01/10
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give to each person according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. Jeremiah 17: 9-10
Renounce Oneself
Job said, I abhor myself. That is the sign of true repentance. Not abhorrence of the evil world, not abhorrence of the fallen humanity, not abhorrence of this and that person, but firstly and chiefly abhorrence of one's own self is the only condition of acceptance in the sight of God. Self is the seat of sin, and sin is selfishness. God abhors human's self; and a person, in order to be one with God, must abhor oneself more than all other things. May I then abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes in the beginning of the year and at all times; so may God's grace dwell in me, and I be found in the loveliness of Him who loved me and gave Himself for me.
01/11
O God, You do not require a rite of sacrifice; or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. True sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, which You will not despise. Psalms 51:16-17
Broken Heart
An enterprise may be a thanks-offering to God. But God ask us a heart of sacrifice more than an enterprise. That is a broken heart, a childlike heart, an innocent heart. You may now be unable to offer the sacrifice of your enterprise. But, then, remember you can and must offer your heart. God sends you illness, perhaps, for this purpose. You may have wanted to serve Christ with the heart of Martha of Bethany and have found yourself "burdened about much serving" (Luke 10:40). God may deprive of your working power to replace your heart with that of Mary's. "With emptied hands I cling to the Cross." Is this not the verse you used to chant? Your present inability to work must be meant to reveal a deeper meaning of the same verse.
01/12
LORD, I have loved the dwelling place of Your house, and the place where Your honor dwells. Psalms 26: 8
God is All
Loss of fortune may be tolerated, but the belief in God shall not be lost. Sickness may be suffered with patience, but the will of God shall not be doubted. It may concern little to be despised of the people, but not forsake me, my God. Even death may be passed over joyously, but not separated me from God. God is all in all. Loss of God is loss of my whole being. Oh, dwell with me our Father. It will suffice me. My purpose of life is to find and live with God, and nothing else.
01/13
We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I know not. For what I should, that I do not do; but what I should not, that I do. Romans 7:14-15
Conflicting Selves
Human should not commit sins, but he or she does. He or she has the duty and power to be pure, but cannot be pure. Though qualified to be an angel, he or she often degenerates into an animal. He or she may mount to heaven as well as descend to hell. Either boundless glory or bottomless misery can be reached by human beings. Like the earth wherein he or she lives, he or she stands in between the two extremes, the peak and the bottom. Easy to descend but hard to mount, ignoring the warning of conscience against descent while hindering the will of climbing. What I should, I do not do; what I should not, I do. I comprise two selves always conflicting with each other. Truly, this life on earth must be a struggling life.
01/14
God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not charging their sins to them, and putting the word of reconciliation in us. Then we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as God exhorting through us, we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:19-20
Reconciliation to God
Salvation can be understood when one knows that sin means leaving God while righteousness returning to God. Salvation cannot mean mere leaving of sin and becoming a righteous person. Such doing cannot be accomplished by human. On the part of God, salvation means redeeming of humankind to Himself. On the part of human, it means returning to God once forsaken. And on the part of Christ the Mediator, because the amenable is human, and not God, this means reconciling human to God. That is, to reinstate humankind in its original type in relation with God.
01/15
Set your longing on things above, not on things on the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then you shall also appear with him in glory. Colossians 3: 2-4
Concern Not of World
Christian's sole concern must not be about things on earth, but in Heaven. This is because the Christian has already died and left the world, and Christian's life is hidden in God with Christ. But he shall not be eternally hidden. When Christ shall come again in the glory of His resurrected body, we too shall appear in glory with Him. Therefore a Christian should not spoil one's conscience by dwelling upon filthiness, jealousy, covetousness and other sins. The Bible teaches us to seek the Nation of Heaven and eternal life, and not be bothered by worldly things and not to waste life in baseness. These words warns us, by the way of a prophesy, to aim at a pure life with high ideals.
01/16
Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3: 2
Completion of Salvation
A Christian stays in the midst of salvation. God began a wholesome work in him and will complete it at the day of Judgment. We need not lament our imperfection. We stay in a sinful world, where perfection, howsoever sought, is beyond our reach, as we are so stained both outside and inside. Thus, because of this state, "Ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (Romans 8:23). And this revelation never fails; we will wait the time of the realization. The Second Advent of Christ means not only His second coming but also the completion of salvation of all Christians.
01/17
Woe is me, my mother, that You have borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth. I have neither lent on usury, nor have men lent to me on usury; yet everyone curses me. Jeremiah 15:10
Woe is me
Once I sighed with Jeremiah, "Oh, woe is me. I was born a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth. Everyone curses me." But now I come to say with gratitude," Oh blessed am I, who could became one with God and enjoy His salvation, because people caused strife and contention with me and cursed me." Thrown out by men, I was picked up by God. Hated by men, I was loved by God. Shunned by men, I was embraced by God. Now I am convinced that, throughout my life, my utmost happiness has emanated from the contempt, hatred, affront and rejection by humans.
01/18
Have you not known? Have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not grow weak nor weary? There is no searching of His understanding. He gives power to the weary; He increases strength of the weak. Even the young shall faint and be weary, and the young people shall utterly fall; but those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:28-31
Dreamer
A thought reaches its end when materialized. With the fruition of one's thought, a person has reached one's last stage. To be young for ever, a person has to seek always an ideal that is yet to be realized. A youth is a dreamer. Without a dream, but being only interested in gain or loss, one is already dead. A person who is always poetic and dreaming; who always disregard gain or loss; who always defies danger is a youth, a person in the prime of life. pursuing nothing but the possible, living in the ordinary, being matter-of-fact and practical, being ever keen on gain or loss, and taking no forward step beyond the next, this is a person of senile uselessness, how older the age may be.
01/19
Dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Corinthians 7: 1
Be Perfect
"Be therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). This does not mean human can attain the absolute perfection of God but that, as God is perfect as God can be so human should be as perfect as human can be. A perfect horse does not mean one which can speak and think like human but one that functions perfectly as a horse. When therefore human is called sinful, this means human lacks perfectness as required of human. This is what Christianity teaches there is none righteous among humans. God charges me, not because I cannot let rain fall or less the sun shine, but because I despise humans instead of loving them, and I often cherish anger instead of forbearance.
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