When intentions don’t match your action!

Have you encountered people who are polite and cordial on the outside but are quiet the opposite of who they are within? Welcome to the world of deception and dichotomy! Pretending to be good has become a common trait, especially among people who are associated daily. People’s intentions and actions don’t match. We are more concerned about people having a good impression about us rather than being authentically good.

Words can be far disconnected from what is really in one’s heart. Sweet words become deceptive when they are used to mask hidden, negative, or selfish intentions, functioning as a form of manipulation ("sugar on their lips and poison in their heart"). This often occurs when individuals use flattery to gain trust, hide jealousy, or disguise harmful actions. It is a sign of deceit when actions do not match the spoken words, often leaving behind a trail of disappointment and ruin.

In the Bible, the wisest king Solomon warns people who encounter such people or situations by saying, “When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you; And put a knife to your throat If you are a man given to appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food. Do not eat the bread of a miser, nor desire his delicacies; for it’s like someone calculating inwardly. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. You will vomit the little you’ve eaten and waste our pleasant words.” (Proverbs 23:1-7 Bible).

The above could be one category of people but we have encountered same or similar people in life. When bitterness is developed people act obnoxiously.  Bible warns us and states, “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.” The bitterness harms the one who has it than to whom the person is showing to. The root cause I feel is because of the lack of honesty or the genuine motive to reconcile and set things right. People would rather pretend and betray people into believing they are good than intentionally taking the effort to be good.

Fyoder Dostoevsky cites this beautifully, “People really do like seeing their best friends humiliated; a large part of the friendship is based on humiliation; and that is an old truth, well known to all intelligent people.”

I am sure this quote is relatable. When our hearts are not filled by Christ’s love it learns to live with constant contradiction. In book of John in the Bible we find strong words against hatred. It says, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him”. Hating your brother equals to murdering, isn’t that serious? The problem of the heart is so complex that we all usually let evil slide. When we operate based on power, self-righteousness, racism, egoism we do no longer have Christ’s love in us. When Christ transforms us, we become transformed and transparent. We can be transformed provided we are willing to ask forgiveness from the muck of self-righteousness and accept Christ transforming love by faith. Repentance from sins and accepting Christ in your heart as your Savior is the only way that assures us forgiveness and eternity. Would you like to know Christ more? 

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Age of loudcasting!

  

We are in the age where everything is too loud! People tend to forget there are people around them especially when it comes to the public places, sadly that includes the sacred zones too. In some countries and cultures, it is worse, no one really cares for the other people. "Age of Loudcasting" describes a modern trend where individuals publicly consume media—videos, music, or calls—on their devices without headphones at high volumes, subjecting bystanders to unavoidable, often unwanted audio. Common in commuting, cafes, and public spaces, this behavior is driven by increased, unrestrained personal device usage.

Nearly 46% of people admit to watching videos without headphones in public, according to the different survey. The Week  While common across ages, teenagers are roughly four times more likely (83%) to loudcast than people over 55 (21%). Data suggests it is more common among men (52%) than women (40%). This phenomenon, sometimes called "digital litter," forces personal, often loud, entertainment into shared environments, leading to decreased public etiquette. 

With too many digital entertainments one can reach quickly through their smart digital device people are therefore continuously looking for the external sound to fill their space. People can no longer be quiet doing nothing yet in peace. Richie Corrao states, ‘Life can be so full of madness with polarizing opinions, division, deceptions, and brutality pulling at your peace from every direction. But if you belong to God, you’ll recognize His voice in the middle of it all, and all that other “stuff” that consumes so many loses its grip on you. The challenge for us is learning to block out the noise so we can focus on Him and follow his word. God’s voice isn’t the loudest…but it’s the only one that will lead you home.’

In the age of inflamed rage fueled by exaggeration, self-justification and a hostile spirit, have we forgotten that behind the chaos is the manifestation of spiritual warfare in the heavenlies? There are desperate times, with political unrest, racial polarization, economic uncertainty and loud accusations and counterattacks. Bible talks about it already predicting the age now we are living. It says in the Bible 2Timothy 3:1-2, “But know this: Hard times will come in the last days. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…” If you notice carefully all these traits lead someone to express themselves loud. 

