What's the Catch?

“Good afternoon, sir!  Would you like a free can of soda or bottle of water?”

The young man looked at me incredulously as I waved at him, standing beside a large cooler with a can of soda in my hand.

“What?  You’re giving it out for free?  What’s the catch?”

“Oh, no catch at all.  It’s a hot summer afternoon, and some of us at our church just want to show God’s love by giving out cold drinks.  Would you like one?”

The man wasn’t too easily convinced, but he eventually walked off with a can of soda, a little confused, and surprised that I didn’t try to talk to him about Jesus or ask for money.

This happened many years ago during the summer, when I attended a church retreat near San Diego, California.  The speaker exhorted us to show love and compassion for our community through service, and as an exercise, he led us to a busy shopping center, with cold drinks in tow, ready to be given out to thirsty shoppers.  The beverage containers were attached with small tags written with Bible verses and words of blessing, but we were informed to simply give the drinks away, without any condition.  Some of the shoppers happily took the drinks, but many others were much more skeptical, and a few even insisted in giving us tips or donations, which we politely declined.  We couldn’t possibly be just giving the drinks away, right?

We have long been taught to believe the expression, “there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch”.  In other words, what seems free often has a cost attached to it.  This is often true in science (as in the laws of thermodynamics), in business, and in relationships.  I recently visited the local Dunkin’ Donuts store on National Donut Day (yes, there is a story behind this, celebrated on the first Friday of June in the United States), to see whether the store was giving away free donuts.  I came out with my free donut, but the donut was only free if I purchased a beverage, a cup of coffee that cost me $2.50.  Dunkin’ Donuts was going to get my money, one way or another.

This notion of “no free lunch” is often seen in our views of religion as well.  Many of us believe that in order to go to Heaven, we need to be good, and do good things.  We need to go to church, put money in the offering plate, not say bad words, and be nice to others, otherwise God will be unhappy with us and will send us to Hell.  However, while it is true that Christians indeed do all these things, eternal life in Heaven is actually free:

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 6:23)

Going to church cannot save us, and doing good works won’t get us into Heaven.  Eternal life is a free gift – only God can give it, and we are asked to receive it.  Changes that happen to those of us who believe in Jesus is the consequence of our belief, not the condition for our faith.  We give in joy and in obedience because we have received first.  This gift of God is free, but it is not cheap.  Jesus already paid the price for it with His blood.

Squiggly Image

"Oh, this one's going to be hard..."

Years ago, my family was playing a game of Pictionary with some friends from church, and it was my son Christopher's turn to do the drawing.  Pictionary is a guessing game that is similar to charades, where one person draws pictures to provide clues to a secret word or phrase that others must guess correctly as quickly as possible.  As an example, if the word is "chicken", the person who knows the word will try to draw a chicken, while the others blurt out what they think is being drawn until someone says "chicken!".  Sometimes the word or phrase is easy (most people know how to draw a chicken), but others can be practically impossible, and requires all the creativity and imagination that one can muster.  It appeared that my son would have to pull out some trick out of his sleeves for this one.

Tension filled the air as the timer went off.  Suddenly my son's eyes brightened as he approached the large piece of paper.  He drew what looked like a canoe.

"A boat!  No, a ship...a dinghy...an aircraft carrier!"  I started to yell mindlessly as the little vessel started to take shape.

He shook his head, and kept drawing.  Now he started to draw what appeared to be a person on the boat.

"Man on the boat...a sailor!  No, pirate?  Captain Hook?"

No luck so far, and the timer ticked on.  What could it possibly be?  Meanwhile, my son started to put some squiggly hair on the person's head, and drew a hat on top.

"George Washington!"

My son stopped drawing and fist-pumped into the air.  "Yes!  You got it!"

The air stood still for a second before everyone else in the room let out a collective gasp of shock and awe.  It seemed beyond understanding how I could correctly guess the words "George Washington" from the drawing of a person with squiggly hair and a hat standing on a boat.

"It wasn't that hard to figure out.  Chris was drawing Washington crossing the Delaware!"

It just happened that my son and I recently saw a reproduction of that famous 1851 Emanuel Leutze painting.  Chris' rendition of the man on the boat was not much closer to George Washington than Peter Pan or Alice in Wonderland, but a little intuition led me to the proper conclusion.  It was, albeit an imprecise one, an image of the first President of the United States of America.

In a way, we are all somewhat imprecise images.  On the sixth day of creation, when God created man, it was written,

So God created man in his own image
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27)

Sometimes it's hard to imagine that there is much in us that reflects God in any way.  We are blemished, selfish, arrogant, shameful and without self control.  Some of us are tall, short, fat, skinny, funny looking or without fashion sense.  A well known pastor has often said that if you don't think that God has a sense of humor, just look at all the people around us.

