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Last Friday, my wife and I went to college to pick up our daughter for her Fall break. We had a chance to enter her dormitory and met her roommates. I was amazed how clean it is in her room. Later she told us that her roommate is a neat type. So, she began to build a good habit as her roommate. You can call it peer pressure but it is certainly a good one. We are quite pleased to see this happening.  Funny thing is we had been on her case in asking her to manage her room neatly for quite a while. Her selective hearing approach, however, has always blocked our request.

Hearing is one of the important senses that God created for us. Without the sense of hearing, we couldn’t listen to beautiful sounds (music); we couldn’t communicate with other people; we couldn’t tell whether danger is coming or not. Basically, we could lose our ability to communicate with the outer world. Even with the ability of hearing, does one always pay attention to what he heard? Not necessarily, I believe. We as parents probably had so much experience with our children. From the day they were born, we started to communicate with them and wanted them to follow our instructions. How many times we told our children to listen and they didn’t? Probably countless, right? I would imagine this would be the same frustration that our parents went through with us too 🙂

I was always thankful that God gives us the sense of hearing and the ability to filter what we heard. The ability of filtering is sometimes causing us trouble too – we could listen to something that is destructive, such as rumor or gossiping, instead of something is constructive, such as commands and instructions from God. From the Bible, there are numerous examples that we can learn from. For example, if Adam and Eve had listened to God’s command, then human race would not fall into the control of the evil one; if Israelites had listened to God’s instruction, they would not need to wander in the wilderness for 40 years; and, they would not be captivated by their enemies later.  In reading the book of Jeremiah, the LORD repeatedly warned the Israelites, through Prophet Jeremiah, that they have to listen to His commands and instructions; otherwise, serious consequences would follow. Did Israelites listen? You can check it out by yourself.

Is God listening to us? Certainly! He listens to what we say attentively – this includes what we said to others and what we said to Him. Therefore, we need to be watchful and listen to Him carefully. There are two verses that caught my eyes in the recent daily Bible reading. Hope they can serve as a reminder to us. May we continue to be His beloved ones!

I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. None of them repent of their wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Each pursues their own course like a horse charging into battle. Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the LORD. 我 留 心 聽 ， 聽 見 他 們 說 不 正 直 的 話 。 無 人 悔 改 惡 行 ， 說 ： 我 做 的 是 甚 麼 呢 ？ 他 們 各 人 轉 奔 己 路 ， 如 馬 直 闖 戰 場 。空 中 的 鸛 鳥 知 道 來 去 的 定 期 ； 斑 鳩 燕 子 與 白 鶴 也 守 候 當 來 的 時 令 ； 我 的 百 姓 卻 不 知 道 耶 和 華 的 法 則 。(Jeremiah 8:6-7)

Recent rains and floods caused a lot of property, roadways and farming damages in the Northeast. Complaints from all directions are swiveling in our local community rapidly. One of my colleagues has to drive additional hour daily to work because of roadway blockages. Sometimes, he may have to turn back home if there are newly blockages. Manager at my working place even told me that her family members were having stomach problems in the past few days, suspecting it was due to their well water overflowed by recent rains. I still remember last winter; there were a lot of complaints about “snow” accumulation. The bulletin board from a local First Baptist Church even posted a sign saying “Whoever was praying for snow, please stop now!” I think now we can change it to “Whoever was praying for rains, please stop now!” Or, please send it to “Wherever is suffering from drought”

Chinese learned man, Confucius, once said to his disciple “過猶不及 (Overshoot and shortfall problems are two sides of one coin)”. It emphasizes the concept of a “just right and proper” balance (中庸之道, 恰到好處) in daily living. Essentially, it indicates that anything is overdone or done incompletely / insufficiently would be a problem. For example, over-eating would cause obesity and on diet improperly would cost one’s health. How to maintain a right balance in everything we face with is always a challenge to most of us, I think.

In the Gospel of Mark, there is a phrase that was commented by our Lord Jesus to a Pharisee’s challenging question (Mark 12:28 – 34) – “You are “not far” from the kingdom of God. 你離　神的國不遠了”  The “Not Far” is an interesting adjective to describe the condition of the Pharisee. You can interpret it either positively or negatively. From the positive side, the Pharisee has known how to enter the kingdom of God because of his knowledge. On the negative side, however, he has NOT entered the kingdom of God yet (不及).

