How lucky are you?

Everywhere you go in Thailand, people wish you "good luck" when you leave, and as I answer them with "God bless", I am left pondering 'luck'. Christians may be surprised to hear that even my Bible reading has been about lucky people... seriously! What is luck? Do you have it? Do you want it?

In Thai class we are studying a module on Folk Beliefs. It helps to explain much of what I hear around me about luck. Luck in Thai culture includes everything the world chases after - in a nutshell, happiness, fame and fortune. Although Buddhist ideology has no teaching on luck, the search for luck governs all the details of Thai life; a classic example of folk beliefs that have become totally intertwined with formal religion, almost to the point of taking it over - so it becomes Folk Buddhism.

In Folk Buddhism, the year you were born is very important, as is the day, time of day, and lunar cycle. I had to look on Google to find out that I was a Thursday baby. This means my 'lucky colour' is yellow-orange. And so if I buy a house or a car, it should ideally be yellow-orange for it to bring me good luck. Now if I happen to buy a red car (because I have better taste than to buy a yellow car), all I have to do is put a sticker on the back to say 'This car is yellow'... So it seems the spirits that bring the luck are literate but colour-blind!


 "What day were you born? What monk image is lucky for
you?" Other types of amulets contain powerful spells making
 the wearer bulletproof and immune to slashes on their skin.

The strings this friend at the cancer hospital wears
are bought at temples, to keep the 32 spirits that
 inhabit her bodily organs bound in her body. They
have mantras chanted over them, making them 'lucky'

Thai Folk Buddhists believe that a healthy, normal person has 32 spirits residing in the body (not quite a Legion, but getting there...). If anyone is sick it means some of the spirits have left and one must perform ceremonies to bring them back. One of these lives in your nails, and another in your hair, which means that there are very precise rules about when you can cut your nails or hair. For example on Tuesday it brings bad luck, you will lose your possessions. Wednesdays it would be good for the body and gives a happy heart, unless you do it at night, in which case you will have a short life.

And if you think that's involved, I won't even start explaining the rules about naming your child. Just for example, a Monday-born child is not allowed to have any vowels in their name - it will bring evil times upon their life. So even if the consonants in your name bring you luck and prosperity, if you have a vowel, you're stuffed. These examples are not even the tip of the iceberg. Can you imagine a life governed by such fear? One wrong move and you are liable to bring evil on yourself. Not only that, if you kept every rule to the tee and always checked what was the auspicious time to do something, you are still liable to suffer. Of course. This is where we transition seamlessly from Animism to Buddhism - your suffering is probably because of bad karma in a previous life. And so the sufferer is left stranded between two guilt-ridden belief systems, neither helping in the slightest to alleviate their suffering. Realising this, we begin to glimpse the unbearable burden our brothers and sisters carry through life. Utter hopelessness.

Jesus speaks into it with piercing clarity. Like a rainbow shining into darkness, Jesus re-defines Luck.

He said (in Matthew 5):

 

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴ Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

⁵ Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

⁷ Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

He turns the vain and empty ideas of luck right on their head.  The way up is down.

The word 'blessed' comes from the Greek makarios - to be happy, or approved by God... believe it or not, this word comes from a word that means 'lucky'! It can be summed up in the word 'Congratulations!'  So, Jesus is saying, you who are hopeless, helpless, in despair and totally empty, devoid of value and worth... you are the lucky ones! Why? Because these attributes fly in the face of your nature and craving. You know your true condition, your eyes have been opened by spiritual surgery, you are under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and you now qualify to live the life you were created for - you inherit God's Kingdom itself! R.T. Kendall (whose book 'The Sermon on the Mount' I credit for most of this) refers to the Kingdom as the realm of the unhindered, ungrieved Spirit - the most sublime level of living on the planet.

So I ask myself - am I lucky? Certainly I am, to the degree I allow the ungrieved Spirit to reign in me. And what do I have to do to earn such outrageous luck? No amulets, spells or nail clippings on Wednesday needed. To the degree I take my eyes off the glitter of the world that leaves my heart cold, and allow Jesus' light to fill me, I will experience the kingdom!

If you have a couple of minutes, spend some time in the Father's arms as you listen to the words of this song... No one knows you better than Him.