Spiritual Advantage with Sam Stone

An elementary school teacher distributed sheets of plain paper and colored crayons to her class, asking the children to draw whatever they wanted. Knowing children are creative, she was curious about what they would draw.
She approached a little girl and asked, “What are you drawing?” “A picture of God,” she said. “Oh, no. You can’t draw a picture of God.” She asked, “Why?” “Because no one has ever seen God, and no one knows what God looks like.”
The little girl replied matter-of-factly, “Well, they WILL know what God looks like after I finish.” (End of story.)
At a glance, we think children are funny, naive, and ignorant. However, have you ever wondered if the other way around may be more accurate? Children may be much closer to God than adults are.
Some might think it’s because they have been taught about God, but evidence shows that even children born of atheist parents have some knowledge of God.
The child prodigy Akiane Kramarik is a good example. I know many of you have heard about her in the news.
If children don’t have the innate capacity to know God, they won’t understand even if you teach them about God. Sunday School teachers would be frustrated.
It seems we lose that spiritual acuity as we grow up. It reminds me of Thomas Hood’s famous poem, “I Remember, I Remember.” The last stanza speaks to me profoundly,
I remember, I remember,The fir trees dark and high;I used to think their slender topsWere close against the sky:It was a childish ignorance,But now ’tis little joyTo know I’m farther off from heav’nThan when I was a boy.
(Thomas Hood, I Remember, I Remember).
Maybe Thomas Hood is right; the older we grow, the further we are from heaven. We all want to grow up and become more mature, but in the process, we lose what matters most—our keenness to God.
The question is, can we rekindle that capacity to know God? What does it take to see God again? Jesus says,
“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 18:3).
He says you must “change” and “become.” Isn’t it ironic that after all these years on earth striving to become adults, Jesus wants us to turn around and become children?
The outcome is entering the kingdom of heaven, the place of ultimate joy and happiness. If becoming children is what it takes to enter the kingdom of heaven and see the face of God, I believe it’s worth it.
Today is the last day of 2023 and also the last Sunday of the year. Most of you may already have your New Year’s resolution. As for me, I resolve to become like children. Would you join me?
We don’t know what 2024 will bring. It’s a critical year. Do you know that 64 countries worldwide will have elections in 2024, including the United States, Taiwan, Russia, and the European Union? Half of the world population will head to the polls in 2024.
There’s a lot of uncertainty ahead of us, but there’s one certainty that we all know. As Paul said,
“If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Ro 8:31b).
2024 is uncharted water, and the world will be confused by the storms of news that constantly preach uncertainty. But nothing can confuse us if we walk closely with God, the Rock of Ages.
So, today, we will explore how wise people see God in times of chaos based on Jesus’ baby dedication ceremony and learn how to see the presence of God ourselves. Let’s begin!

Last week, I talked about how ultimate happiness comes from meaning. If you find meaning in life, you have happiness. The meaning of life comes from usefulness. So, when you make yourself useful, you find life meaningful, and you harvest the fruit of joy and happiness.
Some of us may be thinking, “I’m getting old and useless.” It’s not true. Usefulness can be both active and passive. If you are young and strong, you can be actively useful. If you are old and feeble, you can be passively useful—such as praying frequently for the church, family, community, and the world. The power of prayer is highly underrated.
So, don’t be discouraged by diminishing physical ability. There are many creative ways to serve.
A more important question is, who would you rather serve? It reminds me of a thought-provoking story told by Zhuangzi, the great philosopher.
Zhuangzi and his disciples traveled through a forested hill and passed by a huge tree. He was surprised to see the loggers ignore such a majestic tree. So, he asked a logger why they did not cut this beefy tree down and made a lot of money. They told him that the tree was useless. You couldn’t make anything out of it. No carpenter or builder would buy it.
Zhuangzi remarked to his students, “This is the value of uselessness. People only understand the value of usefulness but not the value of uselessness. See, just because it’s useless, this tree gets to live to the full extent of its life.” His disciples took note of that observation.
