God Gives the True Meaning of Christmas

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Luk 2:10-11  

 

Is it the Fame of Jesus or the Holiday that Attracts?

It is that line which has rang down the annals of time. It is that story which is etched in the minds of children like a picture on granite. It is the flurry of activities which beckons it, the rites of passages, the long holidays, the foods, the visitors and the gifts. December always smells different.

There is no doubt it has been a very tough and dark year indeed. But still one can’t escape the sheer magic which the month invites. December is still a time to get spoilt.

Was it a Silent or Loud Night?

One might doubt it was really a silent night, as there was quite a big stir in the air as people thronged the small town of Bethlehem that night for the census.

And yet what a great awakening was taking place right under the noses of that throng that night, and what a sweet cry of a child sounded that night, and what joy, and what sorrow all muted into one great message which has ever sounded on this earth!

But why didn’t God announce it with trumpets? Why didn’t he stop every man and woman and child on the streets to announce to them the good news? Why didn’t everybody hear the angels singing?

Probably that is how God meant it. Probably he didn’t want to intrude. So only a few people that night were quite aware of what had transpired, a few shepherds, a few wise men and the angels.

But how many people, even today, would really care what the Jesus story means? Some things float to the surface even without beckoning. But it was different with the coming of our Saviour. That is because a meeting with Jesus himself is always the most precious thing in the whole world.

The Queen of Sheba

There is precedence in the bible about such a thing – the queen of Sheba. She was great, she was a queen… then this fame of a king Solomon in Israel happened… and the thought and the fame disturbed her… was this thing really true? (1Kings 10:1-13).

Probably God meant the Jesus story to disturb us like that… ‘and they were sore afraid.’  And that no man should be content with the obvious… like if there is a star one should follow it like the shepherds did… or if one has heard of the fame thereof one should follow and find if it is true.

And this is what the queen of Sheba did. She went to Jerusalem to see Solomon for herself, and she saw, and she believed.

What have you heard about Jesus or his birth in all these years? Fortunately today no one needs to travel all the way to Jerusalem to meet him. For today Jesus is right here in your bible if you desire to meet him, do you?

The Nature of Precious Things

Precious metals are dug deep in the earth. Rarely does one come across gold on the pathway. So is Jesus like that, and he is simply the most precious ‘metal’ one can come across in this life: ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field’ (Mat 13:44). 

We meet many faces in the streets without any thinking. But then one day a face pops up and suddenly there is that strange disturbance… who is he or who is that girl?

I think that’s what God meant by the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem that night. He is not a face you will meet every day in the streets, yes you might, but immediately you will experience that strange disturbance…

Yes he might have announced it with trumpets and in the ears of everyone present that night… but how many would have remembered it afterwards? And how many would have cursed him for disturbing them like that?

It is true everyday strange things happen in town. But how many people actually notice them?

Pray God to Surprise you this Christmas with the ‘Actual’ meeting with Jesus

The queen of Sheba wanted to know more. God granted her wish and she wasn’t disappointed. God will grant your wish too concerning Christ if you ask him. I think that’s what the ‘Silent night’ really means. There is still a deafening meaning about it if you listen to it carefully. And I think it is that silence which God still wants for each person to penetrate it by themselves without any coercion. And what a penetration that is when one has finally come ‘face to face’ with Jesus himself!

I think God meant it to be such a discovery, an agonizing but sweet and unforgettable thing! Pray to him to give you one this Christmas. It will be the greatest thing you’ve ever experienced in your life.

You can ask anyone’s testimony about it or read the queen of Sheba’s. But even more desirable would be if God gives you your own testimony. He is faithful and he will do it if you ask him, as it is written ‘and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.’

‘And all went to be taxed’

Aren’t there many people still waiting to be counted and entered in ‘The book of the generation of Jesus Christ’ in this country? Aren’t there people still emerging from broken lives or broken health? It is God who gives the best testimony about himself. Ask him for yours this Christmas. ‘Let us now go even to Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass…’

Merry Christmas dear friends!

This blog now takes a break due to the upcoming holidays… God willing I shall be back again on this space in early February 2021 or thereabout. I give all the glory to God for according me this privilege and forum to make his name known. God bless you all! 

The Perils of Being Full

Lest when thou hast eaten and art full… Deu 8:12 

Greed is Subtle

Nothing has the potential to reveal our capacity for depravity like food and money does. The sight at a buffet table always excites passions as everything is usually calm as the people wait out at the conference or party room. But all hell breaks loose when they rise up to go to be filled.