Last Friday’s joint small group meeting, we were asked to share our youthful aspirations and “how far” had we achieved. Some of us said they had achieved their aspirations already. Most of us were struggling – had either abandoned or changed our original aspirations. It is good to set an aspiration for our life and then pursue it. However, it is even more important to set a goal that is eternally valuable. Wealth was my youthful aspiration due to my family condition. Since then, it has become a constant struggle in my life until I met our Lord. I realized that all the “true wealth” is in Him – peace and joy. In recent small group study, the teaching from Apostle Paul to the young Timothy once again reminds me:

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 然而敬虔加上知足的心便是大利了‧因為我們沒有帶什麼到世上來，也不能帶什麼去‧(1 Timothy 6:6 – 7)

My dear brothers and sisters, let’s examine our self daily: are we “far from this world” or “far from our Lord”?  Let’s encourage each other to be persistent in following Him closely – aspire to be mature in Him (作大人):

Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.弟兄們、在心志上不要作小孩子．然而在惡事上要作嬰孩．在心志上總要作大人。(1 Corinthians 14:20)

A young man was driving a pastor to a service in the next town. The youthful driver had his streamlined roadster hitting seventy miles an hour.

The pastor leaned over, “Aren’t we going a little too fast?”

“Oh don’t you believe in a guardian angel, pastor? He’ll take care of us.”
“Yes,” the pastor replied. “He would if he was here, but I’m afraid we left him miles back!”

This is an interesting and enlightening story that I came across months ago. Talking about young and restless drivers, you may think they are all lack of patience. But, I am sure this is not just youthful drivers’ privilege; in fact, if you have ever driven on freeway, I bet you will have opportunities to meet some “speedy” drivers from all ages.

Under nowadays’ “busy” environment, “speed” seems to be the king over everything else. Have you ever seen the advertisement “Bigger and Better; Faster and Easier”? Look at all the “McDonald”, “Burger King”, “Wendy” fast-food chain stores flourish around our community; how about high speed internet, high speed computers, etc.? They quickly become indispensible necessities in our daily living. To carry one step further at my work place, I was often being asked by my colleagues, “If you have to guess, can you give me a quick and dirty estimate for this problem?” Ha! “Where is the virtue of patience?” I told myself.

We all know that patience is a virtue and it is the ability to endure waiting, delay or provocation without being annoyed or upset, according to the Dictionary. The Bible teaches us that patience is one of the fruits from the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Rev. G. Campbell Morgan once said, “Waiting for God is not laziness. Waiting for God is not going to sleep. Waiting for God is not the abandonment of effort. Waiting for God means, first, activity under command; second, readiness for any new command that may come; third, the ability to do nothing until the command is given.” He indicates to us that patience is an ability of waiting for God’s instructions. The book of Ecclesiastes also teaches us that there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Therefore, we need to wait for God’s timing and be patient.

In recent week’s daily Bible reading, we are studying the book of Isaiah. I don’t know whether you have noticed or not there is one name being appeared repeatedly. It is the “Holy One of Israel (以色列的聖者)”. It represents God’s character attribute and He wants His chosen people, Israelites, to be holy because He is holy.

Now let me ask you a simple question, “Among God’s creations, who is the most patient person?”

Do you know the answer? Let me give you a hint. He is always waiting patiently for his moments – whether it is our frustration or we are experiencing life storms; we are in celebration or are proud of our victory – to pry open and get inside our heart with his treacherous implement. He is not easily discouraged; he is invisible and could be anywhere and any moment without sleeping to wait for us. Isn’t he the most patient person? By now you probably know the answer – he is the “Evil One”. His patience is to “destroy” our patience in waiting for God’s timing and instructions. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, please be aware of the Evil One is diligently working on tearing down our faith in God. We have to put on the full armor of God, so that we can take our stand against the devil’s schemes (Ephesians 6:11). For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12)

Below is a list of collected promises (not meant to be exhaustive) that our God has given to us when we are waiting for Him patiently:

