Why

 Why?

​A lot of people think the United States is being run by a greedy oligarchy. These men are in government or behind government simply to profit themselves and make more money.

​Let's look at President Trump, for example. He is already a billionaire and yet he is seeking to make more money, using the office of the presidency to make more deals for himself, his family, and his friends.

​The question many people ask is: why?

​The president is 80 years old and already financially secure. Why in the world does he need more money?

​You look at these huge corporations making millions of dollars, and yet they are seeking to increase profits next quarter, to make even more money, to increase market share. Why?

​To leave behind economics and go into romance: some kings in history had hundreds of wives and concubines. Why? What true relationship can you possibly maintain with all these women? One is simply robbing other men of women and robbing the women themselves of genuine affection.

​You go to school, take out a lot of loans, and acquire multiple degrees. Why? Now, you are drowning in debt and the jobs you find don't pay you adequately.

​An Arab prince who has hundreds of cars in his parking garage: why? Will he seriously be able to drive all these cars? Isn't it a waste of resources that could benefit the nation?

​Or a person who has a closet full of clothes they never wear, buying expensive shoes that never see the light of day. I think there was a president's wife—Marcos of the Philippines—who had countless shoes in her closet. Why? A waste of national resources.

​See, the thing is, we can see the issue when the billionaire is not satisfied with his billions and seeks more, but we can't see it when it applies to us. It is said that this world has enough resources to feed us all, but greed has turned it into a place of the haves and the have-nots.

​See, the thing is, all these things we talked about are good, but taken to an excess, they cause ruin. It is good to have money, for the world system operates on money to help facilitate commerce; but when money becomes the aim of life itself, it corrupts the soul as a person seeks to fill his inner void at the expense of others.

​Having one wife is good—the Lord Himself prescribed it—but when women become the aim of life, they become objects to manipulate, use, and dispose of, or to have as trophy wives to put on display and nothing else, robbing them of their humanity and other men of a good wife.

​It is good to have degrees if the aim is to do a particular thing that requires degrees, but there comes a point where having the degree becomes a matter of ego and prestige, and it corrupts the soul.

​The reason we seek more and more of things that we know at a certain point no longer satisfy is to maintain appearances, to feed our ego, to compete with others, and to make ourselves seem better than them. It is a psychological attempt to fill the spiritual void deep in our soul—the need to feel important, loved, and honored.

​But these attempts can lead to the ruin of others, as with what oligarchies do, whether through robbing the workers, manufacturing wars for profit, etc. Or the Arab prince robbing the nation of its wealth while he lavishes it on expensive cars, or you robbing yourself of peace by being restless in keeping up with the Joneses and ruining your health or finances to maintain the appearance.

​The truth is, we all have something we believe will satisfy us if we can only have one more, like the drunkard who thinks one more drink will do it. The thing is, experience has taught us it's not true.

​The only thing that "one more of" will not only satisfy us, but also do no harm to self or others, is the love of Christ.

​While it is good to pursue things, do all things in moderation, lest you become consumed by them and start to live an absurd life that to you makes sense, but is in reality utter foolishness.

​The only cure for greed, the love of display, and keeping up with the Joneses is to seek more of the Lord; this alone will keep us balanced and content with what we have.

Sin as Identity

 The more acceptable a sin is to society, the worse it is for the person struggling with it. Sin seems like an easy thing until you try to break free from it. The more sin is nurtured, the more it grows. Eventually, sin becomes one with the person—it becomes your identity.

​This is why many who are caught up in a homosexual lifestyle identify with it. The hold is so powerful that it feels like this is simply who you are. From a young age, before we are even aware of it, a tendency begins to develop toward a particular vice. Unless it is checked early, it will—like an anaconda—envelop the entirety of our being. The vice becomes your defining feature, your raison d'être. Sometimes we mistake the vice for a virtue; we embrace its death grip, and it grows. The serpent may seem to smile at us as it tightens its hold, sometimes leaving enough wiggle room to allow us to think we are free. But try to escape, and the monster will reveal its true death grip upon the soul.

