OCBC

OCBC means Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation, a Bank in Malaysia. A church member who is a multi-racial personnel (Scottish,Chinese, Indian, Malaysia and who knows what else is in his blood). Officially he’s known as a Eurasian. He has lived in KL for many years. So now, he looks a mix of Chinese and Caucasian. But he calls himself a OCBC – meaning “Orang Cina Bukan Cina”. Reason is he speaks Chinese, his heart feels like a Chinese but he’s not one. What he meant was, though in many ways, he is Chinese but in actual sense he is not.

There’s also another group of people who’s also called OCBC… the “Orang Christian Bukan Christian”. They took on the identity as Christians but they never practice nor even close to being one.

In the bible, Paul called them the carnal (fleshly) Christians whom we refer as “nominal Christian”. Sadly, there are quite a number found in the church, with or without them recognizing it. Reason being, as long as they confess that they are Christians, they think that should be enough to get them to heaven, or at least to see St Paul at the gate.

But the truth is, Jesus has taught us many things pertaining to our Christian walk with Him. James admonished us to become doer and not just hearer of our faith; Paul reminded us that we live by faith and not by works; Jesus gave us instructions during the Olivet discourse where we find the Beautitudes.

But I have a simple principle to follow or to check, in the form of questions:
1. Do I earnestly wanting to read the Bible and hunger for truth? Do I study the bible because I want to live by its principles?
2. Do I find it a joy to pray and worship God? Do I set aside time each day to have communion with Him? Not during rush hour because I only have 5 or 10 minutes to spare.
3. Am I proud of the church that I attend and will not be ashamed to introduce Jesus and the church to my friends? Am I bold enough to admit my belief to new friends?
4. Lastly, do I find it a joy to serve God in the church and the community? Volunteering my time and money for the course of preaching the gospel. Even if I know that dealing with people means making myself susceptible to hurts and pains, am I still willing to serve because I know that I serve God and not man?

I try to follow my heart and listen to the still small voice from the Holy Spirit to guide me each day. I live day by day, moment by moment, taking each day at a time. I will not rush and will not be pressured to act against my principles which I have learned from the bible. Not just someone senior told me so, and I follow, rather I have to be convinced based on the Word of God.
So all those OCBC out there, maybe it’s time to get serious with our faith. Amen!