The harsh reality!

 

Our general belief is we all will become old one day and die, although we know this is not necessarily true. Dying young is also a reality - still born, early childhood, adolescents, youth. The reason for death can be many including, ailments, accidents, war, natural catastrophe that snaps life suddenly. George Bernard Shaw puts it beautifully, “Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed.”.

The ones who work in hospitals can narrate incidents where they thought of patients who show remarkable improvement to survive, suddenly pass away. Death is inevitable. And there are cases where doctors give timeframe like few months or days, depending on the medical condition.

I read an article by a person named Tom Elie whose brother was diagnosed with last stage cancer and doctor gives him six months to live. These are the words Tom uses to give him a sense of purpose even at that stage. "You know, people say there's a silver lining to every storm cloud. God has given you a special gift... that of knowing when you're going to die. Many people have no warning of their impending death, no time to say their goodbyes, and no time to say I'm sorry. You have been given a priceless gift."

We are all dying. Yes, it seems morbid, but true. None of us know the final day or hour or year in advance. It made me think deeply. We can just ignore and close this article, but some would choose to stay with me. This is so important.  What if I pretended, I had one year to live? What if I could chart my next six months as though they were my last? What would I do differently? What would I change? Instead of dying with a load of regrets, why not prioritize what is really important, reorganize and strategize how to reach my new found goals.

The Bible says this, "And now abides faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.". This is a beautiful goal to organize things in life. If we could look at those three things, dissect them, learn from them, and try to master them, we would not only be successful, but we would also be fulfilled! You can reach out to Christ for transforming you towards a fulfilled life of purpose and hope. Our destiny is safe in Him alone, because He is the only God who resurrected after death, and promised eternal life. If we believe Him, accept and follow Him as Savior and God, our life in that case, will be different completely.

 

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Unashamed!

Shame is destructive, degrading and destroys people’s hopes and dreams. It makes them vulnerable.  There could be some instance in your life or something you did probably even after long years is still haunting you. You don’t want to talk about it, you wish you could forget it completely, but you notice that it does not easily go away. We have all heard the phrase, “You should be ashamed of yourself!” Whether it is directed at you or another, you instantly know what it means: You should feel awful about yourself.  

If you are struggling personally over something which is making you feel unworthy, useless, and guilty, I want to help you get over the shame and live with hope and dignity. Shame and guilt are the result of sin. Some use this to disrobe people’s dignity to make them feel weak, miserable, inadequate, and dependent on them. Sin uses all tactics to pull down people’s morale and force them to live a life of mediocrity.

In the creation story according to the Bible, talks about the first man Adam and Eve. We usually have a twisted and perverse version of this story portrayed in the movies. We live in an age where anything can be cheapened. Coming back to the original event and story, Bible says, God made man and woman in His image and empowered them to rule and have dominion over this earth. But soon after being tempted to disobey, we see the incident of deception seeping in. Man disobeyed God and therefore they felt guilty and ashamed of their nakedness. The problem of sin begins, and we are still battling with personal and private struggles almost every day.  The first book of the Bible called Genesis, narrates the creation events. My emphasis here is highlighting the problem of shame and guilt.

Shame and guilt are inseparable. Sin is like cancer it will force you to live in regret, lead a miserable life and eventually destroy you. Even if you try visiting all the shrines and any religious places or try to visit all the sacred rivers, guilt and shame are not easily washed away. You need forgiveness and liberation from your sinful condition. 

The good news is that Jesus put your shame on the enemy, and He cancelled all the charges, the accusations, the records of wrong against you by nailing them to the cross. If we really believe this, then we can live unashamed and enjoy freedom. If we choose to live under the voice of shame, we are essentially declaring Jesus’ death was not enough. It’s like saying, “That’s nice, but it’s not true for me. I’m still unforgiven, I’m not worthy, and I need to carry around the shame and guilt of my sin.”   The wonderful news is we can live unashamed when we choose to believe that we belong to God. Reach out to Him in prayer for a transformed courageous living.

 

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Staying long in the familiar zone!

 

Comfortable places breed familiarity. We all love to stay where we are comfortable and where things work in our favor. However, most of the familiar places may not always be healthy and complimenting. Some familiar places do more harm than good, like being a gang member, alcohol addiction, substance usage, porn, gambling and so on.   

Tovares and Safa Grey counsel is worth considering. They say, “don’t sabotage the future God wants to give you by staying with what’s familiar. Dysfunction can feel normal...” That is a brilliant piece of advice, isn’t it? Many are forced to believe that their situations are normal even though it's dysfunctional. Dysfunction becomes the norm over a period.  It is good to analyse and see if all your familiar places are adding to God’s purpose in your life or is it disassociating you from God, reality and relationship? 

It all starts with our heart. The heart by nature, unless it has found the true saviour would lead us and make us comfortable in doing things which can break the moral and purpose for which we are created. Psychologist Diane Langberg states this, “the habits of our hearts and minds shape us over time. As we nurture internal habits, we are choosing again and again to bend our will to them until eventually the day comes when we can no longer choose a different course. Sadly, we automatically obey sins dark demands.”.

If we continue to do what we are doing, we will not only find the same result, but our entire future will be marred and disfigured. It doesn’t matter if you have all the money, power, and fame, still it will have a serious impact in your life. The Bible says, “it is appointed for people to die once- and after this judgement.”. We all will have to face the final judgement; you can’t hire a defence lawyer like we do while on earth.

The Bible emphasizes, “so then, each of us will given an account of himself/herself to God.”. As I use to always say, this is not moral science lesson, but a reality. If you are struggling to come out from your comfortable familiar zone which is ruining you, your family and relationship; don’t lose heart! Release all that looks comfortable and yet sinful in nature. You can confess your shortcomings to Jesus and be free from all your sins and failures. He will exceed your expectations and bless you with life that is worth living and a hope to live forever. Transformation is not based on a formula, but the soul encountering its Saviour

 

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Me, Myself and I!

 

The Modern secular trinity today is, Me, Myself and I. One is compelled to feel that it should only be about himself/herself. Such people fall under the category called Narcissist.  Mayo Clinic while defining this personality disorder states that Narcissistic is one of several types of personality disorders — is a mental condition in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for excessive attention and admiration, troubled relationships, and a lack of empathy for others.

Elisabeth Corey states, “Narcissists are such hypocrites. They pretend to have morals, standards, feelings and a conscience but they possess none of these. They will lie, insult, cheat, abuse and disrespect you, but in return they will expect fidelity, respect and all your time and energy spent on them. They can do whatever they want, whenever they want, but you are to remain loyal and perfect at all times. This isn’t healthy; its toxic and definitely not love.”.

If this defines you then it is high time you seek help to change your behavior because if unaddressed, it can destroy your relationship with others and much more. We all understand that to a larger extent there are priorities to address i.e., our personal needs, which is absolutely fine. However, Narcissists go farther by manipulating people, exercise power over them and will try to justify themselves with politically correct statements. Even their compassion can be cruel. I think for this reason Jesus while summing up the ten commandments comprised them into these two which says, “Love your Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.”

The second commandment which commands us to love our neighbour as ourselves can only be possible when we find the true Lord and Savior. To love Him with all our heart and follow Him ardently. Jesus basically was breaking all the idea of Narcissism. He was selfless and humble, always on the road visiting villages, towns and cities doing good and preaching about repentance which basically means change of heart, and it also implies you turn away from sins and turn to God for eternal life. The ones who are obsessed with “Me, myself and I”, are usually alone and lonely but keep satisfying themselves with the money and power they have. One who follows Christ can never be a narcissist but becomes a selfless human being with love for mankind.

 

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