Spiritual Advantage with Sam Stone

I’m sure you have heard the saying,
“If Satan cannot make you bad, he will make you busy!”
I used to take it lightly because I thought it was just a cute little joke. After years of observing busy people and personal experience, I discovered that saying is profoundly true. The truth is that busyness can be as bad as bad. Busyness can be a distraction from what matters most and our higher calling.
Bad people are likelier to hit a wall one day, wake up, repent, and change. But busy people are less likely to wake up because they think they are busy doing important things, so they don’t see the need to change. Maybe that’s why God hates lukewarmness. Lukewarmness is not bad—not cold, but not good enough—not hot enough.
When you ask people, “How are you doing?” They used to answer, “I’m fine.” But nowadays, more people like to answer, “I’m busy!” It makes them sound important and productive. However, busyness is not productivity. In fact, busyness could be an obstacle to real productivity that fulfills our calling.
A horrible war broke out between Israel and Palestine this week. I think wars are the ultimate example of busyness. What’s more important than defending your country? Laozi said,
“When the world lacks the Tao,Warhorses give birth on the battlefield.” ~Laozi
With a simple sentence, the sage describes the horror of war. Imagine pregnant mares are taken to fight the battle and have to give birth on the battlefield. Animals cannot talk, but reasonable people can feel their pain. He pinpointed the cause for war—the lack of the Tao.
What is the Tao? The Tao in Chinese means “the Word” or “the Logos.” So, the Chinese translation of the Gospel of John says,
“In the beginning was the Tao, and the Tao was with God, and the Tao was God.” (Jn 1:1).
In other words, Laozi was saying that horrible wars break out when people don’t have God. Being religious doesn’t necessarily mean they have God. Jesus dealt with many religious people who didn’t have God. He was eventually crucified by religious leaders. So, religious people are not equivalent to godly people. John said later in verse 14.
“And the Tao became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” (Jn 1:14).
That means Jesus Christ is the Tao in human form, who reveals God as full of grace and truth. There is no grace in a war. So, there is no God in a war. Wars don’t resolve the root of the problem. It will make us busy and distract us from solving the root of the problem. War is a shortcut that masks the symptoms but doesn’t cure the disease. The disease is,
“When the world lacks the Tao (or God),Warhorses give birth on the battlefield.” ~Laozi
What a busy scene in a sentence! If Satan cannot make you bad, he will make you busy! Busyness blinds us from seeing God and makes us resolve to violence and warfare because we think we are important. By busyness, I am also talking about mental busyness. I have ADHD. H is for Hyperactivity. While I don’t appear hyperactive physically, I am hyperactive in my mind. My mind is always busy.
So, this topic is not only for those who are physically busy but also mentally or emotionally busy. Jesus came to open our eyes to God’s grace, teaching us how to relax and be immensely fruitful by fulfilling our higher calling.
So, today, we will look at the danger of busyness that blinds us from fulfilling the divine calling based on this week’s scripture lesson. Let’s begin!

Legend has it that the vast battleship, USS Montana, was sailing in the Atlantic Ocean at night. The captain suddenly saw a blinking light on its path. Assuming it was another ship, he sent out a Morse code with the light from the battleship, signaling, “Starboard, starboard, 20 degrees north,” asking the other vessel to turn away to avoid a collision.
However, the light on the other end did not comply but responded with a similar signal, “Starboard, starboard; you must turn 20 degrees south to avoid a collision.” The captain was furious at the response, so he sent another signal saying, “Listen, I am the mighty USS Montana, the battleship. You must move out of my way.”
The light on the other end replied, “I am the lighthouse!” (End of the Story).
There are many lighthouses around the world guiding ships to avoid dangerous territories. In the same way, there are guiding principles in life that we must follow to live a good life. The lighthouses are lifesavers, not our enemies. However, some people ignore the lighthouses to their own detriment.
Jesus uses a different metaphor. He compares himself to the cornerstone. He says,
“The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” (Mt 21:44).
He is saying ignore him at your own risk. We cannot destroy a lighthouse or cornerstone by crashing against it. We can only crush ourselves by ignoring it. Of course, Jesus does not want to see us destroyed. He said he came so that we may have life and have it abundantly.
He has given us some important life principles to live an abundant life. One of them is to recognize that life is borrowed, not owned. If we can maintain that attitude, we will live a joyful life. We don’t possess our life; it is a rental unit. We must pay rent, but it is worth it.
For some people, it might be hard to accept the paradigm that life is borrowed but not owned. But this paradigm shift is so important that it is like the light from the lighthouse or the cornerstone upon which to build our lives. It will make your life much happier if you adopt this guiding principle.
Today, we will explore Jesus’ teaching from this week’s scripture lesson about the truth that life is borrowed, not owned, and how this attitude can help us live an abundant life free from stress and anxiety but filled with purpose and meaning. Let’s begin!

