The trinity of Sin!

 

"My only sin an enormous one is that my conscience does not accuse me of anything" Pope Pius XIII. When humans come to this stage in their life, they have been emboldened by talent, money and power.  That's the triune elements that entice a man to sin. With talent and no money, a man will be rendered powerless. But with just money and power he/she may make a mark in this world. But with neither talent nor money you just cannot gain power. You definitely need the other two.

Your talent can help you earn money based on you being at the right place at the right time and meeting the right people. It immediately pays you dividends for your skill through money. Once, your talent spreads you become famous and get powerful connections and positions. Eventually, you become one of the powerful persons in your circle of influence.

However, the danger of this trinitarian effect is that it makes you delusional that you have become immune to God's wrath. The Bible says, "..... Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble.". Money brings so much power with it that it starts deadening your conscience and you starts sinning with no hesitation. It's like a tooth decay that festers within but looks perfect outside. Until all three are in constant supply - talent, money and power - sin abounds. But be assured sin will always reveal itself, whether you are alive or dead. There is no escaping.

We all fail to recognise that we have been created by a Holy God who made us in His image and bestowed us with whatever talents we have. Somehow, money and power make fools out of us that we play god in our life. The Bible so beautifully puts, "O God, you know how foolish I am; my sins cannot be hidden from you.".

My friends! I implore upon you that if God has lavished these three facets- talent, money and power, use them wisely and with utmost caution for the glory of your creator and for the good of humanity. When you use them with humility and integrity, you will leave a legacy for your generations or you will leave a trail of shame and regret that will haunt them.

The savior of the world has a power to forgive and cleanse you from all your unrighteous deeds and make you clean, and most importantly enable you to start afresh. Would you consider this God to bless you with a new transformed life?

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Business of Love!

 

Is love a business transaction for me? Is something every man and woman should ask oneself. Somehow love has become a commodity in this age and it's only going to increase with every passing century. Every relationship whether it's parents-children, husband-wife, brother-sister has a underlying motive of business. In other words, even love has a tag to it. It costs a person financially, whether you are a father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, wife or husband. If you realise I have restricted my relationships to the most blood-related or intimate. The reason is when these relationships turn business-like it defiles the very concept of love.

I read a recent news article where a woman sacrificed more than US$200,000 (1.5 crores) as a settlement to the wife of her lover to get her to sign the divorce papers. I have given below the news article for more details. There is so much one can read into this article and make judgements. But the heart of the story is a business transaction was done in the name of love - Wife claimed her rights and lover claimed her man. Money has exchanged and all is well. But is all really well? 

As people of this world we are able to digest this story because our values have corroded over time and we are able to debate the business-love transaction without batting our eyelids. However, to comprehend there is a God who sacrificed His life for us without expecting anything except our heart, sounds ridiculous and old tale. The Bible says, '“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.'. Our Heavenly Father also did a transaction but it was life for life. He gave up His only son so that you and I can have abundant life. Only when money gets involved it's becomes business but when it's life for life it takes it to a whole other level. That is love.

When we believe in a God who sacrificed His life for us. We become rich in love because His character penetrates into the depth of our being and overflows in all our relationships. Today, we pay money as a penalty in religious places for our sins or to show our love for god. No wonder it doesn't hit our conscience when we buy or get rid of relationships with money.

God of the Bible has shown what real love is, "We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.". Sacrificing your dreams, desires and rights for the betterment of your close family or for anyone, being supportive based on their needs, providing an environment where they thrive and being there for them without any expectations will resemble the real love demonstrated to us by God. Make a commitment to know this God of love and see your life and relationships change for the better.

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Reference:

NewsTree News: 'Girlfriend' Has Spent Rs 1.5 Crore To Get A 'married Boyfriend', Why Did She Have To.

https://news.newstree.co.in/news/girlfriend-has-spent-rs-1-5-crore-to-get-a-married-boyfriend-why-did-she-have-to-pay-the-price-of-love-132870/

Live life not by lies!

 

The world has made truth as a rare commodity replacing it with rampant lies, Small compromises and vague explanations people make, groom them to become habitual liars.  Lies and denial start at a very young age. It is likely they were corrected but inconsistency led them to make it a way of life. Lying becomes their friends as long as it benefits them. It comes to a point where lying is more comfortable than speaking the truth.  

Travin Wax, the author of multiple books comments on a play written by Sebastian and says “Survival seemed at one point of time to depend not on truth but falsehood, and since no one wants to think of themselves as committed to lies, the solution is to reframe the grand falsehoods so that one maintains a respectable inward sense that the truth has not been sacrificed. In reality, however, the truth has been twisted. Devastatingly so.”. People camouflage lies with many factors including the noble ones.

