Stranger

Psalm 39:12

Hear my prayer, Lord,
listen to my cry for help;
do not be deaf to my weeping.
I dwell with you as a foreigner,
a stranger, as all my ancestors were.

In Chinese Translation (诗篇 39:12)

12 耶和华啊，求你听我的祷告，留心听我的呼求！我流泪，求你不要静默无声！因为我在你面前是客旅，是寄居的，像我列祖一般。

Somebody said before. To a Christian, if the world does not feel strange about you, you must have been strange because you are supposed to be a stranger.

It is, however, tough to be a stranger in any circumstance. By being a stranger, you have few friends. You feel lonely. And often you lose the energy on going forward.

But we have God. This is the fundamental difference between us and the strangers the world usually think. Because of our LORD, we have hope, since HE always listen to our beg and answer our appealing.

Therefore, I am proud being a stranger because of my God, my savior, my best friend, and my true love. May all the strangers of the world because of Jesus Christ be comfort! As we always have been.

Ruth

Ruth (1:16-18)

But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me." When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

In Chinese Translation(路得记 1)

16 路得说：不要催我回去不跟随你。你往哪里去，我也往那里去；你在哪里住宿，我也在那里住宿；你的国就是我的国，你的　神就是我的　神。
17 你在哪里死，我也在那里死，也葬在那里。除非死能使你我相离！不然，愿耶和华重重地降罚与我。
18 拿俄米见路得定意要跟随自己去，就不再劝他了。

Today is Mother's Day. One of the greatest woman and mother Bible recorded is Ruth the Moabite, the grand grandmother of King David. She was not a born Israelite. To the end, however, she was remembered by God as an ancestor of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5).

You do not need to be born great. You do not need to be born right. You even do not need to be born blessed.

The only thing that you must do is to pursue the great, the right, and the blessed after you were born.

Ruth was born as a Moabite. When she passed away, however, she had been one of the true Israelite among all the Israelite. There were no secrets. "Your people will be my people and your God my God." There are no other prays greater than this one.

It is simple. It is straightforward. In thousands of years of human history, however, there is only one Ruth.

May all of our sisters be the daughters of Ruth!

Abundance of possessions

Luke (12:15)

Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions."

In Chinese Translation (路加福音 12)

15 于是对众人说：你们要谨慎自守，免去一切的贪心，因为人的生命不在乎家道丰富。

There are three types of people who seek God.

The first type are who look for the abundance of possessions. They heard that God blessed whoever follow HIM. Therefore, they expect the same abundance of possessions by self-claiming themselves being the God-followers. If, however, they do not get what they expect, very easily they quit the "faith" because to the end what they look for is the abundance of possessions in this world.

Look out! Many self-claimed Christians are in this category.

The second type are who look for the eternal life and wish to bring the wealth they earn in this world to the eternity. Many of these people are really good persons. They are hard working persons. They may live with high standard morality every day. They are the models many of us used to ask our kids to follow. But ... they do not really know God because what they truly value is still the things except God himself. What they really appreciate is to forever hold the things they own now by their "hard work". To them, believe in God is only a way to reach such a goal rather than truly eager to being with God.

The last type of the people are who truly look for God beyond anything else. It is God that we seek. Except God, nothing may satisfy my heart. And I wish such a eagerness also be your priority!

Resurrection

Luke (16:29-31)

"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'
"'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"

In Chinese Translation (路加福音 16)

29 亚伯拉罕说：他们有摩西和先知的话可以听从。
30 他说：我祖亚伯拉罕哪，不是的，若有一个从死里复活的，到他们那里去的，他们必要悔改。
31 亚伯拉罕说：若不听从摩西和先知的话，就是有一个从死里复活的，他们也是不听劝。

There is nothing else I can say. The world today is exactly what Abraham answered to the rich man. Although Jesus had risen from the dead, "they will not be convinced". By contrast, they simply deny the truth.

They will see if they expect to watch. They will know if they want to learn. They will hear if they pay attention to listening.

But they do not.

Abraham told the truth. Blessed are the ones who follow the truth!

The Only Way

John 14:6

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

In Chinese Translation (约翰福音 14)

6 耶稣说:我就是道路、真理、生命；若不藉着我，没有人能到父那里去。

Many times we hate "only". Only is exclusive. Only means that deprivation of the freedom of choice. Why don't we have another way toward God?

To be with God one must have no sin. We have shared previously that one cannot do good to redeem his own mistakes. But can we just live without sin? There are a few other options.

1. Restart. If a previous generation becomes full of sin, how about we rip off it and totally restart freshly a new generation with pure spirit?

Actually, in the Book of Genesis, God did it with flood. All people except the family of Noah, a godly family, were buried by the flood. The rest of the story told us, however, that the children of the godly parents quickly left the way of their parents and were away from God.