My mother used to admonish us to ‘cover’ our stomachs when we were full. That is because that was the time when we were most liable to forget ourselves. As a former alcoholic I can testify that nothing makes one feel invincible as booze does.

That is also the time when kings are wont to become reckless. King Ahasuerus lost his queen Vashti for good after seven days of wanton feasting, and ‘Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?’ boasted Nebuchadnezzar.

And then it was while he was busy running away from King Saul’s wrath in the wilderness that David’s behavior was excellent. But it was when he was full and idle that he ‘walked upon the roof of the king's house’, and the world shall never forget Bathsheba.

Testimonies abound about how some people were once very loyal church goers and very close to God until ‘he heard their prayers, and he blessed them’, and that was usually the end of their relationship.

And so man without God would be totally depraved.

So are Riches to be Spurned?

It depends on the context. ‘The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it’ (Pro 10:22). And I think it was on this wise that God (aware of our natural desires) said to seek his kingdom first, ‘for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things’ (Mat 6:32).  But likewise ‘There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked’ (Isa 57:21).  

Paul’s teaching about Money is also True as Experience Bears him out

‘But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows’ (1Ti 6:9-10).  

And this is so because a Christian’s chief calling is first and foremost ‘a high calling’, as it is written, ‘If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God’ (Col 3:1-3).  

But it becomes very easy to lose sight of this when our occupation is also taken up with much ‘serving the tables’ rather than dwelling on ‘the ministry of the word.’ Paul’s counsel therefore is on the minister of God to keep himself from these earthly or fleshly desires, ‘But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses’ (1Ti 6:11-12).  

But for those who are rich Paul counsels against becoming enslaved by the same, ‘Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life’ (1Ti 6:17-19).  

But in Everything Rather Give Thanks

Likewise it should never be lost that it is God who gives one the power to become wealthy (Deu 8:18) or the lack thereof (and not necessarily because it is the work of the devil),  ‘The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and he hath set the world upon them’ (1Sa 2:7-8). 

So it is rather incumbent upon us that we thank God in everything rather than to be engaged in grumbling and falling prey to bitterness: ‘Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer’ (Rom 12:12).   

For it is actually a sin not to enjoy the life God has given us, ‘And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee’ (Deu 26:11a).

Finally there is the Need for Self-control or Discipline in Everything we do

Moments of self-reflection or fasting are profitable and should be encouraged, for they afford one calmness, soberness and self-control: ‘For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come’ (1Ti 4:8).

Equally it is written that, ‘There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God’ (Ecc 2:24). 

Life is beautiful. But to doubt that is to invite perpetual gloom. And yes God is still ‘able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think’. Let us pray: Lord, you came so that we might have life and have it more abundantly according to your word, please open our eyes to this fact in everything that we do. Amen. 

Go on to Possess what you want in Life

‘I have begun to give… begin to possess’ Deu 2:31

Is all ambition Vain and the Desire for Profit Evil?

At eighty years of age Caleb pleaded with Joshua to give him ‘this mountain.’ And elsewhere the poet has put these words in God’s mouth: ‘I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.’ And so sometimes we don’t get what we desire from God because we are afraid to persist, or we are too overwhelmed by our sense of apparent greed.

Many Christians are uncomfortable with the issues of ambition and wealth acquisition or prosperity. Perhaps some were ‘filthy rich’ at one time before hard times set in, and the experience left them permanently disillusioned about the beauty of life.

Again we have all read the stories of people who struck a windfall or won a large lottery. But they are not usually very happy stories.

Or perhaps one is gifted with a poetic turn of mind, and in their search for the ideal, they have tried everything in life before finally they landed on the perfect treasure, and it was only then that the demons in their minds were quieted.

And so one trenchant idealist says, ‘I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? … Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit… Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun…’ (Ecc 2).

And so Paul too would count everything as dung.

There will always be a big Chasm between our Time and their Time

Time is dynamic and not static. So Abraham, in his days, kept large heads of cattle, and in addition servants were born in his own house. But in our day it is the ‘large heads’ of education, the stock market and the Protestant Ethic. And who can say God has not been gracious to us as he was with Abraham and his descendants?

There is a Sense of Contradiction in every aspect of our Lives

To miss this fact is to choose a perplexed life, and it is to miss the joy of our humanity. So quipped the philosopher, ‘Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?’ (Ecc 7:16).

Many times the simplest thing to do is believe, but O how hard!

‘Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word’ (Psa 106:24), and ‘Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?’ (Psa 78:19). 