The peace of God if rules your heart you would find serenity and tranquility in your mind. What people are struggling today is finding the divine peace that has the ability to calm the heart and soothe the mind. Only Jesus in the entire human history claimed and assured the divine peace to all who reach out to Him. He said,  "peace I leave with you, my peace I give you." Knowing Jesus the God of Peace and making a decision to have this God of Peace and truth will transform you and your situation forever. He is the risen savior and promises to live in your heart. Do you want to know Him more? Grab the Bible (Physical or Digital) and read the book of John. No pressure no persuasion. I am sure you find the true peace overshadowing your life when you confess your dependence to follow Him. 

 

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I am right!

 

The act of assuming "I am right," particularly in a rigid and prideful way, is often characterized in a spiritual and ethical context as a manifestation of arrogance, which is widely considered a sin in Christian theology and many other moral frameworks. This mindset is seen as damaging to oneself, relationships, and spiritual connection. 

We all believe in our decisions and hold on to it especially when we plan in a particular manner and want to appear that way. But there is another reason too. When one holds good amount of power and status, then people’s choices and decisions look even more convincing to assume they are right. 

Self-righteousness is dangerous and pervasive, extending its tentacles, trapping and blinding us. Often, our motivations remain hidden even from ourselves. In confession Augustine observes how God upends human assessments of behavior: “Your witness condemns many deeds that receive human praise,” he writes. “For it often happens that the appearance of an act denies what the agent has in mind.”

Trevin Wax in one of his writings states this about self-righteous people, ‘Self-righteousness poisons relationships. So does defensiveness and the instinct to excuse ourselves. What keeps relationships alive is the opposite: humility, confession, repentance. When you fail (and you will), you don’t spin or deflect. You tell the truth. You allow the carefully curated image of your “best self” to collapse in front of another person.’

Some of the reasons that convince people they are right are as follows:

Pride and Ego: The persistent need to be right often stems from an inflated ego or a "superiority complex". This pride is viewed as a primary spiritual failing because it places one's own limited perspective above the possibility of being wrong or needing guidance.

Strained Relationships: Assuming one is always right in disagreements leads to arguments, frustration, and damaged connections with others, as it involves putting down others' opinions and a lack of willingness to understand their perspectives.

Lack of Humility: A humble attitude, conversely, involves being open-minded, seeking to understand others' viewpoints, and acknowledging one's own potential for error. The Bible explicitly warns against this kind of self-assuredness, stating, "Never be wise in your own sight" (Romans 12:16).

Closed-Mindedness: A trait characterized by an unwillingness to consider new ideas or opinions. Certainty in one's own rightness is a hallmark of a closed mind.

Ego Involvement: For some, being "right" is tied to their self-esteem or identity. Shifting their view would mean admitting they were wrong, which can be emotionally difficult and lead them to stop listening as a defense mechanism.

Self-righteous people may appear “holier than thou,” but that illusion only works when we compare ourselves to other sinners. Held up to the light of God’s holiness, every rag of righteousness is stripped away. The only way out of the trap of self-righteousness, constantly declaring “I am right”, is a renewed encounter with both God’s holiness and God’s grace. 

Knowing who you are and willing to change takes lots of humility. You can encounter a God who exemplified it in abundance. The life of Jesus, not just His teaching, His life in its entirety influenced and transformed millions of lives and gives hope to people who are struggling to change. It is simple to say, ‘let go off your ego’, but it is not possible by one’s own effort. When one confesses his sinful nature to this holy God, Christ Jesus, not only the wrongdoings are forgiven but He helps the person to stay away from sin. The Bible states, “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.”.  Mark those lines which says, ‘and he cannot keep on sinning’. That’s the  power of transformation. Transformation stories can be argued and challenged unless one  undergoes that experience. And anyone who is honest to know Christ and willing to invite Him into his/her life finds the power of God supernaturally restoring a person to His own image.

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Be patient with God!

We all wish we can skip processes that delays things and get what we want just instantaneously. That desire for instant gratification is a fundamental human urge, deeply rooted in our psychology and reinforced by modern technology. It is a natural inclination to prefer immediate pleasure or results over delayed, more significant rewards. The human brain is wired to seek pleasure and avoid pain. In our evolutionary history, this meant seizing immediate, limited resources (like food) to survive. Today, this translates to wanting everything "now."

