His Masterpiece!

  

The greatest mantra for a satisfied life is to appreciate what you have. However, it is always assumed that self-contentment and appreciating what we have is the result of all the tangibles we possess, which is untrue. Every morning when I wake up and open my eyes, I thank God that He gave another brand-new day to live and to see what approximately 1,60,000 people are not going to see, because that’s the approximate number who ceases to exist each day.

I like to reiterate this fact quite often and I wanted you to hear it again, 108 billion people have lived throughout history and in that 93% are dead. You and I are among the 7% living in this period of time. Isn’t it wonderful and fascinating? Appreciate life! Value enough what you already have to stay in perfect contentment.  Consider the creatures; the animals, the birds, they do not have their food stored for the next day but start fresh each day and make opportunities to find food and live. We are not just mere creatures; we are unique and special. The Bible says, “We are God’s Masterpiece.”.

We have a purpose to live. Purpose is what makes us unique and different from other creatures. We often fail to find our purpose and wallow in regrets. The purpose is not just to satisfy our physical and emotional hunger but learning to appreciate the life God has given to each one of us and spread, love and hope to people. We derive happiness and satisfaction when we help someone who is in need and struggling to make ends meet. This is how it is recorded in the Bible about Jesus while He was on this earth, “He (Jesus) went about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil.”.

Jesus was not a spiritual guru who went about talking philosophy of life and pointing out a way other than him, but literally healed people who were born blind, deaf and mute, the lepers who were outcasts, and raised people from the dead, which is recorded in the Bible and validated by History and archaeology. This is literally God’s kingdom and we are privileged to live on this earth for some time. Try to know the true living God whose history endorses resurrection, and trust Him your life to make it promising and enriching. Allow your soul to connect with God the Saviour. We are made with a soul as C. S. Lewis puts brilliantly, “You don’t have a soul, you are a soul, you have a body.”. There is eternal life after death. If there is hope after life, there is hope now too. You  are not lost! Make a small prayer to invite this Him into your heart. You would enjoy a pure sense of satisfaction and hope in life. 

 

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Unexciting deal!

 

Everyone in this world finds a source of happiness that can cater to their joy and comfort in life. Some derive from relationship, some from their job, some from materialism, some from religion, some from commodities, some from parties and having fun. And for some, living a life with lies can be a source of happiness. External factors become more and more important to generate happiness for people. But the challenge is to understand how far it can be satisfying and sustaining. 

The impact may not always be enriching and fulfilling but all of us have to stay associated. Let me introduce a man by the name of David Bennett. One of his recent tweets said this, “As a nineteen-year-old, I met Jesus in a pub in the gay quarter of Sydney Australia as an Atheist. Today, I am walking through the fields of Oxford, doing that for which I was created. He is the pathway to everlasting Joy, and the eternal purpose of our souls.”

David Bennett hails from Sydney, Australia where he studied journalism and then international relations. He moved to Oxford to pursue his studies in theology and train as an apologist from a skeptical, atheist background as an anti-Christian gay activist. David now holds undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in theology from Oxford, a master’s degree in theology from the University of St Andrews, Scotland, and is now completing his doctorate (DPhil) in theology at Oxford. He is the author of "A War of Loves" which describes his story from atheistic gay activism to becoming a follower of Jesus, in which he advocates for a positive moral vision of biblical sexuality and discipleship.

My point here is that the ultimate place of excitement (as per people’s assumptions) like pub, and discotheque can look like a dream come true for some, but still can be an unexciting deal. The soul can still be void and lonely even in the midst of all the exciting happenings. For Bennett, right in the place where he thought he can derive maximum happiness was the exact same place he encountered the truth and the purpose of life. Jesus stated this, "I came so that they may have life and have it in abundance." Nothing can match to the need of the soul. All man-made theories and suggestions including religious and soul calming exercises can still be unsatisfying and meaningless. You need the Savior. The one who can not only transform you, your perspective and your ideology but can fill the need of your soul. Stop looking for Him in places and experiences. Ask Jesus to indwell your heart to experience hope and to enjoy a transformed life, with a divine contentment.

 

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My happiness is my priority!