Might we have overanalyzed our problems until we cannot tell the common from the supernatural anymore?

‘Wherefore be ye not unwise,’ the apostle admonishes, ‘but understanding what the will of the Lord is’ (Eph 5:17), and ‘Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth’ (2Ti 2:15).

And so some are called to be dreamers in this life and some are called to be entrepreneurs.

‘But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that,’ adds the apostle, and, ‘Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.’ (See Desiring God, Meditations of a Christian Hedonist by John Piper).

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty

A tree when winter strikes, withers. But it is not usually the death of life, but only the death of a season. So what beliefs do you believe today and why do you believe them? Are they still valid today or they are outdated? And can you change? ‘And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it’ (Psa 90:17). And ‘where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty’ and so we can begin to be changed from one image of his glory to another.

And so what ‘glory’ are you short of at present dear friend? Is it peace? Is it healing? Is it knowledge or wisdom? Is it freedom? Is it joy? Is it patience? Is it riches? Is it happiness? Name it. But God’s command is that we should begin to possess it right now. Is the Jordan river still overflowed and are we afraid we are going to drown if we cross it? ‘And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in.’ God is still faithful. He has said it and will he not do it? ‘He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?’ (Rom 8:32).Tonight let us do a different thing. Let us just believe. 

 Job: A Study of Hope Where there is Apparently no Hope

‘but who can withhold himself from speaking?’ Job 4:2  

 ‘all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.’ Job 14:14 

Where is God when He is most Needed?

‘Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?’ Zophar, one of Job’s ‘miserable comforters’ was piqued by the latter’s constant justifying of himself, and therefore rather rattled, he threw Job the above question.

Is there anyone who can really know God to perfection? No, it is impossible. Besides, if I should attempt it, I should lose my mind.

The pain which Job felt was gratuitous according to his thinking. He didn’t deserve it and the thought just drove him further up the wall. Without knowing it he was slowly approaching that point at which the whirlwind of questioning goes round and around in the head but without seemingly arriving at any end.  

Meeting God ‘face to face’

In the end Job prayed that he would meet God, and God granted his request (38-41). Job didn’t go to him but God came to Job. And then chapter after chapter the book opens on how God asked Job question after question – and strangely Job could not even answer one of them. He asked God to forgive him instead. He had only heard of him in the past but now he had met him in person. And though he was still in pain but Job acknowledged that he now understood. It happens to us too after a long night of the soul, it happens in the songs which God gives to his beloved, and though they are ransacked by pain.

There is always a point at which one reaches and beyond which pain means nothing. I pray that point comes to you soon too like it came to Job.  ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?’ thundered Paul, ‘shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?’ And then Paul breaks into that dizzying of chants: ‘Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Rom 8:37-38). 

Having Christ only for One’s Best Friend

And that is always the comfort of having Christ for one’s best friend. He understands. And in times like these the Spirit intercedes for us ‘with groanings which cannot be uttered.’ In Christ we are never alone. And so when all questions had yielded no answer for Job, he cleaved to his God as if with his clenched fist: ‘Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him’. God grant you that confidence and courage especially at a time like this dear friend.

Life is a Journey

Life is a journey, and God humbly asks us not to tire ourselves with too much thinking. He asks us to trust him instead. It may not remove all the stones from the road but it sure brings relief after the wind has been spent. The dust will settle and the stream by the roadside will be clear again. The journey is still uphill but the heart brims with expectation at the rest which awaits us just beyond the shoulder.

Hasn’t he said that all things work together for our good? I believe that. It is the pathway to peace for me, and I pray it is your pathway too.

Let us pray: I can’t understand everything in life God, that’s why I cast all my cares upon you, because I believe your yoke is easy as you have promised and your burden is light. In my pain please make me to feel light again Lord I pray. Amen.  

 

 Desiring the Best in this Life

 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Php 4:8 

 The mind is a sea which never stops to stir. At one time it is calm and gentle like a breeze. But at another time it is like a gale blowing in the desert and scattering dust in the air. The mind never slumbers even when we are asleep, and one may wake up with a loud scream, or one may smile at the darkness while they fondle the air lovingly with their hands.

 The mind, it would seem, is a universe all of its own, and though we may have little control over it, but it is important to exercise control over our thoughts as failure to do this will impart negatively on all our relationships, as the proverb says: ‘He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls’ (Pro 25:28). 

 Our Selfish nature will always Impart on what We think and what We believe

But not all thoughts come to us uninvited. Some we deliberately invite them in our minds, as we listen to them, agree with them and even encourage them, as Cain famously did, and which resulted in the murder of his brother Abel.