​A person struggling with things society condemns, like theft or prostitution, may find themselves in a better position to be rescued from sin's vice grip than those dealing with socially acceptable sins—such as the love of money, premarital sex, extramarital sex, homosexuality, pride, and hatred.

​Why? Because those dealing with fashionable sins do not realize the power those sins hold over them, precisely because society does not condemn them. The thief knows there is human punishment if he is caught, so he may be more willing to accept that he needs help. The prostitute may see her degradation and realize she needs help. The drug addict may see his impending ruin and his impotence in freeing himself.

​In contrast, the man who loves money cannot see how much of a slave he is, and because society honors him for his wealth, he will not seek to break free. Similarly, a person caught in the grip of homosexuality is catered to by modern society and cannot see the destructive impact it is having on him. He fails to see that the depression and anxiety he experiences are the result of an unnatural affection; society tells him he feels this way only because others are unaccepting. Thus, he remains on the path to moral ruin without realizing it.

​A woman who is vain or selfish might be excused by society, but she is still dealing with sin, and it will eventually become her identity. Likewise, the man who is hungry for power or the person who is chronically impatient or unloving, are all dealing with destructive sins that will ruin the soul sooner or later, unless the sinner comes to Christ.

​When we say, "This is just who I am," if any part of the character traits we are describing is not in harmony with God's character, we can know we are dealing with something we need deliverance from.

​It is only as a person begins to come to Christ that they realize the power of sin in their life. You begin to see that your entire identity has been shaped by your particular sin, and that only God can save you. At some point, you realize the only way to be saved is for God to destroy who you were. The problem, however, is that the destruction of one's former self is so painful that many simply choose to find comfort in their old identity.

​The closer a person draws to God, the more they realize that true religion is not simply about going to church, but about the need to die daily to whatever identity they held before truly coming to Christ. The old self must die, and this process is perhaps more painful than physical death, for it means dying while you live. You walk through life while the Lord works to destroy the sinful self and recreate you in the image of His Son.

​The sooner we realize our old identities must die, the better we will understand the true nature of Christianity. Christianity is not the improvement of the old life, but its destruction and the birth of a new one. Everything impure in us must be destroyed as we are renewed in Christ Jesus. Unless we are continually dependent on God moment by moment, we will not be able to endure the severe ordeal of inner purification.

​When we hear that we are sinful, it means our very identity has been corrupted by sin. To be holy is for Christ to become our identity—to reach a place where our entire life is centered upon Him and every decision is made for His glory. He alone can accomplish such a work in our lives, but we alone can give Him permission.

This is why you are miserable

 The root cause of human misery is idolatry. What is idolatry? It is putting created things before the Creator.

​There is a deep void within man that needs to be filled. Man was made for relationship and connection. He wants something that can satisfy his deepest longings—the longings of the soul.

​Man is a dualistic being at minimum. He has a physical body and an inner being. The physical body can be defined as his earthly home through which he relates to the material world. The physical part of man needs physical food to survive and material comforts to thrive. The physical part of man allows him to relate to the other creatures on the planet. Animals eat, drink, have sexual relationships, etc., and man participates in the same via his physical nature.

​But life in the physical home alone will not satisfy him, for he also needs to feed his inner man, his higher nature. The higher nature needs deep, intimate relationships. The inner nature seeks a deep connection. The higher nature wants to be accepted, known, and loved as is. Man wants to be loved in his totality.

​But this is difficult because man is evil; he has flaws and can find it challenging to find someone who will accept him as he is if they were to know him in his fullness. To many, a mother's love is the highest form of love they know, for a mother or father tolerates us with many of our faults. They know us. But for others, even a parent's love doesn't cover the entire inner man. There is still misunderstanding; there is still rejection.

