Love without compelling!

 

There is a story in the Bible where a rich young man feels sad and Jesus didn’t try to make it better. The young man approaches Jesus to know if he can be part of eternal life, i.e. life after death. He affirms to Jesus that he is careful in observing the laws and commandments of Torah from his childhood.  The Torah is the name for the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Pentateuch or the Five Books of Moses. It is central text in Judaism, considered the foundational law and teachings of the Jewish religion. Jesus addresses the core of the young man’s existence by asking him to sell all his possession and give it to the poor and follow Him. 

Bible excerpt Luke 18:22-24 [22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!]

Jesus says to forsake all and follow. The man gets very sad. Jesus sees he is sad. Jesus lets him walk away. Jesus never tried to convince him, persuade him nor apply force in any form. He allowed him to walk away. I think this was also the best example of the demonstration of His love. Jesus never forced anyone to follow Him and therefore Christianity never forces anyone to follow or convert to Christianity. Christianity is a religion of Love which follows the teachings of Christ also modelled in the form of charitable activities to reach out to the poor and the vulnerable with the acts of love. Sadly, people use deception and manipulation labelling Christians as one who allure and convert people which is purely a false allegation in all sense.  

The Bible among all scriptures in the world states, “God is Love”. It is true of all the demonstration of love Jesus showed. He reached out to the lepers of his time who were considered as outcast. No one dared to reach out, forget about touching them. But in several instances Jesus touches them, they were cleansed and healed completely. So often the Bible writers observed Jesus’s extreme love of mankind and stated, “Jesus moved in his compassion” and reached out to people in need. 

An apostle of Jesus called Paul was an ardent persecutor of Christians. When he encountered Jesus, he was not only transformed but also started preaching about Jesus in all corners of Rome and in most parts of Asia. In his letters he states, “Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles..”. The greatest demonstration of Jesus when crucified with all the false allegation never defended Himself even once. Christ predicted His own death and resurrection which was proved a true moment in Human history. His death on the cross was important because He died for the propitiation of man’s sins and today the sin of the mankind is forgiven by believing in Jesus, repentance of sins and accepting Him as one’s Savior. 

Religion uses persuasion and force, anti-conversion laws to protect its existence but Christ demonstrated love and gives complete freedom to accept Him or reject Him. However, the Bible is clear that whoever believes in Him and follows Him will have abundant life here on this earth and assured of eternal life. The Bible verse that assures this is, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

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Before you freak out!

 

Questions to ask your “Freaking” Self

Does worry provide you with limitless options?

Does the future hold you ransom by not letting you do the right thing now?

Can a disaster be an opportunity to seize than to resist?

It’s good to ponder on the questions above.

Anger makes you feel you are in the right, but regret does the opposite. They generally amplify your feelings of right and wrong. Therefore, taking decisions when you are overcome by these emotions is a big NO. Always use facts to verify. Anger and frustration are an offshoot of disappointment. The emotions by themselves are not bad and we can use them for a greater purpose.

Problems are integral to our existence, how we address them is the game changer. Problems can appear daunting and impossible to overcome. Emotions rule in these moments. But we can mentally “step outside and above it.”. Yes, there are problems to be solved. Yes, you need to act. But the chaos is happening externally, and you are still in the driver’s seat, internally.  You are in the control of the moment; the moment is not in control of you.

Worse case scenarios flash in our minds but with hard work and perseverance we could overcome most of our problems, if not all. However, we can do this only with the help of our Maker and Creator – God. Each of us were created uniquely but do we ever look up to Him or talk to Him? In the pantheistic worldview everything poses as God, try various options, give up and blame the universe for what we are going through. 

We hear people say, “Thanks to the universe” or “The universe has given me…”. If you thank and praise the universe, what you are really doing is pretending that the universe is God. No God is God, the creator of the universe and all in it.  It’s no different from thanking a morning coffee for getting us through the day. It is more than the universe. God sent His son. Jesus died for you and me. The Bible states “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16 Bible). The hope is in this living God who has rose from the dead. He chose to live in our heart provided we are willing to throw away the trash in our hearts and accept Him as the savior and Lord of our life. Jesus is our hope, a God who rose people from dead and Himself rose from the dead, is willing to hear us and come to our aid provided we don’t use Him as option.

 

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Learning to trust is a choice we make!