Only Death to self can Break us from being Servants of our Thoughts

On our own it is nearly impossible to kill the love of our self. It is just not natural to our fallen nature. What is natural instead is to rebel and disobey against authority, whether it is from our parents, our elders or from God. Our thoughts usually exercise powerfully over our behaviors (and our egos), but it is often to our own destruction than salvation, as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, no, not one’ and, ‘For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not’ (Rom 7:18).  The world, by scripture’s testimony, is at the hands of the prince of darkness even at this time and which is the devil (Eph 2:2), and again: ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jer 17:9).

 And so to die completely from self is purely the supernatural work of God, and it is from him alone we obtain ‘a new heart and a new mind’, and also the ‘power to become the sons of God’. And that process is nothing short of a ‘death’.

Meditation usually gives one a Peek into their Inner self and into the Workings of their own Thoughts

Our thoughts usually escalate where there is action, and especially of pleasure. It is at a crowded place where thoughts get provoked into excitement, and it is usually in such places too where jealousy gains a foothold, and anger and hate.

There may be much laughter and screams of pleasure in such a place, but these also take place under suppressed annoyances. This is especially so because it is very difficult to be truly oneself in a crowded place (hence hypocritical), and this in turn will only provoke self-loathing… and more of all sorts of sins!

But in meditation there is usually very little room for hypocrisy, as one is usually made acutely self-conscious (naked) of their own limitations, and even of their utter helplessness and need of help from a higher Being, hence the psalmist’s plea, ‘From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I’ (Psa 61:2).  And are you at such a place at present dear friend? It’s written, ‘Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.’ God is still faithful. Cry unto him and he will save you out of your trouble.

In meditation therefore one is able, in self-reflection and quiet, to observe the general trajectory of one’s thoughts and one’s life, and hence to begin changes or improvement to the same. The following prayer for example could only have been as a result of deep meditation: ‘Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness’, and, ‘Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way’ (Psa 119:36-37).  

Love heals Everything: and where Undesirable thoughts hold sway May we take Refuge in the Word of God

King Solomon wrote, ‘The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe’, and the apostle Peter echoed the same in ‘And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.’ And moreover the apostle Paul himself weighed in with the same exhortation in his famous ode on love:

‘Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things…Charity never faileth’ (1Co 13:4-8a).  

And as God did not create us to remain in the same state in this life, let us strive towards perfection (as it is written, ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect’). And so it is incumbent upon each one of us to desire such higher attributes, for only in doing so shall we be able to bring our own thoughts and lives under great control. And so may God humble us, and help us to desire only the best in this life, and which (as he has taught us), can only be found in our communion with him. Amen.

 

  

 

 

Abraham and Moses: Lessons from Two Great Heroes of Faith

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Heb 11:1-2 

The Old Testament Writer as merely a Reporter or Messenger of God

I know it is in David’s character that we famously meet him craving for his God ‘As the hart panteth after the water brooks’, but I want to propose that even Abraham and Moses did so, though from reading their accounts in the Old Testament, one would never think so. There they are silent, and they don’t publish to the whole world the matters of their hearts as David famously did in his psalms. Therefore we are more conversant with the latter than we are with the rest of the Old Testament prophets, except perhaps Solomon. These two were not only kings in Israel, but even more important they were also poets and writers, and to be a poet, singer or writer is to be ‘a noise maker’, for by their nature they cannot be shut up! That is why governments all over the world hate them, and kill them.

But it wasn’t so for Abraham. Apparently he didn’t (in his tongue) possess ‘the pen of a ready writer.’ So in Old Testament Abraham is told to leave his father’s land by God… and he leaves. Likewise he is told to sacrifice his son and ‘automatically’ he obeys… thus we see him in a figure only, but we don’t really see his heart. That is left to the New Testament writers to shed light for us on those matters. And it is from them that we get glimpses of Abraham and Moses strong cravings for their God. In the Old Testament Moses is a reporter per excellence (as the writer of the Pentateuch) and as a good writer, he doesn’t let his feelings interfere with his reporting. Again it is the New Testament writers who go ‘behind the scene’ to reveal to us the state of Moses’ heart. Without them, Abraham and Moses should never have appeared to us as real humans, but as stock characters, allegories or archetypes.

 The Shadow and the Reality: The examples of Abraham and Moses as ‘called out’ Ones

It is essentially from Paul that we receive a hint of Abraham’s true heart, where, in six heavy words, he describes Abraham’s conflict as consisting of one ‘Who against hope believed in hope’. And so at last we learn that Abraham made a tough decision when he decided to leave Mesopotamia as God had commanded him for a new land. And isn’t that always the case, whether one is getting into ministry, or whether one is getting saved?

