Blue Ballad

“What
does being a Christian mean?”

This
question once caught me in silence. It’s a very hard question
anyway. Meaning that most Christian may come up with various kinds of
bullshit to answer this question, yet they might never be able to
really set themselves as a role model to clearly explain, with their
life, what being a Christian means. Is this understood? Well, for
time being let’s just say that you don’t.

Now,
to explain thing, let’s just pretend that there’s this person
named… whatever, but let us go with Goh, a female who takes
accounting as her major study. So, this Goh person is a Christian and
goes to church everyday. She is doing great in her ministry. She
joins choir, she is a committee of the youth fellowship, and she is a
good Worship Leader. She participates in a lot of churches
activities. Basically, almost all the youth in the fellowship look up
to her. The question is, “is she a Christian?” The answer is:
“Might be!” We haven’t known before we look through her whole
life. Then, it turns out that Goh seldom reads bible, and even though
she prays everyday, she rarely has a silent moment with God. In
addition, she is never interested in reading Christian books. Someone
then asks her regarding this matter, “Goh, why don’t you read a
lot of Christian books? That will be a great additional knowledge in
order to help you manage your ministry.” To this, Goh answers,
“Sorry, but I am busy. You know, I have a lot of assignments and in
order to accomplish all those, I need to read a lot of accounting
books. Besides, I take part time job. I just don’t have the time.
After I finish my study, maybe I’ll find some time to read
Christian books”

Okay,
let’s go to another question then, “does Goh really understand
what it really means to be a Christian?” The answer is: No!!! She
doesn’t understand a single bit about this issue. She may say that,
“I know, being a Christian means serving God with your whole life,
giving your best to God, worshipping Him, knowing God better,
experiencing God, etc, etc…” But the heck thing is that, this Goh
doesn’t have the slightest clue of what she is saying. Say,
worshipping God, knowing God, experiencing God, what do they mean
actually? Let’s just start with worshipping God, what does this
mean? Does it mean you go to church every Sunday? Wrong! What about
knowing and experiencing God? Does it mean that you should sing some
praises and suddenly you feel some spiritual sensation inside?
There’s another wrong for you. Then, what the heck are them? And in
order to go to the basic, what the heck does being a Christian mean?

Let’s
scrutinize things one by one. We will start with worshipping God.
What does this mean? In order to understand this, we should look at
some verses in the Bible, and for this case, let’s take a look at
Romans 12:1-2

Romans
12:1 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s
mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing
to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.”

When
it comes to worship, Christian tends to stop at this verse. They
simply forget that they have the second verse which will help you in
fulfilling the first verse.

Romans
12:2 says, “Do not conform any longer 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.”

Well,
just do this slowly, okay? Notice the phrase, “in view of God’s
mercy.” This will mean that, we worship God because God has
showered His mercy on us. So, in what way do we worship God? You can
read it clearly there, by offering your bodies as living sacrifices.
So, what’s the meaning? Yeah, I know it doesn’t mean that you put
yourself on some altar and you get slaughtered and roasted. But,
what’s the meaning? Note the next phrase, “holy and pleasing to
God.” There it is! By preserving holiness, despite the fact that
you may still fall for temptation, and by living to His liking,
living to please God. 

Now we
know that worshipping God means living to please God. Then, here’s
the idea, you don’t live for yourself alone anymore, instead, you
live for God. In other words, you should think less of yourself and
think more of God. So, when you out yourself, your ego, your desire,
your pleasure, and whatsoever else above God, it will simply mean
that your worship has gone wrong.

Okay,
now you got the point. But, how can we achieve this? How can we
understand what kind of live that pleases God? Let’s see the next
verse. It says that by not following the pattern of this world, which
in this context world will mean sinners, and by transforming and
renewing your mind. Then, you will be able to test and approve what
God’s will is. The next question, how can you transform and renew
your mind if you don’t read Bible or any other Christian books?
Keep this in your mind!

