Discover the flame within me
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Discover the flame within me (Acts 20:22-24)
During a conversation with the saints, one of them said, ‘Even now, when I see a scene on TV where I am cooking, my heart beats. Did you say that Dae Jang Geum or Pasta dramas are popular these days? Watching the experts prepare the dishes makes my heart pound. Isn't it weird? Someone wants to get rid of the kitchen... When you hear a story about what field or what kind of work does your heart beat thump-thump?
It makes my heart flutter when I see helping people in need without even being able to do it properly. Recently, watching a TV program that digs a well in Africa and a program that digs a well in Cambodia, my heart is pounding with emotion. My heart flutters when I hear stories of helping people in need and stories of people who are struggling.
Biya Han, who serves as an emergency relief team leader in World Vision, met a Kenyan doctor in her mid-40s who is struggling and volunteering in a refugee camp in Kenya, where the environment is poor and the epidemic spreads. The doctor is so famous that even the Kenyan president has to wait several days for treatment. Biya Han asked him, 'You are a very famous doctor, but why are you working in such a rough place that no one knows about?' Then the Kenyan doctor smiled broadly enough to see all of his molars and said, 'It's a waste to spend my skills and talents just to make money. But above all, caring for these needy people makes my heart race.’ Biya Han was moved by the Kenyan doctor's reply, 'This makes my heart race.'
Since then, when people ask, 'Why are you doing such a difficult emergency relief job?', Biya Han answers, 'Because this makes my heart race and my blood boils.' What is it about me and your life that makes our hearts race? Even if it is difficult and difficult, what is the work that makes your heart beat and is rewarding if you think about it and work on it?
In today's text, we can see that Paul was a man who lived with a burning heart that was burning with the flame he received from God. The Apostle Paul returns to the church in Jerusalem after his third missionary journey. He was going up to Jerusalem, and through the Holy Spirit he made him realize that if he went up to Jerusalem, he would be bound and have tribulation. Although he knew that there would be so many difficult and difficult things on his way up to Jerusalem through the Holy Spirit, Paul said in verse 24, “I was about to finish my course and the mission I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace does not regard even my life as precious in the slightest.'
The most respected warriors of the Japanese are Tasho Nogi, the hero of the Russo-Japanese War, and Captain Nogi. The Japanese call Captain Nogi the last samurai. This is because, on the day of the death of the then-emperor, Emperor Meiji, he and his wife committed suicide together. Captain Nogi led the Russo-Japanese War to victory. However, more than 30,000 troops were killed.
On the day he reported the victory to the emperor, Captain Nogi shed tears at the responsibility of losing many soldiers. Emperor Meiji, realizing that the tears of anger were a decision to commit suicide by slaughter, strictly ordered it. ‘You must not take your life as long as I am alive.’ Captain Nogi was eventually alive, and when the emperor died, the meaning of his life was lost, so he committed suicide by breaking. It is a story that makes you think once again about your loyalty to the master you served, leaving behind the mistakes of his death.
Even among the people of the world, the loyal ones were happy to give their hearts and obey the will of those who served as masters. Believing in Jesus is a confession that we will live with Jesus as the Lord of our lives. Paul says that he can give his life for the kingdom of God and for Jesus who led him on that path.
Not everyone who believes in Jesus can become a pastor. Not everyone can be a missionary. However, everyone can hope for the kingdom of God in their lives and become children of God who testify of that kingdom. No matter how little or how much we have, we can discover and dedicate ourselves to the flame of the gospel that has burned our hearts for the Kingdom of God.
As we live as God's people at home, at work, in the church, and in our neighbors with the talents and strength that we have in God, we can live a life of faith with the joy and emotion of our hearts beating. When you have a beating heart in Jesus, you will be full of happiness as a person of faith. When you live a life of faith devoted to Jesus and the kingdom of God, you will live a life of true peace and reward that people of faith enjoy there. In the name of the Lord, I earnestly pray that the blessings of leading your home, work, and church life with the thrill and joy of beating your heart in the Lord be filled with all the saints.