A City on a Hill

Keyboard laptop saya tuh suka ngehang. Jadi, tombol huruf Y, U, H, J, N, M, 7, dan 8-nya kadang-kadang ngadat, nggak muncul huruf or angkanya di layar, meski sudah ditekan berkali-kali. Ngadatnya juga nggak bisa diprediksi. Kadang pas laptop habis dinyalain, kadang juga pas laptop sudah beberapa jam dipakai.

Dan, paling sebel kalau… ngadatnya saat laptop lagi dipakai nulis! Bayangin aja, inspirasi yang sudah di ujung jari, tiba-tiba nggak bisa dituangin karena laptop ngadat! -_- Tapi yaaaah, apa boleh buat, kalau udah ngadat itu memang nggak bisa diapa-apain sih, paling ditunggu aja sampai udah nggak ngadat lagi.

Nah, kemarin si laptop ngadat saat dipakai nulis, alhasil saya terpaksa melakukan kegiatan dengan laptop yang nggak melibatkan ketik-mengetik. So, I decided to continue read my “The One Year Bible Plan” on YouVersion (BTW, you can sign up and choose the bible reading plan for you too… for free! They have BUNCH of Bible reading plans! :D).

Kemarin ada enam bacaan, dan salah satunya itu Matthew 5 : 1-26. FYI, saya biasa baca Bible yang NIV atau New International Version. Salah satu kelebihan YouVersion juga mereka punya SUPERBANYAK versi Alkitab! Yang bahasa Inggris aja ada berjibun, belum yang bahasa-bahasa lain, pokoknya TOP dah!

So, to cut the story short, kemarin saya baca Matthew 5 : 1-26 itu, dan ketika sampai di ayat 14, I felt that God wanted to show something to me. Jesus said:

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. (Matthew 5 : 14)

How many of you are familiar with this “you are the light of the world” verse? I am sure that most of us have encountered this verse at least once in our life, haven’t us? But… how many of us noticed the following sentence of this verse? 

A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.

Courtesy of http://restlesspilgrim.net/blog/2011/07/28/secret-city-on-a-hill/

Pernah nggak, baca kalimat ini, dan bertanya-tanya, apa sih maksudnya? Apa hubungannya antara “kamu adalah terang dunia” dan “kota yang terletak di atas gunung tidak mungkin tersembunyi”?

I checked this short-but-suddenly-spoke-so-loud-to-me sentence at other Bible verses. And here’s what I found:

Matthew 5 : 14 New King James Version (NKJV)
You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Matthew 5 : 14 New Living Translation (NLT)
You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

It was still a blurry meaning for me… until I checked how The Message Bible wrote this verse.

Matthew 5 : 14 The Message (MSG)
Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.

Did you read it? Did you find the hidden treasure of this verse? Read it again. This time I’m gonna make the font bigger.

Matthew 5 : 14 The Message (MSG)
Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.

Gosh! My eyes were filled with tears of joy when I read this short sentence over and over again. God is not a secret to be kept! The Gospel is meant to be preached! The salvation is meant to be shared! Christ didn't die for you on the cross so then you can keep that privilege for yourself! He commanded us:

Go and make disciples of all nations. (Matthew 28 : 19 NIV)

And the following sentence of Matthew 5 : 14 elaborates it more: God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. 

If you go public about something, it means that you are not shame of it. You admit it. You are proud of it. You let everyone know about it. Same thing applies here. You should go public about your God! He’s a city on a hilltop, isn’t He? How could you hide Him?

But sometimes I also find that me myself  try to hide Him :(

Anyway, I’ve read this sentence few times, yet I don’t know whom this saying belongs to: 

A ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for. 

And it was just like God opened my eyes and told me: 

A christian hidden in the christian community is safe. But that's NOT what christians are saved for. 

Don’t keep the privilege and grace of salvation for yourself, friends. Lots of people out there are desperately looking for forgiveness, for a guarantee of an eternal life. Why should you hide it from them? Don’t you want to let them know? Well, God wants you to.

I cried and cried a lot after read this last nite. I prayed and thanked God for such an unfailing love and grace that I know I don’t deserve to. But that’s why it’s called grace, right?

And you know what, after those devotional time, suddenly my laptop functioned normally again. Phew, shame on me, sometimes God need to interrupts me during my works, because I am too busy to talk to Him, while He longs to talk to me.

But I am glad He did that :)