 

And so as the Old Testament writer reports about Abraham wandering in the vast Canaan country with his wealth of animals, the Hebrews writer knew what Abraham’s longing was for all along: ‘For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God’ (Heb 11:10).  

 We are Strangers and Pilgrims in this World

It is especially in the book of Hebrews that the whole heart of Abraham is laid bare for us to see. For it is here that we see his great faith, his great vision, and his great patience, as it is written, ‘These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city’ (Heb 11:13-16).  And so as the Old Testament writer’s vision ended with The Promised Land, the New Testament writer saw something larger than that, he saw heaven, ‘To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you’ (1Pe 1:4).

Likewise Moses’ heart is opened fully for us only in the New Testament book of Hebrews as it is written: ‘By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible’ (Heb 11:24-27). And so, at last, we comprehend how an enlightened man like Moses can be content for forty years to be a plain shepherd in a desolate desert, and not why he should be a prince in a Pharaoh’s palace in rich Egypt.

The happenings in this world do not seem to have had any hold on these prophets. Their whole life and business was about their God only. O that we should have such a burning passion for our missions in this life!

Is it possible for us in our modern age to embody the spirit of being merely sojourners and pilgrims here on this earth?

I think we can. For even in the New Testament that spirit of being citizens of heaven but strangers in this world is still clearly spelt.

If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Joh 15:19  

I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Joh 17:14 

 

I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Joh 17:15-16   

 

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 1Jn 2:15-17  

In the End it is the Word of God which Counts

So, I ask myself, and you probably ask yourself, can we, in our modern era, exhibit such passion, such single mindedness, and such craving for our God as these two great prophets of God?

What distracts us?

Where do our fears come from?

May we be encouraged indeed, and God grant us the courage to imitate these prophets, or even more, to imitate Christ himself, the author and captain of our faith, now and forever more. Amen.

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? Mat 6:27 

Fret not thyself – Psalm 37

Who doesn’t worry?

Life, in its mysterious ways, raises many questions, and we meet them right from childhood. And the tragedy is that as life progresses and expands, so does the mind, and so are the questions it throws in one’s path, until one is reluctantly forced to concede that what the Preacher wrote a long time ago is indeed true, that, ‘in much wisdom is much grief.’ Where is this road going? What lies ahead? Will it bring me home or will I be eaten by a lion? And half the time these questions arise, they always presuppose something worse going to happen… and so not knowing exactly what, therefore we worry! Are you married? And how did you feel on the night preceding your big day? Did you sleep?

And it is interesting that David, perhaps the chiefest ‘worrier’ of all time should have written a psalm asking us not to fret! For about a third of his psalms ring with a lone voice crying to God to deliver him from his enemies, with Saul being the single greatest threat to his life, and so much so that he had been very certain that one day he would die at the hand of Saul! And so we know that much from it being an encouragement to us, but chiefly it was a testimony and encouragement to David himself, as it is written, ‘but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.’

 We worry, and half of our lives is taken up by it, about job, love, sex, food, cloth, marriage, death and life in general. We worry. We are terribly insecure. And worrying does not even listen to reason. It just rears its head, uninvited, and like a car with a drunken driver, it runs wild. But in the end we achieve nothing really by worrying, except getting sapped. Asaph worried. It depressed him. Others were getting rich while he was getting poorer. Asaph almost lost his faith. Are you anywhere near that at present? Please don’t – find out what Asaph did (Psalm 73).

David was always in the mire, and mud always almost covered him. Job’s life had almost come to an end – but not his worrying. Even being in good health does not shield one from worrying. Job’s friends’ worrying and descent into ‘miserable comforters’ happened without their knowledge… Adam worried… he fenced, he threw punches at himself… yet one cannot fail to notice (or even fear!) at the almost grand calmness of Eve… The disciples of Jesus worried… Martha worried… and Mary… ‘Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. ’ Elijah worried…and he didn’t even remember Mt. Carmel… and which prophet didn’t worry? What about old Moses? Even the entourage in the wilderness was a worried one… what of the spices and the garlic onions which they left behind in Egypt? And what of the men who made them feel like grasshoppers? And their worry naturally morphed into bitterness… and heavy death followed thereafter. Worrying kills completely eventually. A lot of stroke victims can testify of the worries which plagued them just before they lost consciousness…

Drugs are always a Poor antidote to Worrying

We take drugs to kill worry… but how long does the worrying sleep? They make us sick instead… and being sober and in a hospital bed alone and not in a bar room with all that din… to be absolutely sober and alone and in a hospital ward… you would think worrying might multiply but the opposite actually happens…it is the sudden clarity of ‘all things’ which actually scares! Even the silent groanings of other patients in the room turns the whole world upside down… worrying is terrible… But sometimes not worrying is even worse!

