Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Leech has two daughters.

leech
After feeding the crowd of more than 5,000 Jesus said, "My Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:40

Here many might find a few words bothersome: 'shall' or 'at the last day'. Shall looks to the future. So is the last day. The Apostle John died almost two thousand years ago. You live here and now in the year 2013.

You do not know when you will die. You know you will someday. Your life here and now is not without problems. And the first problem facing many esp. the emerging generation is the good old 'job' problem. American economy is getting better? Stock prices are rising? Real estate market is picking up? Really? You never know. The reality is that many are still out of job. The Spring conference is around the corner, and still many find it difficult to spend some money more or less $100 to pay for the conference fee. The same is true with the expenses for the 2013 International Conference at the University of Indiana. The hardness of the "economy" is a worldwide phenomenon. In case of Korea for example, a lot of members some of them are dentists and medical doctors find it challenging to spend some $3,000 plus dollars to travel to the U.S. for the Int'l conference.

Was the situation of the people in Israel in the days of Jesus different? No. In fact it was way worse than our days. Imagine a congregation of about 5,000 having only a meager amount of food like 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish for lunch or dinner!

Should however these circumstances such as materials (shortness or abundance of them) affect your walk in the Lord?

Money talks. You are right. So shortness of money can really affect you, making you shrink back, causing you to be heavy hearted or in any other ways disheartened.

Living in a physical body here on earth we are subjected to and limited by three factors: time, space, and materials. Jesus understands this better than we do. After all he is the Creator who made time, space, and materials to come into being. It is thanks to Jesus that they become operative as they are. In John 6 we already see a sign indicating that Jesus transcends that which is true of time, space, and materials, for blessing the five loaves of bread and two small fish, he made enough of food for the hungry crowds. In order to convince the multitude of people whose ways of thinking are limited by the limitations of time and space, Jesus performed the miracle, again and again.

What then does he want us to do with these miracles? We find the answer to the question in the word 'eternal life' that 'shall' be given, and 'resurrected life' that shall appear "at the last day". Why should these promises be realistic for us living the life in a physical body here and now? It is realistic for Jesus transcends all that are created - time, space, money, you name it.

So what causes the life (yes eternal as well as a resurrected one) to be enjoyed here and now? The words 'looks' and 'believes' answer the question. Looking up to the Son, and believing in Him does the work.

What difference would it make to look to and believe in Him? In what respect does looking at and believing in Him make difference? You've got the answer already: the difference comes when you realize who He is, that is, how He is different than all that you look up to and believe in. It is only He who is transcendant. He alone is the Creator and therefore without a limit. All the rest (like your job, American economy, etc.) are limited. If you keep looking at and rely upon that which is limited, you are bound to be wasted away. The energy level will quickly go down. Your spirit also will go dead. And your soul  will be like that of leech who always says, "give, give, and give to me, me, and me" just as it is written: Leech has two daughters: give, give they cry. Prov. 30:15 Immediately following this line, is written: "There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, 'enough'!: the grave, the barren womb, land, which is never satisfied with water, and fire, which never says 'enough'. And you are told that there is a place (God forbid, you do not want to go there) where the worms that eat them up do not die, and the fire is not quenched. Mark 9:48 Why will people end up going there? And when you go there why will worms and fire behave that way?

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