They stopped to visit a friend on the other side of the hill. As a lifelong admirer, the host family welcomed the sage warmly and enthusiastically asked them to stay for dinner. Immediately, the host asked the servant boy to kill a goose to treat the guests.
The boy asked, “Sir, which one should I kill—the one that honks or doesn’t.” (In case you don’t know, just like dogs, house geese can guard the property by honking when strangers or thieves approach. Like dogs, they even attack suspicious strangers.) The host said, “Kill the one that doesn’t honk.”
The smart students of Zhuangzi heard it and noticed it contradicted what their master had taught them on the way. The next day, the disciples challenged their master, “Master, you told us back on the hill that the tree gets to live long because it’s useless, but why then did the useless goose get killed?”
Zhuangzi said he didn’t say uselessness is always good. You need to know the situation. There are times you better be useless and times you better be useful. Then, he gave them a long lecture on knowing when, where, and how to be useful and useless and, most importantly, how to be useful for a higher purpose.
This story stimulates a self-searching on who you want to be useful to. Do you want to be a useful employee to be exploited by a cunning company—like a useful tree getting chopped off by the loggers? Or do you want to be a good steward, guarding a good owner’s property like the honking goose? Who do you want to serve?
When our son asked me what I thought about him joining the army years ago, I told him if you wanted to be a soldier, it would be a great honor to serve a country like the U.S.
On the contrary, you would rather be useless if you live in a totalitarian nation that goes to war for vanity, exploiting its soldiers. We have two major wars going on right now. If you were in any of those countries, would you rather be useful or useless?
We are born to be useful. When we are young, we seek to be useful to our parents, siblings, friends, and teachers. As we grow older, we seek to be useful to society by pursuing a meaningful career. As we grow more mature, we want to be useful for a greater purpose, such as to be useful to God and fulfill a divine dream, because that gives us the ultimate joy and happiness.
Confucious said people discover their divine purpose when they are 50. I think it’s sad that we have to live half of our lives before we discover our divine purpose.
But there are instances in the Bible where people discovered their calling when they were young. For example, Joseph in the Old Testament knew his divine dream since he was seventeen. Mary received her divine calling when she was only about fifteen. Jesus wants us to seek our divine purpose as our top priority. He said,
“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Mt 6:33).
Everything falls together when you do this one thing. If being useful to God gives you the greatest meaning and highest joy in life, how do we become useful to God?
Since it’s Advent season, we can explore this question by looking at Mary, who made herself available to God to carry “God in human form” to earth as a baby and accompany him all the way to the cross and become the greatest woman in human history. So, let’s begin!

One of my ulterior motives to leave home and travel across the world to America was to find the meaning of life. Growing up, I was not satisfied with life. Later, I discovered I was not alone. Every teenager and young adult has an innate desire to figure out the meaning of life. Everyone has a hero’s journey. Some people discover their destiny sooner, but others take a lifetime.
In his book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” Viktor Frankl discourages people from pursuing happiness, but if you pursue the meaning and purpose of life, you will find happiness. I would argue that if happiness is the ultimate outcome of meaning, then the pursuit of meaning is equivalent to the pursuit of happiness. However, knowing that the pursuit of meaning is the path to happiness is helpful.
What’s the meaning of life, then? Initially, the meaning of life comes from usefulness. The Burmese describe an unuseful person as someone who “consumes rice and cumbers earth.” ဆန်ကုန်မြေလေး (San Gong Myay Lay). It means a person who knows only about eating and pooping is useless to society. To be called a person who “consumes rice and cumbers earth” is probably the biggest insult in the Burmese language.  
We notice even children want to be useful. They want to help their parents, siblings, friends, and teachers. They feel proud each time they find themselves useful. As we grow up, we want to be more useful. Some want to become doctors because helping people to stay healthy is the most meaningful profession. Some become teachers to develop leaders for the future. Some want to be firefighters to save lives.
