——————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Last week I was gardening with brothers and sisters in the church. In the middle of it, I found a black spot on my left arm and I thought it was just a kernel of sand. So, I wiped it out but saw blood coming out a little bit. My initial reaction was it is a bug bite, no biggie. Later in the morning, I found additional two around the neighbor area on my arm. By the evening, the swell on my arm became apparent. Concerning the swell, I thought it is necessary to seek consultation, in case it is tick bites. The next day, I consulted one of my brethren who is a doctor, I was told that I need to take medication and a blood test, so I went to my primary doctor’s office the next day. After a check up, I was prescribed to have antibiotics. The doctor also perform a blood test of tick bites on me, even she didn’t think so. I find that both my brother and my primary doctor are all very careful in looking into my condition – they want to be sure that a right diagnosis is performed. I do appreciate their thoughtfulness and carefulness.

This experience lets me think of two incidents occurred a while back in my hometown. They are very eye grabbing. One is receiving wrong medication (吃錯藥) – a pharmacy filled a wrong medication to a prescription and caused a severe consequence. The other is a wrong funeral service (家屬辦錯喪事) – a hospital sent a wrong body to the family of deceased for funeral service. Of course, the result is disturbing. These incidents are likely due to human negligence and a problem of recognition. It might be understandable if the root causes of these incidents are because of human negligence. However, it becomes a serious matter if the personnel who are in charge couldn’t correctly identify the medication or the identity of the deceased, because of the likeness of the medication, or the likeness of physical appearance of the body, respectively. This generates a perspective that I would like to share with you.

Oftentimes, we make decisions based on our own understanding and perception for a matter. As a result, we may be confused easily or even making mistakes under various conditions and environments. You could call it poor judgment. However, there is another side of it called “deceit” – when our understanding and perception of that matter were distorted, then, a correct identification is often impossible.

Chinese has an old saying, 『路遙知馬力，事久見人心 (It takes a long distance to realize the strength of a horse, and it takes long time to learn one’s heart) 』. It tells us that it is difficult to learn one’s true character without spending time with him / her for a long period. This is true to our journey of faith too. Jesus used the analogy of tree fruits to teach His disciples about the identification of false prophets. He said, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 好樹不能結壞果子；壞樹不能結好果子 (Matthew 7:18)”. Jesus wanted His disciples to be carefully watching out the false prophets because they come to them in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. (Matthew 7:15). And, the method to recognize them correctly is by their fruit – their deeds.

The life lessons are always good for us to learn. We understand our limitation in making good judgments or decisions, every time. However, we could improve our odds if we spend time with our Lord daily and consistently. This way we shall have His wisdom and guidance in making good decisions because “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him凡等候耶和華，心裡尋求他的， 耶和華必施恩給他。(Lamentations 3:25)”