A less retold story about Jesus is when he cursed a fig tree for not bearing fruit. Jesus had arrived in Jerusalem riding a donkey. He visited the temple and drove off the merchants and money changers, accusing them of turning the house of prayer into a den of thieves. Then, he spent a night outside of the city.
The next morning, he returned to the city, and on his way, he felt hungry. He passed by a fig tree and looked for fruit to eat, but he found no fruit at all. He was more than disappointed. As we know, Jesus hates fruitlessness. The Bible says,
Then he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. (Mt 21:19b).
This is an opposite version of a miracle. Jesus’ miracle usually restores health or life, but this is the reverse. It killed a life. The disciples were impressed to see the tree withered in front of their eyes and asked how it happened.
Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.” (Mt 21:21–22).
This brief moment with the fig tree precedes a profound teaching at the temple a moment later. There are three important messages revealed here.
First, Jesus hates fruitlessness. The fig tree was supposed to bear fruit according to its season. The fact that Jesus looked for its fruit means it was time for it to bear fruit. Jesus had told another parable about a fruitless fig tree in a vineyard, which the owner ordered the gardener to cut down for not bearing fruit.
The second important message is about Jesus’ authority. When he cursed the tree, it withered. It shows nature is under his authority. That is profound! That means He did not need to come to earth to save humanity. Since humans did not bear fruit as they were supposed to, he could just scrap the earth and start over, like he did with Noah’s time. But God promised Noah never to do it again.
Still, the crucial point here is that he had the authority to curse the world to death like that fig tree and recreate a new world. But he did not, keeping his promise to Noah, and now he came to save humanity through grace. Remember, we live and survive due to Jesus’ grace. He expects us to grace it forward, as we mentioned last week.
The third important message is that this authority has been given to the believers. He said, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.” This is huge!
Most people interpret this passage as a matter of faith. When you put it in context, it’s not about empty faith but faith that bears fruit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Faith without fruit is futile. Jesus emphasized this point repeatedly on many occasions.
We can talk about faith all day, but if we don’t have fruit to prove it, we are just like that fig tree, which contributes nothing to society. Jesus’ brother James said, “Faith without work is dead.” He said,
“For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.” (Jas 2:26).
He said faith without work is just like the body without the spirit—a zombie. Faith is futile without fruit.
Jesus nailed this point in this week’s scripture lesson. After studying this scripture lesson, you will never talk about faith without thinking about fruit. So, let’s begin!

One of the most fascinating stories ever told among engineers is about a transaction between Henry Ford and Charles Steinmetz. Steinmetz was a brilliant engineer born in Germany and escaped to the United States in 1888. General Electric discovered his talent and recruited him.
He was only four feet tall due to deformity, but people called him the “Little Giant” because of his outstanding inventions and scientific contributions to electrical engineering. He could listen to the sound of a complex machine and pinpoint the malfunctioning part. The story goes like this:
Henry Ford’s automobile manufacturing plant in Dearborn, Michigan, had a problem with its gigantic generator, but its engineers couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it. Henry Ford reached out to Charles Steinmetz at GE for help. Steinmetz came and asked for a notepad, a pen, and a cot to sleep on. He listened to the generator for two days and nights and scribbled computations on the notepad.
On the second night, he asked for a ladder, climbed up, made a chalk mark, and left a note asking the engineers to open the plate at the mark and replace sixteen windings from the field coil. They did, and the generator performed to perfection.
Henry Ford was thrilled because his factory could resume production and stop losing money. However, he was stunned when he received an invoice from GE for $10,000. You know, $10,000 in the early 1900s is a significant amount. I checked it out and found it could equal $500,000.
How could a simple chalk mark on the machine cost so much money? Ford admired Steinmetz’s talent but balked at the figure. He asked for an itemized bill.
Steinmetz itemized the bill the following:
Making chalk mark on generator: $1.
Knowing where to make the mark: $9,999.
Ford paid the bill. (End of the story.)
Even though $10,000 was significant, it’s nothing compared to the loss each day the factory was not running.
Would it be nice if someone could put the chalk mark in this broken world and show us exactly one thing we need to fix to restore a harmonious world? How about our own life? Would it be nice if someone could put a chalk mark on our life to show us one simple change we can make to make our life run smoothly?
The good news is that Jesus has put a chalk mark on our lives and shown us one thing we must change to find inner peace and joy. It’s a very simple change, but it may not be easy. Simple doesn’t mean easy, but it’s always good to know that we don’t have to make a complicated effort to find peace and joy.
Today, we will explore Jesus’ teaching of the top secret to inner peace and joy based on this week’s scripture lesson and discover how to live in heaven on earth. Let’s begin!