我們的心向來等候耶和華．他是我們的幫助、我們的盾牌。(Psalm 33:20)

你當默然倚靠耶和華、耐性等候他．不要因那道路通達的、和那惡謀成就的、心懷不平。(Psalm 37:7)

因為作惡的、必被剪除．惟有等候耶和華的、必承受地土。(Psalm 37:9)

我曾耐性等候耶和華．他垂聽我的呼求。(Psalm 40:1)

我等候耶和華、我的心等候．我也仰望他的話。(Psalm 130:5)

你不要說、我要以惡報惡．要等候耶和華、他必拯救你。(Proverbs 20:22)

耶和華必然等候、要施恩給你們．必然興起、好憐憫你們．因為耶和華是公平的　神．凡等候他的都是有福的。(Isaiah 30:18)

但那等候耶和華的、必從新得力、他們必如鷹展翅上騰、他們奔跑卻不困倦、行走卻不疲乏。(Isaiah 40:31)

凡等候耶和華、心裡尋求他的、耶和華必施恩給他。(Lamentations 3:25)

至於我、我要仰望耶和華、要等候那救我的　神．我的　神必應允我。(Micah 7:7)

我要將我父所應許的降在你們身上．你們要在城裡等候、直到你們領受從上頭來的能力。(Luke 24:49)

耶穌和他們聚集的時候、囑咐他們說、不要離開耶路撒冷、要等候父所應許的、就是你們聽見我說過的。(Acts 1:4)

但我們若盼望那所不見的、就必忍耐等候。(Romans 8:25)

我們靠著聖靈、憑著信心、等候所盼望的義。(Galatians 5:5)

等候所盼望的福、並等候至大的　神、和我們救主耶穌基督的榮耀顯現。(Titus 2:13)

因為他等候那座有根基的城、就是　神所經營所建造的。(Hebrews 11:10)

弟兄們哪、你們要忍耐、直到主來。看哪、農夫忍耐等候地裡寶貴的出產、直到得了秋雨春雨。(James 5:7)

In recent months, I have been busy in attending several task forces at my work place. There is an interesting phenomenon that I observed during these task force meetings. Usually, a lot of discussions would take place first and then several to-do items would be distributed to some of the “lucky” team members for further analysis. Due to its urgent nature, the turn-around time usually is very short. Therefore, the dependency on other team members to provide necessary information / data to you in order to complete the requested analysis is relatively high, if you are happened to be one of the lucky members. The trouble then comes when the person whom you depend upon didn’t do his / her part in giving you what you need. Consequently, you would be look bad for not doing your job at follow up meeting. From this kind of experience, I learned that a critical factor of success in requesting “timely” information from other member is having a good working relationship with him / her. Without the good working relationship, you will find yourself frequently in an awkward position because you are at a lower priority to him / her than others.

As we all know, a relationship has to be built from both directions. A good relationship, in particular, would require time and effort to cultivate it. Last week, I shared with you it is our responsibility to plead for help from God when we are in difficult situations. From another perspective, pray for God’s help could also be viewed as a relationship building process too.  In order to build a good relationship with God through praying, I personally think there are three steps we need to take. The first step is to have faith in Him. The second one is to pray / plead to His heart earnestly. Finally, we must also be willing to do whatever we can, using whatever means He gives.

The author of the book of Hebrews taught us that “…. without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists (He is I AM who I AM) and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” 人非有信就不能得神的喜悅‧因為到神面前來的人，必須信有神，且信他賞賜那尋求他的人‧ (Hebrews 11:6)

Corrie ten Boom, the author of “The hiding place”, once said, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” Her words once again indicate the importance of trusting our future to God.

As faith in God enables us to entrust our future to Him, we also need to learn how to know His will better in order to pray effectively. God will always answer our prayers except He may not always grant what we want. This is up to God’s sovereignty and His character attributes to decide.  We have seen a lot of teachings in praying, from our Lord Jesus in the New Testament. One of them well known to us is the “Lord’s prayer” (Matthew 6:9-13). It teaches us to pray for His kingdom come and His will be done first, then pray for ourselves. Through this way, we learn to pray to God’s heart and we are likely to develop a closer relationship with Him accordingly.

