Whether we realize it or not, every good thing in life is actually a gift. It includes the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the houses we live in, the cars we drive, the achievements we make, the time we have, the air we breathe, and so on. We know that life is a gift because we can’t intentionally do things like growing our own hairs, circulating our bloods, or digesting foods in our stomach, etc. What has been given to us which is not a gift?

But some of us might think, “I achieve success because I work so hard.” Hold on… isn’t it the ability to work hard in itself is a gift? Isn’t it a gift that our body organs can function well so that we can work and do normal activities every day? Isn’t it life in itself is also a gift? Therefore, if life (and every good thing in life) is a gift, then so is salvation (eternal life). Can we now confirm what the Bible says?

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23, NIV)

It is clearly said that eternal life is the gift of God. The Bible doesn’t say “the reward of God is eternal life.” So, what’s the difference between gift and reward? To answer it, and to understand why salvation is a gift, here we’ll see from (at least) three characteristics of a gift:

1. Gift is given out of the giver’s generosity

In contrast with reward, which requires labors (hard-work) from the receiver, gift is given out of the giver’s love in the first place. Gift is given without a prerequisite while reward is given as a performance-based acceptance. When someone gives you a gift on your birthday (or any special day), that means you are loved – you don’t need to work or “do some good” to receive that gift. Have we been generous to others, or have we experienced the generosity of others? Have we realized that, in fact, most of the organizations (or activities) can only survive by “donations”? Research activities can progress if the government commits to support (or sponsor) them. Missions can thrive if the “stakeholders” are willing to contribute financially (and prayerfully). Even businesses can only run well if the customers are “generous” enough to buy their products. Humans are needy of the others’ generosity. Ultimately, we can only live (and be saved) by the gracious love and mercy of the True Giver, who is the Source of everything.

2. Gift can be accepted or rejected

There is only one requirement to accept a gift: trust the giver. It is up to you to accept or reject any gift – you can reject the gift, for example, if you don’t trust the good intention of the giver. You might question the giver’s motive and sincerity (or perhaps you might even feel undeserved to receive it). To accept a gift demands faith, and to have faith demands humility. When we accept gifts, sometimes we have to acknowledge our “wants” or “needs.” Imagine you have a very sensible friend who recognizes your needs of something and then he/she gives you exactly what you need. Would you humbly accept the gift, or pretend to be strong and say, “I can earn it by my own efforts and I will do it my way”? Salvation can’t be earned by our own hard-work – it is a perfect gift from the Creator of the universe, given out of his perfect love for us. The only way to receive such a wonderful gift is by humbly putting our faith in him.

3. Gift is not your own and thus demands a responsibility

If life is a gift, can then we do anything we want with it? Can we have a limitless control over our own life? Obviously not. You see that even though the gift is freely given, we should treat it with respect. Imagine what your best friend might feel when he/she found that you didn’t treat his/her gift respectfully? To treat the gift carefully is to show a true appreciation to the giver. The gift of salvation, if accepted by faith, should also be treated with honor. One can’t simply take it for granted. While it is true that we don’t need to “work for” the gift of salvation, we still have to “work out” the gift of salvation. As an illustration, suppose you receive a computer as a birthday gift from your parents. You don’t need to pay anything for it, but you still have to be responsible for taking care of it. If necessary, you should clean it every day and make sure it works well. You are expected to make the most and get the best out of it. At the end of the day, your parents would be so much happy if the computer can give maximum benefits for you. Knowing that life (and salvation) is a gift, we would please our Heavenly Father by making the most of every moment to live according to his will. Since we’ve been given two wonderful gifts – life and salvation, our expressions of gratitude are to love God and people, by sharing these gifts to others.

Vancouver, April 30, 2018

Why Salvation is A Gift. (The background image is adapted from here)

Christians celebrate Good Friday and Easter Sunday annually as they believe that Jesus had died and risen from the grave. In fact, the death and the resurrection of Jesus have been the foundation of Christian faith for centuries, even millennia. However, not everyone in the world has the same conviction – there has been a view that Jesus had not actually died on the cross, but he was miraculously saved by God and raised bodily to heaven during crucifixion. Thus, according to this view, if Jesus was not even dead, he was also simply not resurrected.

If neither the death nor the resurrection of Jesus was the case, all Christians in the world would have been deceived over the course of human history. As Paul wrote in his letter, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:17-19, ESV). In other words, we Christians believe that since Christ has been raised, our faith is not futile, we have been set free from the bondage of sins, those who have died in Christ will receive the promised eternal life, and we (who are still alive) do have hope in Christ, not only in this earthly life, but also for the afterlife, where we will spend eternity with God and his beloved people in a glorious heaven.

