Fishers of Men

“Come after me and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19

Can you imagine what Simon and his brother Andrew thought when Jesus invited them to be fishers of men? They were busy casting their nets into the sea, busy making a living because they had to support their families. What a bother Jesus was with His crazy invitation to catch men instead of fish! 

What if Jesus approached us this very day with this absurd suggestion? What would our answer be? What?! I have to finish my work before the deadline, I have to take care of my kids, my house, our pets, decide whether to immigrate or start a business…I can’t think of catching men just yet! Every day, we can find a really good reason not to start being fishers of men. But imagine if Simon and Andrew, James and John just flat out said no to Jesus? They wouldn’t have gone on the greatest adventure of their lives! 

Jesus extends that same invitation to each of us. All we need to do is follow Him. He will lead the way! 

Writing on the Wall

“Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared, writing on the plaster of the wall in the king’s palace.” Daniel 5:5

Many odd things happen in Bible stories, and this one in the book of Daniel is one of them. King Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, held a feast. He was drunk with wine and power and ordered the vessels his father had stolen from the Temple in Jerusalem, to be brought out from storage. He and his guests then used the gold and silver vessels for drinking wine. While drinking, they praised gods of their own making, gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone. 

Eerily, the fingers of a human hand appeared out of thin air, and started writing words on the wall. “MENE, TEKEL, PERES,” was inscribed, and the king shivered, his face turned white, as did his guests. Then he called for Daniel the prophet to interpret the words. Daniel said, “You have rebelled against the Lord of heaven. The God in whose hand is your life breath and the whole course of your life, you did not glorify. You have been found wanting.” 

Poor King Belshazzar had wealth beyond his wildest dreams. He had so much power which he could have used to help his people. But he didn’t do that. 

I was listening to the speech the actor Denzel Washington gave in 2015 to the graduates of Dillard University. He said they should always put God first in everything they do. He proclaimed that everything he has, everything he has accomplished in his life, was by the grace of God. He told the story that when he was young and was starting to make it as an actor, he asked his mom, “Mom, did you think this was going to happen? I’d be so big and I’ll be able to take care of everybody and I can do this and I can do that.” Then his mom shushed him and corrected him, “Boy, stop it right there, stop! If you only knew how many people have been praying for you!” She had asked so many groups to pray for him, even splashed him with holy water to protect him from evil! 

One thing Denzel said was that you never see a U-haul behind a hearse because no matter how much money you’ve amassed, how many mansions you’ve built or bought, how much jewelry or bitcoins or gold bullion you have, you’ll never be able to take it with you. 

He emphasized that the most selfish thing we can do is help others. The more we help others, the more successful we are. There’s joy in it, there’s satisfaction, plus we add to our treasure in heaven! Better to follow Denzel’s advice than King Belshazzar’s example! 

A Kingdom that will Never be Destroyed

“…the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed or delivered up to another people…” Daniel 2:44

The study of history is fascinating. Kingdoms and empires are built and destroyed. Dynasties that seemed poised to rule for hundreds of years like the Roman Empire, the Byzantine and Russian Empires, are long gone. 

Then there are men who are treated like gods only to be found with feet of clay. Julius Caesar said, “If I fail, it is only because I have too much pride and ambition.”  He also believed, “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” Caesar was a dictator, a politician, and a scholar in Ancient Rome. Even if he was so powerful that he conquered the vast region of Gaul by his brilliant military skills, he was attacked by a group of his Senators and died from about 23-35 wounds. How do we remember this man? Perhaps by the tragedy written by William Shakespeare who portrays Caesar as “an honorable hero who makes several critical errors of judgment …leading to his own death and a bloody civil war that consumes his nation.” 

How about us, how will be remembered when we pass on to eternity? It is good to think on this sometimes so we can do better. The God of heaven has also given us a soul that shall never be destroyed. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in Me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26) 

Invest in God’s Business

“I assure you this poor widow has put in more than all the rest.” Luke 21:3

Tithing is an Old Testament concept found in Leviticus 27:30; Numbers 18:26; Deuteronomy 14:24; 2 Chronicles 31:5, etc. where the Jews were supposed to give 10% of their produce to the Lord. In the New Covenant, nowhere does it mention 10%, but Paul said in 2 Corinthians 9:7, that  man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 

To me, tithing or giving has a lot to do with partnering with the Lord in His work. It’s like investing some capital in the Lord’s business. Whether we give or not, His Kingdom will grow, just like the tiny mustard seed would grow into a tree in Matthew 13. We would like to be a part of that for surely there is much gain involved, eternal profit!