​Life can be frustrating when the needs of the inner man are not met—when you feel no one understands you. It is a painful experience to live without a deep inner connection with anyone.

​Idolatry is the attempt to fill that void with created beings or created things. The problem is that created things can't fulfill it; it's too deep. For you to feel completely loved, you would need someone to completely understand you: to know what you are trying to accomplish when you do something, what your true intentions are when you say something, and so forth. You need someone who understands your thought process and with whom you have a perfect understanding.

​The thing is, this level of intimate knowledge is hard to come by because many people don't even understand themselves, much less others. Many people are so distracted in life that they have no time for introspection, so forget about them trying to intimately know another.

​We try to force or manipulate others to love us, to stay with us. Some of us get clingy and basically suffocate others in our search for a deeper intimacy, and their lack of response leads to great misery. Sometimes in our attempt to get their love through deceptive means, they go away from us, which leads us to deeper despair. And so, human relationships end up in misery. To seek that deep, intimate relationship with humans first and foremost will lead to misery, frustration, and inner anger.

​Some people, having seen the failure of having true intimacy with humans, seek to fill the void with pleasure, materialism (money), and whatever else they feel provides them with some form of comfort. Yet these things, being inanimate, cannot fulfill, and the soul is left desolate. Violence and all manner of destructive behavior follow as a result.

​The Creator is the only One who truly understands us, accepts us, and can fulfill our innermost longings. The Creator, being a Spirit, can connect with our spirit. Being all-knowing, He knows all our innermost parts. Being all-loving, He loves us to the innermost core. He knows what we need, when we need it, and how we need it. He made us primarily for a relationship with Him, and from our relationship with Him, we learn how to have relationships with others.

​Idolatry is Satan's cruel work to make us seek satisfaction from material things—which are beneath us and can't fulfill the soul—or from other people, who are focused on their own needs being met first and yours second.

​Reliance on God will fulfill your deepest longings and make you strong. You will have Someone who is never too busy to hear you, never tired of hearing you, and knows how to sustain you.

​Idolatry makes us weak and feeble as we put our dependence on selfish human beings, but reliance on God makes you strong enough to sustain another person as you lead them to Christ.

​The best thing you can do in life is to ask God for the strength to remove all idols and to put Him first. Trust me, it's for your own happiness.

Source of true strength

​Life is immensely challenging, and every one of us needs an anchor to fortify us through its trials. The fundamental question we must ask ourselves is: where do we find our strength?

​As created beings, we do not possess infinite strength within ourselves. Consider a growing child. A child is inherently dependent on their parents, not only for physical sustenance, but for emotional stability. They rely on love and affection to develop into a healthy individual—mentally, morally, and spiritually.

​When I speak of the spiritual aspect, I am not referring strictly to formal religion; I am speaking of the inner person. The internal self requires nourishment to survive and mature. If a child does not receive that crucial affirmation at home, they inevitably seek it elsewhere—through friends, authority figures, or sometimes even destructive groups like gangs. Even in bad company, what they are fundamentally seeking is a sense of brotherhood, belonging, and affection that tells them their life matters.

​Without love and a sense of inherent worth, surviving life’s hardships becomes nearly impossible. Life cannot be reduced to merely eating, drinking, and tending to the physical body; the inner person must be fed. We see this vividly in many affluent Western societies. Material wealth may be abundant, yet depression, anxiety, loneliness, and despair run rampant. Many lose the very will to live because they feel unloved and disconnected.

​In response, people place their trust in substitute sources of strength: money and wealth, intellect and wisdom, and status and position. The fatal flaw with these sources is that they are inherently temporary and subject to failure. In your time of ultimate need, money cannot heal a broken spirit, friends may move away or pass on, spouses can be overwhelmed, health can deteriorate, jobs can disappear, and armies can desert their king. Whenever we anchor our lives to something that changes, we risk total collapse when that anchor gives way.

