my Articulate Heart

Guilt is a destructive emotion. It is the vicious weapon of the adversary. Guilt builds up in response to the devil's accusation. The devil points fingers at us and accuses us of our wrongdoing. He does this in order to make us feel unworthy and obscure our identity as children of God. The deceiver does so after luring us into sin. and, more often than not, getting us hooked on and addicted to the wrong. Guilt plunges us deep into sin and shame. It is the devil's tool to keep us bound in darkness. The opposite emotion is repentance. Repentance is the desire to return to one's inherent goodness. While guilt is the response to the devil's accusation, repentance is the response to God's merciful love. Repentance draws us closer to God. The question is, "Who do we choose to listen to when you trip and fall?" Godly grief produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 2 Corinthians 7:10 When faced with guilt, co

Vulgar jokes are a fad among the young. The adolescent years are crucial years of formation. Most youngsetrs give into the temptation to convene around smutty jokes as a way to "fit in" with the majority. Often, the jokes that garner the most attention are the ones in which men and women are referred to as mere sex objects to be used. At the end, the sacred gift of human sexuality is treated with humour and a lack of due respect. The word of God  says "Let there be no filthiness, nor silly talk, nor levity, which are not fitting; but instead let there be thanksgiving". Ephesians 5:4 It is good to ask why a sacred subject like human sexuality becomes a public joke. The sensual and the sexual have traditionally been private matters. The privacy attached to these topics is not unintentional. What is holy needs to be veiled and protected because it is so priceless and sacred. We cannot afford to violate its sacredness or desecrate its holiness. But when a culture loses

Next time when you have strong sexual drive, know that there is something in it to praise God. The desire is a God-given gift. It is absolutely good and acceptable to God. It is meant to give glory to the creator. It is meant for the loving union between husband and wife. It is meant to point us to our eternal union with God.  Then where is the problem?  The problem is:   The world has deceived us into thinking that when we have a sexual drive it has to be gratified somehow. Unlike hunger, unattended sexual desire does not have any dire consequence. World has manipulated our minds to associate sexual drives with the vices of pornography, masturbation, casual hookups, prostitution and other dangerous and soul crushing evils. It has gotten us to associate our sexual desires with specific body types, acts and fantasies.  World has fooled us into thinking that these vices are a neccessity to meet the natural needs of the human body and it is absolutely OK to indulge in them. They have bapt

Faith is not the human act of merely consenting to theological knowldge but it is the divine act of submitting both our Intellect and Will to God's revelation. If the Intellect alone is employed, knowledge remains simply as true and good life-giving information. It does not transform our life nor does it give life. Faith without action is dead. Jam 2:26 Will is the faculty of the soul which seeks to love that which is known. And 'loving' is not simply liking the information but the act of becoming what we have come to know. In other words loving is to freely act upon the information in such a way that knowledge becomes a living experience. If I come to know that in order to sustain my life I must drink water and if I do not act on this information and drink water, this knowledge does not do me any good.  In order for my faith to be active and alive, my Will has to be in harmony with the Intellect. It also means both my Intellect and Will should be surrendered to God. The di

Can an unbaptised remain in his religion and still enter heaven when he dies if he lives well and does good to the best of his abilities? Who could fathom the mind of God? Yet when we think about it, we know what baptism does to a person and how it helps us grow in love and makes us capable of doing good in the divine sense. Left to himself man of concupiscence is limited and his best is not best enough. He reaches his true potential only in relationship with God. We need divine grace for supernatural love, courage and goodness. Baptism begets us the merits of Jesus's passion, death and resurrection. We are purchased for a ransom (God's own life - substitution) and freed from the dominion of sin and death. Jesus reminds us that unless the Son of man sets you free you are not free. Salvation is not merely saving us from falling into hell but healing us from the tyranny of sin (from a state of eternal separation to eternal union with God) so that we become truly free and live lif

We often think that the way to be saved is by applying the salvation that Christ wrought for us on the cross on to our lives through an act of faith.  Christ should not be seen merely as the supplier of salvation but as 'salvation itself'. We are saved not by applying or believing some magical formula but by uniting ourselves; body, mind and soul to the person of Christ, in an act of unconditional gift of self. And as Christ rose into freedom and glory so will we also, from insanity to sanity, depravity to sanctity, sin to glory.  Stare not into your own wretchedness and be discouraged. Fix your gaze upon Christ and be united to Him at all times, especially when we wallow in sin. St. Athanasius of Alexandria said "What has not been assumed has not been redeemed". Let Christ assume every bit of our unworthiness so we can partake in the redemption He ushers us into.  ------------------ Photo by  OPPO  on  Unsplash