Title: Gainers and Losers / Matthew 7:7-12
It's already the last week of February 2005. This year, Easter is on March 27, so we are already in the season of Lent. You cannot catch the passing years, but you can catch the coming years. I earnestly hope that you will gain wisdom and receive God's great power through the words delivered today under the title of gainers and losers.
People always have things they want in their hearts. Some people want a job, others want health, material things, higher positions, a car or a nice sex. Not all of our wishes come true. No, to be precise, you can't get everything you want. If everything goes as desired, who in the world will starve, who will get sick, and who will die? In some ways, it seems like fate that life is not going the way you want it to. However, if you look at today's text, there are exhilarating passages that break this fate at once. Let's read verses 7-8 together.
If you look at the text, it says that if you ask, you will get. So, have all the things we earnestly ask for come true? Will everything come true if you believe in Jesus and pray to God? It's not like that. If so, we wouldn't be living like this now. So what's the problem? Today's text provides a key answer to this very question. Based on the Word, it would be good if we could look back at whether we are those who gain or those who lose. Then how do you get it?
First you need to save it. You can't do it just by eating your mind and thinking inside. You have to move to save it. It is easy to make up your mind, but it is difficult to actually act. It's hard to do 3 hours, let alone 3 days. These days, I go to the swimming pool to control my weight, and the first month I went without missing a beat, but this month I have already been absent 3 times. It doesn't seem like much, but it turns out that it's hard to do what you set your mind to. I also decided not to eat food after 8pm because I would gain weight, but if I don't eat, I can't sleep... It's probably not just me. This is probably true for everyone here. So how do you get to do what you set your mind to?
A young man was an ardent follower of the philosopher Socrates. One day he asked Socrates, "How can I acquire a lot of knowledge well?" Socrates took him to the river and threw the young man's head into the river. The young man struggled to lift his head, but Socrates continued to push his head into the river. When the young man got out of the river with all his might, Socrates asked, "What did you most want when you were in the depths of the water?" “I needed air!” he replied, gasping for breath. Socrates said, "If you want knowledge as much as you want air, you will acquire much knowledge."
That's right. You have to desperately want to get it. Only when our hearts are full of earnestness can our steps fall and we can save ourselves by throwing away our pride without noticing it. When I borrow money from someone else's house, I can't go unless I'm in a hurry. There are many people who have graduated from college and played. Why can't they get a job? Are there no jobs in your country? no. There are a lot of jobs, but they don't do it because they don't fit their needs. It's because it hurts my pride to go to college and work in a factory, and it's because people I know here and there are noticing. Even if you don't get a job right away, what kind of earnestness do you have to rely on your parents a little? Look at foreign workers. Many of them graduated from universities in their countries and worked as school teachers or civil servants before coming here to do presses, dyeing, waste, and nogada that everyone avoids. As the number of children increases and it is difficult to make a living right now, do you not choose this or that?
Now I'm not saying I'm going to see you and go out and work at the apartment building. It means that you stick to your goals and desires with the best of heart. Save it. There's no point in just saving it. If the young man does his best in front of God and in front of himself as much as he wants air, God will surely grant your wishes.
We all experience these things in our lives. We have to know what the other person wants and make him happy, but we think of ourselves too much. I am judging and judging others by my standards and my values. There were cattle and lions. They both love to death. The two got married and lived together. The two promised to do their best. The cows did their best to serve delicious grass to the lions every day. I hated the lion, but I endured it. Even the lions did their best to serve delicious lean meat to the cows every day. Even the cows suffered, but they endured it. My patience was limited. The two sit face to face and talk. If you solve a problem incorrectly, it becomes a big deal. Cows and lions fight. eventually break up. When we broke up, we said to each other, "I did my best!" It was.
If a cow sees the world only through the eyes of a cow and a lion sees the world only through the eyes of a lion, their world is a deserted island where they live alone. The world of cattle is just the world of lions. The best I think about myself, the best I can't see the other person, the better the best, the worse it gets I'm still doing my best, but I think that maybe it's the best thing I can do to focus on myself and not see the other person. There is a saying that you knock on a stick while you sleep. Instead of knocking on useless things, we need to find the real value we need to tap and tap on it.
Trust in God, who is faithful and wants to give us good things with a Father's heart. Doesn't verse 12 say that when we seek, seek, and knock on God, He also supplies us with mercy, love, and needs?
In conclusion, we must seriously consider whether we will be gainers or losers. Let's look back on where we are now and think carefully about what we seek, what we seek, and where we live by knocking. If you are doing nothing or knocking on something else, I pray today that we will turn our hearts and have the faith to trust and trust in God. I sincerely hope that the plans and hopes we had in our hearts this year can blossom beautifully and maturely in God and in our members. I will pray.