Shelter of Hope!

Photo Credit: Darkly Written

We are never completely free of fear in spite of our confidence and courage to face circumstances when life throws a low curve ball at us. We do buckle under the threats of fear and scram for a place to hide. People's hidden intentions and selfish motives has made the world a dangerous place to live in. We have become commodities on which the world is preying on our innocence every day.

Our vulnerability has become a playground, for the exploiters, with no boundaries. Our immediate reaction is to find safety behind the powerful, the influential, the wealthy and the 'godmen' hoping they have the power to protect us. Unfortunately, we fail to recognise that these are mere human beings like us and our experiment with them ends in disappointment.

In one of the Books called Psalms in the Bible, the writer pleads to God to help the poor and the vulnerable from the wicked. The description states, “He (wicked) waits in ambush near settlements; he kills the innocent in secret places. His eyes are on the lookout for the helpless.". In present times the rich and the powerful prey upon the poor and exploit the vulnerable than the poor robbing the rich. Stories of the vulnerable seeking protection behind the walls of justice soon realised its flimsiness and the walls collapsed on them turning them into casualties rather than emerging as victors.

Is there any hope of living in safety? Yes! We do in a living God. In all my blogs I try to point out to a living God because even gods are countless in religions. In pantheistic worldview gods are innumerable. Anything and anyone can be a God. in fact, you and I can also reach the state of Godhood according to some major religions. And that is why we have so many godmen in our land today. Sadly, religions of today thrive in money, politics and corruption. How do we find a true historical God who claimed to give life, refuge and shelter in Him? Unless we find a God, who is not limited to stories but have a history of Him being risen from the dead, we cannot depend on him/her for help.

Let us seek help from a living God, than merely hiding behind makeshift walls. The problem is that the walls we raise to protect us can became a barrier to the kind of transformation that we truly and deeply desire. We can only be safe in the presence of a living God. History records the resurrection of Jesus. This undeniable fact was attempted to be suppressed over the ages but the transformation stories of many lives is still powerful to give us hope. We can fully open ourselves to this God. Whatever is in our hearts and minds is perfectly safe to open up in the light of God’s loving presence. Whatever is broken can be restored in this light, whatever is soiled can be cleansed in this light and whatever is bent can be made straight in this light. Would you like to take shelter in Him?

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Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is 'deceptive' of them all?

 

The queen in Snow White's story was asking the wrong question to the mirror and it isn't a surprise she was getting the wrong answer each time. If she had asked the question posed in the title of this blog, she would have got the answer she was longing for all the time, 'It is you my queen'. The world is not very different today. Everywhere or every person we meet is deceptive, that suffocate us with their depravity and leave us gasping for breath.

Entities of all kind like media and governments have become a trap to the society. Information is no more about truth but more about what stimulates or manipulates people's mind. In the process of making profit out of viewership or subscribers the safety and well-being of the people are trampled. If you are a pedophile or a serial womanizer enjoying porn, you are guaranteed with better anonymity and safety of personal information in the dark web than those of us who just have social media account as a leisurely getaway.

A recent article on Facebook whistleblower (Please refer to the news article at the end of this blog) was an eye opener and confirmation of my fears that what I hear or see is never true. It's all about profit at the cost of societal and individual destruction. They feed on our strong human emotions like love and hate. Sadly, negative the emotional outburst towards an issue, greater are the crowds thronging to the posts. We endanger our children by allowing them to use these sites, that thrive on bullying, body shaming and instigating them to the point of taking their lives.

Now if this was a topic of debate, the point of contention would be who is fueling who? Is it that as people we have become deceptive or have we embraced deception because of the constant bombardment from all quarters? If we are honest, deception is a heart matter. Whether we are deceptive people or have embraced deception it's because we have failed to be within the moral framework of God. We live in our own debauchery. The Bible says, 'Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good! The Lord looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks God. But no, all have turned away; all have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one! We need to also know that the God of all creation who formed us, ".. knows deceitful men; He sees wickedness also. Will He not then consider it?".

The world desperately needs a thorough cleansing of the heart and it can be done through repentance and submission to the only true and living God, Jesus Christ. He gave His life willingly so that we may live a life of abundance now and for eternity. Once Jesus lives in our hearts, we are transformed human beings. He should be the mirror of our hearts and only His approval matters or should matter.

 

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Reference:

https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/five-things-revealed-facebook-fb-whistleblower-should-worry-you-156098

The Facebook Whistleblower

Dissatisfaction Quotient!

 

Defining needs and wants are important in order to understand people's dissatisfaction at any given point in their lives. We notice people confuse their needs with their wants. Maslow's theory of Hierarchy of needs addresses this with clarity. It comprises a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid. These are categorized in three broad areas as basic needs, psychological needs and fulfillment needs. Under basic needs we look for food, water, warmth and rest, security and safety; under psychological needs, the need for intimate relationship, friends, prestige and feeling of accomplishment take over and; finally, under fulfilment needs, people find there is a need to achieve his/her full potential and to engage in creative activities based on what one wishes.

