ShArings

After a moment of mental preparation, I was in tears while sharing on the topic of leadership during an impromptu public speaking session in the Student Council’s Induction Course organised by the university’s Student Affair Department (or Hal-Ehwal Pelajar) at Membakut, Sabah, on the 13^th – 16^th of December, 2008.

To begin with, I spoke to the participants – that is, the leaders within the Student Council – about what I learnt from the book “LEADERSHIP GOLD” by John C. Maxwell. Then, at one point of the sharing I roughly quoted Patrick Morley by saying that “although terrorist bombing is not common in this nation, imagine this: if it happens, the destruction would be disastrous and its aftermath hard to recover. So it is if we fail to control our emotion and anger as a leader: you just need one explosion and that’s it.”

After that, I went stuttering, being deeply troubled in my heart as some thoughts came to my mind and bursting out in tears before choosing finally to articulate it clearly to the audience: “I regret some of the things I did to my juniors last time as a captain during secondary school, now that after graduation I could only pray and hope that they will be influenced correctly by a good leader now and in the future.”

Subsequently, (after calming myself down,) I went on sharing about what I meant a good leader. “An effective leader might not always mean a good leader; Adolf Hitler was very effective, wasn’t he? Nevertheless, a good leader must be effective.” And I ended my sharing with this: “Therefore, even as I read different kinds of books and am open to many advices, I must look off to a good leader and hold on to a main, authoritative reference to truly understand the standard of living. So I present to you that, to me, the good leader is Jesus Christ, the only one who has never done anything wrong on earth and thus was and is and forever will be called the perfect Man, and the main reference is the Bible.”

What I had shared among them I also share with you now. That was just one of the many aspects of being changed by the Word of God. I was a hot-tempered person, and after knowing Jesus I wasn’t immediately changed; I went through a process of renewal by the Word of God and today, although I like you am by no means immune to the temptation to anger, I know at least that there’s an alternative way to overcome and to live a truly standard life, and that way is found in the Spirit of the Messiah as well as the God-breathed words in the Bible.

That way is neither to live by mere sound philosophies nor to merely adhere to laws and regulations – it’s a loss to think that the Bible and Christianity contain only those things – but the way of the Saviour and the Lord of heaven and earth is far more than just philosophies, laws and regulations; that way points to a genuine relationship between God and mankind restored through Jesus the Messiah. (Messiah in Greek: Χριστός, pronounced as khris-tos’ and translated as Christ, which means the Anointed One or the Chosen One.)

“In the beginning, the Word existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God.” – [John 1:1-3]

As the saying goes, “Like father like son”; “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” [John 3:16] the Word also so wanted to be genuinely related with mankind that he humbled himself in this way: “The Word became flesh and lived among us.” [continued from John 1 above, verse 14] That Word is God’s only Son.

This has come to pass after a cry was heard at a little manger in Bethlehem, on Christmas day. It was a cry of an innocent baby bearing the consequence of mankind’s sins. And, going through human growth from baby to childhood to adult, he has taught us by setting himself as a sinless, perfect example (and thus, as a good leader) while he was on earth and, more than that, he suffered, died (not for his own sin but to take away our sins) and rose from the dead before sitting down at the right hand of the throne of God, from whom he came [Hebrew 10], for us to follow him and his standard of living. Today, such genuine relationship continues through his Spirit, until the time we see him face to face during Perfection in the Last Day – until eternity.

That is the Good News according to the Bible. And that is why I celebrate Christmas. Friends, do you celebrate Christmas? Is the reason behind that celebration the Good News according to the Bible or something else? Don’t replace what is perfect with what is imperfect. “No human is perfect…” shouldn’t end just there; it should instead end this way: “… except Jesus the Messiah.”

Let me end this sharing with a song,

Jesus loves me, yes I know,
for the bible tells me so.
Little ones to him belong,
they are weak but he is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so!

(This is a sharing for Christmas in the year of 2008 with 888 words including reference, excluding this last sentence, counted with Microsoft Word.)