This is my reflection on the political situation in Malaysia and how it affects the church. It has been a while that I was reflecting on this issue. I am particularly reflecting on how people (especially church members who have been affected by political situation) view on a person who has been blessed by God, and a corrupted person.
The Bible clearly mentioned that if a person obeys the Lord, blessings will come upon us – not only spiritual but also physical. Physical blessings could be a tangible evidence of our obedience to God.
Deuteronomy 28:1 -2 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:
We know one of the reasons why the Lord prospers us – so that we can help the poor.
Now, just imagine this. A ‘stick-man’ obeys the Lord, and the Lord blessed him physically – health or materials. This ‘stick-man’ became a ‘fat-man’ after being blessed. That is the result.
What about politics? It is generally accepted that when the citizens saw a fat minister, one word came to their mind – “CORRUPTION”.
Again, just imagine this. In political arena, a corrupted ‘stick-man’ will become a ‘fat-man’ because of corruption.
Here is the thinking error which members could bring into the church - when they only focus on the result – the ‘fat man’ as a corrupted person not as a person being blessed by the Lord.
This is a paradoxical equation: ‘stick-man’ + obedience = fat-man; but fat-man does not necessarily mean corrupted stick-man.
This is an error when we bring in this thinking that happens in our current political situation. If you see a government minister driving a luxury car, using luxury stuff, staying in a mansion and others, the word corruption came into our mind. We bring the same thinking into church when we see the pastors or the fulltime staffs using latest gadgets, or even using an iPad to preach, we accused them of corruption rather than seeing that as a blessing from God as the results of their obedient to God.
The church is an institution of God; the government is an institution of man. We cannot bring the same thinking into the church. But we certainly can bring church thinking into the world. What happen in our country now is not so much to get people to be responsible to vote. But what matters is to get Christian to be responsible to spread the gospel to this nation – cultural mandate which has been given to us.