 

We live in a world filled with anxiety, regret and brokenness. In such a case trust usually makes no sense, direction becomes clueless, and purpose shattered. Most of the people are victim of grief, despair and conclude life is unfair. The challenge of poverty further adds to the despair, shattering all dreams of hope and life. 

Poverty is a law of entropy. What do I mean by this statement? The Law of entropy also known as the second law of thermodynamics states that in an isolated system, the total entropy ( a measure of disorder or randomness) will either increase or remain constant, but it will never decrease over time. This means that a system will spontaneously tend towards a state of greater disorder unless external energy is applied. The intensity of every broken situation seems to increase. It is when man questions life and the purpose of life. 

The purpose of life is to restore things from its original intention. God made man a social creature. God gave man work, God had a fellowship with man, God gave man dominion over the earth. What is the significance of these things? God intended for each of these to add to our fulfilment in life, but all of these (especially man’s fellowship with God) were adversely affected by man’s fall into sin and the resulting curse upon the earth as Bible records in its first book of the Bible called Genesis, chapter 3. All brokenness, poverty, regrets, pain, and suffering are the result of sin directly or indirectly.  People mix up God with life. Just because life is not fair doesn’t mean God is not fair, God is not life, but life without God is unfair. 

In our humanistic culture, people pursue many things, thinking that in them they will find meaning. Some of these pursuits include business success, wealth, good relationships, sex, entertainment, and doing good to others. People have testified that while they achieved their goals of wealth, relationships and pleasure, there was still a deep void inside, a feeling of emptiness that nothing seemed to fill. Trusting God is the last resort for people. Even if they do trust, it’s only on people, time, things or promises made by someone. 

Trusting God doesn’t come naturally. It is a choice we make. You can trust Jesus because of His credibility of who He is. He invited all those who are heavy laden. He said,  “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”. The “rest” Christ provided is not comfort or instant happiness but helping us in our point of need. He understands your struggle and expects you to draw to Him. He never cast away anyone who comes to Him, but then we must make a choice to trust Him. The Bible says, “Submit to God, and you will have peace, then things will go well for you.”. I pray that all will go well with you. 

 

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Trusting God when uncertainty hits the roof!

 

I am remembered of the days when living every single moment in uncertainty was a never-ending saga of anticipation and apprehension. Anxiety swirled like a whirlwind with unanswered questions like what was I supposed to do next? And how would everything work out? Though during such times there was food on my table and roof over my head, yet the fear of tomorrow was daunting. It was in these trying circumstances, feeling completely out of control, that I finally surrendered.

Dear friends, if this seems like your life story be encouraged that you don’t go unnoticed by God who created you, more specifically who created you in His image. The core of Christianity is a God who lived, died and rose again, which affirms the fact that He is a God who is alive. This is the boast of Christian faith. He stared at death and had victory over it. He totally understands what you are going through. Crisis is a time that not only helps you find new meaning to life and decode the philosophy of it but also finding God. I don’t refer to the religious rituals as they become decoys and blame it on karma.

Times of crisis makes us hold on to those which we really need to let go off in life. Our urge to control the outcome trumps the fact that we need to surrender to God. So, we end up questioning Him and believe He has forgotten us. The mistake we make is equating God to religion. Religion is a set of creeds filled with systems, rituals, do’s and don’ts where people try to observe everything. We get so absorbed by them that we fail to establish a relationship with God and drift away. Our uncertainties seem to linger on. Your uncertainty is part of God’s plan to save you from your wretchedness and help you find the truth of life and eternity.

The greatest purpose of man is to know God and have fellowship with Him. Personalized God never works. Gods cannot be personalized. Either one God or no God. When referring to Jesus Bible states this, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ.” Referring to Jesus who was God incarnated came in human form but never was like one of us. He was different, holy and immaculate. All that He said and predicted including His own death and resurrection came to pass. But sadly, people have categorized Jesus as a Christian god and rejected salvation altogether.

You can try to know Him more from where you are. Enough of trying your personalized religion. I am introducing you to Jesus who rose from dead and who lives. He promised to live in your heart, where the real temple is. You are not alone in your journey. Times will not change your situation but surrendering your life to know Him more, have fellowship with Him and follow Him will alter your capacity to deal with your problems differently. He is there to transform your condition and walk with you. Set aside your religious bias and try to know who Jesus is, you will find His story fascinating and your life enriching.

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THE FOUR