Lasting satisfaction!

 

Human beings are strongly emotional, extremely rational and highly intellectual but unfortunately, we use all of that to get only what we want and to meet our selfish desires. Instincts and feelings also play a part in this selfish endeavor. But the truth of the matter is, they leave us with emptiness in our hearts because by nature they are temporary. In this age of consumerism, everything is commodified, trivializing our joy and excitement, thereby, making our wants unappeasable.

C S Lewis calls this core desire “the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want, the thing we desired before we met our wives or made our friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds, when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work.”. The “unappeasable want” is an every day experience for each of us in varied degrees. The sad part of human history is that we have learned to live and adjust to temporary happiness and satisfaction but hardly garner our emotions, intellect, instincts to desire true, noble and lasting joy that can bring about absolute contentment in human hearts.

Our happiness and joy were never meant to be commodities, which results in fragile relationships. For the pieces of the puzzle to fit perfectly in our lives we need to align our desires to know God. Not a God of imagination and fantasy but a God who is  alive and active in human lives. Randy Alcorn in his book "Heaven" puts these lines beautifully, “We may imagine we want a thousand different things, but God is the one we really long for. His presence brings satisfaction; his absence brings thirst and longing.”

Let us remove the religious framework from our minds as it will fail us at one point. Any religion for that matter is only a set of do’s and don’ts. We may satisfy our selfishness by complying to a set of rites and rituals. A relationship with a God that transforms lives and creates lasting contentment in human hearts is what really makes the difference. In the Bible, Jesus states, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.”.  Your commitment to God impacts your longing.

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Happy Women's day!

 

Tomorrow the 8^th of March the world will be celebrating International Women’s day. Wishing you all a Happy International Women's Day in advance. I know it's amazing to be a woman whether married or unmarried, whether with children or without them, pursuing a high-profile career or dedicated in raising God-loving, respectful children. The world tries to put women in a box and suffocates them with its demands but time and again you have proved you are free spirited and no amount of domination is going to curtail the amazing amount of potential and talents your Heavenly Father has lavished upon you. You have shined and soared despite of your hurdles in life and bounced back from every setback when life threw a curve ball at you. Nothing now or later is ever going to change the fact that you are God's masterpiece and you will always be looked at by your Maker who the Bible says, "fearfully and wonderfully" made you. For Him you will always be a WOMAN - Wonderful, Outstanding, Marvelous, Adorable and Nice. Honor Him with all your, heart, mind, soul and body because He has great things planned to happen through you. Surrender your life to your creator and make only Him as master and center of your life. He is waiting to unleash His power through you, to transform your family, community, society and the world at large.

Allow me to express your worth in the following poem celebrating the fact that womanhood is hailed not just on March 8th of every year but every day of your lives:

Wonderful are your attributes that God has bestowed on women,

Kind, compassionate, loving and caring are the nature that adorns you;

But these are the very same virtues that turns out to be a bane,

Making women naive and vulnerable to human predators.

 

Outstanding are your iridescent shine wherever you are placed,

Don't hide behind the shadow of patriarchy,

Diminishing the gamut of potential your creator has lavished upon you;

Stand up for the dignity you deserve

And be a beacon for the generation you serve.

 

Marvelous is your strength in times of trouble,

Deftly bearing the weight of the burden in raising godly children,

To be responsible adults in a society so vile,

Turning their focus on the Heavenly Father

As their rock and refuge in a world uncertain.

 

Adorable is your passion for your fight for your counterparts,

Who are battered, bruised, looted and humiliated;

Your voice raised in #Metoo or similar movements,

Bringing hope and justice for the voiceless,

Ushering in happiness in a life forlorn.

 

Nice are your balancing acts like a trapeze artist,

Excelling in your family life and career,

Others have chosen to joyfully embrace motherhood and homemaker;

Whatever may be your calling don't forget to honor your Heavenly Creator

Who has called you "Woman" for such a time as this.

As conclusion let me remind you of what the Bible records in the creation story, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.". Culture may perpetuate patriarchal society, suppress women's potential but in the sight of God you are precious and full of worth. Uphold the dignity with which He created you and don't settle for anything less as you are God’s image bearers. May God bless you and protect you all.

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I believe in my way of living!

You will hear this quite often from people who say, “I believe in my way of living” and “I follow my heart”. It is the common creed embraced by billions of people. It’s a statement of faith in one of the great pop cultural myths of the Western world. The problem and danger with that belief system is that when each one of us, based on our status, power and background attempt to set their views and creed as a standard of what is right and wrong it can ultimately result in disaster.

