Sharing is Caring

  Introduction     For me, "Philippians" is something special.  The reason is that when I studied Th.M. (Master of Theology) at Fuller Theological Seminary, I wrote my thesis based on Philippians 2:1-4.  Before I started writing the thesis, I went up to Professor Seyoon Kim, who was my supervisor at that time, and told him that I was going to write my thesis on Philippians 2:1-4.  When he heard it, he told me that there was nothing much to write on that passage.  Nevertheless, I wrote my thesis based on that passage because I was interested in the ecclesiology.  So in order to write a thesis based on Philippians 2:1-4, I read many articles and books regarding that passage and the book of Philippians as a whole.  As I was doing it, I got more interested in the book of Philippians.  In the process, I read the whole commentary "Paul's Letter to the Philippians"(New International Greek Testament) written by...

  Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I just want to share my future book " Those Whose Hearts Are Broken " with you. If you are interest, let me know your email. Then I will send it to you.   In Him, james ------------------ Table of Contents Introduction God who is near to the brokenhearted “Many are the afflictions of the righteous” Purpose of Pain Why should we suffer? Why does God troubling us with every kind of distress? The blessing of suffering The benefit of suffering (1) The benefit of suffering (2) Thanksgiving in the midst of suffering A fearful situation When I am greatly afraid and distressed Why are we in need? When difficult things come together at once ‘In their distress’ "My weakness" Burnout ...

  Conclusion     God, who comes near to those whose hearts are broken and heals their broken hearts, is our true hope.  We live day by day as endure any kinds of hardships and difficulties in tears and we stand up again even after fall because of our true hope the Lord Jesus Christ.  Though we don’t know about tomorrow, we are heading toward the heaven, step by step, with the comfort and power of the Lord who is our true living hope.  Though we live in this wilderness-like world where there are so many things that trouble us, make us worry and be anxious and make us to commit sin against God, we have come to this far because our Lord has given us comfort, strength and help.  It is the Lord who allows us to go through hardships and sufferings so that He may discipline us and train us through those tests of our faith.  And even when we don’t know what to do in times of troubles that give anxiety and distress, God speaks to o...

  “I will always have hope”     [Psalms 71:1-14]     President Nixon's assistant, Chuck Colson, wrote his book" Born Again," focusing on his experience in prison.  He said he saw three people among the prisoners: the first is a hopeless prisoner who hits his head against the wall and hurt his own body, the second kind is the hopeless prisoner who squat down in their own chambers, and the third kind of prisoners are waiting for the day to leave the prison and thus they exercise whenever they have an opportunity.  Although they are in prison, they act like they will go out tomorrow.  Even though their bodies are trapped in prison, their minds are out there and enjoy freedom.  Those who live in hope are free.  Their lives are overflowing with hope.  Those who attitude is positive and optimistic are looking at the light even in the dark.  But those who are pessimistic see darkness even in the ligh...

  "Put my tears in Your bottle"     "…   Put my tears in Your bottle …"(Psalms 56:8).     There are still tears in the bottle of my heart.  They are the tears I will never forget.  I still remember vividly the tears that flew in their eyes.  They are the tears that are so precious to me.  The tear that is written deepest in my heart is a drop of tears from my first baby Charis.  When I held her first and last time in my arms, she passed away.  And I saw one drop of tears in her right eye.  Whenever I participate in the communion, I intentionally think of Charis who was in the Los Angeles Children Hospital Intensive Care Unit for 55 days and who had numerous needle marks in her body.  And when I think about her, I remember one drop of her tears and it makes my heart moving.  The second deepest tear in my heart is the tear of my beloved wife.  I still...

  Those who suffer according to the will of God   “Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right” (1 Peter 4:19).   Why do we Christians suffer?  I think of three reasons for that: (1) because of our sins, (2) because God wants to bless us, and (3) because we are living worthy of the gospel.  Of course not all our sufferings are due to our sins.  But somehow it is not easy to shake off the thought that many of our sufferings are the result of our sins.  I think a good example of this is Prophet Jonah.  Why did Jonah suffer?  Why was the ship that he was aboard almost broken? (Jonah 1:4)  The reason was that Jonah disobeyed God's command (vv. 2-3).  Likewise, we too can suffer hardships when we disobey God's command.  But I think it is dangerous to think that all our sufferings are all due to our si...

  "I love You, O LORD, my strength"       [Psalms 18]               Why are we discouraged?  Why are we frustrated and despairing?  Often times in our lives we lose our strength.  At that time, there is danger of give ourselves up in despair.   There may be a urge to put down things and give up everything.  When I thought about why this may happen, I thought of three words: "reality", "mind" and "emotion".  In other words, it is important how we react to these realities that we want to deny when difficulties and adversity come to our life journey. The first reaction is "mind".  When unexpected difficulty thing or adversity comes true, we can ask four questions from our thoughts.  The first question is "Why?"  I think it is our instinct or habit to ask questions such as 'Why did this happen to me?' and 'Why me?'  In the end, ...