On 21 June 2020, Singapore Youth Evangelical Fellowship (YEF) members attended Sunday service in church. The message preached was from Acts 3:1-11, titled “In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Walk”.
One Singapore YEF member shared her graceful reflection for the service:
Today’s message has a lot of grace and many parts to meditate on carefully and slowly. This week I was very moved that God showed me how I lived without Him. I had this period of questioning and feeling very inadequate before God. I felt that God would only love me when I am strong and can serve me but God really revealed before me that it is not how much money I have or how smart I am. I can be broken and empty and poor, but God still loves me very very much.
I think this is very eye-opening to me because before I really understood God’s love, I feel like I am really like the beggar. The beggar who focuses on getting money to eat and live and just try to survive one more day. I try very hard to gain the love that is in this world by becoming knowledgeable or strong so that people will be willing to talk to me and I can feel loved and respected. Many times I feel like I am just trying to survive in this difficult world while I am still broken. The love in the world is usually very conditional. But God really showed me unconditional love. Jesus died on the cross when we did nothing at all. We received everything by grace and His mercy. Like Jesus, Peter and John healed the beggar not because he has given them anything but by compassion. They already know what the most precious thing and that is being able to receive God’s love and the Holy Spirit. So they showed the beggar the love from God and the power of God.
I finally understand why someone can give up everything in this world just to pursue God, because no one can give that kind of love that God gives. Money or wealth or the love in the world can never compare to the true and perfect love God gives. We can’t even buy God’s love, we can only receive it by God’s grace. I see now why this gospel is so precious because it really saves many lives and brings a lot of hope. Many times when I lose hope in living in this world, God showed me hope again and again. He showed me that I can continue living and having hope because I have God’s love. Jesus paid for my sins so that I can become righteous through Him and be restored fully.
When we are full spiritually in love and in the Holy Spirit, we are free from having to find happiness through money or the love of other people. God’s love is eternal. This is the kind of message and love we want to share with more people so that they can know that life is not hopeless. There is still more to their lives than just living in this world and being slaves to earning money and the things of the world. They can hope again and they will not be put to shame because they have God’s love and the power of the Holy Spirit.