Promising Year ahead!

 

With the advent of New Year, we feel blessed to have made it. We can either forget things and just be in high spirits with celebration, or be overwhelmed with gratitude, thanking God for sustaining us thus far with the gift of life. A passage from the Bible states, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” What is the indescribable gift to you, this year? Most of us would say it is luck, purchasing a dream home, a new car, bike, or something of great value. We are tempted to give credit to our efforts, potential, brilliance and so on. Acknowledging the fact that our sanity and life are intact is quite often neglected. Let us not forget that life is a miracle, the biggest gift one can receive. Pandemic has proved this reality, with deaths due to different variants are in the news every day. In all of this danger, we have overcome it.

New Year does not hold good luck or a bad fortune, but it is a living God who holds our future and reigns the universe. We are privileged to be in God's universe.  I like the way Vernon McGee puts, “This is God’s universe, and God does things his way. You might have a better way, but you don’t have a universe.”  May we learn to trust Him in this New Year 2022. We are His unique creation. The Bible states, “We are God’s Masterpiece.”. Therefore, we have God’s provision and supervision always for us, provided we are willing to submit ourselves to the Living God. God has created us with a blueprint, and it keeps unfolding as we keep trusting God with our life’s journey. Let us avoid envying or desiring someone else's life journey. Especially, when we learn about their accomplishments and adopt their life’s roadmap as our own. We will gravely limit our gift to places it can take us. We can only be ourselves. I understand when we notice other person’s success it looks appealing. However, that is not our roadmap.

The unfortunate thing is when we limit our purpose and success to making money and believing that wealth can sustain us forever. Success is not defined by a collection of assets, an accumulation of power or cash in the bank. If that were the formula, there would be no sorrow among the highest tax payers. Rather, success is living out God's purpose for our life, using the gifts He has given. Every single one of us will express it differently, because each of us can do something unique that someone else can't.

However, there is one purpose that is common to all of us and that is knowing a true God and following His heart.  May we try to focus on this highest purpose in our life in year 2022. The Bible defines purpose stating, "this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent Jesus Christ.” We can implicitly trust Jesus's purposes because He is the only person in entire human history who was resurrected, a fascinating fact that swept the entire human history. He is not a moral teacher but a living God in whom we can have hope. He dwells in us and not in buildings of splendour built by human hands. The authenticity of Jesus Christ as God, is explicit in the way He was born, led a holy, blameless life and resurrected after His death. May our goal be to know Him more and find the purpose of our life in this New Year 2022. 

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Upgrade-2022

 

Photo Credit Mellissa

Wishing you all a Happy blessed New Year 2022! If we take stock of what we have accomplished in our life’s journey, we would know who we have evolved, as a person. We do annual health check-ups to find if everything is ok or are we developing health complications that can become a threat to us. But do we assess to know who we are as a person and if it can pose as a threat to our existence? There are a number of psycho analysis tests to assess our behavior, our attitude, our responses to situations and assess whether we are a Type A, B or C personality. No doubt it gives a perspective of who we are to a larger extent but then what are the solutions? Sometimes for all of life challenges we want to address them with Meditation and therapies. Is it so simple that human behavior, selfishness, envy, greed, terrorism can be resolved by meditation and few therapies? If it does have an effect on our physical and emotional health, then to what extent can it influence the challenges of the human heart?

Many believe that one needs to discipline himself /herself to perform good deeds, in order to master his/her faults and weakness. They don’t necessarily correlate, except that the resources for sinning are channeled in doing good. Doing good doesn’t conquer faults, which has to be handled at an entirely different level. Even a New Year or making  resolutions and commitments cannot necessarily transform mankind, though these are good initiatives. This is the reason; we need an upgrade of who we are, not a mere update.

Updating happens when we want to just work on the possible good in us. Upgrade is a total revamping of us, to a whole new level. And the fact of the matter is that we cannot upgrade us, by ourselves. We need someone who is higher than mankind, who understands human condition and has the power to revamp us and upgrade us to find a new identity in Him. For an upgrade we need the help from a living God who understands the state of human heart. The Bible states the true problem of human heart, which is “The heart is deceitful above all things; and desperately wicked; who can know it?” Further it suggests by these words, “guard your heart above all else, for it determines the courses of your life.”.

