Father's love on a Prodigal Son like me!! (Luke 15: 11-23)

The Son made his way out of his father's beautiful country into an unkonown one. There, he spent all that he got in "loose living" (RSV), which means he led an exciting and thrilling and adventurous life which was perfectly acceptable with the world. By the way, how many of you think that 'sinful life' is not exciting? Exactly the opposite is the truth, sinful life is always exciting which people always look forward to. It is 'exciting', but it is 'transcinet' just like 'vapour', it is there for a moment and vanishes within no time. But the problem occurs when we do not have strength to resist the so called 'transcinet temptation'. Instead of resisting it, we embrace it because we do not have the strength to fight against it. Eventually the so called 'Transcient Temptation' becomes a 'Permanant Temptation'; unless God gives the strength, we cannot leave it just because it is too sweet to leave. In addition to that, our guilt piles up!! May God be our help to resist the tempatation and to deliver us from evil. The reason for this is because, we have run away from the 'Father', had we been with the him, he would have come to our rescue, now, who is going to bother? who will come to our aid? The fact is no one. Frankly speaking, why should anybody spend a  second for you when you never had time  for anybody in the past? People always do 'tit for tat' but priase God that He never doest that. Remember, Father didn't leave the son, it was his own decision to go away.

The son lost all that he got, and remained there all alone! What a tragedy, all alone by himself!! But that's a good one as God orchestrates all things well in advance. It was God's plan that he should be alone. It is good to be alone. Not many knows what it means to be alone with God. We live in a nation where lonliness is out of question with small houses crammed with people, even though it is not an excuse to be with God, but it is a fact, where there is a will, there is a way. Now, my friend, take a minute and reflect on your life; where are you standing in the light of God? Get away from people and pray to God to be reconciled!! I will come back to the story in my next post, God willing. 

Father's Love on a Prodigal Son like me!!(Luke 15:11-23)

Why should ever Father have showed such love upon me (should I call it love or wisdom, I don't know) by giving me my share in his property was the point where I left in my previous post. How could he do that knowing the kind of person I am? But the father remained silent and let his son do whatever he wanted. The son came, asked and got what he wanted and vanished; he didn't have time to think what a turmoil the father would have gone through; it must have been very hard for the father to see his son going away; away from his vicinity, far away from his love and affection. This is where we need to pause for a while and think; we must not turn our backs to God regardless of the innumerable oppurtunites we are given to seek Him and to reconcile with Him. When we do, the chances are very slim to remain within God's reach because He will let us go wherever we want and do whatever we want. King pharaoh and the king Saul are classic examples where people denied God, having seen His might. Al though God doesn't act like this with all His children but some hard- hearted, unfeelingful, unrepentant children will have to face 'abandonment' forever. What we can understand if we rundown through this story is that if we get away from God, we might forever lose Him as well!!?? This has to be true from human perspective and the reason for that simply because we do not know whom God will restore, al though God's children will never be lost !! And therefore, the summary is 'do not ever think or attempt to run away from Him simply because it is too dangerous; you might as well never come back!! To our astonishment, this is not the case in this story. Father was always waiting for his son to come back because he knew he would return home at some stage. Now, where are you my friend? are you with the Father within His vicinity or away from Him, seeking those transient wordly pleassures?? Have you ever pondered upon the fact that He would actually wait for you to come to Him? This is a staggering thought to end with; none other than God himself is waiting for you to come is in deed a staggering thought, isn't it? I shall come back to this ever- fascinating story in my next post..but you take a time to think about life- changing truths, will you?!!   

     

Father's Love!

Every time I read this parable of 'Prodigal Son', my heart melts. This is a fascinating story narrated by the Lord Jesus Christ himself; a story of love and affection and kindness. Millions of sermons might have been preached on that very subject but none could have possibly posessed the Lord's unique art of preaching with the aim to reach out to people from all walks of life. And this story is also a living example of the relevance of God's word for modern times!!

