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Showing posts from February, 2014

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

Communion to Community

Communion is to hear the voice of God.  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. [John 10:27].  The communion is also what Jesus refers to as abiding in Him. Jesus said  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.  The invitation God extends to have communion with Him is an open invitation to liberate oneself from the need to fit in, the need to prove one's self-worth and the need to achieve or to be successful in order to be be accepted and loved. To have communion with God is to experience a true liberation from the slavery of self-centredness, in other words, freedom from the needs and concerns of our own self. We are the sheep of Jesus the Good shepherd. The sheep of His flock is not under pressure to prove or achieve in order to be loved and accepted. They are free to be themselves. They are free to do what they are naturally good at. Their lives are guide

Loved and Forgiven

The most important truth every human person needs to hear is that he is "loved" and "forgiven". God never ceases to whisper these words into our ears. No evil act we commit is capable of stopping God from loving us and forgiving us. If it is so, why do we fail to hear it? It is because we seek to hear these words in the thunderous roars and the monstrous cries we create and manipulate around us. But alas! this gentle whisper can only be heard in the deepest recess of our being as we resolve to seek our joy and fulfilment in God alone and in nothing else. Man experiences God as the provider first. In the fascinating story of the prodigal we see that the lost son comes to his senses when he realises that he is missing the meals he savoured at home and that his father's servants are eating much better meals than the morsel of husk he is struggling to grab fighting the pigs. Then it is the experience of having forgiven by God that makes him abide in God. It is by