If we happened to invest in Apple’s IPO back in Dec. 12, 1980, today our stock would be worth quite a lot of money, but not as much as it was worth in the 80s. In God’s “stock exchange”, it’s a very different as God’s measuring stick is not the same as the world’s. If two people invest the same amount on God’s stock, the value in God’s eyes would be dependent on how much we had left in the bank!!!! 

In Luke 21, we see how Jesus thinks. He sees many rich people putting their offerings into the Temple treasury. But of all the people, some of them giving huge sums of money, He pointed out the poor widow putting in two copper coins. “I assure  you, this poor widow has put in more than all the rest. They make contributions out of their surplus, but she from her want has given what she could not afford- every penny she had to live on.” When she gets to heaven, she will find that the value of her stock generated dividends and a tremendous return of investment!

Some people know how to play the stock market and realize huge profits so they can retire comfortably one day. I don’t have much time and knowledge to study the volatility of the market, so before the pandemic, I used to regularly invest, but only in good companies. I believe we should also regularly, every month, invest in God’s business so we will be sure to have a retirement plan that is out of this world! Nothing invested in God’s business will lose value!  

I Was Hungry and You Gave Me Food

“I was hungry and you gave me food...naked and you clothed me...” Matthew 25:35

How wonderful that there is a record of Jesus’ instructions and stories that we can read and read again. If we want to obey God, to learn about Him and His ways, we can do nothing better than to ponder His words and follow them. Today’s reading is especially fitting for Advent as it expounds on how important almsgiving is. It has an impact on where we will spend our eternal life. 

Jesus explains that what we do for the poor, we do for Him. When Taal Volcano was acting up, many people gave clothes, shoes, and other things. It was so sad because some of the things donated were very old, and could not be used anymore. And winter clothes and snow boots were useless to the refugees. Mother Teresa always said do not give our left overs to the poor, that we should not treat the poor like a garbage bag and give what we have no use for. We should be ashamed of ourselves if we gave Jesus, the King of Kings, an old rag to clothe Himself! 

St. Vincent de Paul, who dedicated his life serving the poor, wrote, “You will find that charity is a heavy burden to carry, heavier than the bowl of soup and the full basket ... It is not enough to give us soup and bread ... You are the servant of the poor ... They are your masters, terribly sensitive and exacting you will see. It is only for your love alone that the poor will forgive you the bread you give them.”

H. Jackson Brown wrote in his “Life’s Little Instruction Book”, "Remember that everyone you meet is wearing a sign. It reads, 'Notice me. Make me feel important." 

He Will Answer

“Teacher, you have answered well.” Luke 20:40

It may seem absurd to us, this question that the Sadducees posed to Jesus about a woman who married seven brothers in a row. But Jesus answered it anyway, using it to share about how our Father is “not God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive.” 

If we ask Jesus questions, do you believe He still answers? I know He does. if we do not ask Him questions, we will not be witness to the creative ways God can and will respond. He wants us to talk to Him. He wants us to be comfortable enough with Him to ask even absurd questions. I once asked if He could love me more than He already did, expecting that He would answer that He already loved me to the maximum! 

But He said He could, that if I stretched out my arms and hands in love to others, like a tree beside a running stream could hold more water if its branches grew longer, I could hold more of His love. 

Through the years I have asked God many questions, for I trust that He will answer me. 

House of Prayer

“My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” Luke 19:46

Jesus is quoting from Isaiah 56:7, “...for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations”, and Jeremiah 7:11, “Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you?” He was very angry to find that the thieves and robbers which usually infested the dens and caves of Judea were cheating and defrauding people in the Temple area! They were taking advantage of the poor who came to give their sacrifice offerings to God. 

If Jesus was zealous about the physical structure in Jerusalem, how much more would He be zealous about the temple of our bodies? “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.” (1 Cor. 6:19)

When Jesus comes to visit, what does He find in our hearts? Is it a house of prayer? Of the study of His Word? Will He be pleased that we love the people He loves, and take care of them, the poor, the hungry, the downtrodden? Or will He react in righteous anger and want to throw out the idols that have replaced Him in our hearts? Will He find that instead of our King and Lord on the throne, we have set up ourselves instead? 

