Recently, our big pet goldfish suffered from an unknown disease – her tail is bulging up with scales protruding. As a result, she would just sit at the tank bottom motionlessly, most of the times. Seeing this, my wife and I decided to take some actions to save her from her misery. So, we stopped by a local pet store to inquire any possible cure for her. The clerk of the store suggested a fish medication for us to try. He also recommended that we cleaned the fish tank every two days. By following the suggestion and recommendation, we invested money and efforts in fish medication and changing tank water for the fish, during the following days. The initial result, however, turned out to be less effective than we would expect. Thus, we had to try another fish medication accompanying with the water changing routine all over again. After all the hoop-jumping, the fish’s condition finally improves significantly and she starts to eat and swim well. What a relief!

From this experience I learned a few things. Firstly, I find that the transparency of the water tank is very important. Without it, we couldn’t detect the initial symptom of sickness of our fish easily.  We may mistakenly think that our fish is just sitting there lazily because she is big and getting old. Secondly, we are willing to take action to save her – this costs us time, effort and money.

If we drill deeper a little bit, the transparency of the water tank is depending upon the effectiveness of water filtration system and availability of fresh air pump in the tank. The water filtration system is supposed to filter out fish’s excrement and keep water clean and free from poisonous deposits. The fresh air pump, in the same time, would provide oxygen into the water to support fish’s breathing in the water. Those two important systems would keep water in a transparent and healthy condition. When the water quality is deteriorated, its color becomes opaque and the fish would start to suffer.

Analogously, we can consider the condition of our faith journey is like the water in the water tank – either transparent or opaque. In other words, do we open ourselves to the Lord acknowledging our wrong-doings or do we harbor them without confessing to Him? Like the water in the fish tank, my wife and I couldn’t detect and solve the problem of the fish if it is NOT transparent. Similarly, when we harbor wrong-doings in our heart, we are also NOT transparent to our God. When we didn’t come before our Lord to confess our transgressions daily, our spiritual condition deteriorates. And, without daily devotion in reading God’s Word – the manna from heaven – we are like fish lacking fresh air and would suffocate quickly. The end result is we suffered from our iniquities. King David’s miserable experience is worthy for us to learn. He said, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 我閉口不認罪的時候、因終日唉哼、而骨頭枯乾。(Psalm 32:3)”

So, the question we need to examine ourselves is: Are we transparent to our Lord? When we live a transparent Christian life, our Lord can then fulfill His promise to clean our sins as He promised that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.我們若認自己的罪，神是信實的，是公義的，必要赦免我們的罪，洗淨我們一切的不義。(1 John 1:9).

Last week, I had a discussion with my son because of his school performance. I asked him to pay more attention to his school work instead of his computer games. His response is “Dad, I know what I am doing.” So I told him, “OK, I certainly hope you do. I just don’t want you to get angry and frustrated next time.”  As a parent, this kind of discussion is not a pleasant one but is necessary because “Children are a heritage from the LORD 兒女是耶和華所賜的產業” (Psalm 127:3a)

Parenting is certainly not an easy task for most of us – it requires tremendous love, care and time in order to bring them up. When they say “they know what they are doing”, it usually means either “they have grown up and become independent” or “troubles are forthcoming”, depending upon their maturity.  The difficult part is they mature physically does not automatically imply that they have matured spiritually. How to tell when is the right time to let go of them, considering their maturity, requires a close relationship and constant reality-check between us and children.

When Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent and ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they knew what they were doing. The result is they committed a willful sin by violating God’s command of “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die. (Genesis 2:16-17)”.  They chose to ignore God’s command and it results in the fall of humankind. This tells us how powerful the temptation is and how weak we are in front of the temptation. God, as the creator of humankind, knows how vulnerable we are and because of His love, He provides His Son Jesus Christ as the propitiation of our sin.

When we say, “I know what I am doing”, the keyword “know” reveals our motivation and intention. Sometimes we may not know how severe the consequence of an action we took is. In the example of Aaron’s negligence in following Israelites’ request of creating an idol, the golden calf, for worshipping because Moses was not in their amidst for 40 days and nights,  the consequence is about 3000 Israelites’ lives (Exodus 32:15-29). Do you think Aaron did not know what he was doing? I don’t think so! So, my question here is “Do we really know what we are doing?”  Before we say yes, we need to do a reality check of our intention. Then, how can we check our intention before taking an action? The answer is we need to develop a close relationship with God.  With a close relationship with our Lord, we can come before Him asking for help in directing our path. Then, you may ask, “How can I develop a close relationship with God?” Reading His words and obeying His words is the key to a close relationship with God because His word is a lamp for our feet and a light on our path (Psalm 119:105).

Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.