Having a clear Perspective on all Matters of Living will shield one from Unnecessary Worrying

Allow yourself a clear perspective, some things change, the body changes, slowness will set in, interest will dim… sometimes our worries happen because we refuse to accept the inevitable… at above fifty things will certainly begin to decline… one can’t do one hundred laps now whereas while young it seemed like a child’s play… So it is better for one to have a proper perspective especially on those small matters of living and which suddenly can provoke so much worrying… Change happens, or it will certainly happen sooner or later! Even Paul who used to preach standing up the whole night knew when his time was up… Even Abraham and Isaac and Jacob… perspective didn’t escape them… as they started to put their houses in order while they were still alive… They were ready for any eventuality, but we have an even greater urgency now than them, as it is written, ‘Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh’ (Mat 25:13). 

Praising God works Magic, And the Devil Hates It!

Yes, praise God, and scare the devil! And the worrying will inevitably leave you alone. The devil just hates it. Or convert your worrying into a creative pursuit… our mom’s knew this better…it is why they never stopped knitting even when they were attending a funeral! And it is why they live long years… way, way long after men have gone to sleep. Or write your worries down. Our thoughts can get jumbled… writing…keeping a journal … helps one trap his thoughts …and worries, and it helps one put one’s life in proper perspective. It is scary but true…one can be worried without knowing they are actually worried…but writing brings that to an end. And so ‘LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.’ 

·      

 

Why Human Traditions Are So Popular

 

Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers. 1Pe 1:18 

 

Humility is alien to human traditions

Human traditions are popular because they appeal to our primeval instincts… the urge to bully, to fight, to conquer and subjugate. Traditions abhor weaknesses especially in men, instead they heap praises on a raw fighter, a natural born brute, a ‘war machine’, and self-made man (See Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe).

 

In a traditional set up the end justifies the means – there are no moral scruples to make a man guilty. But Jesus life, character and teachings are not so inspiring to a traditionalist. Who forgives his enemies? And who can be led to his death without a fight? And who can die for other people? These are the characteristics of a weak person or a fool, and not a ‘strong’ person. And so how hard it becomes for a purely natural man to understand Christian humility because well, it is not natural! But humility, like salvation, is a gift from God.

 

Colonialism and its aftermath

By nature we aspire to the highest forms of living. We want the best, and royalty is the highest state of living we know here on earth (hence the world's fixation with the British royalty lives!) White missionaries from Europe did a great service in bringing us Christ and God. But they also brought us their languages, their manners and their cultures. The aftermath is that these left our forefathers with a deeply ingrained mark of inferiority concerning our own cultures; while we perceived everything white as being superior. And up to this day these beliefs persist much to our own detriment (See Black Skins, White Masks, and The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon). We became angry yes (and rightly so!) but our incessant anger has only become pervasive, extending quite insidiously not only to our own selves, but to everyone and every statement we regard as ‘demeaning’ to our Black culture. It is an anger which has not only exploded inside us, but it has also come out and burnt everything we deemed as beautiful once, including our own skins... And so many even today cannot quite separate the white man’s God from the white man’s colonialism. For many, they simply threw out the baby and the bath water, and they shut their doors!

 

But let us never forget the debt we owe to the missionaries who left the comforts of their distant homes to come and settle amongst us, to preach Christ to us, to educate us, and the schools and the hospitals they built and left for us and which continue to shine forth as beacons of hope… yes let us remember them, and let us pray for them and their nations at all times. To forget that is simply to be ungrateful, and it is utterly unchristian. And shall we forget our own? No, God forbid! And so for those who are there at present, and for those who were there before, we salute you all in Jesus name! (Heb 6:10).    

 

Christianity is for the poor in spirit

And so, at heart, Christianity is for the brokenhearted (Isa 61:1), for those who feel most their own helplessness, their own worthlessness, those who are without strength, those who have come from the cold, the dejected and the failures of this life. Christ is truly a refuge for them. And in Christ we find a resting place. Are you at a place like that at present, dear friend? In Christ, you are truly home. Welcome, you have nothing to lose but your ashes…

 

It is why in Africa Christianity is thriving, because here we can feel most our own ‘under development’ whereas the most developed countries of Europe feel absolutely no need for a savior… And so we get to understand why Christ said it is very hard for a rich man to be saved… And so too we understand why Jesus told the Jews that publicans and prostitutes were on their way to heaven before them (Mat 21:31).