Then,
we can discuss about knowing and experiencing God. So, how can you
know and experience something if you don’t have any relation with
that something? For example, how can you experience the taste of
pizza when you have never eaten pizza? Dude, for God’s sake, eat
that pizza! The same thing goes with God. You may know God, but do
you experience God? If “no” is your answer, then experience Him!
How? By eating him? Of course you don’t… God isn’t pizza,
instead, PRAY! Read the Bible! Have private moment with Him! You
know, God is a personal, meaning that you can communicate with Him.
And to add something to your knowledge, a personal is best
experienced by communicating. Then, give your best to communicate
with God. By praying, you are communicating yourself to God, by
reading Bible and having private moment with Him, He is communicating
Himself to you. The thing is that, a personal relationship with God
is needed. In other words, you don’t have a personal relationship
with Him, then you are no Christian. Got that? Go on!

So,
what does being a Christian mean? Well, at least we have two answers
for time being, which are worshipping God, and experiencing God.
Let’s add more. So, remember that literally, Christian means
“little Christ.” By little Christ, we can have two definitions,
which are:

1. A
tiny and smaller version of Jesus Christ

2.
Christ’s followers

So,
which one is the better definition? Well, we go for the second one.
By little Christ means that we are Christ’s followers, who aspire
to be just like Him. Then, how can we be this little Christ? By
setting Him as our role model, and by following His words.

Let’s
just make this quick. What did Christ actually want to do that he
descended to the world of humans? The answer is simple: to let the
world know that salvation lies in the Heavenly Father and to bring
sinners to salvation by giving His life crucified. Then, what should
we do as a Christian? It will be as simple, we should spread the
gospel. We should tell this world that salvation lies in our Heavenly
Father and we should bring sinners to God that they may be redeemed
of their sins. You don’t do this, then you aren’t any “little
Christ” which means that you aren’t even Christian. Is this all?
Nah, don’t forget that you have to follow His words. For time
being, keep this one.

Matthew
16:24 says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me.”

And
dude, what does that mean again? Okay, here’s the deal, what you
should really do are:

1.
Denying yourself. Well, by this it means you should start to stop
fulfilling your ego. Your life isn’t only about your ego anymore.
Drop your ego, your life isn’t yours alone anymore. It is both
yours and God’s. Got it? Meaning that you will start to do the things
you might not like and you might drop the things you like the most.
Difficult? You bet!

2.
Taking your cross. Yes! Living for God is difficult. You are forced
to do things that you don’t like. You may encounter problems
because you’re a Christian. You may even suffer from this. But this
is your cross and God wants you to take it up… not alone though,
but He wants you to take it up with Him together. In short, you will
deal a lot with suffering, but that is what a Christian really means.
They suffer for God.

3.
Following Him. Yeah, He has wills and those wills are the ones to
obey. Trust Him and obey Him! That way you are doing well as a
Christian.

Are
those all? To your joy and excitement, nope! There are still some!

Matthew
22:37 says, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and
with all of your soul and with all of your mind.”

Matthew
22:39 says, “Love your neighbour as yourself.” 

Okay,
we are going crazy here. See? Love your God and love your fellow
humans.

Now,
we are getting close to the end. In short, being a Christian means:

1. You
spread gospel, the good news, to everyone.

2. You
worship your God.

3. You
have a good relationship with your God.

4. You
obey His words.

Easy,
aren’t they? Yeah…

So, is
there anything like being a Christian means you are active n your
church? Or like you participate in a lot of events and activities? Or
you look busy in church? Or you do these things and those things in
church? NO! You may be someone in church. You may do a lot of things.
You may be well recognized and stuff, but the thing is… if you
don’t get the point of being a Christian, then you’re a failure.

In
closing, let’s see something interesting.

Matthew
7:21-23 says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my
Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord,
Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name we drive out
demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly,
‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers.’”