One of my psychology professors had an impressive skill in reading people. She could look at your face and determine what’s happening inside you. You might smile, but she knew you had hidden anger and bitterness. You might be funny, but she knew you had depression.
If you have seen the TV show “Lie To Me,” you know what I mean. She could read your mind through a twitch on your face and a twinkle in your eyes. You cannot lie to her. She also could ask you to draw a picture and interpret the state of your mind by looking at the picture you draw. She told me it took her over a decade of training to develop those skills.
Can you imagine talking to someone who can read your mind? It’s like standing naked in front of her. As you may guess, one day, during the class, she told me what I was struggling deep inside. I didn’t know I had that problem until she revealed it. The healing process began from there on.
Over the years, I have discovered that many people unknowingly carry a heavy burden in their hearts. Two of those heaviest burdens are guilt and grudges. It’s like carrying a sack of rotten potatoes wherever you go. Even though you don’t notice it, others can.
Let me tell you a story about the rotten potatoes.
One day, a sage gave his disciple an empty sack and a basket of potatoes and asked him to carve the names of the people he was angry with on each potato. He said,
“Think of all the people who have offended you, especially those you cannot forgive. Take one potato to represent each of them, carve their name on it, and put it in the sack.”
The disciple came up with a few names, and soon after, his sack was heavy with potatoes.
“Carry the sack with you wherever you go for seven days,” said the sage. “Then we shall meet again.”
At first, the disciple thought it was not a big deal. After some time, however, it became more of a burden. It seemed to require more effort as time passed, even though its weight remained the same.
After a few days, the sack began to smell; the carved potatoes gave off a ripe odor. Not only were they increasingly inconvenient to carry around, they were also becoming rather unpleasant.
He noticed he began to get used to the smell, but other people avoided him because he stunk.
Finally, the week was over, and the disciple went to the sage.
“Any thoughts about all this?” the sage asked.
“Yes, Sir,” the disciple replied. “When we are unable to forgive others, we carry negative feelings with us everywhere, much like these potatoes. That negativity becomes a burden to us and, after a while, it festers.”
“Yes, that is exactly what happens when you hold a grudge. So, how can you lighten the load?”
“I must strive to forgive.”
“Forgiving someone is the equivalent of removing the corresponding potato from the sack. How many of your transgressors are you able to forgive?”
“I’ve thought about it quite a bit,” the disciple said. “It required much effort, but I have decided to forgive all of them.”
(End of story.)
Forgiveness is easier said than done. Sometimes, we don’t even realize the grudges we are keeping, especially after years of carrying it on our backs. We might get used to it, but people around us can smell it, especially someone like my professor with decades of training.
We live in a fallen world and must deal with fallen people. You can never live a happy life if you don’t know how to forgive. If you want to travel light in your life journey, you must learn to keep the potatoes from weighing you down.
Jesus teaches his disciples to travel light by teaching them how to remove their grudges from their backs. Forgiveness is not easy, especially when someone hurt you deeply and left a permanent scar, but Jesus has taught us a secret to forgive everyone.
Forgiveness is a feature of social intelligence. It lightens the weight of your heart and allows you to be socially savvy—win friends and influence people. Most importantly, God promises to answer your prayers and accompany you when you maintain harmony with others.
There is a mystery about forgiveness. So, today, we will learn this vital teaching of Jesus Christ from this week’s scripture lesson. Let’s begin!

