Forgive n Love...

The good Lord was clear in charging us with His teachings when He said:

> Love those who hate you (Mt 5:44)
> Bless those who harm you (Mt 5:44)
> If somebody strikes you on one cheek, show him the other (Mt 5: 39, 40)
> If you have something against a brother, leave your gift at the altar; set things right with him and then come back to pray (Mt 5: 23, 24)

Lovely preachy material... But the real test is in applying these teachings to our lives when we are surrounded by misunderstanding, people who are waiting to find fault with us and bring us down and better still, when we are hurting due to all this.

As i was thinking and even struggling with the same today, i realised that these words of the good Lord are not giving us much of a choice; as much as they are in the imperative tense. Each one of those statements contains in them the verb 'do' in an imperative usage (in the greek):

> afes             ekei        to     dwron         sou (5: 24)
  leave you!     there     the     present     of you(rs)

> streyon     autw       thn     allhn (5: 39)
  turn you!     to him    the     other (cheek)

> agapate         tous     ecqrous       umwn (5: 44)
  be ye loving!    the     enemies        of you(rs)

These are not one of those good to do (like good to know) statements of our Lord. Infact, He never did give us a choice in these particular directives. These statements were authoritative commands from the master the universe to His creation. What then shall be your and my response to the same? We might say i forgive... but are we able to look the same people in the eye and wish them all good things and bless them Jesus name???

May God bless us and grant us His grace to forgive (over and over again) and  to deal with our enemies and those who want to see us down; to exemplify Him even through our response to people and situations, despite our hurt.

A Type Of...

What makes the Word of God so alive and applicable to our lives even today… I mean most of what was written is over 2000 yrs old and was intended as a promise God had made to those people at that time; but the key factor is that it was NEVER INTENDED FOR THOSE PEOPLE, FOR THAT TIME only.

The word of God is everlasting and unchanging (Isa 40: 8; 1Pet 1:23; Mt 5: 18; Lk 16:17). And His promises to us, His people are eternal and will prevail. In this, we find proof of the same; His Word is filled over and over with His promises given to His people and renewed from generation to generation. For example Isa 59: 17 contains the similar instruction as does Eph 6: 14-17 and 1Thess 5:8.
(From the NASB)
Isa 59: 17
He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
And a helmet of salvation on His head;
And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing
And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.

Eph 6: 14-17
14 Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 15and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

1Thess 5:8
8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

Biblical Theology refers to these references as a type of the other. But what does this typology mean for us???
> It is His way of reassuring us through the times that His word once spoken will prevail and accomplish what it was meant to do; ‘coz He knew just how many times and how easily we would doubt Him when things are not going as expected them to be.
> His Word has never changed (but only been renewed) since the beginning of time and it will not change now. We can gain confidence in that He will grant us our needs no matter what our immediate situation be.
> Many people try to undermine the power of the Word of God. But we need to realize that it is through His Word that He has chosen to give us strength and something to hold on to in those storms of life (‘coz human that we are, we all desperately look for something to latch onto when going through difficult times).

Some other references of this typology that I’ve come across in my personal study (and these are very very few of the whole number in the Bible) :
Isa 22: 20 – 25 == Mt 16: 17 – 20
Mt 5: 19b == Jam 2: 17
Isa 60: 19, 20 == Rev 21: 23
Isa 60: 3, 11b, 10 == Rev 21: 24
Isa 60: 11a == Rev 21: 25
Isa 60: 6, 7, 12, 13, 17 == Rev 21: 26
Isa 60: 21 == Rev 21: 27
Ecc 7: 20 == Rom 3: 23
Psa 30: 11 == Jer 31: 13

When things don't work out...

Its extremely frustrating when things dont work out in a way you had planned for them to. You start to question your own abilities and wonder whether there was anything else that you could have done...

But then thinking about it from another perspective, it becomes abundantly clear that we have no charge over the way anything goes, let alone what happens in our own lives. We're frail and human... So just how far can we take self-will and where does free will fit in???

