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Showing posts from February, 2012

Yoked to Jesus

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“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” †  Mathew 11: 28-30  What is the labour and burden that Jesus is asking me to deal with? Perhaps I have to let go of the compulsive burden (or is it a sort of entitlement?) that my spouse and children should choose a spiritual path that I know to be right. Jesus accompanied Judas Iscariot to the very end but never deprived him of his freedom to choose his own destiny. Jesus on the other hand, uninterrupted by Judas's choice to reject him, continues to accomplish his mission. He does become a victim of Judas's betrayal but he seldom takes on the victim's identity. In divine wisdom, Jesus chooses to die in our place (and that of Judas) in a redeeming act of love. Rather than being compelled to fix those whom God has entrusted to my headship by m

Ash on my forehead

May I humbly refuse you, dear satan, for I have found something way better, sweeter and permanent than the pleasure of sin. May I humbly refuse your demands, cravings and what sounds like your rights dear body, for what you really need is food that gives eternal life. The Lord surely is debugging certain serious anomalies inside of me. I wouldn't have realized so grave a  "weakness" with in, if I had not denied my body, the generous supplies. It growls, shouts, rolls on the ground, for a fill. I grow in phony compassion towards what looks like it's genuine plea to sustain. Hey! It is Jesus who gives you life to the fullness. "Do not work for food that goes bad, but work for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of man will give you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal." [John 6:27] Fasting is a process of truly becoming aware of my body, mind and soul but most essentially body. It's about identifying it's "lim

Week as grass!

Never have I really prayed for protection against evil. My logic has been that "asking the father, over and over, "to protect me", showed my lack of trust in Him. And assumed that being a child of God, His hands ought to be over me". I claimed to be close to Christ and boasted nothing would harm me. I now realize, I was proud and  was arrogant. Struggling through the trials, I humbly realize that evil one can have a go at me. Not because my God is week but because I'm far from being a perfect child yet. My pride held me at a pedestal and expected the sovereign God to protect me. Alas! how arrogant and proud I was. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. [Mathew 4:1] "And the Lord said: Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:" [Luke 22:31] Satan was allowed to test Jesus the son of God. Apostle Peter too was sifted like wheat. No saints are an exception to this. B

True repentance

To sin and separate ourselves from God is totally a personal act initiated by a personal decision and an action that fulfills the former decision. The sole onus of the sin lies on the individual. Therefore no one else can be held responsible of my sin except myself. But contrarily, to hate sin and come back to embrace God’s love requires more than a personal decision and action. It requires the supernatural assistance called the grace of God. No one comes to God expect by his mercy. This mercy is not available beyond our death. The one who perseveres in sin due to ignorance or wrong understanding is more likely to receive the Grace of God to change than those who consciously persevere in offending God despite adequate knowledge of the inappropriateness of his action. God’s intervention in Saul’s life [by throwing him off the horse] was not a result of his repentance but due to the genuinity of his intention to serve God. A true return to God is characterized by the following: True

Conscious engagement

"The foremost is, 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' "The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." [Mark 12: 28-31] In the first part of the above commandment, Jesus points us firstly to the need for a 'conscious desire of the heart' for God [to live not according to my will but God's]. Secondly the need for 'conscious choices/decisions of the mind' [as against the natural choices] and thirdly the need for 'conscious actions' of the body [actions that confirm the above desires and choices]. In the second part of the above commandment, Jesus is saying "be concerned about the souls of others as much as you are concerned about your own soul not missing heaven". In other words, loving oneself means that

Am I being selfish?

Am I being selfish by not asking for prayers when faced with tough times? Is not "asking prayers" an attempt to escape the challenges God allows in my life to discipline me and make me Christ-like? Which act is more self-centered?

What it takes

One who desires a superior life goes through the process of purification until he becomes the "true" bride of Christ, that is to say, one body with him. Christ, the perfect bridegroom gifted [sacrificed] his "whole self" in order that we too might become pure as he is - through him. On our own, we are incapable of purifying ourselves and no action of ours can contribute to this process. We are to freely embrace this gift of salvation [redemption and sanctification] and persevere. Jesus invites us to believe in Him and "mature" in this faith. This process of transformation of ones inner self [maturing in faith] is much like the process of the purification of silver in the furnace. This demands certain conscious choices to be made against our own nature. When we persevere in the love of Christ, beyond our comfort levels, vices give way to virtues. Yet we will be weekend by our own nature [manipulated meticulously by the devil] and be tempted like Chri