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit" (Psalm 51:10-12) 

Happy Thanksgiving!

“Offer to God praise as your sacrifice...” Psalm 50:14

I forget when I started reading Ann Voskamp’s “One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are”. But I can find out by pulling out my old journals and looking for no.1 of my praise and thanksgiving list. Every day, I start with counting my blessings. There is always plenty to thank God for even in days when there is bad news or some horrible disaster. The fact that we can walk, that we can remember things, that we are able to love, forgive, get excited. A friend on Facebook started her list with thankfulness for coffee. My list doesn’t even contain the word coffee. Yet. Or chocolates! Salmon sushi! It almost daily includes a mention of time spent talking and playing “hunting bears, ghosts, monsters, yetis…” with my adorable 3 year old grand child who always surprises me with how extensive his vocabulary is! 

I like the way Ann Voskamp writes, and speaks. “How,” she wondered, “do we find joy in the midst of deadlines, debt, drama, and daily duties? What does a life of gratitude look like when your days are gritty, long, and sometimes dark? What is God providing here and now?” When she started chronicling life’s gifts, it was transformative. She starts her story telling when she was four years old and already enveloped in grief. Her little sister Aimee was crushed by a delivery truck with a heavy load when she wandered close after a cat. The driver sobbed that he had not seen her and her mom had witnessed it all with a blood curdling scream. How do you get through something like that? 

“Can there be a good God? A God who graces with good gifts when a crib lies empty through long nights... where is God really? How can He be good when babies die, and marriages implode, and dreams blow away, dust in the wind? Where is grace bestowed when cancer gnaws and loneliness aches and nameless places in us soundlessly die...Where hides this joy of the Lord, this God who fills the earth with good things, and how do I live fully when life is full of hurt?” Many ask these questions. Years can pass and sometimes there are no answers.

For Ann the answer came in “eucharisteo”, thanksgiving which has as its root word, “charis” meaning grace, “chara” meaning joy. “Deep joy can only be found at the table of euCHARisteo, the table of thanksgiving. As long as thanks is possible, then joy is always possible.” 

Lord, may I remember everyday to give you a sacrifice of thanksgiving, especially during dark days. 

Apple of Your Eye

"Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.” Psalm 17:8

The verses in Exodus 33 are about God saying to Moses, “…you have found favor with me, and you are my friend.” God spoke to Moses "as a friend". I have always thought of myself as God’s favorite, which is funny considering all the health issues I have to deal with. 

I remember that I was a favorite of my Grade 4 teacher in UP, and she gave me the responsibility of taking attendance. One day, I forgot to do my homework, and right away, I had fallen from her good graces and the responsibility was taken away and given to someone else. I felt so bad. I am so thankful that God is not like that. Even if we mess up, He is quick to forgive and continues to show His love and faithfulness!!!!

But I know from personal experience that even if we are God's favorite, that not everything will be rosy! Not by a long shot! Saint Teresa of Avila complained to her best friend Jesus about her troubles, and Jesus answered, "Teresa, that is how I treat my friends!" Saint Teresa retorted, "No wonder you have so few friends!"

I believe we are each God's favorite, the apple of His eye, His friend, and He wants to fill us to overflowing if we can see beyond our troubles to the blessings hidden in the challenges of our life! 

Stay in Our Heart, Jesus!

“Zaccheus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house," Luke 19:5

I've read this story about Zacchaeus, the tax collector, so many times and each time I picture in my head a short, funny man, a cartoon like character, with no dignity.

But the other side of Zaccheus, I never really thought about. After all, he was a real person just like Jesus is real, not a cartoon character. Zacchaeus was probably a smart man, intelligent, to get to be one of the most influential tax collectors. And because he was shunned and despised, he was probably lonely. And perhaps he had dignity of another kind. He was very rich, extremely wealthy, and his clothes would have been of the finest cloth and tailoring. 

It must have taken a lot for him to climb a tree to see Jesus. He had to shed his pride. He became like a child again. In Matthew 18:3, Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will NEVER enter the Kingdom of Heaven." 

Jesus saw Zacchaeus' heart. The eagerness, the longing to be accepted by Jesus, the willingness to give up the life he had. And so Jesus, looking up said, "I'm going to stay at your house today!" And Zacchaeus was like a little kid, unmindful of what he must have looked like, scrambling down the tree, eagerly, joyfully.