Nevertheless, to some people, this kind of faith does not even make sense and thus not everyone can readily accept it – at least not everyone can understand it. But I believe that in order for us to grasp the meaning of the death and the resurrection of Jesus, we have to admit in the first place that we are all sinners (humanity has fallen) and the earth we live in now is perishing (the world has been broken). Now, as we look at our world today, we might ask ourselves something like “Are the death and the resurrection of Jesus still relevant today?” or “Do we really need God to die in our behalf?” or, what will be addressed here, “What if Jesus was neither dead nor risen from the death?” Let’s take a closer look…

What if Jesus did not really die?

No story of God’s love. If Jesus had not died, there would have been no story about God coming down from heaven reaching out mankind and to give his life for them. We may then imagine God as an “ignorance being” who does not really care about what is going on in the world, including the struggles and sufferings of all creatures. There would have been no life-changingly divine interaction between human and the Creator if Jesus had not sacrificed himself. We probably know the best expression of love is to sacrifice our own life for someone’s sake: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13, NIV). Suppose you have a friend who loves you so much that he is willing to die on your behalf when he knows that you are convicted of a death penalty as a consequence of a crime you’ve committed. Are you going to call him “stupid” or “savior”? Well, if we don’t realize that we are sinful and how much we need God’s compassion, forgiveness, and restoration, the death of Jesus might be a foolishness for us. Otherwise, when we humbly confess that we can never earn salvation by our own efforts, that’s the time we realize that Jesus is truly a Savior.

No hope for true justice in life. Seeing injustices in our world is easier today than it has ever been. Every day we can actually find heart-breaking news around the world on social media. We probably think, “It’s fine” as long as the tragedy did not happen to someone we are familiar with. But, what if such unexpected things befell our beloved ones? Would we still have hope and belief that all things work together for a good purpose? I believe the answer is “yes, amen” if we believe that Jesus had died for us (and vice versa). Here is the rationale: Jesus had died the worst possible way a human could die. Not only about the “method” of his death (crucifixion), but also about his “status” in which he died in innocence, meaning he had no guilt that deserved him such a terrible way of death. In other words, the death of Jesus was a result of injustice… and also an evidence of the brokenness of the world and humanity. By such a gruesome and humiliating death, Jesus had gone through the worst possible struggles and sufferings a human could experience. Thus, we know that we are not alone when we struggle with any problems or suffer from any diseases in life. We have hope that a true justice does exist and is yet to come in this world because God has a power to restore everything: “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” (Isaiah 30:18, NIV). After all, we have a courage in Christ whose death brings us freedom and salvation from all sins, shames, and pains.

No God’s authority over all things. The death (and the resurrection) of Jesus is a demonstration of God’s sovereignty and authority. Even a layperson knows that God the Creator has an authority over life and death, a power to give and take away life. Now that Jesus said, “No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again.” (John 10:18, NLT), what do you think of he is? If he has the authority to give and take up life, then he is not merely an ordinary person just like us, isn’t he? The moment before he died, Jesus said, “It is finished.” Now we know that the work of salvation has been completed by God himself and no man should ever work for his own salvation. The bondage of sins and the power of evils have been defeated by the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross once and forever. Our lives now belong to God alone and it is he who has the ultimate authority over us. God is now at the center of our lives and the throne of our hearts. God is in control over all things in our world. What a great privilege to be owned by the Creator of this universe! This all were not the case if Jesus had not died.

What if Jesus did not rise from the death?

No victory over death and sins. There is a lot of uncertainties in life, yet one of the certainties is that we will all die one day (unless God is willing to take us directly to heaven). Christians believe that there is an afterlife, and thus there must be a consequence of all the things people have done in life. We believe that salvation has been given by God’s grace through our faith in him: “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.” (Ephesians 2:8, NLT). Many people have fear in death and understand it as the end of their existence on earth. However, the Bible tells us that death is the final enemy to be destroyed and, in fact, has been defeated by the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ: “We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him.” (Romans 6:9, NLT). Since Christ has risen victoriously from the grave, he is able to grant us, his beloved followers, the same victory he’s already won. Now, suppose you become the follower of a “God” who claims himself as a “loving, just, and powerful God.” Don’t you think such a “loving God” should be able to give an assurance for your salvation? If he really loves you, would he boldly say, “Believe in me, and you’ll be saved. 100% guaranteed” or do you think it’s just fine if he says, “Even if you believe in me, I can’t guarantee your salvation. It’s all up to you, o human. If you are morally good, you might be saved; if you are not good enough, you won’t probably be saved.” Which one do you think is the genuinely good God? Remember, both are loving, but only one of them is mighty to give you a certain hope for salvation. I believe salvation is a God-centered project, not a human-centered work. It is God himself who took initiative to liberate us from the fear of death and give us a victorious life by the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. All this would be the case if Jesus had risen, and thank be to God that he is risen indeed!