The course of our life depends upon the state of our heart, because this is the dwelling place of the most-high God, the Almighty. And therefore, I strongly suggest an upgrade. Just imagine if the spirit of the true holy living God dwells in our heart, our life becomes a spring of fresh water that can soothe and bring healing to our entire life. We can be upgraded when all our sins and evil in our hearts are forgiven. God of the Bible addresses this problem with an entirely different solution. It is said, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh”. Are we ready to have a clean new heart that can change the course of our life? That is the new upgrade we need to make happen, in this New Year 2022. Would you mind doing a small prayer and asking Christ to help you? Wishing you God’s choicest blessing in this New Year 2022.  

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Christmas Wishes!

Christmas is not about Santa Claus but birth of Jesus Christ. He is the center of the Christmas story. Christmas is a celebration of God incarnated in human form to restore the relationship with each one of us. He was originally named Emmanuel meaning “God with us”. The beauty of Jesus’s story is not the end with His birth but victoriously culminates in His resurrection after His death, which gives us all the more compelling reason to celebrate a living God.

Jesus being born of virgin birth, in a place called Bethlehem, purpose of being the Messiah of mankind, His amazing miracles like healing the blind, lepers, raising the dead, casting out demons and many more were recorded by four gospel writers namely, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Jesus’s birth created history by splitting the timeline as BC and AD. 

The Bible is well scrutinized and thoroughly validated by historians, archaeologist. It was written by 40 authors, from 3 different continents, Asia, Europe and Africa, within a period of 1,500 years ago. With no contradictions, events, persons, places and governments mentioned in the Bible derive their historical roots from this. The Bible records that Jesus died on the cross, buried and rose again on the third day from the grave.

                                                       Hearty Gift

Jesus says, ”I live, you will live too” (John 14:19) and “But all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become the children of God” (John 1:12). Jesus is clearly looking for a relationship with us. He wants us to look up to Him as a father who is longing to help His children. All we need to do is sincerely invite Him to come into our heart. He is not interested in religious places built by hands. It is our heart that matters to Him and this living God wants us to celebrate His presence in our heart, not outside as a baby in a manger.

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Drawing closer to the season!

As we come closer to the end of the year 2021, quite a lot of emotions are likely to flood in for many. The pandemic and disaster have snatched many lives of loved ones in the family. And it is indeed a time to recollect the memories while we celebrate the season of hope and the coming new Year. I pray and wish that your life is restored and rejuvenated in this Christmas season irrespective of all challenges and crisis, probably you have undergone.

It is this time of a year, 2000 years ago in human history God decided to come to this world in the form of man to be the Savior of the world.  The Bible records the prediction of this man Jesus, thousands of years ago by prophets in the Old Testament. The place of birth, Bethlehem was predicted, the nature of His virgin birth was predicted, His crucifixion was predicted, His dying between two robbers was predicted and more importantly, His resurrection from the grave after three days was predicted, too.  And the good news is that all prophecies were fulfilled. All prophecies pertaining to Him, when carefully analyzed and validated was found in sync with the writers of the Bible. It had no contradiction whatsoever. The uniqueness of this man Jesus, unlike any spiritual leader or gods, is that He did not suggest a way, a method to reach God or instructed His disciples to start a religion. He did not dwell on the concept of erecting a structure of splendor and have His image worshipped there. Nothing of that sort is mentioned or desired in the holy book, the Bible.

He had the audacity to claim Himself God. He said “I am the way, the truth and the life...”. And then it is written that we are the temple of the holy one and His spirit lives in us. He wanted humans to be the temple and keep ourselves holy in order to allow God indwell human hearts. Even if all the Church buildings are razed down, we still have a temple, the human heart, where He desires to live provided it is kept holy.

Some ask how do you believe the Bible is accurate book that talks about a man who existed 2000 year ago? Let me explain this, After Jesus’ death in 32 AD, the four gospel writers wrote the four books on different dateline but all before 100 AD and the most important part is there are no contradictions whatsoever. Yet there are many who debate the authenticity. Let me point out an example from the life of Alexander, the great, an universal history written by Greek  historian Sikeliotes  (lived c 90 c to 30).  Notice the time interval!  Alexander lived in 330 BC but the earliest written record about him was available only in 30 BC.  Nearly 300 years apart! Yet no one doubts Alexander's existence or considered the written record to be unreliable. But the four gospels were written within the short time of Jesus’ life time in this earth. History and all social science vouch the authenticity of every detail recorded in this book. 