As we grow mature, our search for meaning becomes deeper. We begin to question our destiny. Why am I here on earth? Is there a divine purpose? Is there more to life than what we have achieved trying to achieve? Is there more to life than accumulating possessions, pleasure, power, and prestige? Jesus said,
“For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?” (Mk 8:36).
That’s a good question. Are we climbing a ladder only when we get to the top to discover it’s leaning against the wrong wall? Maybe we should lean the ladder against the right wall before it’s too late.
Dr. Edwin Friedman said the meaning of life comes from knowing what you want to die for. If you know what you want to die for, you know what to live for.
In fact, from the moment we are born, we are headed to the grave. As Benjamin Franklin said, there are only two certainties in life, “death and taxes.” Since we know we are dying for sure, why don’t we die meaningfully? That is our destiny. In fact, our destiny is predestined from the foundation of the earth.
John the Baptist is one of those who is clear about his destiny and is willing to risk his life to fulfill it. Jesus’ disciples also discovered their destiny and gave their lives for it.
So, today, we will explore the meaning of life by studying the life and mission of John the Baptist. Let’s begin!

There was a thief who accepted Jesus Christ, received baptism, and began his new life as a Christian. A couple of months later, he came to the pastor, asking, “Pastor, I stole again. You said a man in Christ is a new creation; the old is gone, and the new has begun. But why did I steal again? Am I not a new creation? What’s wrong with me?”
The pastor asked, “How did you feel when you stole in the past before you became a Christian?” The man said, “I felt great. It’s like an achievement. The more difficult the heist, the more excitement I got. The greater the value, the higher the thrill.”
The pastor asked, “How did you feel when you stole this time?” He said, “I felt terrible. I feel extremely guilty. That’s why I came to ask you for help.”
“Well, isn’t that the sign that you are a new creation? You used to be proud of stealing, but now you feel uncomfortable doing it. From now on, you just need to listen to that nudge to actualize your new life,” the pastor concluded.
This story may sound simplistic, but it’s a succinct allegory of sanctification. It can apply to many areas of life. Your old habits, whatever they may be, no longer fit your new life. His conscience is reborn and being refined. God is pruning him to become fruitful. The change may not be overnight, but it has surely begun.
There are three stages of salvation: Justification, sanctification, and Glorification. Justification is when you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and receive baptism as your public declaration of your repentance. Repentance (μετανοέω) in Greek means “changing of mind.”
Unfortunately, many Christians stop there. They had a change of mind (repentance) and received the baptism but didn’t progress to the next stage of sanctification. It’s like a baby that never matures after birth. It’s like a tree that never becomes fruitful. They stop at justification but miss sanctification. That’s why John the Baptist said,
“Bear fruit worthy of repentance.” (Mt 3:8).
Sanctification is the process of becoming fruitful. The word “sanctification” came from the Latin “sanctus,” meaning being set apart, becoming holy, or becoming a saint.
However, sanctification is not an attainment but a surrender. You don’t ascend to holiness but descend to holiness. You do not strive for sanctification but allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify you from the inside out. You just need to “let go and let God prune you to bear more fruit. That’s a profound process of baptism of the Holy Spirit.
There are two baptisms: by water and by the Holy Spirit. Maybe that’s why Jesus never baptized people with water because his specific job is to baptize people in the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist says,
“I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mk 1:8).
The baptism in the Holy Spirit is sanctification, making you become a saint.
The thief in the story is being sanctified. That’s why he begins to feel stealing disgusting. He no longer belongs to that old sinful behavior. That’s a sign of immersion in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is demanding holiness from him from the inside out.
The outcome is a fruitful life filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It’s a dream life we all long for from deep inside.
So, today, we will explore the baptism of the Holy Spirit based on this week’s scripture lesson. Let’s begin!

The book of Zhuagzi, the great Daoist philosopher, begins with a mind-blowing allegory about a fish named “Kun” which is thousands of miles in width and lenght. Yes, you heard me right. He sayid that the body of the Kun fish is thousands of miles long.