 

For the Jew, a pure bred traditionalist, he had big issues with this Christ (as our own traditionalists do), because his birth was repulsive and not aristocratic, for his eating with sinners, and for dying on the cross, the ultimate symbol of humiliation for the proud Jew. And so Jesus wasn’t a savior to them but a failure, he lacked ambition and he wasn’t enterprising… and it is why, when a Jew prayed, he started with his own merits… (Luke 18:10-12).

 

But we, who are the downtrodden and rejected, feel greatly with Christ, ‘For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren’ (Heb 2:10-11). In Christ we have a kin. Do you? He can be your brother too, friend, your helper, and your every need, for ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.’ Yes, listen keenly to that knock at your door tonight, for he is eagerly waiting for you to open…

 

 

Singlehood: Living the Hidden Life

Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. 1Co 7:27 

It is that subject which you will never hear being preached in church, unless it is on a wedding day, and where it is always mentioned in a most contemptuous way. Weddings or dowry celebrations are those places where a single person feels most lonely. The singles are usually derided, ridiculed and generally made a laughing stock. If you are single and you are invited to those places, you need to pack your sense of humor to the hilt, but if you don’t have it don’t go, because it will depress you.

But first let us admit the obvious: it is not normal, and the first instinct a person gets is that it is a rebellion! It doesn’t matter that it is scriptural, but tradition rules against it. Here in Africa it is usually placed in the same category of behaviors which are regarded as ‘western rot.’ And even today many church goers believe Solomon’s Song of Songs found its way in the Bible by mistake. How, they ask, a book containing salacious words like ‘kisses’, ‘breasts’, ‘thigh’ ‘bed’ and ‘sleep’ be included in God’s Most Holy Book? But thanks be to God. If the Bible were wholly a work of man’s own inspiration, all the characters in it would be angels! The information which we would miss from such a Bible would be staggering.

Celibacy is not Paul’s Original Thought

A lot of people assume celibacy came with Paul… but no, it is just that Paul, being celibate himself, devoted a whole chapter to it (He may have been married before in his earlier life, or he may have been widowed… but the Bible is not specific on this matter... And celibacy though synonymous with abstinence, but they do not exactly mean the same thing). In this letter Paul had been answering questions raised by the Christian congregation at Corinth concerning many topics, and celibacy is just one of them. So Paul gives that direction, but being very careful to differentiate between what is his own opinion and that ‘of commandment.’ And he begins by his own view: ‘It is good for a man not to touch a woman…’ The rest is an expansion on this theme, where he delineates the merits and demerits of the same, and which he sums up in the following statements, ‘For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that… Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called…for it is better to marry than to burn’ (1Co 7:1, 7, 20, 9b).

And so Paul lived what he preached, and the one thing which consumed him most was the return of Christ… For him, it was very imminent, and there was no time to waste on anything else in life, even rejoicing! ‘But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not’ (1Co 7:29-30).

‘As unknown, and yet well known’.

The life we live is an epistle not written with ink but with our lives, wrote the apostle… and yet (and for most) that life is very much hid with God in Christ, as he extolls elsewhere… (Col 3:1-30). We don’t see faith, but we know it is there, we don’t see hope, but we avow it, and we shall love, though it be but a rose full of thorns…

So we may feel like we never quite know Paul well, or Christ, or God…these we may feel them distant sometimes, as if something existing only in the periphery… and we may have lost that original fervor and power, but we pray we shall not lose so great a salvation… ‘which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?’ (Heb 2:3-4).

No, though we don’t conform to the traditions of this world, though we be ridiculed, though we be hated, maligned and regarded as old fashioned, but yet we shall not give up in ‘contending for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.’ As it is written, ‘We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed… As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things’ (2Co 4:8-9; 2Co 6:9-10). For to lose this is to lose everything, ‘But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul’ (Heb 10:39).  Paul fought a good fight, he finished the race, and he kept the faith, and shall we not fight a similar battle up to the end?

And so we passed through death into life… we forgot what we had known all our lives to embrace a life which no one had seen… We know Golgotha, and we know the garden and the empty tomb, but we shall not dwell here forever… we shall move on to Galilee now, for that’s where the new life really starts. So where have you been called to go? I know there is a wedding in Cana, and it is good, and we shall probably return there some day… ‘Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.’ 

