Posts

Showing posts with the label Loved and Forgiven

Yoked to Jesus

Image
“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

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