What’s more incredible is that this fish suddenly turns into a bird named Peng. With a flap of his wings, he rises up to 3,000 miles above the ocean. Then, riding a whirlwind, he ascends to 90,000 miles above. Its wing span is thousands of miles wide. When it flies, it covers the sky.
The Peng bird travels to the southern darkness known as the Pool of Heaven. It flies without resting for six months.
Seeing the Peng bird in the sky, a cicada makes fun of it by telling a pigeon, “Each time I try to fly up an elm tree, I fall back to the ground. What chance does that bird fly up to 90,000 miles high? Ridiculous!”
A quail also laughs at the Peng bird, “Hey, where are you traveling to? I can hardly leap up to a few feet. What’s the point of flying up to 90,000 miles high? Meaningless!”
However, the Peng bird at 90,000 miles up there doesn’t react to the ridicule of those small creatures. He enjoys the breathtaking vision of the earth’s grandeur from up high. The noises down there don’t bother him at all.
This book was written by Zhuangzi over two thousand years ago. So, it was before Christ. The entire book is filled with profound parables and rich imagination. I encourage everyone to read it.
The question is, what does this story mean? According to some scholars, the Kun fish (鯤: 魚子也) is actually a tiny fish or baby fish. The author is describing the size of its mental capacity or spiritual maturity. It means this fish is physically tiny but spiritually vast.
Its ambition is to fly to the Pool of Heaven, meaning its vision is the kingdom of God. Since it seeks first the kingdom of God, the criticisms, ridicules, and condemnations of other creatures don’t bother him.
Allegorically, this fish represents spiritual seekers like us. Our vision is eternal life, and our destination is the kingdom of God. The cicadas, the quails, and other creatures don’t understand us. They often ridicule us for believing in God, reading the Bible, and singing hymns.
Like the Peng bird, flying 90,000 miles above, we see what God sees. So, we don’t care what those small creatures are chattering about. They are making fun of what they don’t understand. But if we pay attention to the naysayers, we will become one of them and lose our pursuit of the kingdom.
Let’s look at a real-life example. When Elon Musk was building Tesla, initially, I thought he was crazy because I was like one of those cicadas and quails who believed he would fail, but I was wrong. Then he went on to do other things even crazier, building Space X, Neuralink, Boring Company, etc., flying higher and higher.
Observing him, I discovered that the higher he climbed, the nosier the small creatures became. He got ridiculed, criticized, and slandered for trying to fulfill his vision that those with arrogant small minds could not comprehend. As you hear in the news, those who don’t see what he sees mock him constantly like those noisy cicadas. That’s an excellent contemporary allegory.
For us Christians, on our journey to the kingdom of heaven, we see what God sees. We are like the Peng bird flying at 90,000 miles above the sea and look ridiculous to those who don’t see what we see. Sometimes, we do feel the noisy cicadas to be annoying.
Jesus says his followers will encounter misunderstanding, ridicule, and even persecution by worldly-minded people. Paul said,
Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Co 2:14).
He says our discernment is foolishness to the unspiritual because they don’t have the gifts of God’s Spirit, so they can’t comprehend what we see. Then Paul said,
Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny. “For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Co 2:15–16).
We have the mind of Christ to discern all things. That’s an incredible gift. We must treasure that. We should not be bothered by those who don’t have the mind of Christ. They are just noises.
Jesus wants us to “keep awake,” meaning not to let those noises take away what we see. The word “keep awake” is translated from Greek “ἄγρυπνος (ágrupnos), which also means “to be watchful.” To keep awake is stewardship of vision or discernment. Don’t let the noisy cicadas blind us.
Do you see what God sees? It’s essential to see what God sees at trying times like this, or you can be swallowed alive by the noises of the fallen world. So, today, we will explore Jesus’ teaching from this week’s scripture lesson to discover what Jesus wants us to see at these end times. Let’s begin!

My grandma told me many puzzling Taoist stories when I was young; some of them took me a lifetime to understand. Here’s one of them.
A man from a small village took his handicrafts to sell in a distant town, passing a deep forest. A few days later, he returned home with a sack of treasures on his shoulder. Surprised, The family asked how he got so rich selling his crafts. He said that a tiger he saved gave those treasures to him.
