A Three-Fold Cord 

By Ps Ng Zhiwen

GetDeep, GetReal, GetSent. These have been our 3 Next Lap strategic thrusts for our church, to help each one of us mature in Christ. You may have noticed how our 3 Next Lap vision thrusts work at a relational level. It’s so important to think of our “maturity journey” as something that we do with one another.

Most of you would be familiar with this. But right now, I am thinking of another three-fold cord, something to frame our personal journey towards maturity in Christ.

The first cord is the intellect. I am referring to the enriching of our minds as we study the Word of God. (As Bible-Presbyterians, we should be adept at this). We let God’s word shape the way we think about God, about the world and our place in it. For myself, I’ve been learning so much through my preparations for each sermon series, whether for preaching or for teaching people in a class. Key words: study, analyse, think about, reflect

We do not stop at forming a Christian mind. We want our faith to be worked out in our actions. This is the realm of our hands and feet. We are called to be like Jesus, and this must involve the transformation of our lives – in the way we love our neighbour (that includes our families), the way we serve in the ministries of the church, and the way we represent Christ wherever we are in the world. Besides my family, two major realms of action for me are my pastoral ministry in Zion Bishan and in Antioch21. Key words: obey, love, serve, mission.

I confess that I’ve often been brought up to focus on these two cords. They are readily translated into activities that I can plan for and schedule on my calendar.

But what I find myself needing even more and more is a third cord. And it has got to do with our heart and soul. It goes beyond our intellect, and concerns our affections, our love, our will, and our conscience. You may say that it covers our inner being.

Our Lord called us to love Him not just with our mind and our strength, but also with our heart and soul (Mark 12:30). The things that we do should flow from an inner life that is fully devoted to God.

Our minds need to take journeys into exploring the depths of Scripture. Our hands and feet must be immersed in the world out there (where our neighbours are). 

But to nurture our hearts takes a journey inwards, to meet with the Lord in “the secret place”, and allow Him to do His beautiful purifying work there.

Exactly how is this to be done? We’ll talk more about this at another time, but I hope you’ll agree that this is something we can’t afford to neglect, if we are to be mature in Christ.
Key words: inner life or inner being, devotion, contemplation

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
Psalm 139:23-24