The "process" is where skill, resilience, and true understanding are developed. Skipping it often leads to shallow, temporary satisfaction. God follows a process in everything he does. The story of Jesus the God of the universe adhered to the process too. He came to the world as a human, stayed in the womb, and was birthed like everyone else. Even though he has the power to do things differently, he chose to go through these processes. Right from the prophecy recorded about him. It says, “see the virgin will become pregnant  and give birth toa son, and they will name him Immanuel…” (Matt 1:23 Bible). When Herod wanted to kill Jesus, an angel appeared to Joseph and told him to go to Egypt. Instead of using his power to deal with Herod, God chose to follow the process. (Matt 2:3 Bible)

The lesson here is that even though God could have done things differently, He chose to go through a process because He is a principled God. We should learn from His example in how we live and in what we expect from Him when we make requests, God follows steps when dealing with us. He doesn't take shortcuts. That's why we should be patient and trust in God; he will help us when the time is right.

You cannot bypass endurance and enter into the promises of God.

You run into different problems if you try to take the short-cuts. Be patient with God. Here are some of the consequences if you skip the process.

Long-Term Consequences: A constant chase for immediate, easy pleasure can lead to poor decision-making, debt traps from impulsive spending, and health issues from neglecting long-term wellness.

Decreased Patience & Tolerance: When we are accustomed to speed, our ability to handle delays, boredom, or, long-term, complex, or challenging tasks vanishes.

Procrastination: We tend to delay tasks that require effort and, consequently, do not bring immediate, pleasurable results.

While we want to skip the wait, research suggests that delayed gratification—the ability to wait for a better, future reward—is a stronger predictor of long-term success, higher income, better health, and emotional stability. But more importantly when you are patient with God and yourself you see the hand of the Lord in your life. The Bible promises to lead who are His children. "Whoever is led by the Spirit of God are the sons [children] of God," (Bible). Things can look frustrating to wait but be Patient with God because he is always in control. 

 

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The Frantic Life!

Who is not busy nowadays? All of us have our plates full of priorities with some being emergencies. We have come to a point that we feel it is not possible to slow down any longer, because all of us are attached with too many goals, study loads, work targets, etc. Our mind is constantly alert. If nothing at all, our smartphones ensure we are fully occupied and busy. Until we understand that we are created for a divine purpose and our physical schedules are there to orchestrate meaning to life, we would continue to be frantic in life.

I came across Steven who is a blogger and he sees the word B U S Y as an acronym. Be Vigilant, Understand Priorities, Slow down, Yield (God’s will over mind), and suggests that we integrate our efforts to meditate on God to find balance. Let me break down the acronym for our better understanding. 

Be Vigilant: Busyness can be a sneaky thief. It doesn’t steal joy all at once, but rather, drains it slowly, by replacing presence with productivity. Being vigilant means guarding your quiet time like a treasure. Before I start my day looking unto God and inviting Him to be part of our activities which can change our busyness to quiet meaningful activities.

Understand Priorities: It’s easy to say, “God first,” but it’s tested most when we’re stretched thin. All of us can accomplish most of the tasks by ourselves, so we take life for granted and hope we will succeed every time we encounter difficult circumstances. Our day-to-day priorities stay at the top, and the need for God always comes last. We eventually use God as a parachute or a spare tire. We all ensure we have God for emergencies but wish we never have the need to reach out to Him. It is important that we all understand that God has created us and positioned us to know Him and finding meaning in life. When you study the life of Jesus, I wish you do it once if you have not tried, your perspective to life would change for ever. 

Slow down- Here’s something I discovered: the word “hectic” originally comes from a Greek root meaning “to be held,” as in, seized by fever. In other words, being “hectic” isn’t a badge of honor; it’s a symptom. That’s why we need to slow down—not in pace, but in posture. Slow down to notice God’s fingerprints in the details. Slow down to breathe grace instead of rushing through guilt. Slow down to pray before reacting.

Yield- Yielding doesn’t mean doing less; it means surrendering control. Jesus calls all who have been so busy and weary to come to Him for help. Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Yielding realigns my heart with His. It’s not passive; it’s powerful obedience.  Would you like to commit your life to know Jesus more?

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Why do we worry most of the time?

