Glorious Sunday

 

It's been a while I penned down the weight of my thoughts, as I reflect upon the resurrection of Jesus, thoughts flooded my mind. Every Sunday we often start the week with a fresh beginning. As the sun dawns on Sunday morning, we start the day with lot of hopes and dreams. However, as we navigate through the week, we often get exhausted by the chores, struggles, and difficulties of this world. In the midst of all the chaos, hurting, and disappointments in this fallen sinful world, we all look for hope in our bleak situations.   

On the day of resurrection of Jesus, it is not just another Sunday, 

it is the Sunday, that broke the history of mankind forever, 

the Sunday that dawned hope for the human mankind, 

the Sunday that destroyed the chasm between God and man, 

the Sunday that changed the lives of many forever, 

the Sunday that turned down the lives of many, 

the Sunday that brought the lost sheep back to the shepherd, 

the Sunday that gave hope to many, 

the Sunday that quenched the deeper longing of human heart, 

the Sunday the Almighty God entered our undeserving human heart. 

How often do we take time to understand the depth of the sufferings of Jesus on the cross? How often we reflect upon the greatness of the resurrection of Jesus and the hope that brings to our lives? I hope that let this Sunday is not just another Sunday, May God open our eyes to understand the depth of the work of Jesus on the Cross and what it meant to us personally. Let us take off our minds and hearts from all the burdens, chores and distractions of this world and focus on the work of Jesus on the cross. May His resurrection renew our minds and transform our hearts into His likeness, and fill our hearts with His peace and joy that He alone can offer us.

Happy Easter  

Is it really a new beginning?

 

As we are reaching the end of an year and looking forward for a new year, people like to end the year in various ways. Some like to merely cherish the last minutes of the year in ecstasy. Some like to reflect upon their journey of the passing year with nostalgia. Some like to take new resolutions to get rid of some of the things, they don't like in their lives, hoping for a new beginning in the new year. In the midst of the pandemic, a lot of us are looking for a dawn in our broken relationships, broken finances, etc to have a new beginning in the new year. In an effort to achieve a renewed relationship, we often take resolutions to change certain things in our lives hoping to have a blissful life.

As we look back all the years passed by, we can often wonder how many times we have failed in our resolutions or convictions, getting back into the same old patterns of our messed-up lives. As long as we rely on our own strength to stand for our convictions, we may sustain in our convictions for a few days or weeks or even months, but eventually end up in doing the same things, we hate or desperately want to get rid of in our lives. So as we are welcoming a new year in our lives, can we really have a new beginning in our broken relationships, broken careers, etc ? Is there really a hope to have transformed relationships or transformed lives filled with peace, hope and everlasting joy. 

Jesus came to this world to transform our lives and offer a new beginning in our lives. It wonders me how God has perfectly  chosen the time for the birth of Jesus just a few days before the beginning of a new year. As we all have just moved on from our Christmas celebrations, looking forward for a new beginning in the new year, the timing is perfect to receive the grace of the Lord to examine and reflect upon our lives in the light of the Lord, and turn away from our sinful ways in exchange of a new beginning of a peaceful life that only Jesus can offer. But Jesus can transform our lives only when we invite Him into our lives and allow Him to transform us with a willing, obedient and open heart. 

Let us invite Jesus into our lives and enter this new year 2022 with a renewed relationship with Jesus, as we look unto Jesus consistently every day in this new year. I wish and pray for every one of us to rely on the grace of the Lord in this new year to strengthen us to live a transformed lives, being transformed in our relationships, finances, careers, etc. May the Lord fill us with His peace, hope and everlasting joy so that we can live a life worthy of Him and be a blessing to people around us. 

WISH YOU HAPPY AND PEACEFUL NEW YEAR 2022

 

The Blessing of Giving

In a world of consumeristic mindset, we tend to give or invest only when we get benefits in return. It was considered giving as loss and receiving as gain in our society. We always ask God to fill our cups with overflowing but we hesitate to empty our cups for the sake of God. But Jesus has emphasized more on giving than receiving as Apostle Paul claims in Acts 20 : 35 that Jesus says 

"It is more blessed to give than to receive". 

Though giving is often associated with money, Jesus has talked about giving not only in terms of money but our time, energy, resources and our lives. He did not separate our lives from giving. After the creation of mankind, the first offering to God was given by Abel and Cain. Genesis 4:3-4 says 

"Cain brought some of the fruit of the soil...... while Abel brought the best portions of the firstborn of his flock....". 

