South Korea can survive only by relying on the God's mercy

Lose a life, then gain it

Helen Nam

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? 27 “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. 28 Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” (Matt 16:24-28,NRSV)

God tells us to die. He says, "You have to die to gain life." He says, "If you don't try to die, you won't get a life." How burdensome is that?  
We live in an era when it is burdensome to meet people face to face. Aside from meeting you, even a voice call is burdensome too. Not just a small number of people would prefer to text than call or meet. Maybe we are afraid to be hurt by an unexpected response from someone. If we love others, it is necessary to visit them and meet them. What if you feel burdened about facing people? How can we love them?

The whole Bible is made up of the old and the new covenants, which is, in one word, “to love.” It is so important that we can not avoid this issue. However, we feel tired and experience powerlessness.  It is because all of our body is naturally inclined towards selfishness. This is our reality. You and I already realize we can’t love others.

(You can see the how much different lights in the night between North and South Korea)

Here is the story I want to share with you. It’s our father’s story that God made. People in N.Korea are still suffering under communism. They don’t have the freedom to believe in Jesus. But, South Korea is one of Christianity countries. Not only is there this spiritual gap, but there are also huge differences in prosperity.

 

----------the gap of economic development between South and North Korea

 Actually Korea ‘was’ and ‘is’ a kind of ‘nothing important country,’ but, God has mercy on us. If no God’s grace in South Korea, S. Korea would be the same as N. Korea.

 In the middle of Seoul, the capital of S.K, there is the foreign missionaries cemetery, namely “Yahwajin.” There you can see the beautiful works of many missionaries who lost their lives for us through their tombstone and their dairy in the museum. 

It is true that foreign missionaries actually established many schools and hospitals not only churches. They taught us that we deserved to receive God’s love no matter whether you are a girl or a low-status or disabled, who were never treated well through the whole of Korea’s history. This shocking love had proved by their lives.  

I want to share a story of one Canadian missionary family who died in Korea for sharing God’s love.

William.John.Hall was born in 1860 in Reed, near Glenbuell, Ontario, Canada. His parents were of the Presbyterian and Anglican Churches. At the age of 15, the Methodist Church was greatly influenced by the Methodist Church's revival, and he entered the Methodist Church. He received medical education at Queen's University in Kingston and at Bellevue Medical College in New York and graduated in 1889. There were many alumni who went to foreign missions, but Hall had no interest in missionary work until he attended Moody’s retreat – an open revival in Northfield in 1887.  He then had a few years of training.

He was a young and single man of 32 years old when he arrived in Joseon (the former-name of Korea) in December 1891. At the time, most missionaries were either awaiting death or were being tortured because of the war with China. Hall examined the sick and visited the faithful, and in his three-year mission in Korea, he ended up dying from exhaustion and infectious diseases.

Hall's wife, Rosetta Sherwood Hall, was born in New York in 1865 and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania or Women's University.  She was sent to Korea as a medical missionary at the age of 26. She married Hall next year in 1892.  The newlywed couple lived in Seoul and did a lot of missionary work in the current North Korean capital, Pyongyang. After returning to the U.S. after her husband's death, Rosetta returned to South Korea with her condolence money and her husband's legacy to establish Pyongyang's first hospital. Since then, his sacrifice laid the foundation for training Korean doctors, medical welfare in Korea, and education for the blind in her whole life.  His son, Sherwood Hall, also became a doctor and practiced in Korea, leaving behind the enormous achievements of tuberculosis eradication.  After retirement, he spent the rest of his life in Canada, but he was buried in Korean Yanghwajin, according to his wishes.

 (the picture of the whole family tombstone) maybe the second child died at 3 years old after the loss of her husband.

My question is here. Why did they do this? How could they lose their lives for other nations, why did they abandon their stable and cozy life? They could do their mission in a proper way in a short period, why would they consume their whole lives for irrelevant people and die for them, even wanting to be buried in this strange land. Nobody and nothing forced them to, but what made them do it?

The answer is God.  Only God’s love and His power can explain this. God is the one who gives us the commandment to love and also God is the one who makes it within us. God is the one who gives us the power to love. Because Jesus took away our burden of debts to pay for our sins. He solved our eternal curse and death. Then Jesus showed an example of how to love God and love others. And He promised this is the way to gain life from the throne of Heaven. The Holy Spirit dwells in us and became the source of the power to love from the bottom of our hearts. That’s why II Corinthians 3:3 says, “being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”

That’s why Jesus testified, saying, "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” and the book of John also says, “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and  shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." We can love others from the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling inside us. This is the new commandment, though it even sounds like the same words ‘to love’ in the Old commandment. But in the New one, there is the given power to love. A selfish and scared man can not love others by his own efforts, but God can change man to love others.

The love and sacrifice of foreign faithful people are still flowing to today’s Koreans and to me who is living one hundred years later. Your faithful father’s lives guided me to know God. Everything in the flesh will pass by, but the love of God that you showed will never disappear.

Based on this sacrifice of foreign missionaries, South Korean is one of the top countries to send missionaries. My home church is one of the big Baptist churches in the world. My husband and I also are involved abroad in mission work. We are one of their faithful father’s fruits and also our father as well now. God did it!

It is certain that ‘When you lose your life then you gain.’ Surely this means you will gain eternal life in heaven if we lay down our earthly life. And it also means that your sacrifice will gain many soul’s lives. In I Thessalonians 2:19 it says “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?”

God is fair. He will remember all the deeds of love -- even serving a cup of water. He will reward you!

Let us consume our whole life for love. Let us burn our lives for love, our fleshly life sooner or later will end no matter what, cherish it or not.

We can’t do it, but God can do it. Just acknowledge and listen to your inside voice where the Spirit is. Your soul with the Holy Spirit desires to love God and love people. Do not be afraid and do not worry to be hurt! He will give us heavenly joy!

God has already bestowed on us His power. We’ve got God’s power to love!