You
see… you may do a lot of stuff, but Christianity isn’t about mere
activities. It is merely about doing our Heavenly Father’s will.
So, tell me, what does being a Christian mean? No, there is no need
for you to answer me. God might be the one who wants to know your
answer. Then, you can answer it with your life. Happy living then.
GBU!!!

Phew,
just finished watching some Japanese animation series called NHK ni
youkoso! (Well, if you do wonder what this means, well, it means
welcome to NHK!). Now, now, we don’t talk about the NHK with
artists and singers here. In this series, by NHK, it means, Nippon
Hikkikomori Kyokai. So, what the heck is that? (yeah, I just knew
this question would pop out) Basically, it means Japan Organization
of Hikkikomori. Well, I just have this feeling that another question
will rise. So, here’s the deal, hikkimori refers to people who tend
to stay in their room and are afraid to go out on their own.  Got the
idea? You don’t, then get lost!

Then,
let’s go on. In this story, there is a character named Satou
Tatsuhiro. He’s a hikkikomori, who, according to Japanese, is a
failure as human being. He doesn’t go to work and he doesn’t
enter any school. Yeah, he’s unemployed and he’s a hikkikomori.
What could be worse? Regarding his being a hikkikomori, Satou
believes that NHK is responsible for this. He believes that there is
a certain organization that wants him to remain a hikkikomori
forever. One day, Satou meets a cute girl named Misaki. This Misaki,
she wants Satou to have a counseling session with her in order to
cure his hikkikomoro state. Satou puts every single effort to deny
his existence as a hikkikomori but eventually succumbs to that girl.
In the end, it turns out that Misaki is the one who needs Satou as
Misaki is also burdened by her past. In short, Misaki wants someone
who is worse than her to be beside her. She needs someone who is
worse than her, someone who needs her. This way, she can give a
meaning to her existence. Pathetic? What else could it be?

However,
there is something quite worth noting here. Below is a monolog of
Satou:

Question:
Why would someone want to continue living as a hikkikomori?

Answer:
Because his food, clothing, and housing are guaranteed. Since so, he
can afford to continue living as a hikkimori. But then, without food,
clothing, and housing, you don’t really have any choice but to
work, unless you want to die.

Well…
basically Satou starts working in order to satisfy his starved
stomach and slowly, he is free from being a hikkikomori. You can see
for yourself, the only thing that prevents Satou from achieving his
dream, from dropping his hikkikomori status, is none other but the
comfort he doesn’t want to leave. Seriously, this idea also works
for almost all of us. The only thing that prevents us from improving,
from reaching our dreams, is none other but our half-hearted soul
that refuses to leave behind the comfort that we are currently
dwelling in. Every single human is given the same twenty-four hours a
day and every single human is born the same manner. The thing is, how
come there are successful humans and some who aren’t? The answer is
that those who aren’t successful just DON’T HAVE THE MOTIVATION.
People address them as losers, yet they are contented. They feel
comfortable being ones. Sad? Definitely…

Now,
happiness isn’t a pack of instant noodle that you prepare in three
minutes and you eat in three minutes. Happiness is a glass of fine
wine that is prepared for years, and you enjoy it slowly. Meaning
that, happiness is a process of quality. There is no such thing as
instant happiness. You want happiness? Fine! Then go, and move your
lazy self around. You don’t wait for happiness to come, in fact,
happiness waits for you. There will be no happiness without any
effort. If there is, then that happiness is fake.

We,
humans, are undoubtedly fragile. We are weak, and we are often afraid
of uncertainty. I realize this myself. Still, if happiness is what I
really desire, then there will be no turning back. I know I should
just keep on going straight. I don’t know exactly where that
happiness is, but the thing is… as long as I move forward, one day…
one day… I might find a single bit of happiness hidden in the
desert that I’ve combed all this time…   

“Happiness
will be there only if you spread your arms to embrace it…”