If we intently notice, the needs in all the three categories are a continual means to satisfy our appetite only on a temporary basis whether it be physical, emotional or psychological. Therefore, the two broad truths are 1: that we are temporary and finite and 2: identifying and pursuing the permanent and eternal alone can mitigate our dissatisfactions. We are all continually trying to spend more time, loads of money and maximum energy in fulfilling our temporary needs hoping to be satisfied permanently. In all of these we fail to attend to the need of our soul because of which all of our activities, pursuits and experiences still leave a vacuum in our hearts, giving us a sense of loneliness.

The need of the soul is to find the Creator and Savior. This does not mean following the religion of the majority, or the religion of our family or what impresses us. We need to find a God whose credential and the Lordship is not conditioned on the survival of religion but on truth. When we keep our temple, i.e. our hearts, clean for the Holy God to live in it, that's when we reach a point of complete contentment. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”. Today, people misconstrue God to be in temple visits, altar worships, offering incenses and flowers to the images and statues. However, Jesus' emphasis was only on purity of heart. He demands are not religious buildings or images but acceptance of Him by faith to enjoy true peace, long-lasting satisfaction and hope of eternity.  In true sense when our Soul meets the Savior, it finds rest and is fully satisfied.

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Why Lie?

 

The biggest challenge today is to find truthful people. Acquaintances or strangers we meet in our daily walk of life do not guarantee us truth. It doesn’t matter if the person has a saintly appearance or displays ethical values or is involved in humanitarian work, yet we cannot take the person at face value and believe all that he/she has said is truth alone. The level of deception in which a man operates irrespective of his/her identity is huge.

In one of the books in the Bible a sharp question is raised and it says, “Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy man?” . To a larger extent people portray their good side for selfish ends. John Ortberg in one of his book states, “we are driven by two primary motivations. One, we want to receive selfish gain. We want to avoid pain. We want it so much that we are willing to lie or cheat or deceive for it. We want what we want, and we are willing to cheat to get it. Two, we want to be able to look in the mirror and think well of ourselves. That means we all want to view ourselves as basically good, honest honorable people, two motivations are in conflict with each other.”

Liespotting by Pamela Meyer is one of the top 20 most popular Ted Talks in Youtube. She claims, that on any given day we are lied to from 10 to 200 times. Sometimes these are the empty words the heart does not accompany the lips; we have been deceived. We wish people would simply tell us the truth. People are no more worried about self-image and self-worth. From the matter of small things to big things, people tend to twist a story with a pinch of lie and present it. Speaking lies is the matter of the heart, and the more one tries to cheat others by speaking lies it not only hurts oneself but also God. Jesus emphasized in almost all His teachings and discourses that evil proceeds from the heart of man and defiles a person.

The religious rituals one observes from any religious standpoint cannot forgive and clean a person and help the person to lead a guilt free life. It may help to smother the guilt for some time but it would resurface with an uglier face next time. We need a Savior to live a guilt free life. Every lie and deception we practice is a sin that needs to be forgiven for our life to be transformed. To live a clean life, you need a holy God to indwell your heart. Jesus is in the business of transforming lives. 

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Are Your choices letting you down?

 

We make choices every day that are sometimes insignificant with no effects or those that affect us and others. God’s greatest gift to man is the freedom to make choices, but right choices taking His moral framework into consideration. He did not create us as programmed robots but blessed us all with a freewill. However, true to our sinful nature we misuse this divine privilege in every sphere of life. No one can deny the fact that decisions, whether right or wrong, were made with full awareness. Our conscience always alerts us. The heart is the indicator for moral values. The Bible says, “ ..the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their conscience confirms this.”.

During childhood our choices were dictated by our parents and in adulthood our choices became solely ours because of our independence. We believed our choices will never put us down. In the new age with independence achieved at a very early age due to economic stability, youth believe they are wiser and better decision makers than their parents. They make choices while dangerously overlooking any parameters of moral standards. If the purpose of our life is solely Self, we will soon end up hurting ourselves due to selfish choices.

It hurts, when bad choices are made and we end up bearing the effects of those choices. Everything in our life is a result of a choice we once made. If we want desirable results then we need to make moral choices. We need to follow the moral giver, who is God, the basis on which we receive a moral standard. In other words, we need to allow God to indwell in our heart because the living God is happy to reside there. This will have a profound influence in all the choices we make and impact us to lead a quality life. This defines the ultimate success we are all longing for. It's not just about making a living. All make their living anyway. A God of love and a Savior who can forgive our sins and lead us to the path of abundant life expects us to make decisions trusting Him and making Him the Lord of our lives. He helps us find purpose of our existence. Jesus said, “I came that you may have life and life in abundance”.

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Living Zombies!