Lastly, to build a good relationship with God through praying is to do the part that God wants us to do or to take. There is a good example in the Old Testament – Naaman healed of leprosy (2 Kings 5).  The story is very fascinating. To me, the climax of the story is on verses 13-14.

Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. 他的僕人進前來，對他說，我父阿，先知若吩咐你作一件大事，你豈不作麼‧何況說你去沐浴而得潔淨呢‧於是乃縵下去、照著神人的話．在約但河裡沐浴七回、他的肉復原、好像小孩子的肉、他就潔淨了。(2 Kings 5:13-14)

Think about this: a great commander of army would be willing to listen to his servant’s suggestion and humble himself before a foreign prophet Elisha, isn’t this worth us to learn? From this story, we can see Naaman’s faith in God and God’s answer to Naaman via Elisha’s intercession prayer. Finally, Naaman did his part by following God’s order through Elisha – dipped himself in the Jordan river seven times. This is called an act of “submission” and is crucial to our Christian life.

My dear brothers and sisters, God is sovereign and almighty. He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm. (祂說有，就有‧命立，就立. (Psalm 33:9)) He does not need us to do anything in order to fulfill His will or command. However, it is His grace that we can be part of His plan and He desires to have a relationship with us (Isaiah 7:14). Therefore, it is up to us to do our part, my dear brothers and sisters.

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A decade later after the tragic incident of 9/11, people are still reflecting on how their friends and families suffered. The healing is slow, if not possible, to most of the families suffered from the loss and it has been a very difficult situation for the country – it changed almost everything the government operates. My heart goes to those who were suffered. It is my prayer that God’s all comfort is upon them…

Most of us may or may not have experienced life storms before. If you did, it might create a deep wound or a scar in your heart. Years later, the feeling of hurt may still come up when certain conditions stimulate it. Can we forget what have happened? No. On one hand, this is a good thing because we could feel the pain from the situations we experienced and learn from it. On the other hand, however, it would be bad to stay in that hurtful condition continuously and it might generate resentment and bitterness afterward. Can we forgive? Yes, if we believe in God’s mercy. Let’s all learn from the lesson that God wants us to learn.

Under modern society, 911 is an emergency hot line to provide help to whoever is under an urgent situation. Depending upon the situation and condition, the help may come in a phone call away. The only exception is when you have no access to a phone. At that time, what can you do?  Using your own voice to cry out “HELP! HELP!” would be the only option, I think. Crying for help has been the most basic and effective way that God provided for us to deal with hopeless situations. For example, Palmist David wrote,

Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught because of what my enemy is saying, because of the threats of the wicked; for they bring down suffering on me and assail me in their anger.  神 啊 ， 求 你 留 心 聽 我 的 禱 告 ， 不 要 隱 藏 不 聽 我 的 懇 求 ！求 你 側 耳 聽 我 ， 應 允 我 。 我 哀 歎 不 安 ， 發 聲 唉 哼 ，都 因 仇 敵 的 聲 音 ， 惡 人 的 欺 壓 ； 因 為 他 們 將 罪 孽 加 在 我 身 上 ， 發 怒 氣 逼 迫 我 。(Psalm 55:1-3)

Someone used to say that “Responsibility is our response to God’s ability”. When we entrust our hope in God, we also believe that He is able. Therefore, it is our responsibility to cry out for help when is necessary. In fact, if we look back, mankind is under a dismay condition due to our fore father, Adam, transgressed from God’s command at Garden of Eden. We are all hopeless just like Apostle Paul mentioned “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” 因為世人都犯了罪，虧缺了神的榮耀 (Romans 3:23). Where is our help coming from? The only help – 911 – is from our Lord Jesus Christ! Because, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” 除他以外，別無拯救‧因為在天下人間，沒有賜下別的名，我們可以靠著得救‧(Acts 4:12).

My dear brothers and sisters, it is our responsibility to plead for help from our God instead of from this world, because He is the LORD of lords and He is the King of kings. His 911 hot line is open 24×7 without any technology and location limitations and without any interruption. With its infinite band width, guaranteed response and free of charge, how can we forget Him? May we all remember that He is our help in need – a true 911 hot line.

