But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against these people, for they are stronger than we are.” -Numbers 13:30-31
Dear members and friends,
Is it even possible to find true happiness? This was a question that I read in a story a long time ago. The story was about a very depressed man who denied any possibility of happiness for himself or for any human being. His reason was that humans need to be truly loved by other humans to feel happy, yet humans are incapable of such love due to their selfishness. Thus, the man felt that all humans are doomed for eternal unhappiness. At the end of the story, he was given a chance by God to remember and feel again how much he was loved by his mother when he was just born. By remembering the selfless love of his mother, the man found hope that humans are indeed capable of such love, and thus found a way to be happy.
The heart of messages from God in the Bible is: humans are created by God in God’s image and likeness, and thus humans are capable of loving each other selflessly. In other words, the purpose of human creation is to become beings who transcend their own selves and love others as God does. However, loving others selflessly requires unlearning our seemingly innate tendency to be selfish or self-centered. For this reason, this process feels like an impossible challenge because we must change a deeply-ingrained compulsion. Further complicating the matter is the fact that humans cannot become selfless by their own power because the enemy standing in their way is their own self! For this Jesus said, “I am the way!” By cultivating the teachings of Jesus and having faith in Divine Love, we may transcend ourselves and become beings capable of selfless love.
My brothers and sisters in God, let us come to our Lord and pray. May God grant us insight to see the root of our struggles clearly, and then grant us understanding to find a way to overcome them. Finally, may God guide us through each step we take in becoming selfless beings.
Blessings, Rev. Junchol Lee