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

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“Mommy, can you cook your hearty chicken soup with mushrooms and spice, again?” my younger son asked my wife one day. My wife was delighted to accept the request because she knew this kind of soup is my whole family’s favorite.

Making a good soup needs a good recipe of ingredients and long cooking time. With today’s busy schedule, cook a soup sometimes could be a challenge; especially the one which is well liked by the whole family. I don’t know whether you like to “drink or eat” soup or not, I myself am a soup lover. Back to my younger days, my mom used to cook “clear” type of soups for us during our daily lunch and dinner time. When I came to the States, it is a different story – the American “thick” style of soup is hardly my favorite initially, it is no where near the soup that I recognized back to old days. Years later, I finally could accept the “American” soup even though I still like Chinese “clear” style better.

Someone used to say that religious concepts are like soups, some are “thick” and some are “clear”. It is an interesting analogy and it bears some insights too. In Christianity, Bible is our utmost standard and recipe of life. It is like a hearty soup – could be both “clear” and “thick” type – that we can taste. Apostle Paul indicated to us that:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

聖經都是神所默示的，﹝或作凡神默示的聖經﹞於教訓，督責，使人歸正，教導人學義，都是有益的‧叫屬神的人得以完全，預備行各樣的善事‧(2 Timothy 3:16-17)

From here, we know that Bible is God’s instructions to His children. It teaches His children to follow His commands and standard of living – holiness. Because Bible is a standard, it can therefore be used to rebuke / reproof our living – conviction. With the help from the Holy Spirit, when we receive rebuke / reproof, we know that we have deviated from God’s teachings. As a result, we would try to correct our direction. No wonder the psalmist would say, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. (Psalm 119:105)” We wouldn’t want to venture into dark path if we couldn’t see it clearly, right? The ultimate function of the Bible would lead us to righteousness – the highest standard of God, the “thick” style of soup.  Finally, we can be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Isn’t the Bible very useful? Sure it is…

Now we learned that Bible has some “thick” stuff – righteousness, so, what is “clear” stuff in the Bible? Remember the song “God is Love (耶和華是愛)” (1 John 4:16)?  “Love” is the “clear” stuff that we are looking for. From Old Testament to New Testament, we could learn how God loves us.  For example, King David wrote his psalm 103 to praise the LORD,

Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion 我的心哪，你要稱頌耶和華，不可忘記他的一切恩惠‧他赦免你的一切罪孽，醫治你的一切疾病‧他救贖你的命脫離死亡，以仁愛和慈悲為你的冠冕‧ (Psalm 103:2-4)

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 神差他獨生子到世間來、使我們藉著他得生、　神愛我們的心、在此就顯明了。(1 John 4:9)

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.惟有基督在我們還作罪人的時候為我們死、　神的愛就在此向我們顯明了。(Romans 5:8)

We all like to be loved. Love is the most powerful thing that God gave to us and it is one of the difficult commands that we can hardly to follow. Love God wholeheartedly and love our neighbors as ourselves are the two commands God wants us to practice. It is like to make a “hearty” soup with our life time. Isn’t this difficult? Sure it is….

My dear brothers and sisters, Bible is like our spiritual “hearty” soup to our spiritual life. If we want to grow into the full measure of Christ, then we need to read our Bible diligently. It is a thought that I want to share with you this week. May God remove all the obstacles that hinder you from approaching Him!