A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition

To remind myself of the covenant made between God and I.

"I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven. Amen."


from: The United Methodist Hymnal, 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House

"If you believe in Jesus Christ,...."

"...put this on your wall. Don't ignore this because the Bible says: if you deny him, he will deny you in front of his father in the Gates of Heaven. This is the simplest test, If you love God and you are not ashamed of it, copy this and put it on your wall"

I have been seeing stuff like this circulating on a couple of friend's Facebook wall. What I am going to say in response to this also applies to similar messages receive through email.

Ok. How would I start...hmm...

Messages like these always quote the famous verse from Matthew 10:32-33. Well...let us look at the preceding verses. I quote from Matthew 10: 26-31.

"So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. "

Notice that from verse 26 onwards, it talks of 'what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the rooftops.' Quite obviously, Jesus is speaking of the Gospel. He then goes on to encourage and reassure his disciples to not be afraid of men but to find assurance in God. After that, comes the misquoted verse.

Why do I say misquoted? Well...look at the words of the message again (and even those in emails). Can you tell me where is the Gospel? Where is the sinfulness of Man iterated? Where is the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus as propitiation for our sins? Where is the call of the Gospel,i.e. "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins" (Acts 2:38) ? I dare/challenge anyone to show me because I can't seem to find it. I may need spectacles.

All the message says is , "If you believe in Jesus Christ..". Well...lets see what James 2:19 says:

"You believe there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder"

Boy, I love this verse. The sarcastic undertones amuses me. Oh...and how about the other verse in Matthew that 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" (Matthew 7:21)

Well, from the verses I quoted, seems there is more than just copy-pasting some random message on your Facebook wall or forwarding some random email. If you are truly unashamed as you say you are, go and paste the actual Gospel on your wall for a change and stop hiding behind empty words. Yeah, you are shouting from the rooftops but you are shouting nonsense.

No, seriously. The messages/emails are empty and meaningless. Even Muslims believe in Jesus Christ. But they believe he is just a great prophet. They believe that he is NOT the Son of God. So, what do you mean, "If you believe in Jesus Christ.." ? Which Jesus are you referring to?

And any sensible thinking person will know that this sort of thing is just intending to spam. And whoever blindly follows and forwards/paste this sort of messages is just spreading spam for free.

"I am in church now"

I noticed quite a disturbing trend, which I feel if left unattended, will grow out off hand. What I am talking about? Going online to update Facebook, Twitter and whatever while one is in church!

Due to my current location in the world, I am 12 hours behind Malaysian time. So, Sunday morning in Malaysia is Saturday night for me. And when I log into my Facebook, I see updates like the one in the title of this post. And Facebook says it was updated through a mobile phone.

Come on. Have you married yourself to Facebook (Twitter, MSN, etc) that you can't be parted from your 'sweetheart' to go to church for 1-2 hours? Some even have the audacity to update it while the service is ongoing! Where is your respect, your veneration for the sanctuary of God? Should not your thoughts, your mind, your faculties be focused on worshiping the Holy One? Or have you forgotten that God is Holy, High and Mighty, Lord and Master of the Universe, Omnipotent One?

Some may argue, "Oh! I updated it after service". Yeah, OK. I grant that to you. But why fellowship impersonally through the cyberworld when you have brother and sisters in Christ physically present around you? I don't see the logic at all. It eludes me.

Why I say this trend is dangerous and must be stopped? I see that the youth and young people (those around my age included) are losing their respect and awe for the Holy One. You claim you love God. You sing praises to Him and serve in ministries. But your actions reveal the true condition of your heart.

Please, stop this nonsense.