Priority and Prosperity

All your hard work will be for nothing.

--- The Bible

The book of Haggai opens (Haggai 1:1-12) with a pretty disturbing scene. The Israelites who are back from exile are not really living very well and prosperous. The Lord, our Lord, says this is because He has made it so. In verse 9 He says "You expected much, but received only a little. And when you brought it home, I made that little disappear. " Sounds pretty cruel for a God who is love, right?

Well, when you hear the Israelites' side of the story, we understand the situation better. Our God brought them out of exile. Our God helped them re-establish their lives. And how did they thank Him? They kept putting off the building of the Lord's temple. They kept putting it off saying they didn't have time and money - and they went on to built beautiful, posh houses for themselves. Such a thing won't fly with the Lord. That's what He said.

In our own lives today, we forget that our bodies are the living temples for God's Spirit. He resides within us and provides us with direction, guidance, strength and comfort. We are however, more bothered about looking good, smelling good and sounding good, rather than the state of condition that we treat/respect God's dwelling place. God is God. He commands respect. He commands our everything.

Let's give that to Him, then. Cheerio!

Favourites

Be fair with everyone, and don't have any favorites.

--- The Bible

In 1 Timothy chapter 5, Paul urges Timothy to be fair to everyone. This may seem like a task that's simple enough. However, in our day to day lives, we segregate and build prejudices towards certain people, sometimes, towards certain sects of people.

Like the study gang at school/college... A particular group of people at work. Certain people at church. Tonnes of examples abound. But we need to be fair to everyone, and not have any favourites. The only way I see that we can do this, is to fully rely on God. Fully fully fully. There's no other way that we can do this. Self-analysis in such situations helps a lot. I suggest that we take a few moments every week to check if we're partial towards certain people. If so, let's commit it to the Lord. He's been on earth. He knows what it's like. He can help us with it.

Amen, to that.

Sorry

There's been a break of about 5 months since the last post. Real sorry about that. We're planning to kick off regularly from now.

Keep us in your prayers.

Trial by fire

Your faith will be like gold that has been tested in a fire.

--- The Bible

We will have to go through several trials, and on the last day, God will save us. We have faith that He will. For this reason, we're able to go through these trials. This will be as hard on us, as purification by fire is, for gold. Peter, continues thus, in his first letter to all Christians, chapter 1, verses 5-9. He also mentions that we'll be extremely glad cos we've been saved by Jesus Christ, and this helps us keep our faith. Honestly, if I was tortured for christ, I don't know whether I'll stand tall for Him. But as dc Talk put it in their Jesus Freaks book, "There's no point in thinking if we would be able to die for Christ, if we haven't been living for Him". So, let's focus on living for Him right now - the trail-ing, fire-ing and die-ing, we can worry about, when the time comes. The time will surely come.

He (Peter) continues in a slightly different vein, uptil verse 12, where he talks about the prophets who foretold the coming of Christ. They knew that God's amazing plan was on the way, so they were trying to figure out more of the person, who would be Jesus. By the Holy Spirit's revelations, they were able to let us know who JC was, before He came. The interesting point here is, that angels apparently, would've wanted to know this - but they were not given this message. It was given only to humans. Makes me think of that lovely Steven Curtis Chapman song, Angels Wish...

I can't fly, atleast not yet
I got no halo on my head
....
I know things
Even angels
Only wish they knew

At the heart of it all, is a God who simply loves and adores us. So much, so that we'd be willing (and we rightly should be!) to go through any amount of trials, temptations, shame, regret, pain, embarrassment to get to Him on the last day. Lord Jesus, may this be our prayer, our aim and our life's goal. Amen.

Surprise!

God has something stored up for you in heaven, where it will never decay or be ruined or disappear.

--- The Bible

1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 3 and 4. Peter mentions in verse three that we've a great hope, since God is good and raised Jesus from death. This new life and hope gained through the resurrection is awesome. He then continues in verse 4, talking about a something that God's got stored up in heaven for us.

This has me thinking... What is this something? Sounds like a real surprise doesn't it? We, humans, simply love surprises. We're so happy to get them (and to give them, I might add!) Then definitely, our God and creator, who made us all in His image, would give really awesome surprises. So I'm guessing that Heaven's got something for us, which is beyond our wildest dreams and the furthest reaches of our imagination. Something really exciting. Something that can't be found on earth. And we're going there to get it! Awesome!!!

Remember, this joy to look forward to, is gained by our hope in Christ's sacrifice and His resurrection. That is what we need to do now - gain hope for living, from the life, dead and raising-up of Christ.

God bless the one who hears of the hope of Christ, and takes heed. Amen.

Almost - a way with words

God will bless everyone who hears and obeys this prophecy. The time is almost here.

