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.

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.

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.