Jesus always sees that part of us, no matter how small, that longs to please Him. That part of our heart that desires to be united with the One who loves us best. And when He sees that, He invites us, "Today I want to stay at your house!" It doesn't matter what we've done before. If we clamber down from our indifference, our pride, our selfishness, in humility and determination, eagerly, joyfully, Jesus will come to stay in our heart!

Have Mercy!

“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Luke 18:38

This was the shout of the blind man as Jesus was passing by on the road to Jericho. There was a crowd shushing him, telling him to stop shouting and calling out to Jesus. 

Is there anything or anyone stopping us from calling on Jesus? From praying? From reading His Word? Perhaps we wake up too late. We have too much to do or think about. We only want to do what is important and useful. Everything is all right with our world and we don’t have anything to ask God for. Nothing is right with our world and we think God can’t or won’t help anyway. What a crowd of shushers!!! 

But the blind man kept shouting and asking for God’s answers anyway, like the persistent widow in Luke 18, or Hannah in 1 Samuel 1. The Bible is one long long story of God answering His people’s prayers and He continues to do so today.  

When my son Josh graduated from Computer Science, he told me that all the good start ups were in BGC. That was a long way away, and would require 2 hours to just get there with bad traffic. I told Josh that nothing is impossible with God, and prayed. My niece Elyse accused me of praying too hard because Josh got a job with a really good company and he worked from home! Thank You Lord for listening to our prayers and answering them! Thank You for having mercy on us!

Share the Joy!

‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’ His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's joy.’ Matthew 25:20-21

Some people have great talent, groundbreaking ideas, amazing skills, and awesome gifts. Think Michelangelo who painted the Sistine Chapel even if he said he preferred to sculpt. And sculpt he did, creating the magnificent David and the beautiful Pieta. At 71 years old, when he thought his life was over, he was commissioned by Pope Paul III to be the chief architect of the St. Peter’s Basilica. Michelangelo, a self-taught architect, worked for 18 years to correct the engineering problems the former architects had created. I can imagine the Father saying to Michelangelo Buonarroti when he died at the age of 88 years of age, “Well done, good and faithful servant. With the gifts and talents I gave you, you have created masterpieces! Come share the Master’s joy!”  

What have we created with the gifts and talents God has showered upon us? Perhaps it is time to take stock of what we have done so far, and be more intentional for the future. We can have a goal, and plan little steps to reach it, so we can see our progress. And each day, we should be able to take one little step towards that aim. If we have plenty of gifts, God obviously expects more from us. 

When we use what God gives us, the natural consequence is sharing in the joy of our Father. It is the same joy He experienced when He made the earth, the skies, the land, waters, and animals. Each time He created something, He said, “It is good!” There is a saying, “Your dreams should be so big that without God they are impossible to achieve.” 

So let us try not to waste most of our time watching Netflix, flicking through Facebook, Tiktok or Instagram. Let us use the gifts our Father has so generously given us! Perhaps there is a book waiting to be written, a concerto ready to be composed, a scientific breakthrough just at your fingertips, a solution to a problem raring to be put into practice! 

Nothing is impossible with God!

Without Ceasing

“…pray always without becoming weary.” 

Luke 18:1

When I was pregnant with Josh, I was filled with anxiety. I was 38 years old, and I entertained fears about whether my baby would be born normal. I had spotting, pre-eclampsia, and pains in my pelvic region. And I was worrying about the baby having spasms of what would turn out to be bouts of hiccups.

Because of my anxiety, I would nag God, and “pray without ceasing". Then I felt God say to me, “Patsy, when you hold your baby in your arms, you will know how much I love you." True enough, my delivery was super quick, and almost painless. And more importantly, Josh was a normal, healthy baby. 

When Joshua arrived, he had a big nose and even bigger ears. My mom was so dismayed that she nagged God to make Joshua cute. And after a few days, Josh was the cutest baby ever!

There are many times in our life that give us anxiety, fear, grief, or pain. We go through many challenges. But if we HOPE in God, 'pray without ceasing', and trust that God always wants the best for us, ALL our troubles will turn into JOY!

“When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.” (John 16:20-23)

Give Our All

“As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man." Luke 17:26

During the end times Jesus tells us, it would be much like in the time of Noah, when people mocked what Noah was doing, and they continued with their licentious ways. Today there are many "prophets" saying we are in the end times, and whether we are or not, what is true is we are nearer than at any time in history.  We should not wait for bad things to happen before we think about turning to God. 