The Christmas season is not a miracle, but the story of this man Jesus who lived, crucified and is resurrected. He is in the business of transforming lives and we have hope in Him. I mean, hope for the present and future, our eternal destiny.  Santa Claus is not the protagonist of the Christmas story but Jesus’ birth and His resurrection is. Your belief on Him transforms you with Hope and gives a direction to live. So it’s the person Jesus who gives you hope and not on the season of the year. Your commitment to follow Him will either create or correct the history of your life.

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This is the continuation of Last week Blog. You May click HERE to read in case you have missed.

That Season of the year!

We have arrived at that time of season where the whole world is gearing up to celebrate Christmas, the favorite time of the year. Our homes get a new outlook with cleaning, painting, Christmas decorations, setting up of the manger scene and so on. Christmas has become more than a ritual, it's looked upon as a time to celebrate, display one's wealth and relax. Religious festivals become opportunities for celebration.

But I apologize for breaking this warped up bubble of belief. Christmas is not a religious festival of delicious cakes, Christmas trees, Christmas bells, Santa Claus, etc. It is about a true story in history, a happening which history vouches for a man named, Jesus who lived on this earth between 4 BC to 32 AD. The fact that underscores the pages of history is that his birth and death was not a finality in His story, but an added facet to the celebration is His resurrection from death. If we were to clear away all the trees, lights, wreaths, candy, chocolate, mistletoe, gifts, hot cider, eggnog, silver bells, festive music, Santa Claus, reindeer, and elves – the Church of Jesus has got to the core of the celebration, which is documented in the Historical book, the Bible. It says, “In the beginning was the word, ..The word became flesh and dwelt among us, we  observed his glory as the one and only son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”. And then the fact both History and Bible records is “that he was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.”.

Prof Bart Ehrman, a world-famous historian working in University of North Carolina says regarding historicity of Jesus as, “In my experience as an historian, I have met and interacted with literally 1000’s of historians and scholars, and almost all of them have no issues in accepting the historicity of Jesus Christ. Christ mythicism is not even considered as an option among the scholarly circles!”

Another historian, Tacitus is considered unanimously to be one of the greatest historians by scholars. He was a patriotic Roman senator and his writings show no sympathy towards Christians. He refers to Christ, his execution by Pontius Pilate and the existence of early Christians in Rome in his final work, Annals (c. AD 116), book 15, chapter 44.[35][36][37]. The relevant passage reads: "called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus." Scholars generally consider Tacitus's reference to the execution of Jesus by Pontius Pilate to be both authentic and of historical value. He is also considered as an independent Roman source about early Christianity that is in unison with other historical records.

With all of the above evidence portrayed, we are all left with a choice as to how we are going to view Christmas, this season. We can consider Christ a myth, blissfully ignoring the fact that He lived, died and rose again and is a living God or embrace the truth recorded in the Bible and celebrate the birth of Christ in a meaningful way. J I Packer states, “The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity-hope of pardon, hope of glory- because at the Father’s will Jesus became poor, and was born in stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross.”. Are we willing to take time to know Jesus, this Christmas season, to find out the real reason for His birth?

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Reference:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sources_for_the_historicity_of_Jesus

Black money with dark intentions!

 

Money as we know is a universal tangible commodity. The world has gone berserk with money, which a regional proverb aptly summarizes as, ‘show the currency note, even a corpse will open its mouth.’. It has become the final goal for any activity under the sun. Though the means look noble in many cases, the motives and intentions are still alarmingly spurious.

Sometimes the intention to make anything and everything a commodity mars relationships, defiles good works and pollutes a noble cause. Max Lucado points out a powerful thought which says, ‘we all lean on lesser gods at times. Status. Popularity. Money. Grades. A cool car. The ‘right’ friends. Whatever we think will carry us through. But none of these gods satisfies for long. We don’t need an “over the Rainbow” god, we need the one who created rainbows.".