No hope for eternal life. I wonder if you’ve been in a very good moment that you feel like going to live forever (or you want time to move slowly or, if possible, just stop there so you’ll be in a long-lasting happiness). We all might have felt that way – perhaps it’s like a glimpse of heaven. Even though the reality of life often disappointed us, in our hearts we still long for a life with never-ending joy. It’s everyone’s dream: an immortal life in eternal happiness. Would you be happy if someone help you realize such dream? Or, at least, if someone promises to give it freely to you? Did you know that someone does exist, he is alive, and his name is Jesus? This is his promise, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NIV). I believe it’s also God’s desire to spend eternity with us, his beloved children. For this reason, he gives us eternal life as a gift, not a reward. You know that a gift is given out of the generosity of the giver while a reward necessitates labors from the receiver. Life is a gift – God gives us the breath of life and a good health; we don’t have to pay anything for breathing. Isn’t it amazing how he has promised us the gift of eternal life too? “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23, ESV). Our earthly life now is a God’s given opportunity to trust his promises, to obey his commands, and to do what pleases him… before we see him face-to-face. Though we can only see him now with the eyes of our hearts (faith), yet God gives us an unfailing hope, through his promises, that one day we’ll see the realization of our dream. And this would only be possible if Jesus had risen… and thank be to God, he had conquered the grave!

Life is miserable. Is this too blatant? If there is no resurrection, there would be no hope for eternal life, then we would all simply live to die. Our life would be meaningless and purposeless, we might think that we have a right to do anything we want because life is only once. Everyone would be trapped in a pursuit of worldly treasures, fame, and pleasures. All of sudden, this world would become a more chaotic place. We’ll see crimes and wars everywhere more than ever in history, and the victims, including innocent children, would all die in vain – so would the disciples of Christ, the saints, and the national heroes. You would never be able to see your beloved ones again – there would be no reunion and feast in heaven. Wouldn’t it be painful to experience such reality? Thank be to God for giving us good news: the Savior has come and there is a salvation in his name. Only he, who has risen from the dead, is able to save people from the death. No wonder Paul said, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11, NIV). He wanted to know Christ, take part in his sufferings, resemble him in his death, and experience the power of his resurrection. In other words, Paul believes in the resurrection of the dead because Jesus Christ has risen. Would you believe that too?

What If the Death and the Resurrection of Jesus were Untrue? (The background image is adapted from here; image designed by the author)

First draft written by March 28, 2018 and finalized by April 26, 2018 in Vancouver

Hi there, welcome back to Pearls of Mind site. Time flies and it’s been five years for me now since I first started this blog in January, 2013. You might have noticed so far that many of my writings often discuss about personal, spiritual, and political issues. I realize that not all people can relate well to what I had written. Some people might feel interested, but some others might have also disregarded my stories or perspective. I am totally fine with that! 🙂 I would keep on writing and sharing, hoping that at least a little of inspiration would come to you after visiting this site.

Anyway, this year I am going to write more stories and thoughts from my research and work, the field I am currently working on. Hopefully, there are positive values or useful takeaway that can be extracted from here. Alright… in my first blog of the year, I would like to share a little bit of my experience and insight from studying Chemical Engineering, especially for those of you who might be interested to know a little more about a subject of which people often asked me a question, “Why do you learn Chemical Engineering? Are you gonna make a bomb?” 😀

In the following imaginary interview, you might probably get some general ideas of what Chemical Engineering is about.

How would you define Chemical Engineering?

Chemical Engineering is a study of chemical processes that convert raw materials into useful and higher value products by applying the knowledge of physics, chemistry, and mathematics for investigating material and energy transfer in each unit operation (i.e. processing equipment).

What will you learn more specifically in Chemical Engineering?

Some fundamental concepts include, but not limited to thermodynamics, reaction kinetics, mass transport, and heat transfer. In thermodynamics, we’ll learn about relation between internal energy, heat, and work for a number of molecules at different temperatures and pressures in a system, including the spontaneity of reaction. In reaction kinetics, we’ll study the speed of reaction; how fast the reactant changes into products, which could be affected by temperature, pressure, and energy to activate the reaction. The mass transport studies the movement of molecules participating in a process or reaction; how fast the molecules move is driven by the differences in concentration and/or external energy. The heat transfer studies the flow of energy (in the form of heat), either naturally from high to low temperature region or vice versa with the help of external forces. Material and energy balances is the unique subject only learned in Chemical Engineering (you’ll not learn it in other disciplines).

In addition, we’ll also learn some advanced theories and applications, such as momentum transfer, fluid mechanics, engineering mathematics, computation and simulation, catalysis, reactor design, plant design and the economic evaluation. In short, Chemical Engineering students will learn how to be a designer of chemical processes.