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Most of us just experienced Hurricane Irene’s wetting power. With the already soaked soil and heavy downpours, my house was one of her victims around the area – we were having water problem in our basement. We had to relocate our stuff in the basement and swept out water on last Sunday. Initially I thought the problem was from my window wells being over flown by rain. Later I realize that water was coming from soaked ground soil, compounded with neighbor’s rushed-out water from his swimming pool, sipping under our baseboards. It is the first time we had such a scope of wet condition after so many years at this house. My neighbors have had problems too. One of them had their swimming pool water over flown into their house and the other had creek water entered their garage by a few inches. We are so grateful to have a few families in Christ came to aid us in cleaning up. It is great to have a family of brothers and sisters in need.

There are a few things I have learned from this wetting experience. Firstly, the mistake I made is I was overly confident in assuming my house would not run into problems. So, I didn’t check around my house condition thoroughly. This reminds me of our recent study from 1 Thessalonians.

While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly人正說平安穩妥的時候、災禍忽然臨到他們 (1 Thessalonians 5:3a)

It is a gentle reminder to me….

Then, I find that it is easier for people to chat with each other if they are under the same situation. Under current society, it is not easy to bump into neighbors due to each other’s busy schedules. Not even mention to make friends with them. I don’t know about you, I seldom have an opportunity to talk to my neighbor. This time, to my surprise, my neighbor came to our house voluntarily to ask our condition and to brief their situation – creek water entering their garage. Sometimes, I was wondering how to practice “to love our neighbors as ourselves” commanded by our Lord. From this experience, I discover that it is the feeling of empathy that I need first in order to raise my awareness of my neighbor’s need. Then I would show my love to them if I could follow it with an action of kindness. Sadly to say, I was busying in cleaning up my own house and I didn’t have a chance to help them.  Finally, I was touched by our brothers and sisters came to rescue us. They spend numerous hours in helping us. We thank our Lord for their act of love.

My dear brothers and sisters, this wetting experience lets me think again of my attitude toward my neighbors and brothers and sisters in Christ – I need to improve!

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On 20 July 1969, Neil Armstrong, one of the astronauts in the Apollo 11, stepped down onto the Moon and made his famous statement, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Armstrong and his fellow astronaut, Aldrin, spent about two and one-half hours walking on the Moon collecting samples, doing experiments, and taking photographs. This is a historic moment of mankind which explored a completely foreign planet. It also reminds me of the famous quote from Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek TV series, “Space… the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.” Ha…ha…ha…now you know I used to watch this TV series.

Last weekend was my daughter’s historic move-in day as a college freshman. I was thinking that this could be a “small step” to my family – the beginning of our empty nesting. But on the other hand, this would be a “giant leap” to her – being departed from her comfortable home. My wife and I accompanied her throughout the weekend. It was a special memorable moment for us to share with her “alone” without her brothers around.

In the college campus, I find that she was not quite tuned into her situation even after we unloaded and moved her stuff into her dormitory. I guess she was overwhelmed by the new environment – she will need to learn how to share space and make friends with the other 3 roommates, and a lot of things she needs to take care of by herself from now on. This will be a brand new experience to her, certainly. We also spent time in meeting with a family from a local Chinese Christian church which was an old acquaintance to some brothers and sisters in our small group, in hoping to help her quickly settle in a new spiritual home in the campus. The family was very hospitality and we thank God for His provision. In my mind, our daughter will be in good hand if she learns to trust our Lord completely.

I still remember my own experience of college freshman years. Being the 1^st child left to a location that is far away from home, I was confused and overwhelmed too. At that time, it was quite a challenge for me to share my room with 7 classmates, with different living styles and sleeping schedules. After the 1^st year, however, we became good friends. You see, all I need is a small step out of my comfort zone.

My dear brothers and sisters, sometimes I view our journey of life as a series of small steps. Each step we took, it may produce a giant leap effect later on. The effect, however, could be profoundly detrimental if it was a misstep. Therefore, my brothers and sisters we need to be sure that those small steps we took would lead us to the right path – a gracious path that was devised by our Lord Jesus. When King David was facing plights in his life, he wrote psalms to express his feeling and situation to our Lord. This in turns gave him courage and hope to continue his steps of life. His famous psalm #23 probably is the most well known one to us in the Old Testament. From this psalm (as attached below), we can see how his walk with our Lord was. May we all learn from him…..