Small compromises and adjustments with lies build up and spill to almost all areas of their lives. They rationalize saying, “why do I need to care whether I am respected and honored when life is smooth sailing for me without them.”. Unfortunately, people forget, accumulated lies can hit back at them like a massive Tsunami. Finally, it erupts as a national and global issue, affecting the society at large.

Our lies and adjustments do matter. The income that is earned as result of lies pays back in disaster. What we sow, we reap. This is the law of nature. You may make good money by lying and embezzling but not too long it causes pain and sorrow affecting the family too. The Bible says, “God cannot stomach liars; he loves the company of those who keep their word.”. People are obsessed with security and make money by all means (either by truth or falsehood) and hoard it deluding themselves for eternity on this earth. We fail to understand that we will cease to exist one day and at the same time face the judgement for all the lies we lived, lies we believed in terms of God and His existence. It is time we repent and follow the God of truth who said in the Bible, "I am the way, the truth and the life”, and further said, “You will know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”. You can make a commitment to follow the truth and be transformed.

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Finally you are in!- Happy New Year 2021

 

How grateful are you to reach the year 2021? Do you think you have made it because of luck? Well, not really! It is merely because of God’s mercies. If you consider the data of 2017, it records nearly 150, 000 people died each day around the world for various reasons. It would definitely be much more in 2020 compared to the previous years.  It is a privilege to find ourselves still surviving. As quoted before, you are richer than 93% of people, not in money but in time. Of 108 people who have lived throughout history 93% of them are dead. You have what every king, queen, pharaoh, CEO and celebrities of the past would give all their wealth for - Life. Does this excite you? Many who tried their best to be alive have failed. Let us learn to be grateful to the God almighty.

The problem with humans is they increasingly become ungrateful to God. Generally, people think they are self-made  and succeed by their talents, money and power. Many assume God operates in their terms just for the simple reason they give their offerings for the survival of the so-called holy places, be it a temple, mosque or Church etc. It may not make much sense to them. Don’t forget your survival is a miracle and do not get lost merely in celebrating the New Year in a godless way. We have millions of reasons to be thankful to God. Be thankful to the creator and find the reason and purpose for your existence.

The top reason that we exist is to know God and know the purpose for our living. As Mark Twain puts it beautifully, “Purpose in life is far more important than property or possessions. Having more to live with is not substitute for having more to live for. The two greatest days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.”.

There are many who say, “I have the ability to decide for myself. Why I should depend on a God what I can decide by myself.”. Again, they are mistaken. Let us not forget we are finite in nature. The Bible says, “Man’s steps are ordained by the Lord, how then can man understand his way?”. You need a God to unfold the surprises and the purpose of your living. 

An author of one of the books in the Bible states, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.". Your path is illuminated by the direction you find from the word of God. You may want to download an online Bible in your preferred language. Download here

Jesus promised abundant life and eternal life, when we acknowledge the divine provision by confessing our wretchedness (sinful nature) to God and choose to live a life worthy for God and to the people in our society. 

Blessed New year 2021!

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Give me a word please!

  

If we all have to call out words we most encountered and familiarized this year 2020, then I am sure it would be Corona, infected, sick, mask, vaccination, social-distancing, disappointment, frustrated, death, etc. If I want you to name words that haunted the Corporate sectors, institutions and impacted lives then it would echo in line of work-from-home(WFH), austerity measures, attrition, frugality, retrenchment, job loss, unemployment,  cheated, scam, layoffs, cutback, loss, shutdown, etc.

We all understand that these are not just painful words but life-altering words for many people. I hear people saying that with passing time, things would change for the better. Well, I defer to agree with that because time is not a provider, healer or restorer of life situations. In many cases, time made things worse and it is still irrevocable. How are the people who have been seriously affected going to make it? Definitely it is not going to be easy but let us not forget we all move forward by - Hope. The question will remain, where lies our hope?

Let me emphasize, despite of all challenges we still muster our ability to hope and this hope is usually generated from within. Many kindhearted people, charitable organizations/institutions extended help and support in the time of need. With this as a context, if we have to name a word who witnessed and experienced the good act would name words like relief, sympathy, kindness, gratitude, thankfulness and maybe some more positive experiences. Yes friends, we live by hope to see things change for better. It looks like this era is soon likely to become divided like “Before Corona” and “After Corona”. 