The Good and the Bad in Traditions: Only Christ Can Really Set Free

they are all estranged from me through their idols. Eze 14:5b 

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Joh 8:36  

Traditions are good in that they bring order in society. That is always the aim. Without them what would ensue is chaos. And what they achieve is always for the benefit of the whole society. That is what our traditions did. They served their purposes (and they served it very well, for the good ones) - but that was only for their time, as scripture says, ‘To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven’ (Ecc 3:1). 

We have now come very far, and we shall never go back again to where our forefathers were. There was The Old Testament and now is The New Testament, and the one was a shadow… a prefiguring of the lives we are living in at present… and yet the final is not even here yet. More changes are still to come.

Time is dynamic, and never static, and so is change, and so are our bodies, for one time we are babes, and then another time we are adults, and later still we grow old, we break, we die… we become dust.

Just like traditions.

But with the exception of one: God.

So has his claims been proven? Have they withstood the test of time?

Yes.

Why?

Because everything in history was driving towards this end - his story.

We came from him, and we shall always be restless until we go back to him.

Is this claim true? What has been the testimony of our lives?

I don’t know yours. But I know mine. And this is that testimony…

What I believed as a child

Even before I got saved there were certain beliefs which disturbed me, like that one cannot be rich in this world without cheating… or that a bright child carried the genes of his father, whereas a foolish one had the mind of his mother…

This was just one out of many… Which ones do you know and are still current?

I felt that ‘everybody’ made money the whole basis of education and living, but deep in my heart I felt this was not right... I felt a dissonance… a discrepancy… the stirring of a sour note… a jarring of conscience…

But I didn’t want to be different. And I didn’t want to be lonely. Rather I wanted to please all and be accepted by all. Which child doesn’t, Lord?

But the Child Spirit in Me Refused to Die!

There is much truth in Calvin’s observation that the grace of God is irresistible. I was only a child, but I felt heavily the darkness which was slowly encroaching on my life… and it made me very afraid.

But later I felt ashamed that I had allowed myself to ‘feel too much’ about these ‘very small’ things’! Why wouldn’t I agree with ‘everybody’ that they were right and I was wrong? But I grew up. And as an adult I forced myself not to ‘feel too much’ about ‘anything’. I concluded that ‘everybody’ was indeed right while I was wrong, and ‘everybody’ was ‘normal’ while I was abnormal. So now I became ‘normal’ like ‘everybody’, and I thought my life would be easy after that. But it had never been worse!

‘What had I done?’

That was the question that kept recurring in my mind. What I had done was to overturn the values which God had put in me as a child. And I hated the child spirit in me. I was an adult now, and doing certain things earned me respect among my peers, like lying, being angry, and stealing… But still I felt this was wrong! I felt false! And I felt greatly oppressed by this sort of double life and which I didn’t believe in in the least bit! This wasn’t me!

But I quickly reminded myself that I was now ‘normal’ like ‘everybody’. But it was a ‘normal’ which hurt and which was very painful. I felt a deep hatred for the society which had made me like this. And I felt even a heavier loathing for the God who had created me like this… why would I not feel ‘nothing’ instead of ‘feeling too much’? I became a cloud that was carried by a tempest. And I became a well without water.

Only the Truth of God can Set one Free

Do you, or have you ever felt something like that? Do you ever feel ashamed about what you believe to be right?

Do you feel that some traditions you profess are oppressive and are only holding you back from being your true self?

Do you value simplicity and authenticity?

Please don’t feel ashamed about it!

Does lying make you feel uncomfortable? Please it ought! And what of fornication, and stealing? Yes every evil thing should leave you feeling ashamed, because it is lying to the truth… and it is the sure way of digging oneself deeper into a bigger hole…

Being Different is not Always about Rebelliousness, but about Truth

If only parents would understand this!

But how shall they know it?

Preach to them prayerfully.

But if they still oppose you take comfort in his word.

‘Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword [division]’ (Mat 10:34). So Christ again says, ‘He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me’ (Mat 10:37).  

Right is right and wrong will always be wrong. These values will never change. If to choose Christ is to choose foolishness so be it…

And so Paul can count all things as loss compared to the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus… And Peter can fall down at Jesus' knees and cry, ‘Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’ And again, ‘the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.’ It is the child spirit which prompts one to say something like that, and don’t crush it! It is only a child spirit, and it is only God who gives it, and in strength he makes one feel like seven adults.