​This reality echoes the biblical warning in Jeremiah seventeen verse five: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord."

​Human support systems, while valuable, are finite. Only God remains constant. No bad weather, financial hardship, or physical trial can hinder God from stepping in to sustain us.

​When a person truly feels loved, valued, and anchored by God, they gain an inner resilience that makes them virtually unstoppable. The internal spirit is restored. Conversely, when we reduce ourselves to mere biological matter—random atoms with no higher purpose—it is easy to fall into despair during difficult seasons.

​To build an enduring life, we must make God our primary anchor. First, immerse yourself in His Word; discover how God views you. When the world tells you that you are worthless, Scripture reminds you that you are deeply valued and intentionally made. Second, maintain honest prayer; bring your genuine frustrations, fears, anxieties, and disappointments directly to God. Never hesitate to ask Him specifically for strength and fortitude.

​Materialism has its place, but it will never satisfy the inner soul. Seek your strength, wisdom, and purpose in the Lord. When He becomes your anchor, you will find the fortitude to endure any storm and truly thrive

The Conqueror's Heart: Why Love Is Not for the Faint of Heart

​To Josephine, at Milan.

​Verona, November 23, 1796.

​I don't love you an atom; on the contrary, I detest you. You are a good for nothing, very ungraceful, very tactless, very tatterdemalion. You never write to me; you don't care for your husband; you know the pleasure your letters give him, and you write him barely half-a-dozen lines, thrown off anyhow.

​How, then, do you spend the livelong day, madam? What business of such importance robs you of the time to write to your very kind lover? What inclination stifles and alienates love, the affectionate and unvarying love which you promised me? Who may this paragon be, this new lover who engrosses all your time, is master of your days, and prevents you from concerning yourself about your husband? Josephine, be vigilant; one fine night the doors will be broken in, and I shall be before you.

​Truly, my dear, I am uneasy at getting no news from you. Write me four pages immediately, and some of those charming remarks which fill my heart with the pleasures of imagination.

​I hope that before long I shall clasp you in my arms, and cover you with a million kisses as burning as if under the equator.

​Bonaparte

​No. 17.

 Why is it so difficult to love? Everyone in this society—everyone in the world—looks for love. I have been reading a book about Napoleon, his love life, and the love letters he wrote to his wife. You can see that he was a very passionate guy. He expressed his heart and his tenderness toward her: how he missed her, how he loved her, and how he wanted to hear from her every single day because he felt she was the one who kept him alive. Without her, life would be miserable.

​Because he was in the military—he was not yet the emperor—and facing danger all the time, he needed an anchor: someone who could hold him, care for him, and truly love him. But his wife was not responding in the same way. In his follow-up letters, he kept asking her, "Why don't you write to me all the time? Are you so busy that you can't? Do you love me the way I love you?"

​In a way, you can see his tenderness and his suffering coming through those letters. As a matter of fact, he even spoke about how much he suffered because she was not responding in the same way. So, even in Napoleon—a guy you would think was a ruthless military commander—you can see a starvation for love. This has been the problem of humanity throughout history because we are made to love and to be loved. Yet, this has become rare. Finding love is almost like finding a diamond on the floor; it is very difficult.

​So, why is love so difficult? First of all, we have a misunderstanding of love. Love is not easy, and love does not come from the weak. Why? Because the weak do not have the strength necessary to love. Love is an exercise in giving; love is about self-sacrifice. Looking back at Napoleon's letters, we can also see neediness. He was dependent upon his wife for affection, and even though he showered her with affection and love, that dependency made him weak.

​When you are looking for love, it is going to be very hard because the people we deal with are not automatically loving beings—they are seeking love themselves. When people are seeking love, it is often because they do not have love to give. If you have love to give, you seek to give love and receive it in return. This is what makes love difficult.