Oftentimes, we would run into such response – “I don’t care”, when we ask our youngster’ opinion. This could happen when we stop by either fast food restaurant for lunch or shop for clothes for him. Sometimes I was wondering is he really has no preference or he really doesn’t care because what we have provided is good enough for him. This lets me think of a recent event.

The glitches in federal Affordable Care Act dubbed Obamacare website, which is supposed to provide general public a “better” healthcare insurance plan, draw numerous complaints and criticisms.  The complaints and criticisms are mainly from three areas. One is: the experiences of “unfriendly and often unavailable” access from users. Two is: some 12 million Americans whose individual policies don’t meet Obamacare requirements for more comprehensive care were cancelled. The last is the Obamacare plan itself does not provide a better choice, economically, for those who already have an insurance plan. As a result, the President Obama has to offer an apology to the public.

As we all know that it is imperative to have a good healthcare plan for our family nowadays. However, at the same time, we also feel the burden of hefty insurance premium. I think these may be the reason why Obamacare was proposed originally in order to confront these issues. Nevertheless, we saw many problems surfaced when rubber meets the road. Apparently, the care plan is not perfect for everyone even its original intent was good. So, the question is “Who really cares about you and therefore, can provide a perfect plan for you?”

Truth is when we are searching for a healthcare plan in this world, we always end up a compromise – trade lower cost with lower coverage. Sometimes we even give up plan for medical coverage because we can’t afford it. So, is there a perfect plan that could offer everyone to his full satisfaction? Yes, there is a “perfect plan” that was already devised for us and everyone is affordable. That is God’s plan – the salvation plan carried out by His son, Jesus Christ! When we subscribe to this plan, we don’t need to pay the premium because Jesus has paid it in full for us. In addition, we will receive a resurrection body that is free from death and pain (Revelations 21:4). Isn’t this a wonderful plan? I am sure it is!

Now you may ask, “How can I subscribe to God’s plan?” The first step is we need to acknowledge that we have problems – we are sick. Jesus told us that “it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 康健的人用不著醫生、有病的人纔用得著. (Matthew 9:12)” Apostle Paul also indicated to us that “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God 因為世人都犯了罪，虧缺了神的榮耀 (Romans 3:23)” As a result, we can’t approach God as a sinner and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). This is the reason God sent His only begotten Son Jesus to pay the price for our sins. The second step is therefore, we need to receive Jesus Christ into our heart, personally. The process of subscription is then complete with an acknowledgement, “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children聖靈與我們的心同證我們是神的兒女 (Romans 8:16)”

Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.

Looking at all the falling leaves on my backyard, I know it is time for us to prepare for winter. Each year, we have to spend weeks in collecting the falling leaves because they don’t come down at the same time. For sure, it is a laborious work for us. 

Those falling leaves on the ground lets me think of an old Chinese saying, “A falling leaf returns its root落葉歸根”. This also refers to an expatriate returning to his / her hometown in old age. For most of us, there is always such a special sentiment when we go back to where we were coming from originally, especially when we have left home for a long time. The desire of going back to our originating home is always fascinating to me – why we have such a strong desire to go back to our originating home even we know its surrounding may be completely different from our memory?

Tell you the truth; it has puzzled me for years. Not until when I met God I finally realize its answer – we were created to search for our originating creator. Henceforth, we are always having a desire to go back to where we are coming from. The question is can this inner longing be quenched when we go back to our earthly hometown in old age? I would say “No”.  Because the author of the book of Hebrews told us that there is a “better country” desired by the people in faith. He indicated that “they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. 他們卻羨慕一個更美的家鄉，就是在天上的‧所以神被稱為他們的神，並不以為恥‧因為他已經給他們預備了一座城 (Hebrews 11:16)” This gives us two very important aspects. One is the eyesight of a person in faith is different. He / She would consider himself / herself to be a foreigner and stranger on earth. Therefore the earthly home to him/her is just temporary. The other is they are confident that God will prepare a city for them in heaven, which is eternal. What a beautiful faith!

If you are like me that have moved abroad from your hometown for years, you may align with me the sentiment of “a lone ranger in a strange country with homesickness in each festive day獨在異鄉為孤客，每逢佳節倍思親”。However, the witnessing of faith from the book of Hebrews tells me that I don’t need to be in this sentimental stage anymore. Because I have a caring and loving father in heaven and He will prepare a beautiful home for me. Also, I don’t need to long for “fame and wealth in this world” because they are temporary. The attitude toward living like a people in faith is exactly what our God wants us to have.  When we can see things from God’s eye, then we will not be troubled by this world’s view of position, fame and wealth.

My dear friends, are you still searching for a better country (更美的家鄉) in this world? My answer to you is: you will never be able to find it. It is only when you know God personally, then you will find your longing being fulfilled. May you find what you are longing for – a better country. 

Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.