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

1﹝大衛的詩﹞‧耶和華是我的牧者‧我必不至缺乏‧

2他使我躺臥在青草地上，領我在可安歇的水邊‧

3他使我的靈魂甦醒，為自己的名引導我走義路‧

4我雖然行過死蔭的幽谷，也不怕遭害‧因為你與我同在‧你的杖，你的竿，都安慰我‧

5在我敵人面前，你為我擺設筵席‧你用油膏了我的頭，使我的福杯滿溢‧

6我一生一世必有恩惠慈愛隨著我‧我且要住在耶和華的殿中，直到永遠‧

Summer days are usually meant for outdoor activities.  You can have picnic, barbecue, swimming and fishing, etc. Fishing, however, becomes a challenge during hot summer days. Some of my fishing buddies mentioned that they were skunked recently at used to be good fishing spots. I told them that God didn’t promise that sky is always blue (神沒有應許天色常藍) 🙂 Apparently the new challenge for us – fishing bums – is either we have to learn how to cope with our recent rejections by fish or we have to find better locations for fishing.

Last time, I shared with you about a successful fishing would need right location, right timing, right tackle, right baits and right skill. Can you count how many things have to be right in order to catch a fish? Ha…ha…ha…. no wonder someone used to say that, “10% of fishermen catch 90% of fish.” Because those 10% of fishermen did everything right. Of course, sometimes all you need is a dumb luck (the other 10% of fish) but it is 可遇不可求.

To catch a fish, first of all is finding a spot which you knew (or learned) would hold fish. Fishing a spot that is not holding any fish, you are doomed unless you don’t mind to spend time in sharpening your casting skill and exercising your arms. Of course under today’s hi-tech environment, you can always use a fish finder to help you finding a good spot that is holding fish. For average people likes me, I have to rely on more traditional way – learn to read water and its environment by trials and errors.

In the Bible, our Lord Jesus had a teaching of good fishermen that is very interesting to me. We learned that He called Simon Peter and his brother Andrew to be fishermen of souls (Matthew 4:18-19). Comparatively, this is a completely different profession from Peter and Andrew used to be – from fishing for fish to fishing for souls, from working on the seas to working on the lands, from casting a fish net to casting a relation net, and from working for themselves to working for the Lord. What a change!

Then you may ask, “How to become a good fisherman of souls?” First of all you will need to find a spot that is having lost souls, of course. You can’t fish for lost souls where they are not holding, correct?  Then, you need to go to the spot and become friends of the lost souls, just as Apostle Paul said,

To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.向 軟 弱 的 人 ， 我 就 作 軟 弱 的 人 ， 為 要 得 軟 弱 的 人 。 向 甚 麼 樣 的 人 ， 我 就 作 甚 麼 樣 的 人 。 無 論 如 何 ， 總 要 救 些 人 。凡 我 所 行 的 ， 都 是 為 福 音 的 緣 故 ， 為 要 與 人 同 得 這 福 音 的 好 處 。(1 Corinthians 9:22-23)

It is very important that the friendship building is the one with genuine love that is flowing from our Lord. Otherwise, there would be no true friendship in between and as a result it would do more harm than good to the Gospel.

My dear brothers and sister, if we merely go to the spot with all Christians, then we are fishing for lost souls where they are not. After finding the lost souls, we need to have a heart filled with genuine love in order to build a true friendship. Below is a prayer that I was touched deeply from recent Daily Bread devotional:

主，當我今日與不信的人同在，願我傾聽憂鬱的聲音，關懷疲憊的面容、下垂的眼神。願我能放下自我，願我渴慕從祢的愛而來的活泉，願我今日能傾聽他人的心聲、展現祢的恩慈、傳揚祢的真理。

“Lord, when I am with nonbelievers today, may I become aware of the cheerless voice, the weary countenance, or the downcast eyes that I, in my natural self-preoccupation, could easily overlook. May I have a love that springs from and is rooted in Your love. May I listen to others, show Your compassion, and speak Your truth today.” DHR

