“MAMATAY KAYONG LAHAT”
"Ginagawa naman ng Pangulo natin ang lahat para sa ikabubuti ng bansa, para sa ikabubuti ng bawat Pilipino pero binabatikos pa rin siya. Sa inyo pong lahat na bumabatikos: mamatay kayong lahat. Salamat po," commented one person to the critics of his, well, I can’t say his boss because the two are not known to have a professional relationship. But it made news nevertheless primarily because he’s a celebrity and the quote does make for a good story. Now I know this is not the first time a harsh remark has been levelled at non-supporters but what caught my interest was the person is known to be a believer. And that saddens me. I pray that he would show remorse otherwise people will forget that he was ever a servant of God. That has happened before not only to one man, but to a nation. In 1 Sam. 17:4, we read once upon a time…
“(a) champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.
Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me…” (NIV)
Did you catch that? What did Goliath call the chosen people of God? Servants of Saul.
Israel used to be known as a people whose God is “in heaven above and on the earth below” (Jos. 2:11, NIV) but several generations and centuries later, they have become “servants of Saul.” What happened in between? Judges 2:11-23.
In a nutshell, when the good times were rolling in, they would turn from God and serve other gods whose nations would oppress them. Then they will cry out to their deliverer. But as soon as the dust was settled, they would drop Him and start the cycle over and over until everyone had forgotten that they were God’s chosen and have been reduced to becoming known as servants of a cowardly, insecure, and paranoid king. What was more unfortunate was that they themselves forgot that they were servants of YHWH. If they had remembered, they would have called out to Him instead of enduring the taunting of the giant for days as they shook in their sandals like their handsome king. The servants had become like their master.
What about us? When people look at us, whom do they say we are servants of? Oh naturally, we would claim to be of Christ’s but do we look like Christ? Sound like Christ? Talk like Christ? What can they deduce when they hear us talk and read our posts? Do we come off as schizophrenic with our tongue and timeline? Do we praise our Lord and Father while we “curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness?” (James 3:9, NIV). Friends, if we keep this up, soon, people will see us as servants of Saul and forget that we were ever servants of God. They will not believe our gospel. Worse, we, ourselves, will also forget when the person in the mirror looking back at us resembles the master with a very small “m.”
"Ginagawa naman ng Pangulo natin ang lahat para sa ikabubuti ng bansa, para sa ikabubuti ng bawat Pilipino pero binabatikos pa rin siya. Sa inyo pong lahat na bumabatikos: mamatay kayong lahat. Salamat po," commented one person to the critics of his, well, I can’t say his boss because the two are not known to have a professional relationship. But it made news nevertheless primarily because he’s a celebrity and the quote does make for a good story. Now I know this is not the first time a harsh remark has been levelled at non-supporters but what caught my interest was the person is known to be a believer. And that saddens me. I pray that he would show remorse otherwise people will forget that he was ever a servant of God. That has happened before not only to one man, but to a nation. In 1 Sam. 17:4, we read once upon a time…
“(a) champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.
Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me…” (NIV)
Did you catch that? What did Goliath call the chosen people of God? Servants of Saul.
Israel used to be known as a people whose God is “in heaven above and on the earth below” (Jos. 2:11, NIV) but several generations and centuries later, they have become “servants of Saul.” What happened in between? Judges 2:11-23.
In a nutshell, when the good times were rolling in, they would turn from God and serve other gods whose nations would oppress them. Then they will cry out to their deliverer. But as soon as the dust was settled, they would drop Him and start the cycle over and over until everyone had forgotten that they were God’s chosen and have been reduced to becoming known as servants of a cowardly, insecure, and paranoid king. What was more unfortunate was that they themselves forgot that they were servants of YHWH. If they had remembered, they would have called out to Him instead of enduring the taunting of the giant for days as they shook in their sandals like their handsome king. The servants had become like their master.
What about us? When people look at us, whom do they say we are servants of? Oh naturally, we would claim to be of Christ’s but do we look like Christ? Sound like Christ? Talk like Christ? What can they deduce when they hear us talk and read our posts? Do we come off as schizophrenic with our tongue and timeline? Do we praise our Lord and Father while we “curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness?” (James 3:9, NIV). Friends, if we keep this up, soon, people will see us as servants of Saul and forget that we were ever servants of God. They will not believe our gospel. Worse, we, ourselves, will also forget when the person in the mirror looking back at us resembles the master with a very small “m.”