THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

When our daughter asked us, how Santy and I wished to be addressed as by our newly born grandchild, we replied, “Grandpa and grandma.” We figured since we lived in the US, we should adopt the American way of calling relatives. We also assumed it’d be a lot easier for him to call us grandpa and grandma, rather than kung and pho. After all the spoken language at his home is English.

Well, we thought wrong. No matter how hard and how often we tried, we couldn’t succeed in teaching him to call us grandpa and grandma. But, the moment our daughter taught him to call us kung-kung and pho-pho, in no time, he began calling us kung-kung and pho! What can I say, his Asian heritage is much stronger than his American upbringing! Kung-pao chicken over fried chicken!

Certain things are hard to change, especially things we learned when we were little. Psychologists have known this for a long time. That’s why much emphasis on learning and character development is given to children at young age. But, there is actually something else that’s harder to change: our inborn nature. The Bible calls it, sinful nature. We don’t need a teacher or a manual to develop skewed characters. Somehow these are readily available.

It doesn’t matter how long we have been a Christian, we remain as vulnerable to committing sin as we were when we first became a Christian. God has known this for a long time. That’s why He never stops reminding us to hear and to heed His Word. His Word doesn’t necessarily eliminate the urge, much less the temptation to sin, but for sure His Word serves as warning sign and give us the strength to resist both the temptation and the urge to sin. So, come to Him and read and meditate on His Word. Without it, we’d be lost.

Pastor Paul