Facebook (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) by Joseph Lee It was in September of 2009 when my ex-girlfriend broke up with me before I was about to propose to her for marriage. The financial loss in terms of buying the diamond ring, engagement party, and the plane ticket trip was extremely embarrassing. To make it worse, I saw my parents face at the LAX airport waiting to greet me without my ex-girlfriend. I have never seen my parents aged so quickly since I had last seen them the year before. As my non-Christian parents gave me the lecture that God had abandoned me and that He was not worthy of my time and worship, I cursed my non-Christian parents to hell. We always had an altercation about the Bible and about God every time when we have met. They always blamed God for not blessing me with a wife and a Ph.D. at Stanford. They always said that God never loved me or cared about me because if God ever were to care about me, He would have given me a 10% raise from my job at Samsung so that my ex-girlfriend would have married me with many children. Instead, God gave me a 2% pay decrease and took my ex-girlfriend away from me. I never cursed God for doing this to me. I always thanked Him for the break-up because if I were to marry my ex-girlfriend, I would have gotten a divorce when I realized that she did not love me. As I have said, the financial cost of the break-up was very embarrassing. It was significant at a point that I could not tithe comfortably beyond the 10% margin at 20% anymore. I tried to counsel myself that 90% of all marriages were full of disappointment and misery. I really believed that God was telling me that I could not be one of the top 10% who were so happy in terms of marriage and a happy family. I thought happiness was a privilege for the few until I had finally joined Facebook after my break-up. I added my old church friends in the United States. As I tried to accept the fact that being miserable for the rest of my life was a reality which I had to accept not by choice, I saw my friends in the United States who were getting married to a beauty queen far more beautiful than my ex-girlfriend on the outside. To make it worse, I realized that my friends in church married to a beauty queen who was also beautiful on the inside in terms of character. All I ask from God was that I married someone who could love me for my faith in Jesus, but I believed in a lie that God responded that I could only marry an ugly gold digger who could love me for my job, money, and my home. I thought God was telling me that He was limited in terms of power to make me happy, which was a big lie from Satan. (John 8:44) I really believed in another lie that God loved the top 10% of the believers in churches while Gods love for the bottom 90% was limited in terms of scope and power. (Matthew 20:28) I tried to rationalize myself and failed miserably. I really believed that God did not love me for 2 years while I was working in South Korea even when I was dating my wife. How could God make me happy living in this fallen world? I was not in heaven. I was in Suwon, South Korea. Heaven was located geographically not in this world. How could anyone be happy living in this world? Right now, God heard my cries and saw my tears in my eyes. He spoke with soft and gentle voice from the Bible. The Bible really spoke to me, and Jesus told me that He has missed me for the past 7.5 years while I was working in South Korea. He told me that He was desperately trying to get my attention while I was so busy learning Korean, working at a job which I hated, and looking for a girlfriend. He wanted me more than my money. He never wanted my money. He wanted my fellowship more than anything. He spoke to me that money and girlfriend could never give me the happiness which the world falsely promised and could not deliver in terms of our joy! (Psalms 37:4, 1 Timothy 6:10) Right now, I am extremely happy not because I am married to a beauty queen who loves me and who does not care about my job or my money and not because I have an adorable 2 to 3 month old baby daughter who will someday become a great pianist or violinist. I am happy because God gave me the joy and peace being among the bottom 90%. Can you at least see that this happiness is so temporal if my joy comes from my wife or my daughter? Can you see that God can take my family all away from me? God has the power to make everyone in the bottom 90% more happy than the top happy 10% in the world. Gods love is not limited in terms of power or scope. (John 3:16) However, God does respect our decisions, and there is an eternal hell. Read the Bible. (Joshua 1:8) 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Try to give thanks even though you are not married by praying about it. Rejoice always even though it is so impossible to do. If you cant rejoice, pray to God for His help.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 22:42:19 +0000