02/01
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Galatians 5: 1
Liberty
Liberty is not inherited right. God, the possessor of prefect liberty, gives us freedom. We can possess true liberty only by the power of God. Tennyson says "Our will is ours to make it Thine." We are made to dedicate our own will to God. Human is of course an indivisible being and not, under any circumstances, to be wholly absorbed into others. A human can lead a nation to true liberty by sacrificing one's own freedom. So a human can attain true liberty by offering one's own freedom to the will of God.
02/02
But let us, who are of the day, be calm, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and the hope of salvation for a helmet. 1 Thessalonians 5: 8
Hope
Hope, faith and love, these three are one in reality. No hope will arise without faith, but faith cannot be maintained without hope. Love draws the motive of her activity out of hope, but love without hope, like a lamp extinct of oil, will lose light and heat, ultimately to return to the former darkness. Merciless is it to coerce love without hope. Faith without hope is stiff-necked and heartless. Hope, indeed, is the most feminine among the three sisters. As she stands by love will get liberated from the bounds of obligations. By tenderness of hope, faith ceases to be stubborn and becomes gentle. Hope calls down peace from heaven to melt the valley of tears on earth. Hope warms the heart of tears. She opens the heavenly doors to show us deserved glory there.
02/03
You became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit. So that you were examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. 1 Thessalonians 1:6
Joy in Affliction
There are joy of gaining and losing, of living and dying, and of being beloved and being hated. But the joy of losing is higher than that of gaining; the joy of dying is purer than that of living; the joy of being hated is greater than that of being beloved. Trusting God, we can never lack joy in whatever circumstances we are placed. Only we know that joy in tribulation far exceeds joy in gratification.
02/04
That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Galatians 3:14
Promise of God
God is faithful. He never betrays anyone believing in Him. He first gives Himself and then the substance of His promise. He first showed Himself to Abraham and then gave the land of Canaan to his numerous sons. The reward of faith is like this, first spirit and then substance. His Spirit will guide a human to the realization of the promise. We should therefore be never impatient if we do not attain the substance yet. For, first granted with the faithful God, we will never fail to receive the substance eventually and abundantly.
02/05
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out into a place which he was afterward going to receive for an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he went. Hebrews 11: 8
Adventure of Faith
No life can be interesting without venturing; no days can be worthy without believing. If all reality are scientifically systematized and everything is to be mathematically foretold, life will be nothing but a mechanized being, worth naught for living. But total mechanization of life shall be impossible eternally, as long as life remains alive. Faith is life's intrinsic element. Life itself is a great adventure. It attempts to maintain existence amid heaps of lifeless substances. Granted life amid these universal substances we should take adventure of faith.
02/06
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no changefulness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will beget he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. James 1:17-18
Good and Evil
Good is to believe in God. Evil is to get away from God and rely on the human self. There is no other good nor evil. Sickness is not necessarily evil but good as long as it leads us to the Supreme Good. Health is not necessarily good; but it may be evil if it causes us to depend upon ourselves and to account ourselves wise. Same principle is also applied to poverty and wealth. Christ said "Why do you call me good? There is no good but one; that is God" (Matthew 19:17). To look up and face God is good. To depart from and deny God is evil. Distinction between good and evil lies here and nowhere else. Yet this is the distinction of life or death.
02/07
And immediately the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days. Mark 1:12-13
Wondering in Wilderness
The Spirit drives Jesus to the wilderness. God's Spirit drives Jesus' disciples too to the wilderness. A great responsibility to shoulder, or a great thought to meditate, or a grave doubt to solve, is conferred upon him, so as to force him to seek light in solitude. The wilderness may happen to be deep in the mountain, or for in the desert or lonely in the human-made monastery. Or the wilderness may be prepared within heart, without retreating into the mountain or hiding in the monastery. Amid the busy and noisy city life, his spirit is often tempted by the devil in his heart's wilderness. Any Christian cannot avoid oneself once in the life, driven to the wilderness. The Christian feels oneself, then, uneasy and unworthy of living. One fears and trembles in utter darkness. One's heart hears many whisperings. This in fact is the crisis of the life. We should never lose ourselves, even in dense solitude, knowing that each and everyone of us is destined to be driven to the wildness once in the life.
02/08
Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in her open places, if you can find a person, if there is one who does justice, who seeks the truth; and I will pardon her. Jeremiah 5: 1
Alone
What if I am the only Christian in the world ? That does not mean that I am the only perfect man in the world. Just the opposite is true that "I am the chief of sinners," and God saved me, or made me a Christian, "that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should here after believe on him to life everlasting" (I Timothy 1:15-16). If I am the only Christian, it is all very natural that all things in the world appear very strange to me, and I appear very strange to the world. The Christian, I understand, is not a worldly person, and Christianity is not intended to be a worldly religion. After all, there are not many Christians in the world, and Christianity is intended for these very few. As in the time of Isaiah, so now, "only the remnant shall be saved" (Romans 9:27), and "the remnant" means a very small minority. The attempt to make the whole world Christian is unbiblical and unchristian. Yea, it is an impossible for the world which crucified the Lord Jesus Christ will never become Christian. The world as a whole is essentially anti-Christian, even the so-called Christian nations included. Not because God hates the world, but because the world loves itself, and hates God who is all love.
02/09
You know that He was revealed that He might take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. Whosoever abides in Him does not sin. Whosoever sins has not seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as that One is righteous. He who practices sin is of the Devil, for the Devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed, that He might undo the works of the Devil. Whosoever has been born of God does not commit sin, because His seed remains in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. 1 John 3: 5-9
Rooting out of Sin
Faith is all. Faith sometimes opposes laws; and hope opposes expectations. Peace that surpasses human understanding comes from faith and hope. I believe that "God removed sins out of human by Christ." I have no doubt this. I no longer worry about my sins, though residue of my sins may still abide in me. For my sins have already rooted out by Christ. The first letter of John truly says: "Jesus was manifested to take away our sins; . . . Whosoever abides in Him does not sin." I firmly believe that Christ rooted out my sins eternally by his crucifixion for my sake.
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