Some struggle to make ends meet, some go over the board hoarding it to the extent that it can never be consumed and the money is sufficient for next 20 to 30 generations. Yet they are never satisfied and pursue relentlessly. History has constantly reiterated that money whether black or white doesn’t give people the security, satisfaction, and purpose. Rather, on the contrary, it makes people more selfish and insecure. Today, we are in a time where exploiting someone’s innocence, taking advantage of people for benefits, making subtle adjustments to cheat one another, intending to make extra money are all common. But what we fail to realize is that it will still not be enough. However, noble the cause maybe, it still boils down to profit and loss. It's always winning at the cost of one’s loss.

The term black money becomes profound as the motives of people are dark, evil, selfish and sinful. People have become cruel and abominable in the process. You will hear many cases where people even use the religious places to convert black money to legitimize white money and continue to accumulate wealth.

Selfish accumulation of wealth and unhealthy obsession with material things can never bring contentment. What promises security leads to perpetual insecurity. True security is only faith in a true living God who can fill your heart with contentment and peace. The Bible says “we enter the world penniless and we leave penniless. Wealth provides only a false security. …quit being . . . obsessed with money which is here today and gone tomorrow’." The real measure of our wealth is how much we would be worth if we lost all our money? Francis Bacon puts the essence of money so beautifully as, “Money is like manure. It’s not good unless it is spread around.’. We cannot equate material possession to God. Your commitment to God should reflect on how you value and respect each other. Jesus is the God of History, who is in the business of transforming lives. Your commitment to follow Him opens up a new world of hope, purpose and meaning to life.

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Say Yes or No!

 

We all are looking for answers, especially the ones that match our expectations. But what answers are we really looking for exactly? The answers vary based on life matters, relationships, business deals, promotions, expecting someone to become an accomplice to our selfish desires, consensual sex, etc. Selfishness rules human heart. We want all the answers to be yes alone, even though there is an option for no. It is because we are intolerant to 'no's, in a patriarchal and male chauvinistic society like ours.

Superficially people fight for human rights, but the weak and the vulnerable still struggle choice-less, especially the poor and religious minorities who are forced to say yes to all the brutalism and vandalism by religious bigotry and the ones who are powerful and classify themselves to be from upper strata of the society. India for example, is known for the tagline, ‘unity in diversity’, maintaining solidarity, yet you will find innumerable cases where people who are called as minority and from different faith being persecuted, their rights violated, false allegations raised against them and many are languishing in prison too. They just want people to say yes to all their selfish, political agendas.

In history, at any given period of time, we notice that people with power and money assumed that they can manipulate things to their favor. Let me quote an incident recorded concerning Jesus, which is a historical fact. According to the prophecy told thousands of years ago it was stated that a Messiah will be born in Bethlehem who will have the power to forgive the sins of the mankind and they can reach God because of the sacrifice made by Jesus on the cross of Calvary. But the religious bigots thought Jesus was getting famous because the Bible, the historical records states ‘He was going about doing good’, casting out demons, healing sick of all kinds and raising the dead too. The religious Jewish leaders couldn't handle this because Jesus's widespread fame was unnerving and they felt powerless.

Promptly, Jesus was put on an unfair trial and with false allegations. He remained silent to all the accusations, surprising the high priest who insisted Jesus to say yes or no to his question. The question was, are you the Messiah? Jesus said, “I am” which is recorded in the Bible. And the temple high priest and all the accusers were angry at the answer. They went crazy and alleged, “what further need do we have of witnesses?” And said, ‘you have further heard the blasphemy’ and they condemned Him to death.

You don’t have to say yes and comply to the deception just because you are forced to, or because you are too naïve. In case you are a person who is a victim of manipulation and accusation and you feel dejected, don’t lose hope. A God who was nailed for His innocence understands your plight. The story did not end on the cross and in the grave. But He rose from the dead and said, I will come back as a king to judge the world and the righteous will inherit the kingdom of God and the wicked to condemnation. You can make a choice to ask Him to come into your life and transform you into a new person and protect you from all the evils working against you. You have a choice to say, “yes’ or ‘No’.

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