For the simple reason we are human, fragile and limited. We also worry because we want to solve future problems, prepare for threats, or gain a sense of control, but it often becomes a habit driven by fear of the unknown, a need to be responsible, or even a misguided belief that worrying prevents bad things from happening. It's a natural protective mechanism that signals potential danger, but it can spiral into excessive, unproductive thinking about what might go wrong, rather than focusing on what can be done. 

Scott Saul states, ‘we have imaginations, which is a gift that allows us to plan, to dream, to create. But imagination also lets us rehearse disasters that haven’t yet happened and may actually never happen. We can author multiple futures in our minds, many of them catastrophic. Worry is often just our imagination running away from us, dragging our hearts into places we’ve never actually been and may never actually go in real life.’

Jesus very often addressed anxiousness. He says, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble “(Matthew 6:34). He doesn’t say this because our worries never materialize; they often do. He says this because worry removes God from the picture. It is unbelief hidden in the form of precaution.

 

C.S. Lewis understood this better than most. In his book ‘The Screwtape Letters’, the senior demon Screwtape instructs his apprentice on the best way to lure humans away from God: “It is far better to make them live in the Future. Biological necessity makes all their passions point in that direction already, so that thought about the Future inflames hope and fear. Also, it is unknown to them, so that in making them think about it we make them think of unrealities. In a word, the Future is, of all things, the thing least like eternity. It is the most completely temporal part of time—for the Past is frozen and no longer flows, and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays... Hence nearly all vices are rooted in the future. Gratitude looks to the past and love to the present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead.”

Lewis saw what Jesus wants us all to see: when we camp out in the future, we live in unreality. The future is not here yet. It may never be what we imagine it will be. And in fixating on it, we abandon the one place where God actually does meet us: right now, in the present. I keep emphasizing that each of us are strategically positioned to fulfil the sovereign purpose of God. Jesus promised never to leave us nor forsake us. If only we can learn to know who He is and the promise of His spirit in our hearts, our fears will be evicted. 

You don’t need to rush out of your pain to be okay. Jesus doesn’t need you to recover quickly - He just wants you to recover honestly. Slow healing is still holy. 

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Being Nice!

You would notice people quote C.S. Lewis often to describe the depravity of man.  Lewis predicted and stated that the modern obsession with “being nice” destroys the soul. In his book, ‘The Abolition of Man’, Lewis argues that when a society stops believing in objective virtue, it doesn’t become tolerant… it becomes manipulable. He calls the result “men without chests.” People with appetites and intellects, but no courage, no honor, no trained moral instincts. They can calculate everything and defend nothing. Lewis saw that once we reject inherited moral law, we don’t become free, we become raw material… easily shaped by propaganda, pleasure, and fear.

Modern man prides himself on compassion while quietly surrendering every standard that once gave compassion meaning. Lewis’s insight is brutal: “a civilization that educates clever cowards will eventually be ruled by tyrants or technicians.” The Bible sums up appropriately on the nature of man in this way,

“There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open [d]tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans 3:11-18.

If you notice keenly, you will find that this fallen condition of human being is what we see and relate in our day-to-day life. Man, constantly and spontaneously gives himself to the evil. People try to make their own good and live it to be marketable and profitable. Sadly, it ends in self-contentment and religious sufficiency.

The outright evil that surges like a continuous wave result in the purpose of human being marred with greed and pleasure, so much so that he finds nothing worth living or dying for. When nothing is worth living or dying for, everything becomes negotiable… including human dignity. The purpose of life blurs due to the inward depravity of human soul. How do we reconcile and find redemption to our soul?

Just being nice is not the solution. Sometimes people  try to be nice to find their place in family, among friends in the society and workplace for their survival and benefit. John Henry Newman with possibly the most devastating line about the spiritual life ever written: “The aim of most men esteemed conscientious and religious, or who are what is called honourable, upright men, is, to all appearance, not how to please God, but how to please themselves without displeasing Him.”

This cannot redeem human soul. For our life to be completely rescued and transformed, we need to encounter the true Savior who made provision for man’s sin and who has the capacity to transform lives. The sinful condition of a human being needs a divine solution which we can find in Christ.  His holy life, death and resurrection give meaning and purpose to life beyond mere human niceness. 

 

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