Coming back to the point, when the son came to his father and asked for his portion of property; very surprisingly, the father gave consent to let him have his share in it. Generally, it is very unlikely that a father would have agreed to his son's suggestion of taking half or some of his father's property away with him. Well, certainely, this is not what we see regularly in India. Fathers demand respect in here, and rightly so, having cared for their children right from the beginning, they deserve respect from them. But fathers, in general, like to think that they are the bosses! and they dream of their children becoming bosses at some stage when they are grown up.'How much have you earned?', 'how much is your son earning?' are the kind of stereo type questions go round and round in all classes and sections of the society. When people are obsessed with money, how can anyone expect to lose it just like that! A normal reply, when a son comes to his father for his share of property, would be 'how dare you come to ask that?!', ' what right do you have?'. But the father we are talking about must be completely differrent from the fathers of the world. The question is, why did he give his son, when didn't have to and especially when he knew the fact that he was a pleasure seeking person? You think about it, I will continue it in my next post, God willing. 

  

   

A Living Sacrifice unto God (Rom 12:1).

We need to present our bodies as a living sacrifice unto God. Our bodies need to be 'living' but at the same time, they need to be 'sacrificing' as well. How do you reconcile with this seemingly apparent 'contradiction'?. I think the best way to understand this is by turning our minds to the 'burning bush' where God spoke to Moses (Ex 3:1-3); 'Moses' was awe- struck when he saw the 'bush' was burning but not being 'consumed'. Even a kid can say when somebody asks him 'what happens when you lit a bush on fire or a plant for that matter?'; he says without any hesitation that 'it will be burnt!!'. Here, to our astonishment, the 'bush' is burning but it is not 'burnt'. 'What!! is it burning properly?' somebody yells. Moses would have thought 'The one who set fire to it was none other than God himself, so surely it was burning'. Do we see the analogy here; 'burning' represents the sacrificial part. The object of sacrifice always needs to experience the pain and suffering. Turn your minds for a minute on that 'Lamb' which had to go though the painful experience of being killed before the alter in the Old Testament. For the object of 'sacrifice'; death is what assured; it is certain. It will die in a minute or so after it was slaughtered. But the 'bush' wasn't being consumed.

I think, this is what it means when the Apostle said ' present your bodies a living sacrifice unto God..'. We need to be dead to sin but live for God (Rom 6:5 to 11). We formerly used our bodies as a medium though which all the sinful activity took place. Our bodies were the objects of death. And we were slaves of sin and Satan (Eph 2:1 to 3). But now, having been redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ, we no longer present our bodies to sin or Satan but to God alone. A living sacrifice? What sacrifice can we offer when the ultimate 'sacrifice' was already paid, that is why all that we do is termed as 'our reasonable service'(KJV) or 'our spiritual worship' (RSV). Do you live for 'Christ' from now on?

Presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice..(Rom 12:1)

What did the Apostle Paul mean when he said "present your bodies a living sacrifice ....unto God"?; as I was grappling to understand what it exactly means; my mind some how turned to the sacrifices of the old testament. The pictures of the sacrifice surely should have been very graphic. When Adam and Eve crossed the God given boundaries by eating the fruit from the forbidden tree, they stood naked and guilty which means God had every right to do whatever he wanted do with them as they brought disharmony into the God's world. Here we understand that by crossing the God given borders, we not only bring disharmony into our world (our homes, families..etc) but also bring devastation on us. So 'sin' generates multiple consequences. When Adam and Eve stood naked and guilty; God, instead of wiping them off; he chose to provide a way by giving them skin-coats. Surely God must have killed an animal to cover the naked bodies of Adam and Eve. And they must have been the witnessed to the animal killing. If they were to be covered; the killing should have taken place. Here the animal was killed for somebody else's trespass. Surely the couple would have understood the seriousness of their act against God's will (read Genesis ch 3); a part of God's creation was sacrificed. God decided to give the humans a second chance instead of imposing penalty directly on them. This is where we see God as a God of Grace and Mercy.