​Second, love requires patience. If you don't have patience, you will not be able to love because you are dealing with someone who has all manner of flaws and weaknesses. You have to be patient with them. Only as you are patient with them over a long period of time will they feel loved and safe enough to open up and respond to your love.

​Love also requires long-suffering. If you are not willing to suffer, forget about love. When dealing with other people who have flaws and faults, you will suffer. Love requires great strength and forgiveness. If you are not willing to forgive, you cannot love, because people will wrong you. We are all sinful, broken, and fallen human beings, so we may wrong each other intentionally or unintentionally.

​If you want to love, you cannot be vindictive. You have to be a forgiving and tender person. You have to overlook the faults of others in order to love, and you have to keep loving them even when they do not respond. Consider Napoleon again: he had a spouse, he kept writing letters to her, and she was not responding. Yet, you can see his desire to love her. He kept trying—sending her gifts and doing everything he could to show his great love for her.

​In a similar manner, if you want to love, you have to keep doing things for the person even if they do not respond. This is how God treats us. God treats us with loving-kindness and faithfulness even when we do not respond. Eventually, some of us do respond, but He keeps trying.

​The reason some of us do not respond is selfishness. A lot of times, we want someone to love us, but we are so focused on ourselves that we don't understand how much the other person is going through or sacrificing to show us that love. Therefore, loving others really requires dependence on God. Naturally, we are weak and frail human beings without the strength and fortitude to love. When we rely on God, we ask Him for strength, to pour His love upon us, and to give us His Holy Spirit. Patience, loving-kindness, and compassion are gifts of the Spirit, and we need the Holy Spirit to truly love.

​In society, people often think love is a weakness, but love is not a weakness—love is strength. Love requires fortitude. Only those who are strong can truly love; a weak person cannot love. To contemplate love: if you want to love and be loved, you need a connection with God and reliance on the Holy Spirit for that strength.

​Finally, consider why God forgives us right away when we sin. It is because God is strong. Is God hurt when we sin? Yes, because God is pure, lovely, and innocent. There is no impurity or falsehood in God. Hurting someone who is completely innocent is a heinous crime, so sinning against God is a heinous crime. Yet, the Lord is love. The Lord is merciful and tender. The moment you come to Him, He forgives you right away.

​This is what real love is: genuine love is merciful, tender, compassionate, and long-suffering. It forgives iniquity, sin, and transgression. It overlooks faults and still bestows blessings on both the good and the evil, just as God causes blessings to fall on all. You continue doing good to the person even if they do wrong to you. Love is hard because we are separated from God, but as we draw closer to God, we learn to give to others and shower them with love and compassion.

​Additionally, we are changeable. Our emotions shift based on life's circumstances, and that in itself can make it difficult to love properly. Today you may wake up feeling like you want to love, but tomorrow you are not in the mood and you push the person away. Love requires consistency; there is no safety without consistency. It takes a stable individual to properly love others—someone who lets others know, in a deep sense, what to expect from day to day, reassuring them that they care and will be there as much as it depends on them.

​In conclusion, love is not easy, as it demands incredible strength and does not come from the weak. It is an exercise in giving and self-sacrifice, requiring patience and long-suffering over a long period for others to feel safe and respond. This form of love also requires great forgiveness, overlooking faults, and continuing to offer blessings even when unreturned. Ultimately, this strength depends on a connection with God, as true love is merciful and compassionate, much like the way He forgives our sins and continues to provide blessings to all.

Spain vs Argentina: a brilliant script

 You know, despite the world being so evil, people do have a love for what is right. For example, during the World Cup, Argentina was perceived by a lot of people to benefit from dubious refereeing decisions that allowed them to reach the final, especially in the games versus Egypt. A lot of people felt that the referees unfairly removed the second Egyptian goal and also unfairly denied Egypt a review by the VAR (the video assistant referee) of the third goal scored by Argentina in extra time. Following that was the Swiss game, where a lot of people felt like Argentina again benefited from a refereeing decision that gave the Swiss team a red card. So, people were very furious with Argentina, and they even called them "Vargentina." They even talked about how Argentina was FIFA's favorite team or how FIFA was planning to crown Messi as king.

