Yesterday's sermon message was so simple, I learned so much.

The message? Quit trying to turn water into wine.

Rev May Tan (If I am not wrong, she's in the top echelon of the Presbyterian denomination) used a well-known passage (so well-known and well-heard that it is becoming trite to me) in the Bible to bring out a fresh new perspective.

The Bible passage she used for the sermon was the first miracle that Jesus performed in his ministry.

In the passage, Jesus was in a wedding with his mother, Mary. But midway through the wedding, the wine ran out. Mary quickly went to Jesus and told him about the situation. Mary then told the servants to follow everything that Jesus tells them to do.

The servants said okay (very obedient. Mary must have been stern!).

Now in the past, every Jew family had water jars in their house for ceremonial washing (to wash their feet apparently).

Jesus got the servants to scoop water and fill the water jars to the brim. These servants have been doing this every other day so it was nothing new to them. The water jars have to be filled anyway. So they just did what Jesus ordered them to do.

Jesus then asked one of them to scoop the water out and let the master of the wedding banquet (someone like the wine taster - or somelier, if you want the contemporary name) to approve of the wine.

The servant did... and guess what the master of the banquet said to the groom?

"Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."

And so, water meant to wash the feet became the best wine for a wedding. Such is the power of Jesus Christ.

Her sermon message in this passage was that we are like the servants... We just have to do what we usually do, the simple task of scooping the water into the water jars, be it serving in church and working in the secular world, and leave the turning of water into wine to Jesus. He is the one who turns our mediocre work into something exceptional.

The reason why some people may feel burned out serving/working is they try to turn the water into wine themselves, which of course, is futile with human efforts.

So in everything I do, I just have to do what I usually do, faithfully putting in effort, and let God work the exceptional miracle of turning my plain water into robust wine!