So, God proved it to us that this first option did not work.

2. Education. Probably people commit sin because they do not know. If they know what is sin and what is not, if they can be educated, they will not commit sin again.

So, God chose a godly man and gave him a name Abraham, for him being the father of many nations. God taught Abraham and his children the law of God with the clear statements. Everybody then knew what were right and what were wrong. Everybody then knew how great the blessings for the righteousness and how big the curses for the sin. But what was the result? The Israelites jumped to the curses as fast as they could.

Again, God proved it to us that the second option did not work either.

3. Love with great patience. Maybe, God must allow us to learn the lessons slowly. Even though we were given the laws, it may take long time for us to really understand and then follow the laws.

So, God sent many prophets to the Israelites in several centuries of time. Every prophet told the Israelites one and only one message: turn back toward God and you live; otherwise you die. The result? Greater and greater the Israelites run away from God. They killed the prophets and laughed at God.

God proved it to us that the third option also did not work.

Is there another option for saving these people who run their best to die? Due to his mercy, yes, there is the last and the only way. God came to the world. HE died for our sin and let anyone who believes and accepts the redemption live with HIM. This is why Jesus Christ is the only way.

May you accept and follow this only way!

Blessed is the one ...

Psalm 1:1-3

Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,

but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.

In Chinese Translation (诗篇 1)

1 不从恶人的计谋，不站罪人的道路，不坐亵慢人的座位，
2 惟喜爱耶和华的律法，昼夜思想，这人便为有福！
3 他要像一棵树栽在溪水旁，按时候结果子，叶子也不枯干。凡他所做的尽都顺利。

The wicked do not know God. The sinners know God but do not treat God as their God. The mockers seemly respect God but in reality call HIM out in derision. These three types of people are not blessed. It is not that God does not want to bless them. The wicked do not believe God's blessing. The sinners do not look for God's blessing. The mockers treat God's blessing with contempt.

The blessed ones are different.

The blessed are bound to the law of Lord. They become truly happy under the law and because of the law. They think of the law day and night. The law of God declares the punishment to whom disobey but blesses whom obey it because Jesus Christ has paid debt of law for anyone who follows him. The punishment chapters in the law are abandoned. All of the remains are blessing.

The blessed are "like a tree planted by streams of water". In the original scripture, more precisely, it says that the blessed are like "a tree transplanted by irrigation channels". Some of us may be originally planted by God such as John the Baptist. Most of us, however, are transplanted by God because at the beginning we were born in desert where no living water flows. It is God who made the channels on dry land. Then HE also transplanted us close to the channels so that we are irrigated by the living water.

Every one of these trees is a tree of life. The fruit, which is always yielded in season, is a forever life. The leaves, each single of which never withers, are the demonstration of the evergreen living. To these people, whatever they do prospers! This is God's promise. I believe it. And wish you who read this message be blessed by this promise too!

Be a good man

Galatians 3:11

Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because "the righteous will live by faith."

In Chinese translation (加拉太书 3)

11 没有一个人靠着律法在神面前称义，这是明显的；因为经上说，义人必因信得生。

Often people claim themselves being a good man. If they are asked about the bad things they did, a regular answer is that they have also done a lot of good things, which number is much greater than the number of the bad things they have done. So they are good people.

I do not know why many people accept this excuse. May we redeem ourselves by doing good? When one did a bad thing (unnecessary a crime, only something that is not good), can he redeem the mistake by doing another 10 good things?

Only if one has extra he can then use it for redeeming the shortage. For example, by law one must work eight hours a day. Today John only worked 7 hours. So he may redeem his today's shortage by working one extra hour, i.e. totally 9 hours, tomorrow. On the other hand, if by law it is said that everyone must work 24 hours a day and John worked only 23 hours today. He will never have a chance to redeem that one-hour shortage no matter how hard he tries in the future. He will never get a chance of an "extra" hour for the redemption.

The same is to our sins. In this world, is there anything that is too good to be "extra good"? No. There is nothing in this world that is too good to be extra. It means that no matter what good one does, such a good makes no extra credit for redeeming any tiny mistake he made before. No one can solve a bad by doing good.

Then how can we deal with a mistake we made before? There are only two ways.

The first solution is taking the consequence. If one is fairly punished with respect to the mistake he made, the problem is solved. He shall have no further guilty at all for what he has done since he has already been fairly punished.

The second solution is being forgiven. John hit Mary. But Mary forgives John. Then John's problem is solved. He shall have no guilty of that bad behavior later.

There are no other solutions to our sins.

If the wages of sin is death, however, nobody can afford the first solution. Therefore, the forgiveness from God becomes the only path we can take for redeeming our sins. And this is why Jesus Christ is the only path and solution for anyone who really wants to be a good man.