I didn’t grow up loving Malaysia, I guess it’s because I’ve
grown up hearing lots of bad things about it – corruption in the government,
police not doing their job, inequality between the races, etc. Although
Malaysia prides itself in the ‘harmony’ and ‘multiracial’ culture and it looks
good and dandy to the outsider, we who live here know what is truly going on. I
think the average Malaysian probably has more complaints towards this country
than praises about her.
Lots of Malaysians have the outlook of “Let’s migrate to
somewhere else better.” But have you ever thought about that God has a purpose
in making us Malaysians? I was reminded by a Taiwanese Pastor from a sermon I
heard that we need to marry our country.
Remember your marriage vows? “to have and to hold, from this day forward, for
better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until
death do us part.” In the same way, we commit to our country, to have and to
hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in
sickness and in health, until death do us part. If you’re not going
to love your own country, who’s going to love your country?
I was recently ‘slapped in the face’ when one of the
speakers at Harvest School asked us, “Are
you REALLY willing to go wherever God sends you?”. We love to tell God
emphatically especially at Christian conferences, “LORD I’LL GO WHEREVER YOU SEND ME!” but do we really mean it? To
my horror I found that I didn’t mean it 100%. Deep down I knew that Malaysia
was the last place I wanted to go. I said, “God
I’ll go wherever you send me EXCEPT Malaysia.” We place our own
‘exceptions’ on God’s absolute Truth all the time, don’t we? God says, “Go and make disciples of ALL the nations”
(Matt 28: 19), and we say, “That
place is too dangerous. The people there are too hard-hearted. It’s too poor. I
only want to love the African people.” Truth is, we didn’t sign up to pick and choose a nation. We signed up to love everybody.
So surprisingly God put a burden of Malaysia on my heart
while in Mozambique. There were several times when God just broke my heart for
Malaysia, where I ended up crying and praying for this land, saying that if
revival can happen in Indonesia, one of the largest Muslim country in the
world, it can happen in Malaysia as well.
Malaysia is currently in its Jubilee year from 16 Sept 2012
– 15 Sept 2013. It is a year of great significance. There’s a lot to talk about
on this topic and I will share that on my next blog. In the mean time, I urge
all Malaysians to ask God to change your perspective on this country, OUR country, where God has blessed most
abundantly with beautiful landscapes, natural resources, a place without
natural disasters, and beautiful people. Yes, there may be injustice,
corruption, inequality, but God can change that around. Our complaints,
accusations, criticisms do nothing to change anything, but love changes people. Let’s extend
that love to every person, regardless of race, religion, or background. Let’s
extend that love to our beloved mother land. Let us be a people known by our
love.