 

Today the world believes that at the end of the day we must be happy at all costs. The end goal is personal happiness, and the means exists devoid of moral framework. We are constantly reiterated to do what makes us happy. Many are drowning in addiction. Infidelity is rampant. Cheating one another is no more considered adultery as it fulfils the longing of one’s heart. Motivational speakers keep inspiring and emphasizing to live the best life here and be happy.

We all have our own formulas and philosophies of life. We follow icons and gurus who match our philosophy. Soon, our children follow our footsteps and demand that they are given all freedom with no infringement in their space. This has such an impact on children that they fight for their space and live a secret life. Children from high society having greater privilege of facilities in their homes, seclude themselves and keep withdrawing from socializing. When personal happiness at all costs becomes the top goal, soon the family struggles to hold on to family values and stay together.

Personal happiness comes with a huge price of loneliness and depression. Man breaks boundaries to acquire and experience all illegitimate pleasures. Illegitimate pleasures violate the right of another human being. The end outcome can be rape and brutal murder for example. The ones with money and power escape without being convicted. This encourages more crime, more infringements of rights of innocent people, and all of this is done to attain personal happiness.

Religion with set of rules and regulations does not impact the transformation of heart. Even the religious festivals in many cases are a big gala where people go berserk with everything that can make them happy. All starts with the philosophy, “I need to do everything that can make me happy, and I don’t care who is hurt in the process”. Foremost we hurt a living God who is holy. All wrong behaviour is selfish and evil forces one to manage life in one's own terms. In the process people become gods of their own life. We forget we don’t have control over our next breath, yet we dance to the tunes of our selfish mind and evil heart, violating God and people in the process.

True happiness and true peace come from the Lord Jesus Christ who promised to forgive our personal sins and live a guilt free life. When we sin, we first wrong against a living God, and we are consumed by guilt which creates emptiness. Emptiness pushes us to loneliness, and to survive, we substitute happiness. The Bible says that wages of sin is death. We die spiritually and end up in the eternal condemnation to a permanent destination which the Bible calls hell. We pay a huge price here on this earth for all our wrongdoings affecting our eternal destination eventually. You need a Savior to transform you. Just a simple prayer can transform the course of your life and assure eternity with Him. 

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Fake it till you make it!

 

We live in a system where all of us would have experienced of being cheated at least once. This is because people want to constantly outsmart the other individuals if that means a better return, or a good benefit for them. Moral values like Integrity, honesty, truthfulness and trust happens to be an ideology that are talked about to sell themselves than actually living by those principles. The wisest man Solomon in the book of Proverb in the Bible states this, “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: But a faithful man who can find?”

Speaking to a teenager who reminded me the philosophy adapted by most young people, “Fake it till you make it!” which I am sure is not just followed by young children but is a habit of adults too. It is just that we all want to make it, we all want to live our way, we all want to win, we all want to gain, we all want to profit, we all want to be applauded, we all want to be appreciated, we all want to make big money, we all want to have all the luxury, we all want to get all that we see. And all these are not just possible even though if we have to have all the wealth and purchasing power. Therefore, people use lies to make it. They fake things.

In the course of time faking becomes a habit.  And when faking becomes an habit then all our dealings, relationships, religiousity, generosity and friendship stand on the pillars of lies. We deceive one another and at times deceived too. People forget that it has serious repercussion. Most of the marriages, relationships fail because too long they faked about almost everything. Such peoples devotion to God becomes a meaningless religious exercise or an activity.  Let me quote an example, while Jesus who is not a God of a religion, but a God who came to make provision for man’s sin through sacrifice lived among men and preached repentance, in other words asked people to turn away from sin. He was seen as a threat by religious leaders. The Bible records the religious gurus who were called the scribes and Pharisees sent men to spy Him. And it says, “They watched closely and sent spies who pretended to be righteous so that they could catch him in what he said to hand him over to the governor’s and rule and authority.” People literally failed in their endeavor because Jesus did not fake anything.

His resurrection was such an historical event in human history that people who don’t want to follow this God of holiness tried to call it a fake. But history and archaeology prove it again and again. You may fake it till you make it but remember it cannot hide your true identity.  The Bible says “For a man’s ways are before the Lord's eyes and he considers all this paths.” We all will stand condemned before God. If you keep faking it you will live with constant restlessness. Do you want help? Ask Him to transform you. Confess your faults to God and to one another to live an original life.

 

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