He said he passed by a cave in the forest on his way back and heard someone groaning. He went inside the cave to check and saw a dying tiger with a big infected wound on his arm. He knew the tiger wouldn’t live without intervention.
Out of pity, he took out his first aid kit, treated the wound with the medicine he traveled with, and bandaged it carefully. The tiger was shaking with fever and pain, so he put his blanket on the tiger and slept in that cave, accompanying the tiger for the night.
The next day, the tiger recovered and thanked him by giving him a sack of treasures to take home. “That’s how I got these treasures,” he concluded.
His brother asked him about the location of the cave, and the next day, he went into the forest and looked for the cave. To his surprise, he heard a tiger groaning inside a cave. He was afraid to go in, unsure whether the tiger would harm him. But, remembering the treasures he could get, he went in cautiously.
Just as his brother said, he saw a wounded tiger. But the wound smelled so disgusting that he almost threw up. However, considering the reward, he reluctantly treated the tiger and stayed in the smelly cave for the night.
The next day, the tiger woke up, grabbed him, and ate him. (End of the story.)
As a child, I vaguely understood the meaning of this allegory. Both brothers saved the tiger’s life, but why did the tiger reward one brother and punish the other? The ancient people may not have known God, but they had discovered nature rewards sincere love.
The first brother’s love was transformational, but the second was transactional. One is unpretentious, but the other is pretentious. One serves without a motive, but the other has a motive. Most importantly, one’s love is unconscious, but the other is conscious. Only the unconscious love is the ultimate love. Confucious said,
“When one does evil deeds and fears recognition,   there’s a good seed in their evil heart.   When one does good deeds and desires recognition,   there’s an evil root in their good heart.” ~Confucius
Pharisees loved to do good deeds in front of people to show off their piety. Jesus repeatedly warned us against showing off our good deeds. Jesus doesn’t even want our left hand to know the charity done with our right hand. He said,
“But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Mt 6:3–4).
Can you do that? It means you make a charitable contribution without a motive. The information from your right hand doesn’t even reach your brain to pass down to the left hand. That means you don’t dwell on your good deed, not even for a split second. It’s a sign of genuine love. Love doesn’t count the good deeds because it’s reflexive.
That’s how Jesus loves us. When he was hanging on the cross, he didn’t say see what I have done for you. Instead, he asked God to forgive us. Jesus’ love is pure, unconscious, and reflexive. That’s the ultimate love. There are four levels of love:
Unconscious hatred
Conscious hatred
Conscious love
Unconscious love
Some people have hatred without knowing. That’s the worst state of love. Some people reach the next level and become conscious of their evil. That’s better than unconscious hatred. Then, they consciously try to love. That’s good, but still not good enough. Then, through the power of the Holy Spirit, you become able to love unconsciously. When love becomes a reflex, you have the ultimate love.
Most importantly, Jesus said the single criterion of the final judgment is unconscious love. The only qualification for you to go to heaven is reflexive love—the kind of love that you do without doing.
Today, we will look at the scene of the final judgment as Jesus depicts it. You will find out it’s both simple and profound. In other words, Jesus reveals the question of our final exam. Will you pass the exam? Let’s find out!

There’s a couple living in Phoenix, AZ. The husband calls his son in New York City the day before Thanksgiving and says, “I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough.”
“Pop, what are you talking about?” the son screams. “Well, we can’t stand the sight of each other any longer,” the father says. “We’re sick of each other, and I’m sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her.”
Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. “Like heck, they’re getting divorced?” she shouts, “No, I’ll take care of this!”
She calls Phoenix immediately and screams at her father, “You are NOT getting divorced. Don’t do a single thing until I get there. I’m calling my brother back, and we’ll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don’t do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?” and hangs up.
The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. “Okay, darling,” he says, “they’re coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own way.”