Think along with me on this. If you happen to be in to the court of law for manhandling and injuring someone seriously, and you tell the court of law “I did what I felt was right at that point of time because it was necessary”, then how do you think the court is going to treat you? As a defaulter, do you think you will be acquitted for your great philosophy? We all know the obvious answer.

All these many years we were striving to establish our own standard of right and wrong, were hurt and ended up hurting each other in the process. But it is time we draw our attention to find what is the standard for right and wrong? We cannot live on our own standards and expect everything to fall well perfectly, or things to align with our views. We are both right and wrong sometimes and most of the times that’s the greatest danger. Therefore, we are all forced to adhere and comply with the constitution of law and order for maintaining harmony and solidarity. We have moral laws and moral framework irrespective of religion.

One writer explains about the heart describes it beautifully this way “The truth is, no one lies to us more than our own hearts. No one. If our hearts are compasses, they are Jack Sparrow compasses (The compass which is magical and it points toward that which the holder most desires). They don’t tell us the truth; they just tell us what we want. They are not benevolent; they are pathologically selfish. In fact, if we do what our hearts tell us to do, we will pervert and impoverish every desire, every beauty, every person, every wonder, and every joy. Our hearts want to consume these things for our own self-glory and self-indulgence.'

The Bible says, “The one who lives with integrity will be helped, but one who distorts right and wrong will suddenly fall.”. Let us not tamper with what is right and wrong. We are not God. We need His grace to help us do what is right and which promotes brotherhood and not distort morality to promote our selfishness. All the commandments are fulfilled in these two great commandments in the Bible, "Love your God with all your heart, and love others as yourself". You can click the link to know to what God expects from you and me.

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Can there be a good side to pain?

 

Nobody, I repeat, nobody enjoys pain or willingly chooses to suffer, unless a person has chronic mental illness. Pain always has a negative connotation, which is not entirely true. Human experience and elementary medicine teach us that pain has an important role in our lives. Pain warns us of danger. For example, you put your hand too close to the fire, your nervous system alerts your brain and you feel pain. Your reflexes kick in, you withdraw your hand and you are saved from injury. This proves that pain is not bad afterall. Generally, pain is an indicator, or rather a symptom to a more serious problem or an issue that allows a person to take corrective measures.

If you notice, certain amount of pain is involved in physical development. People with an intention of body building do workouts which cause pain, sports like boxing, martial arts, athletics are quite demanding and inherent with pain, which people endure to excel. The same is true with character formation. Suffering and pain can have a major impact on character formation. There is the truth in what the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky commented on character formation through suffering - “Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart.”

A world devoid of pain and suffering will lead people to sudden catastrophe or worse, death. I often refer to a condition called CIPA (Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis). This is a condition where one does not feel pain at all and it is dangerous because the person is unaware, they have hurt themselves. Parents of children suffering from this condition wished if God could bless them with a sense of pain in order to be careful. The point I wish to bring to focus is God in His sovereignty has incorporated pain in creation for our well-being. At the same time, I do not want to brush off the fact that pain and suffering are also caused by humans, like Cancer, Coronavirus and many other diseases for which we pay a huge price.

I would like to conclude with the story of God recorded in the Bible, where history resonates with the fact about the sufferings Jesus went through. The Bible says, He chose to suffer, undergo gruesome torture and experience excruciating pain on the cross of Calvary. Jesus who rose again on the third day, could have fought against the forces of darkness and escaped the cross, but rather He obediently underwent pain in order to die for the sins of humans. This is the glorious story of salvation. All that we are expected to do is believe and accept this gift of salvation offered by Him. Unlike other gods, He did not wage holy war or fight enemies but demonstrated love through His sacrifice for our sins. Therefore, we don’t have to work out our salvation by our own efforts but just accept what He has already offered us. You can choose to know more about Him.  

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Biased in our opinion!

 

Inadvertently, we all have biases when receiving and translating information, supporting a cause or view, picking a political party, sharing opinions and so on. This is because we are convinced what we know is the truth and we are a better judge of that. It's a skewed thought by itself. We live in a world where truth is beyond what we see and witness and beyond mass supporters. In present times truth is becoming relative and twisted.

Marcus Aurelius puts it beautifully, "Everything is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective not the truth." The fact is, beyond every information, content or situation there is a personal motive or intention. Some are absolutely selfless which are boring to the masses, but some are spurious concealed under a mask of truth, that get people excited. No one bothers to spend time and energy to know if it's the truth. So, they go with the piece of information presented to them. We selectively take what we want and ignore the rest. My point is, truth is not plain and simple as it manifests. It is most often muddled in selfishness to benefit oneself. Without proper discretion it is just impossible to point the truth.

