Loyalty no More

During the past couple of years I have lost more friends than gain new ones. There were some whom I thought were my friends but they are no more. Not that they vanish from the esrth but that they have behaved dishonourably and acted disloyally to their friends. How we take their words at face value? Last Saturday I drove for two hours one way into the interior of Sabah (one friend who saw my news thought the place I went was really far away). I did so because I wanted to keep my promise that when my book on Galatians was completed he would get a copy.

This elder was among the first to book a copy when I was in the middle of writing it last June. In fact, he was one who countered a pastor saying that my John’s commentary in Malay was tough to read as this elder said that he had read it and found it helpful. But I went as I did because I had spoken that I would do so. But there are many others whose words are empty talk, what they say is not to be trusted and I felt betrayed countless times in the past year that even some pastors’ words had proved treacherous. It may seem a small thing but it is not since our word is our bond and our yes and no should be just that, yes and no and no more than that. 

So today I am reminded of my promise to my former supervisor that I would read his new book and give him a bit of feedback by the third week of January and time is about up and I am glad I had turned down an invitation to preach last Sunday to focus on reading the manuscript. One thing I realised that I much prefer hard copies, a book with pages and the inked written words, not just on a screen. I can read a solid book in three or four days but on digital format my eyes get tired easily and I had spent four days reading but only up to 40 pages. I would estimate that my speed in reading is reduced by more than half.