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)."