 

Our youth are in real danger, I mean in grave danger of being unfruitful and barren. To understand my lamentation, I urge you to read the article given at the end of this article. The world today has dictated its conditions and deceived youth into believing that there is nothing more important in life than hard work and acquiring wealth. Everyone seems to have the Midas touch (Refer note below). However, youth seem to be waking up to the reality that they are becoming more like Tantalus (Refer note below).

Today, governments are paying youth to build their family encouraging them to have children. Countries are having abandoned houses in villages with no legal heirs to claim or care for them. It's a glaring reality that the concept of simple family life was long lost in generations much earlier. For example, Japan's third of its population is above 60 years, while its youth make up only a fifth. The need for money and material status has replaced the very fruit of our existence - to be fruitful and replenish the Earth.

The Bible says, "Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after.". Children spend their entire life studying hard to get into prestigious colleges and carve out an envious career for themselves but at the end they fail to realise that they forgotten the basics of life, i.e., to build families. Do we even realise why we were even created? Why should God provide us with all the amazing human faculties? Is it to live like zombies and to write off our souls to slog it out for a mere human business venture? Where have we all gone wrong in our rationalization?

If you have been totally misled, allow me to realign the thought process before we hurtle headlong towards disaster. Our primary duty is to know the true living God and have a meaningful relationship with Him and secondary is to build a Godly family that carries the very same legacy of living in the fear of God and having a meaningful relationship with Him. Even King Solomon who was the wealthiest and wisest king who ever lived on Earth came to this final conclusion, "...The last and final word is this: Fear God. Do what he tells you." If we have to take King Solomon's advice seriously, it's good to ask ourselves, will our Heavenly Creator ever would want us to live like slaves having unfruitfulness and barrenness in life? God's aim for our life is to be fruitful and multiply. What God had on mind when He meant fruitful was not earning money and increasing material possessions, "But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don’t take yourself too seriously— take God seriously.".

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References:

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/28/economy/china-japan-korea-youth-intl-dst-hnk/index.html

https://youtu.be/l8wWoQ3_F00

The most famous King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek mythology for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold. This came to be called the golden touch, or the Midas touch.

Tantalus is a figure from Greek mythology who was the rich but wicked king of Sipylus was made to stand in a pool of water but never able to drink from it and quench his insatiable thirst as it drains whenever he bends down to drink. As an added frustration, he was positioned below a tree but can never quite grasp the succulent fruit that hangs from its boughs. 

Happy Teachers' Day!

At the outset, I want to wish all Teachers a Happy Teachers’ Day!  Teacher’s Day is celebrated in India on September 5th of every year on the birth anniversary of Dr. S Radhakrishnan, the first Vice-President and second President of India. Dr. Radhakrishnan is well-known for his notable work as a professor, philosopher, and scholar. We are privileged to find the influence and inspiration in our lives by such an exemplary personality.

A teacher job is the most difficult, behind the scenes effort that is usually taken for granted. What most of us fail to understand is that they are "Edudextrous", i.e. an ability all teachers have to teach multiple concepts to multiple students on multiple learning levels at the same time.  With the burden of ensuring that all students perform the best, there are many unexpressed sacrifices they make personally to ensure their students get the best of education. The pandemic has only demanded more of their sacrifices by receiving less remuneration and take up extra workload. Every teacher leaves an impression of herself/himself on each child they come across year after year. This means a child takes with him or her a part of that teacher to become a better responsible individual in the society. For a teacher, its not just teaching a subject but it is done in a manner that the child receives, dignity, attention, love, respect and care all at the same time. No wonder it is called a noble profession.

We often fail to understand that school is a second home for all our children and teachers are the shadow of the parents instilling in children a sense of responsibility, achievement, excellence, thoroughness, perfection and intelligence. They stand as the conduit between childhood and adulthood to bring about a smooth transition and holistic development of an individual. Today, if we are who we are, it’s not only because of our parents but also the herculean efforts of our teachers to ensure that each of us live our life with purpose and meaning. This is exactly aligned with what Jesus our great teacher had in mind. Of the 90 times Jesus was addressed directly in the gospels in the Bible, 60 times He was called Teacher. This is a proven fact that the Son of God Himself knew the importance of a teacher's role in every individual's life. Jesus Himself used the term when He said, “You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am”. What greater honor it is than a God who is worshipped by two billion people in this world claims to be a teacher Himself. The Bible records that when the people heard Him speak, they were astonished and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” He spoke words of wisdom and healed the brokenness of people that made everyone want to listen to Him. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, is one of the best teaching concepts that the world refers to time and again. Dear Teachers, at any point of time you feel that your job is just a profession, please be encouraged that you are indispensable to this world. You just don't teach a curriculum but you shape the thoughts and personality of human beings. We are ever grateful for all that you do for our children. Please be assured your sacrifices and kindness are not overlooked but acknowledged. We bless you for being the beautiful person that you are!

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