Someone is Loving You

Before I was a Christian, somebody was trying to tell me that there is God and God loves me. A series of uneasy questions popped up in my mind. "Where is this God?" and "Why don't I see him and who is he?" I did not want to offend the person who spoke to me so I quietly kept these questions to myself. Until one day, one important day, God revealed Himself to me through His Word (the Bible) when I was sitting alone in my apartment, glancing through the scripture with great curiosity. Some months ago, I had purchased this particular bible from Thailand Bible Society in Bangkok. Out of a sudden, all my questions were answered. After I read verse after verse from the Bible and decided to accept Jesus as my Savior, I personally knew God!

God's love and peace touched me and embraced me in a special way. There are no words to describe the depth of God's love. It's supernatural. The best way to explain is to quote this verse from Romans 8:38-39. "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Because God's love has no limits and knows no bounds, you can trust God at all times. Your family, your spouse, your friends might love you but there is no comparison to God's love. You might not know it, but God is with you and taking care of you. He is your intimate friend, your refuge, and your trust. If you still don't know Him, He is asking for your love and friendship right now. I urge you to turn to God and accept His love through His Son, Jesus Christ. God is faithful and His love is amazing.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Unattainable Goals

I remember reading 1 Corinthians 13:4 (Love is always patient; love is always kind...) to my Thai friend over the phone. After I finished, there was a long pause, and my friend commented, "Who will be able to do all that? It's so unattainable!" Yes, to be always patient and kind and forgiving is difficult to do, if at all possible. Trying to do it all by yourself is like trying to climb Mt. Everest without climbing tools. The simplicity and sincerity of my friend's question made me think of several ways that people have tried to be religious, sinless, perfect, or to be like God. However, in whatever they do, they miserably fail.

I remember praying well-memorized prayers every night at bedtime before laying down on the bed. I remember giving food to monks on my birthday every year. I remember staying in a secluded temple to meditate and to pray, trying to live a "clean" life. I remember going to temples or a cemetery to perform mindless rituals such as pouring water on your hands to atone for your sins, letting the monks sprinkle "holy" water on you, burning cut-out gold papers and donating food to my deceased ancestors.

In the place where I'm from, people refrain from eating meat on certain months of the year. Young men enter monkshood when they are eighteen so their parents can go to heaven. There are five precepts to keep for laymen and for clergy, 227 rules and regulations to live by. Of all my life, I've never seen anybody successfully keep even one rule out of those 227 ones!

I have seen people try to impress other people by acting and sounding "religious." They are dressed in impressive suits carrying the big book around citing scriptures anytime they have a chance. They act very important, making sure people know they never miss church services and that they tithe big amounts of money. They look down on other people who seem to be less "religious" than they are. They are shrewd, selfish, proud, and unkind. These are people whom Jesus call the Pharisees or the hypocrites, who recited long prayers, wore long robes, and made a big show of giving.

Isaiah says, "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags." Paul emphasizes this truth in the book of Romans, "they exchanged the truth of God for a lie." (Romans 1:25) We are all sinners, helpless, and prone to committing sins. However, there is the Good News. The bible says, "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace." The book of Galatians made it clearer, "a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ...because by observing the law no one will be justified."

Righteousness doesn't come from ourselves, it comes from God. No matter how many rituals you perform, how many "good deeds" you think you do, they don't bring you closer to God. On the contrary, they distract you from God's goodness and grace. The only way to God and to be saved is through repenting of your sins and turn to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Through Jesus, the unattainable goals become attainable, for as He himself says, "nothing will be impossible with God (Luke 1:37)."