Keeping the Sabbath Holy Deuteronomy 5:12-15 By Joseph Y. Lee (Written in September 22, 2013) It was about 15 years ago as I was taking all of the undergraduate courses in the electrical and computer engineering department at UCI during the Dot Com and Asian Economic Crisis. The economy was so bad during the late 1990’s since George H. W. Bush was President. It was really pathetic. I was unemployed during the time when George W. Bush’s father was President, not during the Great Recession when the son was President of the United States. You could imagine my low self-esteem. I was unemployed without a job in the late 1990’s. It was somewhat humiliating for me since I already got a Master’s degree in the materials science and engineering department at UC Irvine, and I was basically starting over as an undergraduate at UC Irvine through extension in the electrical and computer engineering department. As I was doing extension at UC Irvine, it meant that I could take all of the classes at UC Irvine without getting a degree. That was pathetic beyond pathetic. Ha ha... So, you could imagine my massive depression when I had no job. Even though I was taking the undergraduate courses at UC Irvine in the electrical and computer engineering department, they were a lot harder compared with my materials science and engineering courses in graduate school. It was extremely humbling for a former graduate student at UC Irvine’s materials science and engineering department. I really had to swallow my pride, and I knew that I needed to master my electrical engineering background in order to find a job when nobody wanted to interview a UC Irvine graduate student in the materials science and engineering department. At Berkeley, there were over 30 companies who wanted to interview a graduate in the materials science department. At UCI, not one company wanted to interview a materials science graduate. All of the interviewers at the UC Irvine Career Center wanted to interview other graduates in the electrical and computer engineering or computer science department. This was why I was starting over as an undergraduate at UC Irvine Extension. That was misery beyond misery. So, you could see that I literally hated my life at that time. When I took a lower division course in the electrical and computer engineering department, I heard many horrible rumors that the professor who taught the course previously had flunked more than half of the students with a D or F. Almost all of the students had to retake the class when I was taking the course for the first time. I knew that many students were hurting. So, I took an advantage of their hurts by sharing my testimony on how I became a Christian to all of students who had failed the course from the same professor. Many students complained to the professor that I was proselytizing after the class was over. Despite their complaints, I really believed in evangelism. I believed that I needed to reach out to those lost electrical and computer engineer students about Jesus. I wanted to tell them that Jesus wanted to love them as they were even though they were making a D or F and that they did not need an A or B in order to go to heaven. It was not the most politically correct thing to do. However, God commanded me not to conform to the pattern of the world, but renew my mind so that I could know the perfect will of God which was good, acceptable, and perfect. (Romans 12:2) I knew that most non-Christians would not approve what I had done, but I shared my testimony on how I became a Christian after the midterm. While I was taking the course under that professor, he was upset with what I was trying to do. I knew that my professor was not a Christian at that time. So, I tried to apologize to the professor, and I tried to tell him that I was trying to help people go to heaven. I should have known better that it would sound so corny for me to tell a non-believer like my professor my true intentions. Despite what I have said, he basically said that I had only embarrassed myself. OK… I guessed that I was not the only anti-social engineer at UC Irvine. Ha ha… After I got the midterm back, I got a C in the midterm. I really studied so hard in the class. I put many long hours of studying at the Main Library to get the C. As I compared my midterm exam with my friend in the same class, I noticed that we got the same answer on the midterm, but we both had a different grade. As I complained to the professor, he told me that I should not get any credit on the midterm and that the other student should not get credit also. Somehow, I wondered whether I had stepped on my professor’s toes for my evangelism efforts after the midterm was over. Anyway, I could only guess his thinking. Despite my low grade, I never blamed God for letting me down. I really wanted to cry. Many charismatics would say that God would bless us with A’s and a Ph.D. degree if we obeyed God in terms of prayer, going to church, reading the Bible, and evangelism. This was a clear example that God did not bless me for my obedience. Despite my low grade, I never blamed God at that time. I always continued to praise Him. The health-wealth prosperity gospel is the most dangerous heresies of all time in Korea and the United States. Many Christians have a false faith that God would bless them with money, grades, marriage, and jobs if they only obeyed God when the reality is that there was simply no relevance. As you could see, I knew that my professor did not like me one darn bit. I knew that he was determined to fail me. I admitted that I was making all of the wrong moves to get ahead in the world. However, God got to come first in my life. Jesus died for me on the cross. Even though God’s grace was free, it was not cheap. It came at an infinite price. During the last week before finals, the professor said that he would have a review session on Sunday, and my heart sank. Basically, many of the topics in the final were going to be covered during the review session on Sunday, which was the Sabbath Day. I knew that I needed to follow God. So, I asked the professor whether he could change the review session date to Saturday. As you could have guessed it, the professor indirectly told me to go to heaven. Since suicide was not an option for me at the time, I decided to take the final and not go to the review session on Sunday since God commanded me to rest on the Sabbath. Again, I was making all of the wrong moves to get ahead in this world, and definitely, the health-wealth prosperity gospel is a big lie. Don’t get me wrong. I really studied my butt off in the course. I may not have studied on Sunday, but I did study 6 days out of 7 days of the week. After I finished the final, I wrote an e-mail to my professor asking him what was my grade. I was hoping for a B, but how could I possibly get a B when I was making a C in the class? As you may have guessed it, I did not get the B. Instead, I got the A- in the course. (Philippians 4:13) ‘...If a man will not work, he shall not eat.’ 2 Thessalonians 3:10 I wrote this testimony that God deserved our worship especially on the Sabbath. I did not keep the Sabbath Holy so that I could get an A- in the class. I would have kept the Sabbath Holy even if I were to get a C or D in the course. I honestly did not know why God blessed me with an A- in the course. I believed that He had blessed me because I had studied so hard for 6 days out of 7 days of week. Was God good to me? Yes. If I were to make a C instead of my A-, would God be a good God? Yes, God is good all of the time.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 15:21:57 +0000
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