It clearly shows that Abel had given himself to the Lord (more than his offering) by giving Him utmost priority of his life by offering the best portions of his flock. Though Cain is also interested in offering to Lord, he did not have a heart to give first and foremost place to God and thereby offered only some of the fruit of the soil. God is not interested to settle only in some areas of your lives, He is looking for your utmost attention and priority by complete surrender as Abel did as it says in Genesis 4:4-5 

"God looked with favor on Abel....... but no regard for Cain" 

Even when Jesus saw a poor widow offering all she had, it drew the attention of Jesus as He says in Mark 12 : 44

"Everyone gave some out of their wealth but the poor widow gave all she had to live on in spite of her poverty." 

God looks at the intention of your giving more than your offering. The Almighty God does not need our giving to build his kingdom but He yearns to have our utmost love as He himself gave his one and only begotten son on the cross to redeem us from our sins. We often wonder how much are we supposed to give ? When people confessed their sins and asked John what are they supposed to do ? I often wonder why John says to give one shirt to the poor, if you have only two instead of three. It shows that we are supposed to look at the needs of others the same way we look at the needs of ourselves. Bible talks a lot about giving than any other subject as it is full of examples with people, who have offered sacrificially to the Lord and people, who are stingy in their offering.     

In our christendom, we can observe people, who falls in four categories of giving.

Ungiving - people who are not willing to give though God bless them abundantly

Limited Giving - people who are willing to give only some of what God has given them like Cain did

Liberal Giving  - people who are willing to give generously, but only after their needs are met 

Sacrificial Giving - people who are willing to offer sacrificially in spite of their own needs being unmet like the poor widow.

We are so sincere and committed to things where we can have benefits in return but we think a lot to invest in things where we don't get anything in return, though it is beneficial to others. But Jesus says in Luke 6 : 35 

"Love your enemies. Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting anything in return " 

Let us examine our lives, where are we in terms of our giving to the Lord. Are we willing to give to the works of the Lord, poor and needy sacrificially without expecting anything in return or we are stingy in our offerings in spite of all the blessings that God has blessed with ? Let us pray God to transform our hearts to the point of sacrificial giving and be a blessing to the people around us.

Vulnerability and Illusion of Power, Fame and Wealth

Power, wealth, and fame are the some of the factors, which are considered to be successful in our modern society. We put lot of our efforts, time, and energy to achieve these factors to be successful in our lives. Though it seems to be very attractive, enticing and captivating, it will soon end up in fleeting pleasure and makes you empty. Solomon, who has enjoyed all the pleasures of the world with incredible wealth, power and intelligence says in all his wisdom

"Everything is fleeting and meaningless .............under the sun".   

In other words, if we become self sufficient with our achievements and wealth and take God out of the picture, whatever great your achievement can be, whatsoever wealth you acquire, it will be meaningless and fleeting. Though God does not oppose us to be wealthy or to achieve great things as He is the source of all blessings, He wants us to seek Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, and trust Him alone, who can satisfy our spiritual, emotional and physical needs. Though it is not evil to have wealth or power or fame, it makes you vulnerable to be self sufficient and turn away from God, if your heart is not right with God. There are many servants of God, who has been chosen by God, but failed to withstand against the temptations of power and wealth, yielded to the fleeting pleasures, turned away from God with tragic ending by ruining their lives. Jeroboam was one such example, whom God has chosen to be the king of Israel. Though he was very diligent and industrious and capable leader, he failed to trust in God and obey his commands. He started off well but ended up in a tragic manner. Initially, he did not chase after power and relied on God though everything around him seems to be contradicting to the promise he received from the Lord. After becoming a king, he failed to trust in God, started to be anxious in securing his power and life and set up a religion of his own convenience, misleading the people of Israel from the ways of God. Even though God gave him second chance to repent by sending a man of God to Jeroboam,  he rebelled against God instead of repenting from his sins, and eventually, lost his power, life and brought disaster on the people of Israel.

