Pray with faith! (Lk 18:1-8)

Lk 18:7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?

Today’s verses are about a widow who repeatedly asked a judge to make a righteous judge and she got justice though the judge was unjust.

Much more, righteous God will surely bring about justice for his chosen ones.

Therefore, though we might see unjustice in this world, we should always pray and not be discouraged. (Verse 1)

Then God will surly restore justice. At the time when the second coming of Jesus is near, it is difficult to see a person with such faith. (Verse 8)

However, we need to believe in just God.
We need to believe in God who answers the night and day prayers of his chosen ones. And we should not be discouraged and pray.

Shalom and God bless!

Eternal life is more important than wealth! (Lk 17:31-37)

Lk 17:32 Remember Lot’s wife!

Though Lot’s wife heard the angels’ warning, she turned back while the Sodom and Gomorrah were being destroyed by sulfur and fire and turned into a salt pillar.

Normally she considered wealth more precious than eternal life. Eternal life seems too far away from her own current life and the wealth right in front of her eyes might have seemed too close.

Though her family received salvation, she became the symbol of not being saved because of wealth at the day of salvation.

When Jesus comes back, on that night two people will be in one bed; one who has true faith will be taken and the other left.
Two women will be grinding grain together; one who has true faith will be taken and the other left. (Lk 17:34, 35)

Likewise, salvation is individual. Therefore, only follow Jesus who is true eternal life.

Shalom and God bless!

The trend of the world before the second coming of Jesus (Lk 17:26-30)

Lk 17:26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man.

When Jesus comes back, the world will be like the time of Noah and Lot.

People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. (Verse 27)

It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. (Verse 28, 29)

Eating, drinking, marrying, being given in marriage, buying and selling, planting and building are not the problem.

The problem is that their main interest in life and their main purpose became these.

Noah heard God’s word regarding the flood judgment and prepared himself with an ark.

Lot welcomed two angels and heard the news about the fire judgement of Sodom and Gomorrah and flee with his family.

We who know the second coming of Jesus should have a different lifestyle and purpose from the worldly people.

Decorate yourself with holiness and look forward to the second coming of Jesus and prepare yourself to welcome him.

Shalom and God bless!

God’s kingdom

Lk 17:20 Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation,
21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”

God’s kingdom is within us.

His people obey God’s reign.

They live not according to the worldly law but the law of love.

They are not forced to obey God’s law but by their own will.

Because their unforgivable sins were forgiven so they forgive others and they do not exalt themselves but they are humble.

They are already experiencing God’s kingdom and when they leave this world, they are moving to God’s kingdom.

Shalom and God bless!

Be grateful! Lk17:11-19

Lk 17:15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.
16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him–and he was a Samaritan.

Ten men who had leprosy call out in a loud voice to Jesus to have mercy on them.

According to Jesus’ command they went to the priest and all got healed.

But nine of them didn’t come back to Jesus.

Maybe they wanted to see their families and friends as soon as possible.

However, only one Samaritan came back to Jesus and gave thanks.

Nine Jews were earnest when they seek but they forgot about it after they were answered.

However, the Samaritan had the same attitude whether he was before receiving the answer or after it.

When our prayers were answered or if we are served by others, we need to have the same attitude like the Samaritan.

Shalom and God bless!

The correct attitude of a servant (Lk 17:7-10)

Lk 17:10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ ”

Jesus told us the correct attitude of a servant through an example of a servant at that time.

A servant doesn’t get served after farming a field or feeding sheep.

Even after coming back home, he needs to wash the master’s feet and make some food and after finishing everything, he can rest.

We as well, need to have an attitude that when we have done everything we were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’

To be a righteous servant, we first need to have a recognition that we are servants.

And we should throw away the attitude that we try to be served.

At that time we can be true servants. Be a true servant.

Shalom and God bless!

Add faith to us!

Lk 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

To have bigger faith is the same passion of Christians.

And weak faith is one of the struggles of our faith.

However, faith is not given from outside or is not added by someone else.

It’s about whether we have life like a master seed or not and it’s the problem of our inside heart.

Faith is from hearing the word of Christ. (Rom 10:17)

Hold on to the listened words with living faith.

This is faith towards Almighty God and faith towards God’s promise.

Through this faith, we can experience the change in this physical world.

Shalom and God bless!

Be careful by yourself!

Lk 17:3 So watch yourselves. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.
4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

This is teaching of Jesus that how we should do if someone committed sin against us.

First, we need to rebuke him. (Wisdom is needed and we need to do it with love.)

Through rebukes, he is given a chance to repent. And the one who rebukes would be more careful of sins.

And if he repents, we should forgive.

If he sins against us seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to us and says, ‘I repent,’ we need to forgive him.

It’s not easy to forgive someone once a day and seven times a week, but Jesus told us to forgive someone even seven times a day. That means we need to forgive endlessly.

Through this, we get to learn God’s heart who forgives our repetitive sins and learn God’s patience who wish us to change.

Rebuke sins but love sinners.

Shalom and God bless!

The punishment of those who cause others to sin

Lk 17:1 Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come.
2 It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.

There’s no one who want to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck.

Jesus said it would be better for one to be dead in this way than to cause one of these little ones to sin.

Like that, the punishment of causing people to sin is this much great.

Regardless of how weak that person is, God considers that one and only life in the whole universe as the absolute value.

So the punishment of causing people to sin is this much great.

Consider one life preciously like Jesus.

Whether one is poor or sick or old or disable, consider him preciously.

And do not cause others to sin.

Shalom and God bless!

A hope of a person who is in hell (Lk 16:27-31)

Lk 16:27
“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house,
28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

The rich man’s request to send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue was not answered.

Then he asked Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers so that they would listen to Lazarus’ testimony and repent so that they wouldn’t come to the place where he is suffering.

This is the last hope of the one who is in hell.

However, Abraham’s answer was that If they do not listen to God’s words, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.

I hope that we ourselves and our family would repent through the words and spend the eternity in heaven.

Shalom and God bless!