무엇에 초점을 Your Focus

무엇에 초점을 Your Focus 우리가 사는 동안 우리의 욕망은 보다 잘 사는 것이다. 이전 가난할 때는 가난을 벗어나는 것이었다. 내 아버님이 결혼한 때 초가집은 낡아서 비가 오면 물이 새는 정도였다. 신부를 어머니와 함께 남겨두고 일본 식민지 시대라 일본에 건너가 돈을 벌어 오리라며 떠났다. 밤낮 없이 일년간 열심히 일을 했으나 주머니는 여전이 비어 있는 것을 발견하고 내 나라에서도 이렇게 열심히 일을 하면 잘 살 수 있으리라 생각하고 귀국하였다. 협동조합의 돈을 빌려 버려진 땅을 구입하여 부부가 개간하고 농사하여 빚을 갚고 다시 돈을 빌려 다기 땅을 구입하는 일을 몇 번 반복하여 부부가 함께 제법 농토를 이룩하고 농사하며 어머님은 밤마다 남의 집 길쌈을 맡아 하여 먹고 남을 정도가 되어 가난을 벗어나 걱정 없이 살게 되고 자녀를 교육시키며 지역에서 모법적인 가정이 되었다. 가난을 벗어나는 꿈을 달성한 것이다. 아버님은 집을 옮겨 다시 짓고 그의 어머님이 손자인 나와 같이 한 시간 거리의 교회에 계절과 일기에 상관 없이 다니는 것을 막을 길이 없어 마을에 교화당을 짓고 설교자를 모셔 오기도 하였으나 본인은 교회에 출석하거나 믿음을 갖지 않았다. 일찍 신문과 방송을 접하여 저녁이면 주민들에게 세계 소식을 전하기도 하였다. 그 어머니가 임종을 앞두고 아들의 손을 잡고 내가 죽거든 너도 예수 믿고 내가 가는 천국에 오너라 거기서 다시 만나자고 하신다. 장례 후 그는 어머님 살아 계실 때는 불효자식으로 예수 믿지 않았지만 이제는 3년간 유언을 지키겠다 선언하고 담배대를 부셔버리고 교회 출석을 시작하고 언젠가 천국에서 어머니를 만날 것을 기대하는데 하나님은 그를 만나 주시어 그는 평생 주를 믿고 바라며 사셨다. 그는 예수님의 재림하신다는 약속을 믿고 바라면서 어린 나에게 말씀하신다. 주께서 다시 오신다고 하셨는데 지금까지 2천년간 오시지 않으니 어떻게 된 것인가 하신다. 그는 희망을 가지고 열심히 일을 하여 세상의 많은 것을 이루었지만 그것으로 만족하지 않고 하늘의 것 곧 예수님의 재림을 바라다가 주 앞으로 가시고 지금은 하나님 나라에서 주와 같이 지나시며 가족이 그곳으로 오기를 기다리신다고 나는 믿는다. 바울은 빌립보서 3장에서 주를 믿는 자의 시민권은 하늘에 있다고 하며 거기로부터 예수께서 재림주로 다시 오시어 우리를 영광스런 몸으로 변화시켜 주의 나라에서 영원토록 살게 하실 것이기에 이를 바라는 바울 자신과 다른 믿는 자를 보고 본받으라고 권면한다. 그러나 많은 사람은 땅의 것을 모든 것으로 알고 자기 배를 신처럼 위하고 부끄러운 일을 행하여 십자가의 원수로 살고 있다고 한다. 십자가는 죽음으로 끝나지 않고 부활하여 우리 믿는 자를 구원하고 변화시켜 주의 나라를 이룩할 것이기에 이를 위하여 다시 오실 예수님을 기다리며 주의 나라를 바라보라 한다. 내가 다섯 살 때 예쁜 그림 말씀 카드를 통하여 하나님은 나에게 땅의 것을 찾지 말고 위의 것을 찾으라(골3:2)는 말씀으로 나를 사로 잡아 내 삶의 지표가 되게 하셨고 지금까지 하나님은 자기의 신실하심을 나타내시기에 나는 주님을 믿고 다시 오심을 기리며 그를 찬양하고 그에게 영광을 돌린다. Your Focus As we go through life, one of our deepest desires is to live a better life. When we were poor, our greatest desire was simply to escape poverty. When my father got married, the thatched-roof house where he and my mother lived was so old that rainwater leaked through the roof. Leaving his new bride with his mother, my father went to Japan during the period of Japanese colonial rule, hoping to earn enough money to provide a better life for his family. He worked hard day and night for a year, but when he looked into his pocket, he found that it was still empty. He then thought, “If I work this hard in my own country, perhaps I can make a living there.” So he returned home. He borrowed money from a cooperative and purchased abandoned land. He and my mother cleared the land and farmed it, repaid the debt, and then borrowed money again to purchase more land. They repeated this process several times. Eventually, together they built up a substantial amount of farmland and made their living by farming. My mother also worked every night weaving cloth for other families. In time, they had enough not only to provide food for the family but also to have something left over. They had escaped poverty and were able to live without constant worry. They educated their children and became a model family in the community. The dream of escaping poverty had been fulfilled. My father later moved to another house and built a new home. His mother, however, continued to walk with me, her grandson, for an hour to attend church, regardless of the season or the weather. He could not stop her. Eventually, he built a small place of worship in the village and invited a preacher to come and lead services. Yet my father himself neither attended church nor embraced the Christian faith. He had access to newspapers and radio from an early age, and in the evenings he would share news from around the world with the people in the village. As his mother approached the end of her life, she took her son's hand and said, “When I die, you too must believe in Jesus and come to the heaven where I am going. Let us meet there again.” After her funeral, my father said, “While my mother was alive, I was an unfilial son because I would not believe in Jesus. But now I will keep her final wish.” He declared that he would keep his promise for the rest of his life, broke his tobacco pipe, and began attending church. He looked forward to meeting his mother again someday in heaven. God met him there, and from that time on he lived the rest of his life believing in and looking to the Lord. He believed in the promise of Jesus' second coming. Sometimes he would say to me when I was a child, “The Lord said that He would come again. But He has not come for two thousand years. What has happened?” My father worked diligently with hope and accomplished many things in this world. Yet he was not satisfied with earthly achievements. He looked beyond the things of this world to the things of heaven, especially to the return of Jesus Christ. He eventually went to be with the Lord. I believe that he is now with the Lord in the kingdom of God, waiting for his family to join him there. In Philippians 3, Paul says that the citizenship of those who believe in the Lord is in heaven. From there, we await Jesus Christ, our returning Lord, who will transform our lowly bodies and make them like His glorious body. Paul therefore encourages believers to look to his own life and the lives of other faithful believers as examples to follow. But Paul also says that many people live as enemies of the cross of Christ. They regard earthly things as everything, make their appetites their god, and live in ways of which they should be ashamed. Yet the cross does not end in death. Christ was raised from the dead, and through His resurrection He saves and transforms those who believe in Him. He will establish His kingdom, and therefore we are to wait for Jesus, who will come again, and set our hearts on the kingdom of God. When I was five years old, God used a beautiful Bible verse card with a picture on it to speak to me: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:2). That word captured my heart and became the guiding principle of my life. To this day, God continues to show me His faithfulness. Therefore, I trust in the Lord, look forward to His coming again, praise Him, and give Him glory.