I don’t know about you, sometimes I like to “talk to myself” and this usually happens when a thought comes to my head. The thought could be either as trivial as I saw someone or something, or nontrivial as I need to resolve something. No matter what, I marvel God’s creation that enables me to interact with my mind or my “inner being” through the process of “talk-to-myself”.  It makes me to think twice before I do something or refresh my memory once a while. 🙂

You may ask: what do you mean by inner being? Well, this is kind of abstract but, in the epistle of 2 Corinthians, apostle Paul indicated to us that “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 外體雖然毀壞，內心卻一天新似一天(2 Corinthians 4:16 NKJV)”.  This inward man is “the inner being” that I am referring to.  

In Jesus’ “the parable of the rich fool”, we see an interesting picture of a rich man who talked to his soul – the inner being. The first thought came up to him was ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops’, after yielded an abundant harvest. We can’t say his thought is wrong. The problem is after he talked to his soul and decided, ‘‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” (Luke 12:18-19 NKJV) 我要這麼辦：要把我的倉房拆了，另蓋更大的，在那裡好收藏我一切的糧食和財物，然後要對我的靈魂說：靈魂哪，你有許多財物積存，可作多年的費用，只管安安逸逸地吃喝快樂吧！’  God disapproved and demanded his soul.

So, what is the issue here? The issue can be from three aspects, I think. The first one is the rich man didn’t recognize that it is God’s grace that he can have the abundant harvest. Then, instead of using the surplus grain to aid the poor and the widow, he saved it for himself which highlights his greed. Finally, he thought his wealth can sustain his soul without God. This self sufficient mind and prideful heart become his verdict because in his heart there is no God. That is also the reason why the rich man was called a fool. From here we can learn that we have to honor God the Creator because He is the origin of our soul. And, He sent His son Jesus Christ to die for our soul in order to cleanse us from our sin.

My dear friends, “Do you have a cleansed soul that you can talk to?” This is a good question to ask yourself.  Hope you can talk to God the Creator directly, through your cleansed soul…

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

Recent headline news has been circling around the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. The jetliner, with 239 people on board, disappeared a week ago, has become one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history – it baffles many industry experts and government officials. The jetliner dropped off from control tower radar within an hour of flight, after left the Kuala Lumpur Airport. As of this week, 57 ships and 48 aircraft from 13 countries were involved in the search, per Malaysian official. Authorities still don’t know where the plane is or what caused it to vanish. Though new theories of the disappearance continue to take shape, its search still shows little progress, nevertheless.

This incident reminds me of the terminology of Missing-In-Action (MIA) and Prisoner-of-War (POW) during the period of war. The jetliner is like the one who is MIA or even like the POW – either being captured by enemy or disappeared from battle fields due to various reasons. The jetliner’s disappearance could either be hijacked or ran into unexpected situations.  The incident also lets me think of the tremendous effort spent by the families and countries in searching for their love ones who were MIAs or POWs during the war. It is a time consuming and challenging effort. Many reports indicate that the affected families suffered from a long-lasting emotional loss caused by the separation.

From spiritual point of view, I see a parallel similarity. Bible told us that we are living in a world that is under the control of the evil one, due to the Fall of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3). In a sense, we are all POWs of the evil one when we were born into this world. Prophet Isaiah indicated to us that “we all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way我們都如羊走迷、各人偏行己路 (Isaiah 53:6)” In other words, we are all like MIAs too! The question is: Do we have someone loves us? Do we have someone cares about us? YES! God is the one who cares about us so much that He is willing to take drastic action to seek us and to rescue us.

Apostle John told us that “for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. 神愛世人，甚至將他的獨生子賜給他們，叫一切信他的不致滅亡，反得永生。因為神差他的兒子降世，不是要定世人的罪，乃是要叫世人因他得救。(John 3:16-17). It is God who loves us so much that He sent His only begotten son to this sinful world in order to save us, instead of to condemn us. How gracious He is!

After we have been saved, do we follow our Lord Jesus’ commands truthfully? Do we love Him with all our heart, all our soul and all our strength? When we are NOT remaining in Him constantly, we soon would become MIAs or even POWs of the evil one. For apostle Peter reminded us that “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 務要謹守、警醒，因為你們的仇敵魔鬼如同吼叫的獅子，遍地遊行，尋找可吞吃的人。(1 Peter 5:8)”. It is a sober warning for us – Christians – that we have a Great Commission to carry out in this world. We can’t be MIAs or even become POWs again.

