WHAT IS GOD'S WILL?

One of God’s will is that we love our neighbour as we love ourselves. He wants us to bring them to the Kingdom of God. He wants us to work for Him, and not work for ourselves only. In Revelation 3:15-17 God says that if we don't work for Him, He will vomit us out of His mouth!

God the Father said in Leviticus 19:18, `You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I [am] the LORD.”

Who is our neighbour? Or, who is our closest neighbour? Many Christians don’t know who their closest neighbour is. Many think that it is their wife or their husband. Some say they are our next-door neighbour, and so forth. Well, they are not wrong. But what did the Bible say about our closest neighbour?

In Exodus 20:12 God said, "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.” I believe that our closest neighbour is our parents. And our parents, unfortunately, are the neighbours that many children often abuse and neglect when they are old and fragile. There are many children who treated their mothers as their "babu" or maid servant. Some even treated their parents as their adversaries.

Do we remember our father and our mother? Are they not our closest neighbours? They have been our neighbours since we were born.

They took care of us since we were little babies. They feed us, take care of us day and night, take us to doctors when we are sick, and send us to school to give us a good education. My mother always prioritise the education of her children. She loves her seven children and she is willing to sacrifice for her children to make sure that all her children get a good education. 

My father was a successful businessman and an evangelist. Everything that he touches turns into gold according to my mother. He runs his business from home. He does his evangelist work also from his home.

Poultry salesmen carrying live chickens on the back of their bicycles often come to my father’s home to sell their chickens. After they agreed on a price, my father said that if they are willing to attend a slide show in the evening, my father will buy all the chicken that they have in the cage on the back of their bicycles. He offered the same deal to salesmen who sell fruits and vegetables that they carry with them. At night these salesmen watch slide presentations about the second coming of Jesus from heaven.  My dad has hundreds of slides about the second coming of Jesus that he shows to these poultry and vegetable salesmen in the evening. We have a large backyard full of live chickens in the morning.

The four extra large bedrooms in each pavilion to the right and to the left of the main building are full of fruits and vegetables. Miraculously, a week later all the rooms are empty. My father had sold all the fruits, vegetables, and chickens to buyers.

I was the youngest of my mom’s seven children. She raised all of her seven children by herself after my father suddenly disappeared during the war for independence from the Dutch. It was a difficult time for everyone in Indonesia.

I remembered little about my father other than what my mother had told me. But I know a lot about my mother. I remembered a lot about what she had done for me, my wife, and our children when we were living in Indonesia and in the U.S.A. The neighbours of the children are their parents who need their help when they are old and fragile. That's why God said in Exodus 20:12 with the promise "Honor your father and your mother, that you may continue to live the age that the LORD your God has given you."

I regret very much that I did not do for her as much as I should have or could. I did very little for her. I have been too busy with pleasures for myself. I have been too busy doing things for myself. And I have been praying to God that He would forgive me because I failed to honour my mother. I failed to honour my mother as God wants me to do.

When I go to bed at night, I pray that Jesus will remember me and take us to heaven when He returns. I love to hear Him greet me and say, “Henoch, welcome! I have known you for a long time..” That’s all that I want to hear from Jesus.

Thank you Jesus for forgiving me.