Even in our lives, God might have blessed us with lot of riches and blessings of the world. But our attitude towards the worldly riches reflects our relationship with God. Sometimes, we may feel self sufficient with all the riches God has given us and feel secured in our wealth and achievements, thereby failing to honor God with our lives. You don't even need to be a wealthy person to fall into the traps of worldly riches, you can be moderate in your economic status, but if your heart is not right with God, you may soon succumb to the traps of the worldly riches. God might have given us second chances or warned us to set right our lives, how are we responding to God's warning? Are we still rebelling against God or repenting from our sins ? God sent Samuel to confront Saul, but Saul did not admit and repent from his sins and lost track of God's purpose for his life. God sent Nathan to confront David, David was broken in his spirit and repented from his sins. Though David did great sins of murder and adultery compared to Saul and Jeroboam, God forgave David when he repented and called him "a man after God's own heart". No matter, how dreadful our sins are, God is willing to restore us, but are we willing to confess and repent from our sins ?  Let us examine our attitude towards the worldly riches and reflect on our relationship with Jesus lest we may lose track of our vision and fall into the temptations of wealth, fame and power.

The Greatest Accolade

Everyone of us love to be appreciated by our loved ones. Since our childhood, we are often trained to excel at a specific task so that we will be appreciated with prizes, awards and accolades. Being appreciated motivates us even more to work hard and excel in our jobs. When athletes, who represent a country in olympics achieve a gold medal, they are considered as pride of the nation and will be showered by lot of accolades, honors, etc by the corresponding government and various organizations. Most of us strive hard to give our best to the assigned task at our work place to gain the favor of our superior officials and expect accolades or promotions or even hikes in our salaries to be successful in our career. Even at our homes, we often expect subtle gestures of appreciation from our closed ones.

We spend lot of our time, energy and put lots of efforts to please our loved ones and superior officials at our work place to gain their favor, rewards and their appreciation. But did we ever thought about pleasing the one, who have meticulously and wonderfully created us as David says in Psalms 139 : 14 "....I am fearfully and wonderfully made.....". Do we know that He has determined the times and the place we live in for a divine and unique purpose, which he predestined even before our creation. He is yearning with all His heart to mend us and mould us to accomplish His vision for our lives and turn us to be a blessing for nations. But are we willing to surrender the broken piece of our lives in the hands of the grand weaver so that He can weave the broken pieces of our lives into beautiful tapestry? In this world, when companies are looking to hire people, they look for equipped and compatible people. On the contrary, our loving master does not look for equipped people but obedient people, who obeys him with complete obedience. Dr. Charles Stanley told that 

God is responsible for your obedience. But, you are responsible for your disobedience  

In Bible when we hear the word "Lord", we assume it to be the divinity of God but the actual Greek word "Kurious" refers to the owner of a slave, who submits everything to his master even his own identity. Often we think that being a slave is forfeiting our freedom but it is only being a slave to Jesus we experience true freedom and be a blessing for many people. When Moses obeyed to God, He could use him to deliver His people from the heavy hands of Pharoh. When Joseph took stand for God though he has to pay a big price and suffer in prison for being righteous, God honored him to be the prime minister of Egypt and used him as a channel of blessing for many nations. 

God has a unique purpose for each and everyone of our lives, some are ordained for complex roles, some for simple ones. But whatever our purpose is, whether small role or big role, it is equal in the eyes of God. He does not look at the significance of our achievements but the measure of degree of our obedience. It is only by accomplishing our divine purpose of our lives, we can have true sense of accomplishment as Paul says in II Timothy 4 : 7 "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race....". Though Jesus was going through intense pain and suffering, it is through the assurance of being at the center of God's will he can say "It is finished" on the cross. When we accomplish our divine mission that God has ordained for our lives, we can be honored with the greatest accolade one can ever have from our loving master "Well done, good and faithful servant". Not even the highest honor or accolade in this world can ever be compared to receive those few words from our Lord. He is yearning with all His heart to honor each and everyone of us with that greatest accolade, but are we willing to yield ourselves to our master's will ? All he is expecting from us is mere and complete obedience, but are we willing to obey him? 

Are you a fan or follower ?

We are living in times, where entertainment is one of the lucrative fields such as movies, sports, social networks, etc and celebrities are considered as icons of our society. We celebrate, admire and even try to imitate their looks and costumes of the celebrities, whom we admire the most. We love to have a pic with them or spend some time with them. But we cannot have a personal relationship with them. We can have personal relationship only with the ones with whom we can share our lives and love their presence even if we don't get benefits from them. When Jesus was in this world, he was also considered as a public figure, who was popular among the crowds. When he was ministering people, many people went after him, some for miracles and signs, some for healings, some for accusing him, etc. But unfortunately, only a few recognized and followed him by completely surrendering themselves.

