As Christians, what are we pursuing in this world? Riches or the blessings of God? Many times, we feel we live a very tiring life. Many times, we need to strive and labour to survive, especially while living in Singapore where the cost of living is high.

Why do we need to strive and labour to survive in Singapore? Although the cost of living is high, many say we can still survive by having a simple life. One of the reasons may be because we compare what we have to what others have. We want to receive the same blessings as someone else. We want to have the same lifestyles that other people have. To have a big house, Mercedes car, an expensive holiday with families, eating at fancy restaurants. When we see someone is very successful, we feel that person is so blessed and wish we were as blessed and successful as him. We want to receive the same measure of success others have. People of the world reckon that a person with many possessions is one who’s successful and blessed. They define blessings as that that can bring one joy and fortune. Many times we feel we’re blessed only when we have a lot of possessions.

Likewise for our health. When we see someone very healthy, lives a long life, we want to be like him. We think living a long, healthy life is very blessed.

If we have such blessings, it’s good. But we also know all these are temporary. Material blessings can be taken away. We can lose our possessions and health overnight. But the true blessings cannot be taken away and is unchanging.

When sick, nothing feels more important than our health. Once, the speaker came back from a Batam church trip. He had food poisoning. This wasn’t his first experience but it was the worst he had experienced. Before leaving for Singapore, someone had brought them for a seafood lunch (Batam is famous for cheap seafood). The speaker has a sensitive stomach. Even though the whole group had the same meal, only he had stomach upset. It was Mothers’ Day. He felt nauseous on the boat back but he thought he was simply seasick. He was to have dinner with his family at Suntec. While waiting for the food, he felt extreme pain in his stomach. He went to the toilet. He suddenly felt very uncomfortable. He threw up and had diarrhoea. He threw up so much he felt he didn’t have strength to go back to the restaurant. It was the worst bout of food poisoning he had experienced yet. He tried to stabilise himself and then returned to the restaurant. Thankfully the restaurant wasn’t too far away from the toilet. He asked his wife to bring him to the A&E. He threw up along the way to SGH. His wife went to park the car with the kids. Because he felt so unwell, he expected someone to wheelchair him in or attend to him immediately. But the nurse just told him to register and wait. He couldn’t believe it. He was so weak he just felt like lying down on the ground.

On that day, he realised something important. He wasn’t thinking about his house, car or work. He just thought about Lord Jesus. He kept praying to Jesus to help him.

We may be successful and have many possessions. We may think how much we have in our bank account constantly. But at the end stage of our lives, although we may have a lot of possessions, all these are no longer important. It’s just between us and God and we know what’s important is to pray and rely on Lord Jesus. At the end stage, we’d probably think the Lord Jesus is the most important thing in our hearts.

Therefore while we are still healthy, we must know what true blessings are about, and to pursue them.

The book of Revelation records 7 blessings, which are valuable in the eyes of God. If we can hold on to the instructions of the Lord Jesus, His blessing can save us from the wickedness in the end times.

1st blessing
Rev 1:3
“Blessed is he who reads and hears the word of this prophecy and to keep those things that are written in it.”
It’s not just reading and hearing, but also KEEPING what’s written.

We know our health is important. But when we’re healthy, we don’t really bother about our health. Until we go for a medical checkup and there’re several red lights, then we watch our diet. But while we were healthy, we wanted to eat many unhealthy food.

The world is also getting more and more corrupted. This shows we’re getting closer to the end times. When the time is near, we realise our possessions aren’t so important; material blessings decrease in value. But the value of spiritual blessings increase.

To some, the most valuable thing to them may be their house, cars or money in the bank. This is natural in the world. But for us Christians, what’s most valuable is something we can’t see - our souls. But many people don’t care about their souls, because they can’t see it. Some don’t mind doing anything at any cost, even at the expense of their souls. Some people do many things to attain physical blessings, but it doesn’t bring true joy. True joy comes from our relationship with God and man.

If we live in a big, beautiful house but we always quarrel with our spouse or family members, would we be happy? Definitely not. We would only be happy when our relationship with our spouse and children is good. If our family is happy, even if we live in a small house, we’d still be happy.

Our relationship with Jesus is very important too, because we are His creation. We can choose to be close to Him or reject Him completely (i.e. having no relationship with Him). Having a good relationship with our Creator is something very joyful.

How can we have a good relationship with our Lord Jesus? Rev 1:3 says to read, hear and keep the word of God. If we can do this, we’d be blessed, especially when the end times are near. The world is becoming more and more corruptible and dangerous. Keeping the word of God becomes harder and harder.

Rev 1:3 invites us to read the word of God constantly. To hear and to keep them.

When the speaker was young, the teacher told the students to read out loud, following after the teaching. “This is a? Car!” Reading out loud helps the student remember the words. And not only read but also hear it. Sometimes when we read the Bible, we just stare at the words and sometimes doze off. Maybe the only time we read out loud is during Bible study. Perhaps we can read out loud at home too. Then we can both see and hear the word of God. We can capture the word of God in different ways. We need to meditate over the word of God, then we will be able to remember it.

Jas 1:22-25
“But be doers if the word, and not jesters only”
We mustn’t only read and hear the word, we need to do/practise it as well. If we’re just a hearer, it’s like a man looking into the mirror, noticing there’s a blemish on his face or that he has unkempt hair, but not doing anything about it! He doesn’t take any action.

This is what happens today. Many people hear the word of God but don’t do it. We hear and read much of the word of God, but don’t practise it in our lives. When we hear the word of God in sermons, we think: “Oh! This message is good for so and so to hear!” “This is so applicable for so and so, not me.”
But the word of God is for everyone to hear and practise. When we go home and don’t really meditate on the word of God, immediately forgetting the message we heard, we won’t be able to keep those things and practise it in our lives. Because we don’t practise it, we aren’t blessed, because we only hear and read but don’t keep/do.

The speaker believes reflecting upon ourselves and changing shortcomings we notice is something God is pleased with. Usually it is those who are close to us who will tell us openly about our shortcomings. If nobody tells us, perhaps we wouldn’t notice our shortcomings. But as human beings, most of us don’t like to be told about our wrongs or to be corrected. Even if nobody tells us of our shortcomings, the word of God rebukes us, telling us of our shortcomings. The word of God is like a mirror. Sometimes even after knowing our shortcomings, we’re unwilling to change it.

Some may have short tempers. Some smoke, gamble. Some are constant late to church. When we realise it, we need to repent and change. But most times we are not willing to change.

Matt 13:19
Although we realise our shortcomings, many times we are not willing to change because Satan comes and takes away the word of God from our hearts. What’s the reason why some people can’t accept the word of God? Perhaps it’s because their hearts have hardened and aren’t willing to change anymore. If our hearts are hard, even if we hear the word of God for a decade, we won’t want to change. Since we don’t want to change, the wicked one takes away the word of God from our hearts. We forget what we have heard and don’t apply them in our lives. We think we’re very good people and that we don’t need to strive towards perfection.

Today, let us reflect upon ourselves. Is there anything we have to change about ourselves? To help, we need to read the word of God daily. We ask God to search us and cleanse us from all our sins; to give us strength and wisdom to repent and change, so the blessing of God can come upon us.