Born Again for the Right Reason
At the recent Merdeka Prayer Rally on August 30, the speaker, Philip Mantofa from Indonesia, said something very interesting: "Jesus Christ is asking us tonight: 'Has Malaysia been born in your heart?. The question is not, 'Were you born in Malaysia.' Your nationality and passport is Malaysian, but in Jesus' eyes, not everyone is truly Malaysian. We have no choice which country we are to be born in but by faith in Jesus Christ, we have the choice whether our country is born in our hearts."
Many of us probably did not give a second thought to what he said, but on hindsight, we who reside in Malaysia need to do some serious soul searching.
Often, we Malaysian Christians will declare our heavenly citizenship while holding on to our earthly Malaysian MyKad. We live with an alien attitude with our minds set on our future in the clouds.
It is true that our ultimate destination is heaven. But in between the then and now, we'll be spending a good many years in Malaysia (provided we don't emigrate).
The challenge before us is: Are we not concerned with what God is doing in our nation? Don't we love Malaysia enough to care about what is going on around us? That is what Philip meant when he challenged, "Has Malaysia been born in your heart?"
HOW DO WE RESPOND?
Firstly, we must be able to identify with everyone in the community, regardless of race, creed and language.
We too can say that we are 'sons of the soil' (like the bumiputras) if we are physically born in this country. In claiming this title, we are not looking for status and benefits but that we want our hearts to resonate with the struggle of all Malaysians.
This was expressed at the East Malaysian event held on Sept 16 at Kota Kinabalu where Christians representing all the states and ethnic groups in Malaysia celebrated Malaysia Day. At the celebration, they built an altar to declare "One United Malaysia".
It was a new day for the East Malaysian Church leadership and the people of God when they boldly approached the throne of grace proclaiming "YESUS ENGKAU RAJA, ENGKAU PERWIRA, ENGKAU YANG TERAGUNG." (Jesus, You are King, You are the Mighty Warrior, You are the Supreme One.)
Secondly, we should love our neighbour. This was the theme in this year's 40-day Fast and Prayer which concluded on August 30. Not only must we pray, we must also act by moving out of our closet into the community to do good works.
This leads us to our third point - we must act. Action out of compassion does not mystically happen; it takes concentrated, disciplined effort.
Often, it is not convenient, but the response has to be practical, timely and unselfish. We may not be able to help everyone everywhere, but we can help someone somewhere with meaningful works of service. Equally important, our acts of mercy must be based on need and not the colour of one's skin.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is trying to promote equality and fairness under his 1Malaysia vision.
During the 1Malaysia grand launch in Ipoh on 19 October, he promised, "The principle behind 1Malaysia is to create social equality and fairness for all. The concept must be meaningful, it should not be a mere rhetoric or political gimmick." (The Star, 20 Oct 2009).
He added, "When we say 1Malaysia, we can feel that we are one in this coun-try. Every race has its own contribution to the country. The contribution must be recognised."
The PM has said many things about his 1Malaysia vision that sound right and offer hope of a better Malaysia.
Unfortunately, many are skeptical about this vision, especially after he stressed the need to retain policies that favour one race over the others during his speech at the Umno General Assembly on Oct 15.
When we speak of loving our neigh-bour, we extend that love to the needy irrespective of race and creed.
At the end of the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus asked the theologian, "Which of the three do you think was a neighbour?" The theologian could not even bring himself to utter "the Samaritan" but instead replied, "The one who has mercy on him."
Like the Samaritan who helped someone in need without thinking twice about his race or religion, Jesus calls us to "go and do likewise".
If we, God's people in Malaysia, can start thinking like that Samaritan, then Malaysia will have been born in our hearts.
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