Title: God's Pride, My Pride
Contents
2 Corinthians 5:17 The pride of God, my pride
One day while I was in Korea, a young middle-aged woman named Soon-i suddenly visited my house with my sister. At first glance, this woman whom I did not know had obvious signs of hardship on her face and was wearing very shabby clothes. Listening to the conversation with my sister, I could feel that I was quite close to my sister, and by listening to the conversation a little more, I knew that she was my sister's classmate.
A woman named Lee Soon was very much liked by her friends during her school days because of her lively and cheerful personality. And because of his active personality in everything, he helped a lot of friends and served as the alumni president. However, after a woman named Lee Soon got married by arranged marriage, she suddenly did not appear at the class reunion and the news of her friends was cut off. And 10 years have passed. One cold winter day, while walking down the street, my sister saw a pupa merchant and suddenly wanted to eat pupa. My sister approached and talked to the pupa woman who lived longevity. “Auntie, please give me a pupa.”
Having said that, the moment I looked at the woman who lived the longevity of the pupa, my sister was startled. “Oh my, aren’t you happy?” Then, Soon-yi was so embarrassed that she threw away the pupae dealer, Lioka, and covered her face and ran away. My sister ran to meet Soon-i, and Soon-i was crying without a word. A woman named Soon, told my sister the story of her life. Her husband, who had an arranged marriage, drank, gambled, and beaten all the time before he could even get drunk. Of course, I thought about divorce many times, but I did not have the courage to divorce because I already had two children.
Meanwhile, the child grows up and the cost of child support and education is high, but her husband is still not earning money and is addicted to alcohol and gambling. And she says “Hey, how can I go to the reunion in this shape?” After telling this story, Soon-i asks my sister a favor. “Baby, never tell your classmates that I am doing a pupae business like this.”
Ladies and gentlemen, everyone has a self-esteem. Among them, there are people who have high self-esteem and there are people who have low self-esteem, but there are few people who do not have self-esteem. Children have pride, old people have pride, young people have pride, husbands and wives have pride. The reason why a woman named Lee Soon did not attend the class reunion was none other than her pride. We all go through similar experiences in life. Especially when adults and children feel that they are very poor, very poorly educated, very poor, or very poorly than their close friends, the resulting self-esteem can make them depressed, unhappy, and unable to function normally.
In my case, when I was a teenager, my self-esteem was often hurt. I was particularly concerned about my appearance, and as a man, I thought that my forearms were too thin and weak. So, I didn't want to wear summer clothes, which are school uniforms that had arms out, and I looked forward to wearing winter clothes with long sleeves as winter came quickly. So I remember working out hard to make my forearms thicker at that time. And because I don't want to show off my slender forearms, there are cases where I don't even hold the handle on the bus and fall when the car comes to a sudden stop.
And it was when I was a member of the junior high school baseball team. Our school team was pretty good at baseball, so we made it to the semi-finals of the national tournament. At that time, all the teachers and students of the school could not stop the school and came out cheering. At that time, our team was losing to the opposing team. But I got a dead ball from an opposing pitcher at bat. Our school cheering team finally said we had our chance.
I screamed and trembled and loved it. But at first base, I got caught by a pitcher's check and was put out, so I missed a precious opportunity. And we ended up losing the game. I came back to school the next day and my friends said. “Oh my gosh, what is it (like an idiot)?”
I, too, had suffered a lot of damage to my self-esteem because of that incident, but hearing such voices from my friends, my wounds were not the only ones. And for so long that memory haunted me. And at first glance, when I remembered it, I suddenly started screaming involuntarily. A momentary wound of pride destroyed me. And because of that incident at the time, even when I met my friends, I became anxious and could not sleep well. It is because of the invisible wounds of pride. Although it is an invisible pride, the destructive power caused by the wounds of that pride is too great.
It was when I was an evangelist at a prayer center in Korea. A middle-aged woman had been at the prayer center for quite some time, and she had messy hair and a poorly dressed appearance. And he always stared into the air without saying a word, and at times, strangely, he laughed quietly to himself. But looking at the background of her face, she could tell at first glance that she was a woman of great beauty. One day, while I was walking along the road with an elderly evangelist I was working with at the prayer center, I met the woman on the road. Then the woman recognized the elderly priest and greeted him quietly.
