Sharing is Caring

What God wants from us       [Psalms 81]         Yesterday before we had a family worship on New Year's night, all five members of the family sat down against the wall on our bed and read a book.   While sitting down, my wife and my first son were reading the Bible, Yeri was reading a princess book to her younger sister Karis.   After reading for a while, I told them ‘Let’s have worship now’.   Karis seemed she wanted Yeri to read her the princess book a little more.   After having to put down the princess book, Yeri read the first chapter of Dillon’s Bible.   Then I briefly exhorted the Bible verse that was emphasized within that chapter.   And I tried to have prayer time with them.   But Karis didn’t listen well.   So when I asked her if she would pray together, she quietly answered “No”.   So I said to her, ‘Then, you can go to your room with the book you were reading.’   She was h...

Those who love God           [Romans 8:26-30]     C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), one of the greatest Christian apologists of the 20th century, said in his book “The Four Loves”: ‘To love is to be weak.   Love anything.   Then your heart will be troubled and probably broken.   If you want to keep your heart intact, don't give it to anyone.   Avoid all complex relationships and keep them safe in the box of your selfishness.   But even in the safe box it will change.   It will not be broken, but it will seldom break and become something incomprehensible’ (Internet).   What do you think of this word?   I personally agree with Lewis.   In particular, I wholeheartedly agree with the saying that to love is to be weak.   I think that loving people in human relationships, such as husband and wife relationships at home, relationships between father and son, and relationships between friends, brothers...

"What a wretched man I am!"       [Romans 7:14-25]     Are you guarding your heart well?   Are you guarding your heart well when Satan's thoughts try to come into your heart?   There is a book called “Freedom From Sinful Thoughts” written by Pastor Heinrich Arnold, a Christian counseling pastor (Internet).   In this book, the author emphasizes the importance of fighting and struggling against the evil thoughts that come into us countless times.   The reason is because if we neglect and let them come into our thoughts, then the evil thoughts will grow and eventually bear the fruit of sinful actions.   The moment we voluntarily enjoy evil thoughts, we are being manipulated by the forces of darkness without even realizing it.   Because a change in behavior begins with a change in mind, we cannot enjoy true freedom in Christ unless freedom from sinful thoughts precedes it.   Indeed, how will we fight and overcome evil ...

The Word became flesh (6)     [John 1:1-4, 9-14]                     The second purpose for God the Son, “the Word,” to become “flesh” (man) is to be the mediator between God and us.                   Originally, there was no need for a mediator between God and us.   Originally, God had fellowship with Adam.   Look at Genesis 2:7 – “Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”   God created man (Adam) from the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living being.   In other words, the man Adam was created to have fellowship with God.   And God made a garden east of Eden and put the man Adam there and had fellowship with him (v. 8).   Also, God mad...

“If God is for us” (9)       [Romans 8:35-39]       Look at Romans 8:35 – “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”  What kind of person is “us” here that cannot be separated from the love of Christ?  We can think of it in three ways:   (1)     The “us” refers to those whom God has chosen (Rom. 8:33).   When did God choose us?   Look at Ephesians 1:4-5: “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.”   God chose us before all things were created.   God has predestined us according to the kind intention of His will.   So, who can separate us from the love of Christ?   No one!   Never! ...