Just yesterday i was having a discussion with a colleague about what necessarily entails free will. God did allow us a free will and we have the freedom to make the choices that lead our lives towards Him or away from Him; to live our lives how we choose to live them or submit ourselves back to what He would want us to do. But what about the situations and circumstances that we have control over? What happens to our freedom there? The answer lies in understanding the fact that our freedom doesn't mean freedom from causality (the relationship between an event (the cause) and a second event (the effect), where the second event is a direct consequence of the first) or materialism; rather it means freedom from compulsion and restraint. For example, the laws of gravity put certain restraints failing which a person cannot fly, but it doesn't prevent the person from flying. Similarly when faced with failure, we can choose to be optimistic and make it a learning experience our choose to be negative and downcast (why so downcast oh my soul....)

No matter what the situation or the circumstance thrown at us, we can choose to respond in different ways. In this we have free will. We are able to make the choices that determine whether we do what we know is right in our heart (our conscience) or do purposefully do wrong. We therefore are free to make choices that determine the course of our life towards God or away from Him.We can exercise our self will to the extent of making the choices that will bring us closer to Him and make the best out of our situation, circumstance or material standing. But beyond this, we have no choice but to realise that we are frail and human (created).

And the best part is God has proven to us time and again that we can trust Him for His plans are to prosper us and not to harm us, to give us a bright hope and a future... (Jer 29:11). Also that everything happens for the good of those who love the Lord... (Rom 8:28) and He is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love... (Heb 6:10). Even if all seems lost, we need to remind ourselves that the context in which God promises His people that His plans are to prosper them and give them a bright hope and a future; is when Jeremiah is prophesying over the land of Israel that they will be conquered. The people have no hope of coming back from there and have no certainty of what their future will be as a conquered nation. It is here that God gives them this promise. Nothing is lost in Him and with Him; if we have done our best, leave to God the rest... and be still and know that He is God (Psa. 46: 10)

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God. 
(Psa. 42: 5, 6)

FOR

He gives and takes away, but my heart will choose to say Lord blessed be Your name (Job 1: 21)

Why He can say I AM???

Every once in a while its strange how we gain a sudden realization our tinyness and His awesomeness; especially when faced with the death of a loved one. We had a similar experience when a friend of ours went to be with the Lord 2 days ago (diagnosed with Leukemia in the final stage) - Haeirisim Nemwe, aged 26, pursuing his research in Linguistics at the Hyderabad Central University.

For those who knew Harri (as we all used to call him), he was a prayerful guy, quiet, dependent on the Lord but above all else, a nice guy; for his sorrow and suffering churned him to loving people.

And when faced with such a sudden death, its amazing how we realize that the very breath that we take for granted is not in our control. We get so caught up with our lives and ourselves that we completely miss out on what God is trying to do. We forget the big picture of how our great Lord, God Almighty chooses to fit us into that tiny gap in the puzzle of the great mystery called life in order to achieve that purpose for which we were created by Him.

I've always been puzzled to a certain extent about the term the good Lord uses for His name during His conversation with Moses (Exo 33) - I AM! Its always seemed spectacular to me that He would refer to Himself as I AM. Until one day i had a revelation about the same. Around a year ago, my father passed away. And i remember how striking it was that in less than a day's time, we were referring to him with was in our conversations (he was...). But with God, we can never say He was; its always He is... and will be. He who holds time in His hands can never be the past tense. He IS (and always will be) - I AM!

Our God, the great I AM; praise be to Thee! For we are to happy keep our hope in Thee alone, the giver of life, the creator of the heaven and earth and all that is therein. (Psa 146: 6-10).

The Character of a Happy Life

by Sir Henry Wotton

How happy is he born or taught
That serveth not another's will,
Whose armour is his honest thought,
And simple truth his highest skill;

Whose passions not his masters are;
Whose soul is still prepared for death,
Untied unto the world with care
Of princes' grace or vulgar breath;

Who envies none whom chance doth raise,
Or vice; who never understood
The deepest wounds are given by praise,
By rule of state but not of good;

Who hath his life from rumours freed,
Whose conscience is his strong retreat,
Whose state can neither flatterers feed
Nor ruins make accusers great;

Who God doth late and early pray
More of his grace than goods to send,
And entertains the harmless day
With a well-chosen book or friend.

This man is free from servile bands
Of hope to rise or fear to fall,
Lord of himself, though not of lands,
And having nothing, yet hath all.