Now, beyond all we see, hear and witness is the supernatural truth, a truth about God and the relationship between God and man. Sadly, many count the story of God as a perspective or an idea. With so much counterfeit in everything, even God is not spared. Today, many assume they are gods because of having power in their hand. They take up weird physical transformations with unique outfits and have a strong following. Deception increases with increase in power and money.  

Truth has to be measured against the truth of God and moral law. You would find Jesus in the Bible unique because the many so-called gods came to build empires, married, disappointed, frustrated, practiced polygamy, were polytheistic and still found appealing to people. Jesus was entirely different because He lived a holy life, spoke so much of truth and tied up everything to loving God and loving each other. He was resurrected, promised eternity and promised His return to the earth once again. Do we care to know the fact and the truth about Him before being biased with our own opinion and perspective?

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Knowing a mistake!

 

It's interesting to note that a person can commit a crime and yet be found "not guilty". The basis of any conviction is the moral law and moral code. The realization that something is bad and sinful is the awareness one gets due to the existence of a moral law. If there was no law, no one would be condemned in this world. That means, the world can be deemed as unlivable as each person would have the freedom and right to do according to his/her wish from murdering, raping, cheating, embezzling, etc.

In one of National Geographic programs, called ‘Banged up Abroad’ is a story of a family getting caught from smuggling cocaine (drugs). They are convicted and sentenced to long-term imprisonment. They break-down sobbing. The police make a poignant statement, which caught my attention, saying, “You are not necessarily a bad person. You committed a crime and we need to arrest you.”. If one is realistic, the matter  goes to the court of law and the particular defaulter will be further investigated to find the intentions and motives behind the crime. Premeditated crimes fetch more punishment compared to other situations. My point is that one cannot actually separate the crime from the person involved because the holy scriptures say, “every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth evil fruit.”. It is definitely about the person involved in the wrong doing. We are first seen as guilty before God.

The Bible rightly points out this staggering truth, “…For apart from law sin is dead.”. Sin becomes noticeable because law exists. The Bible further states that, “..the law is written in their hearts. The conscience confirms this.”. Before the law can pronounce the verdict, the human heart, which God had designed with a conscience, convicts a person. The person feels bad and becomes victim of guilt.

To make matters clear, just because someone is punished does not guaranty that he would never commit another mistake in his lifetime. We are all aware that the law convicts a person when found guilty, imposes punishment and releases a person after the sentence period, but it doesn't have the capacity to release a person from guilt and the effects of sin. This is where people try religion to find a way to smother the guilt. If you make an attempt to read the Bible you will find this fascinating truth which talks about Jesus saying, “…the son of man (Jesus) has authority on earth to forgive sins.”. You need forgiveness from all your sins to be a free person to escape the judgement of God and eternal punishment. Your commitment to follow a living God will help you to live a guilt free life and a life of worth and happiness.

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Part time Lover!

 

The chorus in the famous pop song, ‘Part Time Lover’ by Stevie Wonder goes like this,

“We are undercover Passion on the run,

Chasing love up against the sun,

We are strangers by day, lovers by night,

Knowing it’s so wrong, but feeling so right.”

If you look around, this so aptly describes the reality of our age today. In most cases, people operate in a part-time manner whether it is work, charity or relationship. Stevie Wonder was right when he said people are strangers by day, lovers by night. The sad part is people keep hitting the wrong chord, but still feel right about everything, until things fall crumbling down beyond remedy. That’s the danger when one is not aware of the consequences of not doing things right.

The greatest two commandments found in the Bible given by Jesus are, “Love the Lord your 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.”. Your devotion and love for God is not a spare time or part-time option. Our life is the integration of God, full-time. Unless we learn to love the true living God honestly and intensely, love for our neighbor is hypocritical.

People delude themselves thinking they are doing a favor to God by making huge worship shrines, forcefully convert people and increase numbers for their religion, naming a city after a religion and be aggressive in the process making lives of the people miserable in the name of religion. They most likely resemble the Part-time lovers, who have turned religion and worship political. Our true devotion to God attracts the blessings of the Almighty. In one of the passages in the Bible we find a conversation where a person reiterates a brilliant truth, “What pleasures would it give the Almighty if you were righteous? What would he gain if you were blameless?” . It is we who will benefit from the Almighty for leading a righteous life and find mercy in Him. He is in no way deprived if we turn our backs on Him.

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