If you look at the Korean news lately, there are two people in particular. One is famous and the other is smart. At least according to their own standards. The famous one is Lee, Jae-myung and the smart one is Minister Han, Dong-hoon. They belong to different political parties, have different positions, and are being attacked by many people. They are, in my words, tormented people.

As clearly shown in the 2006 movie "Beauty is Painful" starring Kim, Ah-joong, being more beautiful than others causes a lot of pain. As we can all agree, this is especially true when it comes to envy and jealousy. This may have something to do with why the metaphor of the rose being the first to be plucked or cut off is so popular.

When I look back over the intervening years of my life, one story after another comes to mind. People who are exceptionally good at something naturally have public enemies. There is a lot of public scrutiny and psychological pressure, so some people grow more, while others regress. In the midst of all this, I realized that we live with this paradox in our own lives.

I knew a couple who fought so much that I wondered why they got married. Yet they had six children. They still fought. Later, I found out that the children were the result of each time they reconciled after an intense fight. In the end, it seems that they lived for two or three years after having one child. The story of this couple shows a paradoxical life.

The secrets hidden in the Bible are also full of paradoxes. In fact, the whole story is paradoxical. During Jesus' three-year public ministry, he performed many signs and wonders, but the people who saw, heard, and experienced them all rejected him. A particularly powerful paradox is what the apostle Paul says in Romans about grace being added where sin is (Romans 6:1).

While this paradox is easy for a "The Prodigal" like me to understand, it may be harder for a "The Puritan" who has lived an exemplary hothouse faith. The fact that Jesus personally suffered and died on the cross for the glory of resurrection is the part that shows the truth of the paradox most clearly. The reason why a grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die to become alive and bear fruit is also a paradox hidden in the order of nature.

I have a paradoxical truth that has been accumulated in the past 10 years of ministry. Of course, the Bible says, "It is good for you to suffer". It is an important message that has made me realize the truth that without the cross, there is no glory of the resurrection, and it is a truth that I have experienced deeply in my life.

I believe that we Christians have a source of strength to overcome whatever circumstances and conditions we may find ourselves in. It is a fact that the Lord will surely give each of us something worthy and beneficial in the end.