In our present times, we can see that christianity has spread all over the world but unfortunately the sacrifice on the cross has been diluted and most of the christians today have become mere admirers of Jesus looking at him only for benefits but not for Himself. Most of our churches have become stadiums full of fans, who are enthusiastic admirers cheering and being entertained but leave Jesus when they leave the church failing to enrich their lives. In chapter 6 of John gospel, we can see the picture of huge crowd following him. But when Jesus offered himself and invited them to follow Him, fans went home and the crowd thinned out. Jesus was not interested in fans looking only for benefits but he is looking for ardent and committed followers. Jesus did not try to stop them from leaving him, in fact he looked at the left out disciples and asked them whether they also want to leave Him. He says in Luke 9 : 23 "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." He sets up the prerequisites of two qualities to follow Him, one is dying to self and other is to carry the cross. Dying to self refers to dying to our own plans and desires and obey to His plans completely. Cross represents the symbol of suffering and sacrifice. Until and unless sacrifice is demanded, true commitment does not come out. Relationships are often tested only during the trials and crises. As long as things goes the way they expect it to be, everyone love to be in their relationships. But when things does not happen the way they want it to be, relationships starts to fall apart if it does not have deeper commitment. Even the left out disciples have also been tested from time to time to see whether they have the deeper commitment to follow Jesus.

We can have a deeper commitment to Jesus only when we can have complete surrenderance to Him. He does not want us to keep him off the limits in certain areas and complete surrenderance only in few areas. When he started to preach in the sermon on the mount, he talks about every area of our lives : our anxieties, finance, relationships, work, etc. he does not want us to surrender keys only in a few areas but to surrender the master key to him with complete obedience, because he is not interested to merely change our lives but to turn your life upside down with a brand new life. He is not interested to settle in our lives in a small box of religion or ritual of few minutes of prayer whispers in morning and evening and few hours of christian meetings. He expects us to love him with all our heart, because he first loved us unconditionally when we are still sinners and sacrificed himself on the cross to redeem us from our bondage of sins. C T Studd rightly said that

"Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last."

Jesus loves to have an intimate relationship with us, the way Jesus had with the father. But are we willing to love him not for benefits but just to be in His presence. If we look at the history of christianity since the ascension of christ, we can clearly see that disciples are the ones, who are game changers of the world. They are the ones who have created a difference among the lives of the people and effectively shared the love of Jesus through their lives not just by mere words. Are a fan or follower of Jesus ?

- Inspired from external sources

Are you acting in faith or fear ?

Life is a tide of crest and troughs, where there will be peaks of celebration, joy, happiness, success and valleys of trials, temptations, suffering, failures.

As Bethany Hamilton, a committed believer and renowned surfer says " Life is a lot like surfing… When you get caught in the impact zone, you’ve got to just get back up. Because you never know what may be over the next wave."

It is very true that sometimes when we are caught in the impact zone, we stumble, get confused, loose hope and succumb to sorrow and depression. But Paul says in Philippians 4: 6-7 " Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything....Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. ...."

In the Chapters 13 and 14 of I Samuel, we can see the response of two people, who are going through a tough time, where one acted in fear of people but the other acted with faith in God. We can see the ironical behavior of a father and son, where the father Saul acted in fear that his army was dwindling, philistines are attacking and disobeyed God by offering the burnt offering to God, which was supposed to be done by Samuel. He was looking for God's favor without having patience to wait for God's time. On the other side of the story, we can see the son of Saul, Jonathan acting with faith in God. He took his armor man and creeped near the philistine army and started attacking the Philistines trusting that God will deliver them into his hands. Though he was alone with his armor man facing a vast army with innumerable soldiers and huge number of chariots, he remembered the great things God has done in the past and trusted that the God whom he worships is powerful than the vast army and He will fight on behalf of him.

Many times in our lives, we try to fight the battle on our own. When we are caught in the impact zone of our lives, we fail to realize that the one who is within us is greater than the one who is in the world. We try to look for help from people, our job, our relationships, our money, and act in fear of our circumstances and succumb to depression eventually hurting our God as well as ourselves. When we get depressed, it not only hurts us but also our Lord because He wants us to be filled with the river of living water but we fill our hearts with fear and depression. David says in Psalm 62 "Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge." Let us introspect our lives and ask God to help us to act in faith but not in fear. It is easy to trust in God when everything goes fine in our lives but our true faith comes out only when things become tough in our lives. Are you trusting God even at times when you are caught in storms and things goes out of your control ? Let us examine our lives and ask God to help us to trust him at all the times of our lives.