​But in the final game versus Spain, a lot of people—the majority of people who were not for Argentina—were supporting Spain because they felt like Argentina was unjustly in the final. Basically, they became the villain in the storyline. If there were a script, then that script was a brilliant one by FIFA to make people hate Argentina and support Spain, which also would bring a lot of people to watch the final because they wanted to see that villain defeated. So, it would be a brilliant idea if that were the script that FIFA wanted to develop. Just like in a movie, you make the villain so evil so that people will love the hero when the hero wins.

​Nevertheless, Argentina played in the final and they played aggressively, while Spain played the way soccer was supposed to be played, and people loved Spain as a result. People were celebrating Spain because they felt like Spain had saved soccer from the anti-football tactics of Argentina. This goes to show us that people in this world, no matter how evil it is, love to see what is right done; even though they do evil in their own lives, they love to see righteous acts done. They want to see somebody who's fair, somebody who's just, and somebody who's beautiful in the way they deal with others. People still hate ugliness; a lot of people hated the Argentinian team because they felt like they played ugly and were not sportsmanlike.

​So, that goes to show you that, as a Christian, you should not follow the world in doing evil, because you may think that by doing evil, the world will love you. The fact of the matter is, the world will despise you, even though they themselves are evil. The world loves to see somebody who's beautiful. Even when they are against you and your principles because you are different from them, there will still be a deeper appreciation for who you are. If you resist evil, this is where true love is developed. Anybody who cares for you will truly love you, and that's why righteousness prevails in the end—because righteousness is always beautiful. Righteousness appeals even when those who are evil hate you; even the one who hates you will have a deep appreciation for you. Just like with Jesus—if you notice, the Pharisees hated Jesus, but they were always around him.

Dealing with life's hardships: Lessons from Napoleon's letters

 Dealing with life's hardships: Lessons from Napoleon's letters

​Life is hard. Every man has his struggles. I read a book containing letters written by Napoleon to his wife, Josephine, in which he expresses his fears and worries. At one point, he said he was ready to curse his life, but for thoughts of her:

​"When I am weary of the worries of my profession, when I mistrust the issue, when men disgust me, when I am ready to curse my life, I put my hand on my heart where your portrait beats in unison. I look at it, and love is for me complete happiness; and everything laughs for joy, except the time during which I find myself away from my beloved.

​"By what art have you learnt how to captivate all my faculties, to concentrate in yourself my spiritual existence? It is a witchery, dear love, which will end only with me. To live for Josephine, that is the history of my life."

​The thing—the person—that kept him going at this stage of his life was his love for his wife. Love overcomes all things.

​Friends, life is hard no matter how you look at it. A car accident might take away the one you love; a job loss may take away your finances. We are surrounded by constant trials, never knowing what tomorrow will bring. Life on this planet is hard.

​But one thing that will give us the strength to go through life's hardships is love: to love and be loved. While we don't want to make Napoleon's mistake and make an idol out of our spouses, we want to, instead, live for God. Think of Him, and He will strengthen us to go through the trials.

​

​When we are weary of the worries of our jobs, when we are dealing with mistrust, when men disgust us, when we are ready to curse our lives, let us touch our hearts and remember that Jesus loves us. Look at what He has done for us and who He is to us, and we will find joy. To live for Jesus—that is the story of our lives, the history we want to have.

​Love is powerful. We want to show similar love to others—love that will give them courage to face trials, courage to move forward, and courage to live. Love is life; by loving others, we ease their burdens and make life easier.

​As I thought on this piece from Napoleon, it brought into clearer focus that the solution to society's many ills is love—genuine love that has its origin in God. The man and woman who have this love are of heavenly origin, and the place they abide will be one full of life, a heaven on Earth for its recipient.