Breaking Free From Sin Is a Path to the Kingdom of God

By Aixi, Malaysia

    When I was 12, I began believing in the Lord Jesus and became a Christian. After I began believing, I actively and persistently participated in Sunday worship and Bible study groups. At Bible study meetings, we often discussed 2 Timothy 4:7–8, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: From now on there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.” We thought that, as Christians, we should imitate Paul and strive to run around and do works, because the Lord would bestow crowns of righteousness upon us. Our pastor also often encouraged us by saying the kingdom of heaven is entered through effort, and as long as we make efforts to pursue and diligently do the Lord’s work, when the Lord returns, He would rapture us up to the kingdom of heaven. These teachings became the cornerstone of my belief in God, and I swore to myself that I would do all in my power to participate in church service work so that I could accrue enough “value” to satisfy God, so that when He came, I could be raptured up into the kingdom of heaven.

Christian Inspiration: Never Give Up in Adversity

By Xiangnan

    A farmer had an old mule, and one day the old mule accidentally fell into a deep well. Because the well was so deep, the farmer thought there was no way to save the old mule, and he decided to abandon it. But he didn’t have the heart to and, seeing the old mule struggling inside the well, he then decided to use dirt to bury the mule inside the well. When the farmer began to shovel dirt into the well, one spade at a time, the old mule shook off the dirt on its back and then began to climb up onto it. The old mule kept shaking off the dirt and, in the end, because of the old mule’s persistence, the dirt that had been intended to bury it inside the well became the steps it took toward a new life!

2 Imperative Ways to Get Ready for Jesus’ Return

By Da Zhao

    Today, all kinds of disasters around the world grow ever worse, and many prophecies of the Lord’s return are basically fulfilled.

    We Christians are eagerly awaiting the Lord’s coming to rapture us. I think of the Lord Jesus’ words, “Therefore be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes” (Matthew 24:44). The Lord reminds us that we must soberly ready ourselves to welcome His return, but how exactly should we do this