Recently Christmas was celebrated globally. In some way most of the people were part of it, at least in celebration. Christmas demonstrates the incarnation of God in the form of man Jesus who made an immense impact in human history. He was not merely a good man or a moral teacher pointing a way of life like many, but claimed, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”. What makes Him special is the way in which He was born is the fulfillment of prophecies made thousands of years ago of His nature of birth - the virgin birth, the holy life He led, the works He did raising people from dead, eg. story of Lazarus, the way He chose to die and His resurrection. This gives all of us a hope because of His jubilant claim He made “Because I live you will live too.”. He further added, “You will have sufferings in this world. Be courageous, I have conquered the world.”. Can we look for help from this God who is willing to transform us and our situation? 

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Looking for stability !

  

The challenges and crisis of life seem unending but quickly we have come to the end of this year, 2020. Everyone has faced some kind of crisis including kids of all ages. In fact, children are affected in many ways even now. They desperately wish things will be normal soon and they can exercise their full potential. Nations are struggling to maintain stability in all possible manner. We are all hoping to soon find relief. Whom do we actually blame for all that is happening? I am sure, we all have someone to blame other than us. We have made our own research based on what we see, hear and read, most often some are biased and some are untrue. But the fact is we have collectively failed in many ways.  

We all suffer because of someone's selfishness, whether it is a nation, government or people. We become recipients of good and bad decisions. Most of the catastrophes and disasters are manmade. They are the result of our choices. What is left for us right now is our responses. How do we respond to things? Choices of our decisions in the past affect the present and help shape us as who we are. What happens in life, however, is not as important as how we respond. We sometimes have little control over what happens but we can always control our responses. Too often, we get upset and fixated over what we cannot control instead of what we can control.

The rich and the powerful are showing to the world that one can manage life successfully if he has both money and power, which is actually not true. If that's true then many powerful people and nations are in mess and brokenness themselves. Some are also struggling to handle many criminal charges slapped against them. Today, committing the worst crime and being caught for it is no more shameful and regretful. People find ways to walk out free.

We often forget that our lives are open in the eyes of a living God who created us. It is high time we listen to our conscience through which the God of justice speaks to us and also through the Holy scripture. James W. Golli from the book "God Encounters States" says, “God’s word and His eternal laws provide an anchor of stability in the midst of confusing world. Scripture can help us know how to respond to circumstances of life, whether good or bad. Some of God’s laws are eternal and will affect our entire lives depending on whether they are broken or honored.”. Don’t look for a God in the cradle, partying with wine and cakes. You can strip away trees, lights, wreaths, candy, chocolate, gifts, festive music and Santa Claus yet you will find the real reason to celebrate, that is - Jesus is the risen Savior and the coming King.  

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Verge of closing 2020!

 

Every day is a new day and each month is a new month for all of us. However, with December comes the finality of the year. We gather our thoughts and matters of life and bring them to a common table to analyze and know how good things went - better or worse. Generally, people want to think in terms of profit and benefit. There's nothing wrong with such parameters but it is also worth pondering our progress as a better individual.

We live in a world of dilution whether it be commodity or relationships. Things are getting increasingly spurious on which we have very less or no control. People are living in an unsafe environment with every passing day. The claims of human testimonials on accomplishments are both good and bad. We advance in knowledge but we regress in morality. But does it even hurt us anymore? It is good to check on ourselves to make room for personal change as we come to the close of this year 2020.

With Christmas, the greatest celebration around the corner, let's consider to make some amends in our lives in light of this festival. Let me enlighten you that Christmas is absolutely not about Christmas trees, Christmas Cakes, bells, balloons, wines, mistletoes and Santa Claus. All of this is fiction and has no reference in the Christian holy book, The Bible. This tradition, mythology and culture has messed the true essence of Christmas.

The birth of Jesus, His death and crucifixion are the fulfilment of more than 300 prophecies that was recorded in the Bible written by 40 authors over the period of 1,500 years. It displays perfect cohesiveness and it is devoid of any contradiction. The purpose of the birth of Jesus as recorded states, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!”  

What makes Christmas so special is not the celebration of a birthday. For that matter there are many great people whose birthdays we celebrate. What makes Christmas so special is the cause for which Jesus was born. He took human form to give us salvation by His birth. The purpose He fulfilled by the way He lived, His death on the cross of Calvary and most importantly His resurrection (rising from the dead) after three days makes the difference. No one in history who claimed to be God was predicted of his birth nor were they resurrected.

You have a choice to accept this salvation by acknowledging His sacrifice and by making a small prayer. Following a God should transform lives, give us meaning and assurance about life after death and make us a better person than just confining to a religion succumbing to rites and rituals.

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