Yet, despite all our shortcomings, each of us still bears God's communicable attributes.  God is beautiful and creative, and we enjoy the beauty of His creation.  God is righteous, and our conscience tells us what is right and wrong.  God is the source of life, and we value life and admire those who save lives.  God is community as a triune Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and we are made not to be alone, but to live with those we love.

May we always remember to live our days as if we are created in God's image, though we may appear only as little squiggly lines when compared to our Creator.  May we also value each and every person, regardless of what we see, as someone who also bears His image in an unique way.

Heavenly Reunion

I started to teach Sunday school at church a few years ago when our youth pastor asked me whether I’d be willing to help out with the 8th grade class.  I agreed, thinking that it was only a temporary assignment, and, as they say, the rest is history.  The youth pastor recently offered me to teach the 12th graders, and I am very eager to take on this challenge, not only because my son happens to be in the class, but also because I became a Christian 30 years ago, during the summer prior to 12th grade, and my first Sunday school teachers, Tien and Cheryl, were both medical students. This therefore is an opportunity for me, now a full-grown physician, to give back all the life-changing ministry which I received back then.

One of the great joys of Sunday school ministry is that I get to see many of my students continue to grow and mature in the Lord. I remember hearing testimonies of people with near-death experiences recalling being at the threshold of Heaven and being greeted by significant people in their lives, including parents, grandparents, other loved ones, and Sunday school teachers. Hopefully, if I get there first, I’ll be among the ones to greet my students. It will be sooooo exciting to see them saved by grace, justified by Christ's righteousness, sanctified, and with glorified, imperishable bodies.

Unfortunately, I am also tormented, knowing that many of my students will not be there, because they have rejected the faith of their parents and the Gospel message. I know, because at least once a year I would ask my students questions like, "Raise your hand if you are a Christian", "If you die tonight, do you know for certain that you are going to Heaven?", "Do you believe the message of the Gospel?", and "What is the Gospel message?" The responses have unfortunately been very disappointing. Many highly intelligent, academically, athletically and musically accomplished children of God-fearing parents either do not care about God, do not have any desire to live under God's presence (as if we even have a choice to hide from God), or openly reject the message of the Gospel. I often ask myself whether it is because of something I said or shouldn't have said, and am afraid that I might have caused some to choose Hell rather than Heaven, to choose temporal, sinful pleasures instead of eternal life under God's presence. I feared for my own soul, as teachers are admonished by the apostle Paul that they would be judged more strictly. Woe to me if I cause one of these young ones to fall!

Thankfully, the Lord addressed my anxieties via the words in John's gospel. For many years I didn't like the book of John as much as the other gospels, because it seems so tedious, and Jesus' words and prayers just went on and on and on through those really long verses and chapters. However, as I studied God's word more, those words came alive and became so meaningful.  It recorded these words of Jesus:

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of the Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.  (John. 6:37-40)

Jesus came to earth in order that every person that God the Father ordained before the creation of the universe to be saved would be saved. Christians are the Father's gift to the son, and Jesus promised that not even one of those that the Father gives to him would be lost. Not even one! That is great assurance for me, because whether my students believe depends not on my providing convincing arguments about the Gospel, or being clever and funny, or being a good salesman for Jesus. It is God's work and His doing. When I teach, I am only an instrument in the Master's hand. It matters not whether I am a paintbrush, a pencil, a chisel, a shovel or a sledgehammer in God's hand, I need only to do my job faithfully. If my students truly understand the depravity of their condition, truly repent, truly believe that Jesus came to earth to die for sinners, that he rose from the dead, and that Christ's righteousness is imputed to those who believe and call him both Lord and Savior, all the glory belongs to God. It is nothing that I have accomplished.  Conversely, if they do not believe after I have given my best efforts, I need not despair of my performance. To paint a picture you need the canvass, a bunch of paint, brushes, solvents and all sort of stuff. If God meant me to be a pencil for the first sketch, I may be indispensable, but also be totally invisible in the end. The important thing is not me, and it is not people. It is God. I only need to worry about being the best pencil or sledgehammer that I can be, to be used for His glory.

And, I look forward to having the most joyful Sunday school reunion when we the Lord calls us home!

Game Over?

Basketball is a fast paced sport that is at its most exciting when it is highly competitive, when two evenly matched teams go after each other relentlessly in a closely matched contest.  Leads are changed frequently, scores are tied multiple times in such a game, and the outcome remains unknown until the last second, when a team loses or wins on a last-second missed shot or buzzer-beater.  The game is a bit less compelling, on the other hand, when one team soundly outplays its opponent, so that the outcome of the game is essentially determined several minutes before the final buzzer.  Chick Hearn, the late great radio announcer of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, when seeing that one team had an insurmountable lead, would often calmly announce, "This game is in the refrigerator, the door is closed, the lights are out, the eggs are getting cold, the butter's getting hard, and the Jell-O's getting jigglin."

In other words, it's basically "game over".