--- The Bible

The opening three verses of Revelation, are beautiful and simple. It simply states that the entire account of revelation to follow, was:

1. Shown by God to Jesus

2. So that Jesus could pass on the message to His servant through His angel

3. Blessed are those who read it, hear it and obey it

4. Most importantly, time is short

The time factor is mentioned twice - first, in verse 1, where it is mentioned that these things must happen soon, then again in the third verse, The time is almost here. I think this is pure brilliance and wordplay by John. Call it what you want, but a world where "soon" and "almost" takes more than 2000 years sounds totally bizarre and mind-blowing. Well... welcome to the world where Jesus Christ reigns. This simple time-factor helps us to understand that God really really really does not talk about or do things the way we humans do. His ways are higher than ours. Truly. Believe it. Bank on it. With all your heart.

God bless.

A "From", a "To", and a "Prayer"

To all who are chosen and loved by God the Father and are kept safe by Jesus Christ.

--- The Bible

The first two verses of the book of Jude (New Testament), contain only three sentences - a "from", a "to" and a prayer. They require us to look harder at certain of the Christian things we do...

The From:

Jude calls himself a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. He has real humility in calling himself a servant. He also establishes his wordly, family-relations... For those of us who try to style ourselves purely as children/followers of God, here's a tip - Family ties are important too, in establishing identity.

The To:

Jude doesn't say "To the believers..." Instead, he pointedly says "chosen and loved by God the Father"... This is a harder way of looking at it. A person could call himself a believer/Christian... but only a true follower of the Lord would be able to accept the title of being "chosen and loved" by God the Father. Amazing!

The Prayer:

He does not pray that they prosper; he does not pray that they believe, either. He simply prays for kindness, love and peace - few of the simplest, yet most important things for us who are "chosen and loved" by God the Father.

Questions to ask ourselves:

1. Do we consider ourselves servants or great disciples of Jesus?

2. Are we chosen and loved by God the Father, and kept safe by Christ?

3. What do we pray earnestly for? For kindness, love and peace amongst us believers, or something else?

Encourage, for we are of the Light

Others may sleep, but we should stay awake and be alert.

--- The Bible

Since we don't live in the darkness, but in the light, we're not gonna be surprised when our Lord comes on down, like a Grave Robber. Paul exhorts us to stay awake and alert, and not to be drunk and asleep, unlike the people of the night, in 1 Thessalonians 5:4-11.

He continues by saying that when Jesus comes, it wouldn't matter whether we are dead or alive - we're all gonna be with Him. And for this reason alone, we need to help and encourage the believers around us.

Apparently, the hope of us being saved, should be worn like a helmet. So, let's!!!

Grave Robber

My friends, we want you to understand how it will be for those followers who
have already died. Then you won't grieve over them and be like people who don't
have any hope.

--- The Bible

Petra, in their 1983 hit single, Grave Robber, sing "Where is thy sting, tell me, where is thy bite? When the Grave Robber comes, like a thief in the night!" And truly, the only sting of death is the intense pain of separation. This pain is nullified if we know we're gonna see our loved ones pretty soon... Looking at verses 13-15 of the 4th chapter of Thessalonians, we see Paul trying to let the Thessalonians know exactly how it's gonna be. As believers and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have no doubt that we're all gonna be raised from the grave (or we'll rise like phoenixes from the ashes, if we've been burnt!) But how well do we base our faith and our lives on this hope, so that we are not too let down by the death of a dear one?

Personally, I think the correct response is summed up by the Jars of Clay hit single The Valley Song - "I will sing of Your mercy that leads me through valleys of sorrow and leads me to rivers of joy."

Amen.

It's hard work, folks!

Try your best to live quietly, to mind your own business, and to work hard, just as we taught you to do.

--- The Bible

Continuing with the first half of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, three points become clear to us.

1. No no no immorality in sex - within or outside the union of marriage. Paul spends a few verses discussing this - don't be immoral, honour your wife, don't be a slave to desires like people who don't know God

2. Strive harder. Paul mentions twice (verse 1; verse 10) that the Thessalonican church is doing everything they ought to; but, he says, work harder at it. We too, must not let lethargy sink in, once we are doing what we ought to be doing for the Lord. There are a zillion areas of improvement in a believer's life - we need to work harder at perfecting those possible areas of improvement. Becoming Christ-like is our goal - not just living well.

3. Live quietly, MYB and work hard. Paul is actually asking us to pipe down and not worry about what goes on around us. Wow. For many of us, the phrase "Mind your own business" has very wrong connotations. But here, Paul is actually using it, and then following it up with saying "Work hard, like we taught you to do". This is awesome. He is saying that us working hard at what we have to do in Christ, is way more important than us being bothered about other people and then making a huge fuss about it.