The very meaning of 'sacrifice' tells that something or someone dies on somebody's behalf or something valuble is given up in order that one may live or be happy. What is this 'living sacrifice' then? When we offer sacrifice, that will die. But when we offer ourselves, we must die too. But the Apostle is asking us to be 'living sacrifices'. How can you answer this 'apparent contradiction'? ..I shall try to glean some more thoughts in my next post, God willing, only with His help.

I can't 'change' myself!!

I wrote in my previous blog that we all wish to be changed at some point. We keep looking at others thinking that if only we are like them; how nice that would be! What I have learnt in my life is that I can't change myself. I just can't give up something which I hold very dear to myself; in most cases it is 'sinfulness'. I say to myself that what profit is there if I give up on this ? Am I going to be happy if I give 'it' up? The Gospel promises that we are going to be very happy if only we trust God not by giving up 'sin'!! How easy!! When we trust God; He enables us to give 'sin' up for the sake of being holy as He is holy. It is interesting that God doesn't allow us to trust in Him with out giving up on 'sin'. He gives us hope and strength to leave 'sin' away but it is not the first step we must take when we come to Christ. We must come to Him as we are.

How the above said is connected with the subject 'change'? Well, the fact is there are not many people who would like to change their lives. They are pretty much happy with the way they are. In other words they haven't got bored with their lifestyles. The reason for this is 'sin'. And 'sin' is the most exciting and adventurous phenomena in the world. So to change ourselves by giving up 'sin' is going to be very tough and look very foolish from world's point of view. Though there aren't many who wish to be changed; there are a few; who are fed up with their sinful lives; who think they are exhausted; who think their lives are not worthy to be continued; who think they cannot get over their past; who think they have done irreparable damage to themselves and also to others....It is those people who will a see a pair of hands 'welcoming' them not to an earthly kingdom but to a heavenly one for it is Jesus who said 'come unto me, all ye heavy laiden, I will give thee rest' (Mat 11:28).

So are trying to to change yourself? I promise you cannot. Though you might argue with me by saying 'Impossible is nothing';but the reality remains the same as we remain unchanged. It is not superficial change we are talking about; it has got be a 'complete' change which includes all dimensions in human body and soul. It only happens when we come to Christ as we are and ask for 'forgiveness'.

Have you ever felt the need to be 'changed'?

'Change' is something we all have to welcome at some point in our lives whether
we like it or not. Even the older people,nowadays, are adapting themselves to modern ways and to all the technological advancement. It is not a matter of being fashionable but it is a need now; otherwise; how can folk keep in touch with their people on the other side of the globe except via Internet? I think I have just slipped aside from the point I would like to write a bit elaborately; instead of telling you about the need to be changed; I was all in praise for the 'Modern Technology'.

How often I felt like saying to myself 'if only I am like that faithful pastor who serves Christ in that remote village..'. We often tend to look at people and compare ourselves with their personality, attitude, accomplishments, credentials...and we are over the moon when we think we outran them and suddenly we are gloomy and deeply dejected because we think that they outran us. It all depends how we look at things. I believe both the things are bad. As Dr Peter Masters says " we swing like a pendulum swings to one extreme or the other". It is very important to get things right and to put the things in the right perspective; we need to have a balanced mind. The thing is, even though it is not always good to compare ourselves with others; we can compare ourselves with others in spiritual matters. Even the Apostle Paul encourages his fellow believers to be like him or to imitate him as he imitates Christ.

We get bored when we keep doing things we always do. That's why we shout, at some point, 'give me a break buddy!!'; we tend to unwind ourselves as we driver along, or by listening to some music or by doing some 'excercise'..but the reality is that we bump into 'boredom' once again and alas even the 'remedy' for 'boredom' becomes 'boring' as well. This is all a part of trying very hard to 'change' ourselves. But can we change ourselves? Does it happen to us? Or is it just a distant mirage which never appears to be true? I hope to discuss this with those who have some serious intentions to experience 'change' in their lives in my next post.