How well does Chemical Engineering relate to people’s life?

Nearly all materials that we use everyday are derived from chemical processes. Clothes, drinking bottles, food packaging, glassware, electronic devices, and all the components of your house are manufactured through chemical reactions. The knowledge of Chemical Engineering also plays a vital role in energy industries. All transportation means, from automobiles, ships, to planes, are driven by fuels, which are produced via complex chemical processes. Even not too far, in human’s body itself also undergoes a variety of chemical reactions every day. As long as we can breathe the air, oxidation process occurs in the cells of our bodies. It is clear now that Chemical Engineering is actually not far away from everyday life.

What is the main role of chemical engineers in the real world?

There are actually diverse job opportunities for chemical engineers. Some people may argue that ideally a chemical engineer should work at processing plant, such as petroleum, cement, textile, or paper industry. We know that most of such industries have also impact on the economic development and political aspect of a country. Moreover, chemical engineers can also contribute to the innovation of technologies through a rigorous research and development. More importantly, chemical engineers play an important role in designing process that can transform underutilized materials into valuable products in a clean and sustainable manner. That’s why, a good chemical engineer should be concerned with both ecofriendliness and cost-effectiveness of a process.

If you could extract the insight from Chemical Engineering lessons, what would that be?

There are two keywords that have taught me a very important life lesson: “process” and “balance.”

First, the process we learn in Chemical Engineering, as already mentioned earlier, is actually about transforming less valuable materials into more valuable materials. This process typically consists of three steps: pretreatment, reaction, and separation/purification. In the pretreatment, raw materials will be selected and pretreated in a physical process, such as heating, cooling, or size reduction, in order to minimize “burdens” in the subsequent steps. In the reaction, materials will be exposed to high temperature and/or high pressure environment; they will absorb or release heat, known as endothermic or exothermic process, in which the bonds between molecules are broken or formed. In the purification step, the products resulting from the reaction will be isolated or separated from the other undesired compounds, such as impurities, unconverted reactants or by-products. Both steps require time and it is hard to imagine that raw materials can be changed into pure products instantaneously. Note that a pure chemical product is reasonably expensive since it was formed through a long, hard, and complex process. Fortunately, there is a substance that can speed up the reaction, called catalyst, which can “magically” reduce the amount of energy required to activate the reaction.

Second, the balance is very important in all the process. This concept is based on the fundamental laws of material and energy conservation. In an ideal process, the amount of input materials should be equivalent to that of output materials. The same is true for energy. All this means that there should be neither accumulation nor losses of material or energy in the process; a good process should not corrupt.

So, what is the life lesson? What can you learn from that?

Life is like the “process”. We used to be like the raw materials; in our old life, we might often feel less valuable and it seemed impossible to be a good person with great impact. However, through a series of process, that is often painful, unpleasant, or inconvenient, we have been growing to become a better person. We might think our circumstances and environment often “heat up” and “pressurize” us so much, however we have been actually transformed into a valuable product after being “purified” from all the impurities in our hearts and minds, such as hatred, envy, anger, and other negative emotions. This is not an instant “process” and often demands our patience, endurance, and persistence. Our characters are shaped along the way; there are some “bonds” we need to make while some others we need to break. Ultimately, when we turn into a “pure product”, our values are so high that people would give respect and honor to us. I believe that prayer and faith can be the good “catalyst” for our life process. (Hopefully, the already good reaction is not reversible) 😀

Not less importantly, the “balance” is what we always need in the “process” of life. All the blessings and good things in our life are not supposed to accumulate for our own. Our money and talents are to be shared with others, especially those who are in need. We come to this world without carrying anything and we’ll one day leave this world without carrying anything. Knowing this insight, we need to keep every aspect in our life in balance if we want to go through every life process as ideal as possible. For instance, whenever we feel that we had overworked, we can keep the balance by taking a break with some fun or relaxing activities. There is a case when the process is not in balance, for example due to an excessive amount of heat (overheating) that would potentially fail the process. This condition might result in a poor product that is less useful and even rejectable. If you are happy, don’t be so happy that you ignore the other person’s struggles. If you are rich, don’t be too rich that you neglect the poor. If you are religious, don’t be too religious that you become judgmental to others. If you are smart, don’t be too smart that you underestimate the lowly ones. Studying Chemical Engineering is truly a life-transforming experience to me.

I got you!

See you in the next posts.

Please be advised that you can also read the similar contents of this blog for Indonesian versions in the following links:

Menemukan Makna Hidup dalam Teknik Kimia (1)
Menemukan Makna Hidup dalam Teknik Kimia (2)

Vancouver, January 31, 2018