Don't Bug But Hug

I always regret whenever I think of my friend. I ignored, criticized and judged my friend before I truly understood his situation. Even if it was unacceptable to deny his mother at that time, I didn¡¯t really care about his real situation. If I imagine having a mother who is mentally retarded for a long time, if I imagine living with a mother who looks so ugly and couldn¡¯t even speak properly, I would go crazy. Only now I am able to think of his hardships, sufferings, and times that he had to go through because of his mother.

Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that we are all weak beings. We are not perfect. Every human makes his/her own mistakes from time to time. There is no exception. We should be merciful always to our neighbors because we all make mistakes.

In the Book of Old Testament, we can see that God appeared Himself as ¡°HOLY BEING¡± most of the times. In Leviticus 19:2 = ¡°Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.¡± But in the book of New Testament, Jesus changed our views of God. In Luke 6:36 = ¡°Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.¡± Jesus has often revealed God as merciful. Christ Jesus has came to the earth to save us while we were still sinners. Rom 5:8 = ¡°While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.¡± Remember it is not by our deeds we have been saved, it was by his precious blood. We should be merciful because Jesus taught us to be merciful.

Friends, sometimes you may see your brothers and sisters and say ¡°What¡¯s wrong with them?¡± ¡°Why is he/she like that?¡± Often times, we don¡¯t pay any attention on our own weaknesses but pay great attention on weaknesses of others. Matthew 7:3-5 ¡°Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother¡¯s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ¡®Let me take the speck out of your eye, when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother¡¯s eye.¡± Sometimes you may say ¡°Who cares about him/her?¡± Loving brothers and sisters, before we say those things I strongly challenge you to have mercy on them. Before we criticize and judge others, I strongly challenge you to understand our neighbors! Only then, we can follow the love steps of Jesus Christ!