A man came to the village chief to complain about his brother, saying, “Chief, I am about to kill my brother because he has offended me seriously. I can’t tolerate him anymore. I know if I kill him, you will put me in prison. What should I do?”
The chief looked at him carefully to find out who this young man was, “Oh, I remember who you are. You are the young man who was almost killed by the wolf a while back. Am I right?” He said, “Yes.”
“Please tell me about the incident,” the chief asked. “Well, I returned to the village from work and discovered a vicious wolf followed me. So, I ran and quickly climbed up a tree. I had to stay up on the tree all night until the wolf eventually left in the morning.”
“Really?” the chief exclaimed, “What did you do to the wolf after that? Did you try to hunt for and kill it?” the chief asked. “No, I didn’t do anything. I’m just glad that it didn’t kill me.”
“Interesting,” the chief thought, “The wolf tried to kill you, but you don’t seem to be as angry as when your brother offended you.”
The man stayed silent for a moment and felt enlightened and left. (End of the story.)
That is another parable by Zhuagzi. The story doesn’t reveal the conclusion because it is for you to figure out the hidden wisdom. What would you do if you were in that situation?
The truth is sometimes we treat animals better than humans. We seem more patient with wild animals than our brothers and sisters, maybe because we expect more from humans.
The story stimulates a realization that we have better choices than revenge. With some effort, we can tame the wildest animals, even huge elephants. In the same way, with some social intelligence, God expects us to create harmony with fellow humans.
We live in a fallen world and must deal with fallen people. Human relationship is always messy. But God wants us to bring harmony out of the mess, just as God brought order from the chaos as described in Genesis. It’s called social intelligence or relational intelligence.
God created us in His image. When we bring order out of chaos, we exercise in God’s image and make God happy. The human mission is to create order out of chaos, and God promises to reward us abundantly when we attain and maintain harmony with one another. King David wrote:
See how good and pleasant it iswhen brothers and sisters live together in harmony! 
That is where the LORD promisedthe blessing of eternal life. (Ps 133:1,3b GW).
Jesus also said,
Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Mt 18:19–20).
That means if you can figure out how to live in harmony with fellow human beings, you will be blessed with a ticket to eternity, your prayers will be answered, and you will experience the presence of God. In other words, you will find fulfillment if you exercise social intelligence.
So, today, we will look at how to develop social intelligence through Jesus’ teaching based on this week’s scripture lesson. Let’s begin!

Zhuangzi, the great Taoist philosopher, woke up from a dream one day and felt confused because he dreamed of himself as a butterfly. The dream was so vivid that he felt realistically fluttering his wings, flying among flowers, plants, and trees, and enjoying the gentle touch of the evening breezes.
He felt unnatural to wake up as a human, wondering whether he was a butterfly dreaming of a human or a human dreaming of a butterfly. Zhuangzi told this experience to his students, asserting that he was unsure which one was real—whether he was a human or a butterfly.
What do you think? Sometimes we say, “Life is like a dream.” Is our life on earth just a dream? Will we all one day wake up to our reality? The French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said,
“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” ~Pierre Teilard de Chardin
If that is true, our human experience is just a dream. Like King Solomon said, “All is vanity.” If true, all the strife and bickering about life become meaningless. If you can attain that perspective, you will discover that most of life’s problems are but struggling against the storms in a teacup.
You are listening to this message because you believe life is more than a human experience. You feel there’s more to life than swimming in this little stormy teacup of this fallen world. That’s the story of Job. With all his suffering in the awful fate of his life, he was liberated at the end when he realized his experience was but a storm in a tiny teacup compared to God’s grand scheme of things.
We can strive for two things in this world—to maximize our human experience or to magnify our spiritual experience. However, there is a quantum paradox. Jesus said if we maximize our human life, we will lose it, but we will find it when we lose it for his sake. He said,
“For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” (Mt 16:25).
What does it mean? Putting it in the context of Jesus’ entire teaching, to lose your life for his sake means to seek the kingdom first. He said when you find the kingdom, everything else is given to you as well (Mt 6:33). You actually have both. Your spiritual enlightenment will enrich your human experience.
It’s simple but not easy. You still need to let go and let God. Letting go is the cross we must carry daily because, again, it’s simple but not easy. So, today, we will explore how to find life by losing it based on Jesus’ teaching in this week’s scripture lesson. Let’s begin!

There once was a group of three friends a Rabi, a Catholic Priest, and a Presbyterian Pastor. They gather together every Wednesday morning for breakfast and talks. One day as they were having breakfast, a huge fire broke out and engulfed the town. They all rush back to their houses of worship to grab the most important thing from the buildings.
The Roman Catholic church was the closest, so the priest got in first and came out carrying the crucifix with him. As he ran away from the fire, he stopped by the synagogue to see if the Rabi was fine. When he arrived, he saw the rabbi running out carrying a giant menorah with him.
Further down on their way was the Presbyterian Church, and the two friends stopped by the church to see if the pastor had saved what was essential for him. The church was engulfed in flames, but the pastor still hadn’t left the building. They began to worry and wondered what was taking him so long.
After a while, they saw the pastor’s back backing up toward the door pulling something heavy with him. When he came out, they discovered he was pulling the copier—the Xerox machine—with him. (End of story).
This story makes me think about the most important thing for me. What would you carry out if our lives were on fire and we had time to save one thing with you? Or, if a war broke out and we had time to grab only one thing before escaping, what would you take with you?
Each of us has different things that we deem most important. What’s the item in your life you treasure most, something that you will give up everything else to get or keep?