After the woman had passed quite a distance, these words came out of the woman's mouth. “Tttttttttt, so bad!” After hearing that, I asked a few questions. “What kind of story do you have?” Then the female missionary told this story about the woman. A few years ago the woman was walking into a secluded public restroom when suddenly a man appeared and put a razor to her neck. And she was raped there. Since then, her self-esteem has suffered greatly, and as a result, she suffered from depression and eventually lost her mind and stayed in the prayer center.
Ladies and gentlemen, living in this world, there are many cases where your pride is hurt by big or small things. Not only humans, but also the God we believe in has a personality, so he also has pride. However, a great incident occurred in which our God also suffered a wound to his pride. Especially, Adam and Eve, who were created in God's image, were masterpieces of God's masterpieces, they were God's heirs, they were God's children, and they were God's pride. When God looked at Adam and Eve, he was always happy and happy.
But one day, Satan touched Adam and Eve because of God's pride. And they made them distrust God and listen to Satan. In other words, Adam and Eve, who were on God's side, fell to the side of Satan, the enemy of God, and became Satan's slaves. And when Adam and Eve took the side of Satan, they lost their dignity as the lords of all things and felt ashamed of themselves. In a word, it was a wound of self-esteem. So they heard the voice of God and ran away and hid. And when Adam and Eve, the pride of God, were destroyed in this way, the pride of God was also severely damaged.
God says “Adam, who made you to this shape and this place? Who has destroyed your pride, my pride in this way?” God had a plan to restore Adam and Eve, their broken pride. He sent Jesus to embrace them, heal them, turn their sorrow into joy, their poverty into wealth, their curse into a blessing, their death into life, their despair into hope, restoring their destroyed self-esteem, and bringing them back to Eden. It was to restore the garden.
But at this time, Satan demands the wages of sin and says: “In order to save mankind, innocent people must be shamed and ridiculed, their pride destroyed, and desperately abandoned and hung on a tree to die.” But in this world, no matter how much you wash your eyes and try to live, there is no one without sin. Moreover, it is not easy for an innocent person to go down the path of self-destruction in order to restore my self-esteem. But Jesus went that way. Like a lamb silently being led to the slaughter, Jesus was led to the execution site on Golgotha Hill and threw all his pride on the cross.
He was whipped to restore our self-esteem, nailed to both hands and feet to restore our self-esteem, and to restore our self-esteem, He was pierced in the side and groaned and died. And the Son of God was stripped naked and hung on a tree, becoming a ridicule of the whole world. This is to restore your self-esteem and me. He still cries today. “I died on the cross to restore your pride. Therefore, never again suffer the destruction of your pride. I have already paid the price for your sins.”
There was a time when I saw a picture of a Christian icon that I couldn't forget. It was none other than a picture of a woman sitting at the foot of a cross and weeping with tears and sweat. Looking at his face, he wasn't crying because he was sad. He was so happy and thankful that he was crying with emotion. When I saw the woman, I thought of this. “Aha, she said she was a beautiful woman, but she suffered a wound to her self-esteem from an early age and lived a hard life! But now, after meeting Jesus, he has restored his pride that was destroyed and became a new creation! This woman is now so moved that she is crying like a child!”
Ladies and gentlemen, those who have received the grace of Jesus and the love of God have these emotions and tears. We can restore the joy of the Garden of Eden that we lost in Jesus and restore our broken self-esteem. And we can cry out like this. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away; behold, new things have come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Gentlemen, Jesus is not just a religion and form. It's not just morals and laws. It is not just a philosophy or an idea. Jesus is the only way, truth, and life to turn you and my misery into happiness. He is the only Savior who restores our broken self-esteem. Who in the world can restore my broken pride, broken pride, shattered pride, shattered pride? Jesus speaks to us today with open arms. “I died on the cross for you. I have been ridiculed and despised for you, and I have been greatly wounded. I have given up my precious pride for you.”
Ladies and gentlemen, Jesus wants us to come into Him and restore the pride that has been destroyed. And they want to be completely transformed into a new creature. They want to change the unhappy person into a happy person, and the person who has lost joy into a person of joy and joy. Guys, keep that in mind. You are the pride of God. Your self-esteem hurt is God's self-esteem wound, and your recovery is God's recovery.
Even while we are living in a foreign land, we suffer a lot of self-esteem and live our lives. However, if the wounds of pride are not healed moment by moment, we will still be unhappy in Canada, where we live in a good place. So keep that in mind. Be sure to restore your broken self-esteem in Jesus. Even new creatures must receive the grace of change. And I pray in the name of the Lord that you will surely become the hero of happiness in this foreign land.