Such was the sentiment when Jesus was nailed on the cross.  When Jesus first appeared on the scene as an adult, Satan challenged him repeatedly, "If you are the son of God..." and tempted him to turn stones into bread, to leap off a high place, and to bow before Satan.  In each occasion, Jesus countered with words of Scripture, and held his ground until Satan left him, and angels came and ministered to him.  (Matthew 4:1-11)  For the next three years, he healed the sick, raised the dead, fed the hungry, and expelled demons.  Jesus seemed to be building a comfortable lead over Satan until the final hours of his earthly existence, when the situation took a dramatic turn.  

Instead of Satan tempting Jesus to turn stones into bread to fill his hunger, he tasted bitterness at Golgotha,

"they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it."  (Matthew 27:34)

Instead of Satan tempting Jesus to leap off a high place and be saved by angels, he was mocked and scorned as he lay hanging on the cross,

And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, "You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself!  If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross."  So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself.  He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.  He trusts in God, let God deliver him now, if he desires him.  For he said, 'I am the Son of God.'"  (Matthew 27:39-43)

Instead of Jesus being tempted to bow before Satan, he was jeered as the soldiers bowed before him,

And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand.  And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"  And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head."  (Matthew 27:28-30)

Satan pressed on as Jesus gasped his final breaths on that fateful Friday afternoon.  Would darkness reign?  Was this "game" in the refrigerator?

Jesus' final words..."It is finished"  (John 19:30)

It was not over.  Jesus finished, or accomplished his purpose on earth.  He died for us and paid the penalty for our sins.  Sunday was coming, Jesus would rise again, and death was defeated.  Salvation has come.

It was no contest.

Game over.

Undiagnosed Celiac Disease

Celiac disease was once considered a relatively rare condition when I was in medical school.    Those who live with celiac disease have to be on a strict gluten-free diet, because gluten (a protein that is found in wheat, rye and barley) in the diet somehow confuses their immune systems to cause damage to the intestines.  Symptoms of celiac disease include stunting of growth, diarrhea, abdominal pain, weight loss, and skin problems, and my early mental image of celiac disease was that of a bald, scrawny toddler with tiny bones, virtually no muscle in the arms and legs, and a bloated belly.  If I ever see a child who has such an appearance, I certainly will need to rule out celiac disease.  However, most other doctors who see such a child would also recognize that something is seriously wrong, and chances are that screening tests for celiac disease would have been done before I ever lay eyes on the child as a pediatric gastroenterologist.

As understanding of this condition and diagnostic tools improved over time, it is now relatively easy to diagnose celiac disease in individuals who are clinically not as ill, and even in those who appear essentially normal.  While previous estimates suggested a prevalence of one in a few thousand people, it is now believed that celiac disease may actually be present in one out of every 100-200 persons.  Many who have the condition (based on laboratory test results and abnormal findings on biopsies of the small intestine) appeared to have no symptoms, and were quite surprised by the diagnosis.  However, some of them, like Mr. James (not his real name), the shock came only a few weeks later.

Mr. James brought his son to see me to rule out celiac disease.  He explained that he himself always had stomach trouble as a child, but neither he nor his family paid much attention to it, and dismissed it as being “regular” stomachaches.  Over time, Mr. James became accustomed to his frequent discomfort and disregarded it until years later, when, for unrelated reasons, he underwent an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, and was incidentally diagnosed with celiac disease.  He started himself on a gluten-free diet, and within a few weeks began to feel dramatically better than at any previous point in his life.  The sense of well being was accompanied by a weight gain of twenty pounds, and as I spoke with Mr. James he appeared muscular and fit.  He marveled that he never knew that it was possible for him to feel as good as he did after his condition was properly diagnosed and treated, and he wished that he could have known about this many years beforehand.

Mr. James' experience reminds me of my own spiritual condition before I became a Christian at seventeen years of age.  I was born of hard-working, responsible parents, and was grateful for their sacrifice in bringing my brother and me from Taiwan to the U.S. to have a better education.  I studied hard, somehow managed to get straight As in high school within one semester of being immersed in a new culture and language, and rapidly became popular among my friends in the school band because I played a mean saxophone.  While life was often difficult as I rarely saw my father, who mostly remained in Taiwan to support the family, and I suffered many bouts of loneliness despite being surrounded by classmates but few friends, I thought that things were going quite well overall, and had no desire or room in my heart for God.  I thought that working hard, achieving success and contributing to society were the chief goals in life, that science was the answer to everything, and that God was an invention of weak minds.  It was only after Jesus, the Good Shepherd, claimed me as His own that I realized that there is such greater joy and meaning to my existence when God takes the center of my life.  As I come to understand and experience His creativity, righteousness, holiness, love, mercy and grace over the years, the spiritual poverty that I was living in without God has become appalling to me, and I believe that God will never allow me to ever live life in denial of Him again.  Jesus gave me this assurance:

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he gas given me, but raise them up at the last day.  (John 6:39)

Somehow, I have this feeling that Mr. James will never stray from his gluten-free diet.