These are definitely a few points that are worth pondering. Let's see where Paul takes the Thessalonican road to, next. :) God bless you all.

Love in Faith

Your strong faith in the Lord is like a breath of new life. How can we possibly thank God enough for all the happiness you have brought us?

--- The Bible

Paul ends the 2nd chapter of 1 Thessalonians, by talking about wanting to come and visit the church at Thessalonica. He then continues in the entire third chapter, of how he's been dying to come and see them. However, this wasn't possible - and so he sent Timothy. Now, Timothy reports back to Paul, saying that the Thessalonicans are rocking as believers. This seems to simply blow Paul's mind away - he's literally gushing with joy, love and affection - for them. There seem to be only two things that he's praying about, for the Thessalonicans - that he'd be able to see them again, and that they would have an even stronger faith (verse 10).

Many a time, we are culturally bound and fettered to the confines of not pouring out our love to our fellow brothers and sisters. Even if God puts this love for them in our hearts, we're too scared of it, and we question it, and we ask ourselves if it's okay to love people this much, etc. But the point is - only believers and people who are really exhibiting strong faith would be able to bring us great joy and happiness. When we look at them, we would be really happy for the way our Lord is working in their lives. So we start loving the work that they do, and in turn, start loving these believers. This is not wrong. And it must be told.

As Akshay Cherian once put it, this world gives us such a hard time, as it is. There's not much point if we do the same to people around us - let's give each other a pat on the back. Let's make it a point that we constantly pray to meet with our fellow believers and that we would thank our Lord for the joy that they bring us. Let us also constantly pray, that their faith would grow stronger, day by day.

God bless you, folks. Amen.

Life As We Know It

The message that we preached came from Him (God), and it isn't something made up by humans. You accepted it as God's message, and now He is working in you.

 --- The Bible

When we hear the word of God preached for the first time, our souls tingle and our minds wonder - could this really be what it seems like? And then we decide to take the plunge and dive in - becoming believers... Some, for a time. Some, for a lifetime. Some, for eternity.

The Gospel, is not something made up by humans. Paul is very clear about this in the 2nd chapter of Thessalonians. The message of the Bible/Gospel comes directly from God. Only when we truly realise that this message is from God, would we be able to understand and accept this as our life's faith. Once we accept it, He begins working within us, to help the world around us. He does not sit outside us and try to crush and pressure us to conform to a certain mould that He's got in mind; rather, He lovingly enters us and works on us, inside us. Changing us for the better.

As someone once put it, life with Jesus is not highly different from the life we had before. It is the same life - but with a difference... That God is working within us. How awesome is that thought! Simply astounding. And this is life as we know it... as believers, as Christians, as followers and disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is what it's all about - accepting the message of the Bible and thereby, giving God the chance to work in us.

Amen, people. God bless the ones with faith enough to believe.

Pleasing people

God was pleased to trust us with His message. We didn't speak to please people, but to please God, who knows our motives.

- The Bible

Life in general is filled with trying to please people. We try to please our teachers, our friends, our relatives, our colleagues, our bosses, our family... jus about everyone. There are different levels of trying to please people, of course. But at the heart of it all, is the basic human desire to be well-liked (or atleast, liked) by the ones around us.

In the beginning of 1 Thessalonians, we see Paul praising the Thessalonians. He says that the whole world knows of their faith and what they have done for it (Chapter 1). In the second chapter, he starts talking about this faith being brought to them; that they (Paul & Co.) faced several trials and difficulties, but they still did it. Why? Cos they were doing it to please God.

This is an awesome thought. We all know it; but seldom live it. If we just stop living to please men (and women!) and start living to please God, we'll see a whole world of difference. We would not be discouraged as often as we usually are when people say bad things about us - cos it really wouldn't matter. We could hold our heads up high and walk the wire of the Christian faith, banking only on the guarantee of the fact that our Lord is pleased with what we are doing.

And yes, Amen to that.

Desire

Our desires fight against God, because they do not and cannot obey God's laws.

- The Bible

Desire is such a multi-pronged word - from the lustful, sexual desire it could mean anything neighbouring the desire to purchase a kitten and bring it up! Whatever desires we have, they tend to draw us away from what our Lord wants us to do. In most cases, the desire itself may not be the sin, but pursuing that desire would lead us to sin.

Romans chapter 8 verses 1-17 talk about living by the power of the Spirit. Jesus Christ walking on this earth as a perfect human, and being a sinless sacrifice has defeated the power that sin holds over us - we're free to walk the earth, as we will. We are free from sin. But this freedom is found only in the Lord. It's freely given to all who believe; so simply let's believe and we'll have the ability to use the power found in Jesus to fight our own desires and be captivated by the awesome plans that He holds for us, in our future.

God bless you all,

Amen.