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Every morning when I drive to work, I need to enter a two-lane merge road before I can enter my working location. On one of the lanes on the right, there is a “Yield” sign for those who are coming from route 9. The lane then becomes in parallel with the lane I am entering. Oftentimes, I would run into someone who does not even bother to observe the “Yield” sign. He / she would continue to drive without stopping and watching if there is any car on the other lane would need to enter his / her lane. Worse yet, he / she would sometimes cross into my lane directly without looking. After a few times of these kinds of thrilling occurrences, I have to watch myself carefully in order to “yield” to “bold” drivers from the other supposed-to-be “yielded” lane. You can call this is my frequent practice of “defense driving”. 🙂

This gives me an idea to share with you my perspective of “Yield” action. In general, “to yield” is meant to give up or to surrender oneself to something. This something could be either superior power, or certain situations, or lust and temptation. The action of yield, from my view, could be taken willingly or unwillingly. In the traffic situation I just mentioned, we were required to follow the “yield” sign because it is a law and also is for safety. But one could ignore it completely or follow it either willingly or unwillingly.

How about Christian belief? Do we observe “Yield” sign in our journey of faith too?  Certainly! This action of yield is called “act of submission”.  We submit to God because He is (partial list only, not meant to be exhaustive):

• Abba
• Almighty God (’El Shaddai)
• Avenger
• Bridegroom
• Builder of All things
• Builder of Jerusalem
• Compassionate and Gracious God
• Creator of heaven and earth
• Deliverer
• Everlasting Father
• Faithful God, God of Truth
• Father in Heaven
• Father of the Fatherless/Orphans
• Forgiving God
• Glorious Father
• Glory/Strength of Israel
• God of All Comfort
• God of Love and Peace
• Great and Awesome God
• Healer
• Heavenly Father
• Help/Strength
• Hiding Place
• Holy
• Holy Father
• Holy One
• I AM WHO I AM
• Israel’s Creator
• Judge of All
• Just and Mighty One
• Keeper
• King of Glory
• King of kings
• LORD (Yahweh)
• Lord of Lords
• Loving God
• Maker of heaven and earth
• My Glory
• My God and my King
• My Song and my Strength
• Portion
• Potter
• Prince of Peace
• Redeemer, Kinsman-Redeemer
• Righteous One
• Rock of My Salvation
• Rock of Refuge
• Savior
• Shelter, Shield
• Shepherd
• Sovereign Lord
• Spring of Living Water, Fountain of Living Water
• Strong Fortress
• The Almighty (Shaddai)
• The Alpha and the Omega
• The LORD is Peace (Jehovah-Shalom)
• The LORD is There (Jehovah-Shammah)
• The LORD of Hosts (Jehovah-Sabaoth)
• The LORD is our Banner (Jehovah-Nissi)
• The LORD is our Righteousness (Jehovah-Tsidkenu)
• The LORD who sanctifies  (Jehovah-M’Kaddesh)
• The LORD will Provide (Jehovah-Jireh)
• The LORD is our Healer (Jehovah-Rapha)
• The LORD is My Shepherd (Jehovah Roi)
• Upright One
• Who Is and Who Was and Who Is to Come
• Wonderful

The act of submission (i.e. Yield) is in response to the realization of how great God is. C. S. Lewis once said, “If Christianity is untrue, then no honest man will want to believe it, however helpful it might be; if it is true, every honest man will want to believe it, even if it gives him no help at all.”

Because of His grace and unfailing love, we were saved and are called His children. With a thankful heart, we should be submitting to His command and guidance. In fact, our Lord Jesus set a perfect example of submission to God in Philippians 2:6-7

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 他本有神的形像，不以自己與神同等為強奪的‧反倒虛己，取了奴僕的形像，成為人的樣式”

Isn’t this an amazing example that the very nature God – Jesus Christ – was willingly to submit himself to God to give us our salvation? Therefore, my brothers and sisters, let us learn from our Lord. We should set our mind on submitting ourselves to God instead of yielding to our flesh as Apostle Paul told us,

“The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 體貼肉體的就是死．體貼聖靈的乃是生命”