May you remain in our Lord DAILY!

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

Greg Laurie, founder and senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, once said, “Everyone has an opportunity to spend his / her eternity either in heaven or in hell”.  It is an enlightening statement and is quite intriguing to me. It implies that our life is eternal i.e. there exists a life after death. Also, there are two distinct locations where we will spend our “afterlife” there, depending upon our choice at current life. The immediate question is: Is there an “afterlife” exists?

One of the discovery series books titled “10 reasons to believe in life after death” by RBC ministries illustrates that “each of us experiences what King Solomon called “eternity in [our] hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11).” Apparently, our hearts possess an inescapable longing for something this world cannot satisfy. It was an emptiness of soul that Solomon could not escape. The other reasons given by the book are “The injustice of life”, “Beauty and balance” and “The near death experience”. The author stated that it would be difficult to believe that life is good if we knew there was nothing beyond the grave to compensate for problems of inequality and unfairness. While some people seem destined for happiness, others are born into terrible relationships and circumstances. These three reasons are mainly from the life’s unfairness and suffering experiences and, I believe, we all have our share in experiencing them one way or another. 

After illustrated the reasons experienced by life’s unfairness and suffering, the author gives us other important reasons to believe in there is a life after death, based on the Holy Scripture. They are: “There is an eternal God”, “Christ’s resurrection and promises”, and “The prediction and fulfillment of prophecy from Old Testament”.  These reasoning strongly indicate that we do have a life after death.  An interesting observation is: a 51% of people in a worldwide survey believe that there is an afterlife, while 76% of US people surveyed believe the afterlife, according to pastor Laurie. Apparently, most of the people believe that we have a life after death.

Naturally, “Where are we going after our death?” becomes the next pressing question. Bible told us that we will be staying in a temporary holding place after our death. This can be Hades as described by Jesus’ parable of the Rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) or Paradise as is indicated in 2 Corinthians 12:4, Luke 23:43, and Revelation 2:7. Sometimes people would equate paradise to be heaven and Hades to be hell, but it is not necessary true. However, we do see two distinct destinations for our afterlife.

Now, who decides who should go to which of the two locations and when is it decided? The Bible indicates that God grants us “free will” to make choices – we decide what kind of life we want to live in this world. However, we are also responsible for the result or consequence of our choices. Apostle Paul teaches us that “Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 因為隨從肉體的人，體貼肉體的事；隨從聖靈的人，體貼聖靈的事。體貼肉體的就是死，體貼聖靈的乃是生命、平安。 (Romans 8:5-6)” This means if we live according to the flesh desires, we are bounded to be sent to the Hades. Only through live in accordance with the Spirit, we can then be able spend our eternity in the paradise with God. This being said, when our lifetime in this world is expired, God sends us to one of the two locations based on our choices.

From this understanding, we can deduce that it is critical for us to make the right choice before we are expired from this world. In other words, we should examine our life constantly with the question “Where do I want to spend my eternity?”

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

Most of us don’t like to wait – we like to see results or outcomes instantly as we are living in a world that worships the immediate. Last week was a waiting week for those who are working in my company. It is a week that we were waiting for our predicament – another round of resource action – to be revealed, according to a prediction from local newspaper and media. As the D-day is getting closer, the thicker and heavier of atmosphere around my working place becomes. As a result, working items have been either put on hold or cancelled in light of the common view of “I don’t know if I will still be here next week, so why bother?” It is a very demoralizing week.

The ordeal was finally over by last Friday. Thank God for His mercy, we escaped from a predicament which is perceived to be destined. Nevertheless, the after shock effect is still rippling around the aisles in my working place. From this incident, I realize once again that our Lord is in control and He is the Lord of all. This reminds me of God’s graceful salvation that delivers me from the destined punishment of death row due to my sin. The fact is in this world, we may be able to escape from predicaments or unpredictable calamity, at times. We, however, can’t escape from the destined punishment of our sin because “the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23a)”.  The only way out, as apostle Paul indicated, is to accept the gift of God which is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is “the greatest escape” that God has provided to us.

My dear friends, when our life in this world ends, do you know where are you heading for? This is a serious question that you should ask yourself. The truth is no matter how successful we are in this life, everything will either come to an end or gone at that time, just as Job indicated, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return there 我赤身出於母胎，也必赤身歸回 (Job 1:21a)”.  And, the reality is we can not escape from God’s wrath if we don’t realize that His son Jesus Christ is the only and the greatest escape. May you come to your realization some day in the near future!

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