that when I 'lost' my job I was devastated. I thought I performed well because I achieved my KPI and I was INDISPENSABLE. My identity was defined by my job. My job and I were inseparable. BOOM! My whole world came crashing down.

During my lowest period, I stumbled upon Evangelism Explosion (EE) by Uncle Leong Hock. It was a bumpy journey to begin with. And it was and still is a humbling journey by God who made me realised I'm his child. He defines me. Not my job. My life has turned upside down but in a good way. I realised I have only ONE life and when I die, I want to see God smiling. What's EE? It's all about doing God's great Commission in Matthew 28:18. EE is one of the tools to share the gospel in a conversational way. No more getting tongue tied when people question your faith, no more being shy about sharing the gospel, no more 'forcing' people to hear you 'preach'. It's all about sharing when you are having a cup of teh tarik in mamak, cheering your favourite football team, on a shopping spree. Anywhere, anytime when God permits.

Yeah Diana, since now you are not working, of course you have the time. You don't have kids. Is it? Time. IMHO, I'm much more 'busy-er' than ever before. Classes are packed till night, working in YMCA (to earn some cash), a trainer for XEE, Bible classes on Mondays and Saturdays, learning Mandarin, French (again!) and soon...Hebrew. Kids? I have 6 nephews and nieces + Sunday school kids to deal with.

So what is a busy sluggard? Clue: Proverbs 10:5. Need clarification? Ask the elders. Deep in your heart, ask yourself. Do you really believe in the existence of God? Are you at least curious to see what blessings He can shower unto you? How do you define faith? (Honestly!) Or are you satisfied sitting in your lil' box of life with pretty flowers around it??

Cheers,
Diana

God made you to work with others

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

"As you walk through life, remember that you're not supposed to do everything on your own. You need other people to walk alongside you, but you also need other people to work alongside you."

God put us on earth to do a certain work that only we can do. Ephesians says that God made us to do good works and that he planned in advance what we would live our lives doing. However, he didn't plan for us to do that work alone. We need people to work with us.

You know the feeling you get when you do too much work on your own. You get exhausted and burned out. Why? Because you're trying to do your work alone, while God never meant for you to go through life working alone.

God tells us in Ecclesiastes 4:9 that "two people are better than one, because they get more done by working together" (NCV). When you work as a team, you get so much more done. Plus, having good teammates alongside you is a whole lot more fun and less tiring!

Picture this: Individually, each of us is like a snowflake; on our own, we can't make a big difference. However, when one fragile snowflake sticks together with a lot of other snowflakes, they can stop traffic. Like snowflakes, we can make a big difference if we work together, each one of us doing only our small part.

Did you know that when we work together here on earth, we're actually practicing for eternity? In heaven, we will all have to work, but each of us will have just a small piece of work, so we'll never get overloaded or tired. Still, though no one will carry a heavy burden as each one of us does our small part, all the work will get done.

As you walk through life, remember that you're not supposed to do everything on your own. You need other people to walk alongside you, but you also need other people to work alongside you. As you share the burden of your work with fellow Christians, you'll find that you actually accomplish more for the glory of God.

Posted by Rick Warren