Our King Deserves The Best | October 2021 Monthly Newsletter

Written by Ps. Nicholas Hung | Senior Pastor of Antioch Gospel Church

Hi Church,

Our God deserves the best from us. Period. In everything. At all times. Period. And the good news is that when we consistently give our best to God, it often leads to the best outcomes in our lives too.

Let me first clarify what I mean by, ‘giving God the best.’ I believe that life is best lived when we bring our whole heart into everything that we do – especially when our lives are focused on fulfilling God’s calling. Our best life is often the discovery and result of refusal to shrink back into average, but instead to consistently approach life with a spirit of excellence and incremental improvement, unceasingly expanding into the best individual that we can be.

In living for God:

  1. We love the Lord our God with all our heart (Matthew 22:37)

  2. We love one another (Luke 10:27)

  3. We labour for our bosses with all of our heart (Titus 2:9-10)

  4. We give the best for our spouses and families by serving them with all of our heart (Ephesians 5:25, Titus 2:4)

  5. We sow into and serve the kingdom of God within the context of our local church with all of our heart (2 Corinthians 8:3, Haggai 1:8)

In short, we must learn to do everything good and right in our lives with all of our heart. Undoubtedly Jesus is the greatest example of this ‘giving the best’ kind of lifestyle, continually and wholeheartedly living out His Father’s heart with joy, passion and purpose. Jesus gave His best, choosing to live sinless in a sinful world and ultimately undeservedly hanging upon the cross as a ransom for all humanity. It’s this kind of wholehearted attitude that I believe we are meant to apply into every part of our God given calling.

One of Paul’s exhortations to the church was, “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” (Colossians 3:23 NKJV)

This life-changing way of thinking that highlights at least three important truths:

1. We must always remember to do what we are called to do with a willing spirit

2. We’re not meant to be doing ‘everything’, but ‘whatever’ we do, we’re supposed to do willingly

3. Although much of our work on earth ought to be for the benefit of others, the heartfelt focus of our efforts must be Jesus, instead of people

This powerful thought is a master key to remaining highly motivated, productive, free from offense and discouragement and so much more. Any kind of natural work or effort on this earth can feel draining at times but life can feel especially draining when what we do goes unappreciated and unnoticed, or even despised. What if we aligned our work and efforts towards Jesus instead of towards others and gave God our best, always?

When the focus of our work and efforts becomes pleasing the King, that not only does our King receive the best from us, we also experience the best from Him – joy, meaning, purpose, gratefulness, rest, hope. Indeed, Martha would probably have never complained about Mary if she’d understood the power of this principle (Luke 10:38-42).

And, as an added bonus, when we start approaching life from a sense of pleasing God and doing life God’s way, there’s not one area within our lives that won’t naturally benefit from the fruits of wholehearted living – our marriage, family, friendships, ministry, vocation, finances, spirituality, physical, emotional, and more will all benefit from living wholeheartedly for Him!

“Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!” (Psalms 103:1 NKJV)

We’re believing for His favour and grace upon you church. Have a wonderful month, growing in maturity and being productive for His kingdom,

Many blessings,

Pastors Nicholas Hung & Grace Lim

Nicholas Hung