---
You’ve learned a trick to get your family together for Thanksgiving. Are you ready for your Thanksgiving? As for me, Sophie and I have officially become empty-nesters this year since our youngest has graduated and found a job away from home. Thanksgiving gatherings have become less convenient as our three children live in three different states.
How about you? Are all your children coming home to celebrate? I hope so. A friend told me yesterday that they were expecting fifty family members this Thanksgiving. That’s becoming rare nowadays.
What do you do during Thanksgiving other than eating and shopping? What do you give thanks to? Some families have a tradition of going around the table with each person, sharing what they are thankful for. I thank for my mom; I thank for my home; I thank for my car; I thank for my jobs, etc.
I wonder why not many people talk about thanking God for God. It seems God is worthy of giving thanks only for the good things we get from God. Can we thank God for unanswered prayers? Can we thank God for just being God?
Some people cannot thank God for God because they have become cynical. If there’s a God, why is there so much suffering on earth? Why are there wars, injustice, and disasters around the world? Why do bad things happen to good people? Etc.
Can we believe that God is all good and evil happens apart from God? The truth is God is all good. Realizing God is all good can make a significant difference in your life. You will discover an attitude of gratitude beyond words. You will want to thank God for God, not just for what God has given you. Your life will be more fruitful as a result.
We will explore this subject based on Jesus’ Parable of the Talents, one of the last parables he told before he went to the cross. This parable is important because it teaches us how to cultivate a fruitful life through the attitude of gratitude. Let’s begin!

When I was in college in Mandalay, I gathered with a group of friends for tea and breakfast every Saturday morning. One of them had a motorcycle, and one day, he was hit by a car when riding his bike.
However, he still showed up on the following Saturday for breakfast with bandages around his head and arms. He said, “When I was hit, I thought I would die. My motorcycle was completely crushed under the car.” He described the accident vividly to us.
Then he said, “I wish I died because I have been a good boy all these days. If I died in that accident, I know I would go straight to heaven. That was the perfect moment. But now I have to continue to be good. I don’t know when I might stumble. It’s not easy to be good all the time. You know!”
Of course, he was half joking, but it gave us some food for thought. Do we really go to heaven if we die when we are being good? Can we really maintain our goodness all the time in order to go to heaven? Is it possible at all since humans are sinners?
As Christians, we know we are saved by grace, not by work. However, repeatedly in the Bible, we read Jesus said he expects to see our good work when he returns. Jesus died for us on the cross to redeem us from our sins. If we have to depend on our own goodness to be saved, then why would Jesus need to die for us?
Believers have been debating on this subject for two thousand years. Some early Christians thought they could go wild and live promiscuously since Jesus had already paid for the price of their sins. Peter, Paul, and other disciples had to write letters to those Christians to watch their behavior. For example, Paul said,
“What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!” (Ro 6:15).
Under the law, we pay the price for our sins. Paul was not talking about the civil law but the law of God, such as the Ten Commandments. However, because of what Jesus has done for us, we no longer live under the law but under God’s grace. That doesn’t mean we are freed to live a sinful life, assuming we are forgiven by grace.
Paul said that to sin is to be a slave to sin. Now, since we are no longer slaves to sin but slaves to God, we should behave like God, living in righteousness. Paul said,
“But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life.” (Ro 6:22).
Sanctification, in a nutshell, means becoming a saint. It’s a process of becoming righteous and holy. It doesn’t mean every Christian can become purely righteous and holy, but being in the process itself is a sign that you are heading to eternal life. How do you know you are in the process of sanctification? You would feel repulsive at sin, to start with. Paul then said,
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ro 6:23).
Notice it says “free gift.” If it is a free gift, why must we work for it? Every promise of God comes with a premise. To live wisely, we must understand both the promises and premises.
Today, we will gain this wisdom through Jesus’ Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids.
One of the most important questions in life is, “If I died today, would I go to heaven?” If you can answer “Yes!” confidently, you have a joyful life. Great sages say, “You are not ready to live until you are ready to die.” If you want happiness, you must first solve the death problem and make sure you have a free ticket to eternal life. Let’s begin!