There is a story of Paganini, the great violinist.  He was going to play before an audience when he realized that the violin in his hand was not the valuable violin he was used to. He stood paralyzed for a moment, told his audience about the mistake, and went backstage to look for his violin. When he realized it had been stolen and replaced with an old second hand instrument, he went onstage and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, I will show you that the music is not in the instrument, but in the soul." That night Paganini played as he had never played before, and the audience was enraptured.

How wonderful if we mere mortals could give to our God the most wonderful music whatever the circumstances of our life. Whether it is our body that is battered with sickness, or we are in financial difficulty, or we have insurmountable problems, like Paganini, we can triumph in the arena of life.  And it will not matter if we are in the end times or the beginning of the end times or nowhere near the end times!

Intentionally Grateful

“Where are the other nine?” Luke 17:17

Today I read in the 17th chapter of the Gospel of Luke about 10 lepers. Jesus instructed them to go to the priests. On the way, all 10 lepers were healed. Only one returned to Jesus.

Jesus said, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine?"

While watching CNN, I came across the story of a woman who was rescued from human traffickers. She said that she was sold like a slave to three different men, and two of them tattooed their names on her back. After she was rescued, she put up a foundation to help others like her. She knew that it was so difficult for these women to have hope, much less to experience joy. They had to dig deep for the strength to decide to be grateful. 

We too have to decide to be grateful every single day. We do not want to be like the 9 lepers, who did not even turn back and express their gratitude to God for their healing. They took it for granted.

We want to be like the one leper who went back to Jesus, fell at His feet and thanked Him. When I look back at my prayer journal,  I see I have a list of blessings, but I see days when I do not list even one. I have to be more conscious, more awake, more aware of what I have. I have so many blessings!

Scientific studies show that gratitude expressed and shared, restructures our brain, physically remaps the connections in our brain, and unlocks happiness and even, joy! Digging up bad memories, hurts, traumatic experiences, reinforces the negative and holds us back. So let us be INTENTIONALLY grateful, and let that gratefulness overflow into blessing for others.

In Our Midst

“The Kingdom of God is already in your midst.” Luke 17:21

Many of the Pharisees were very curious about Jesus and would invite Him into their homes and ply Him with questions. One of those questions was: “When would the Kingdom of God come?” Then as now, people were preoccupied with the end of the world. So what, if we know when Jesus comes again? For each of us, there is an inevitable end, when God deems it is our time to leave earth. 

Jesus answered the Pharisees, “The reign of God is already in Your midst, it is within you, in your hearts, it is among you, surrounding you.” That’s a perfect description of where Jesus is. He was right there in front of the Pharisees, and today, He lives in the hearts of Christians everywhere. As Advent nears, it is time to examine ourselves. Is there a room at the inn of our hearts for Jesus? 

The world is starving for the immanent, the indwelling of God. “Entheos”, God within, is the root word of enthusiasm. Are we still inspired by God’s Word so that others  catch it from us? Do we get a fire in the belly such that we desire to know more and more, and have more and more of the treasure that Jesus said is within our reach? Do we wake up early in the morning eager to know what gifts God has for us each day? 

Holy Spirit, You are our teacher. Bring us to a place where we delight in Jesus, the Word made flesh. May we make more and more room for Him in the inn of our heart. 

Broken Hearted

“The Lord is close to the broken hearted...” Psalm 34:18

“...those who are crushed in spirit He saves.” Now and again I see posts on Facebook from moms asking intercession for their teenagers who are wayward, taking drugs or too much alcohol. My sisters and I have been praying for many young people who have mental health issues. How many children committed suicide this past year? How many have been killed, tortured, or kidnapped in the ongoing war not only in Israel and Gaza, but also in Syria, South Sudan, Ukraine? How many deal with recurring depression or debilitating disease? There is so much heartache in our world, so much sadness and pain. 

What can we do about it? Saint Teresa of Avila wrote this poignant poem: “Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, Yours are the eyes, you are his body... Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”

We have to look around with Christ’s eyes and love with His love so we can see the broken people around us. We need not be pessimistic or hopeless because God will always make a way where there is no way. God never wastes anything, much less pain. Let us always pray with hope, and do good where we can with what we have, remembering that what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory that will be revealed in us (Romans 8:18).