“Therefore brethren flee from Idolatry.”

‘Idolatry’ has been a problem since the beginning of Adam & Eve’s fall. According to popular belief ‘polytheism’ evolved to become ‘Monotheism’, but the Bible challenges that right in the beginning that ‘God’ created everything. And therefore, it starts with ‘God’ in the Bible. It is interesting to notice that all the nations surrounded ‘Israel’ were ‘Idolaters’. ‘Israel’ was called to worship the true God when everybody was lost in ‘Idolatry’. Has ‘Israel’ lived up to God’s expectations? No. Time and again ‘Israel’ failed to keep God’s commandments which in turn had to pay the price. Should this not become a lesson for us as well?  

           

The very first commandment given to Israelites was ’I am the Lord your God ….,you shall have no other gods before me…shall not make any image or any likeness of anything ….in heaven above…in the earth ..or in the water…..for I the Lord your God is a jealous God..” (Exo 20:2-5)

Having heard, seen and witnessed God’s commandments and His miraculous power, people kept humiliating him by the acts their ‘Idolatry’. (Romans 1: 21- 25).

Coming back to 1^st Corinthians 10:14;

The Apostle reminds them that ’Idolatry’ is dangerous.  Many mighty had fallen thinking that they were God’s own children.

What does ‘idolatry’ does to a person?

1)     It turned the ‘Israelites’ to commit several sins like

a)     Adultery & fornication b) tempting their leader and murmuring against God (1 Cor 10:6-10).

b)     And the reward for doing this was ‘DEATH’. (1 Cor 10:8,Rom 6:23)

And the Apostle reminds the Corinthians not to feel secured or self-confident.

Keeping the dangers that are there by committing the sin of ‘Idolatry’, the Apostle warns the Corinthians to be extra careful.

What is an Idol? An ‘Idol’ is an object of worship; when something or somebody becomes the object of worship, it becomes an ‘Idol’. So it is not just linked with ‘Images’.

What is there right in the centre of your heart becomes your object of worship.

Resisting Temptations and enduring trials (1 Cor10: 13)

                          1st Corinthians 10: 13                                     20/9/2010.

“ No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man: God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to, but with temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

First of all , let us know what temptation is?

Temptation (noun) or enticement means an attraction towards evil things or sinful things. But in this context, it is more appropriate to understand the word as ‘test’ or  ‘trial’.

What does temptation do in lives?

It overtakes us; it takes us into its control. Once we succumbed to it, we will become slaves to it. It is sort of a circle that we cannot come out easily.

Life is full of temptations. ‘Temptation’ is not only linked with ‘seduction’ (which is common nowadays) but also means various things.

For ex: you are tempted to be angry, you are tempted to feel like taking revenge, you are tempted to feel jealousy etc.

Now, where does ‘temptation’ come from?

First of all, God is neither the author of evil nor temptation. (James 1: 13)

Our heart is the ultimate source of temptation (Jeremiah 17:9, Mark 7: 21)

So we are ultimately responsible when we are tempted, it is our fault; the problem lies within us not with God.

Ex: If we were to assume our heart a television & some ‘temptation’ the remote control, the TV would get switched on immediately when we switch on the ‘remote’. There is an undeniable connection lies in here. It’s not that all that is in this world is bad but it all depends on how we look at things; our ‘point of view’. Sadly, the fact is most of the time, the way we view things in things in things in this world tarnished with sin inside our hearts.

James says ‘temptation’ will turn into ‘sin’ and ‘sin’ will eventually bring forth ‘death’. (James 1:15, Rom 6: 23).

What about tests or trials?

In this context, ‘temptation’ can also mean ‘test and trials’ and that God will not send trials beyond our capacity.

Trials are meant to grow in God spiritually. Suffering is necessary in Christian’s life but it should be God-given not self-inflicted. (James 1: 12)

What is God’s promise?

God will neither tempt us nor will send trials which are beyond our capacity. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

He provides the way to escape.

There is a crown of life for one who endures trials and temptations. (James 1:12)

What is our duty?

We must resist ‘temptation’ and endure ‘trails’.

Let us not be overconfident but may ‘confidence’ in Christ grow day by day.

Let us beware that life is not without temptations or trials.

Father's love on a Prodigal Son like me!! (Luke 15: 11-23)

The Son made his way out of his father's beautiful country into an unkonown one. There, he spent all that he got in "loose living" (RSV), which means he led an exciting and thrilling and adventurous life which was perfectly acceptable with the world. By the way, how many of you think that 'sinful life' is not exciting? Exactly the opposite is the truth, sinful life is always exciting which people always look forward to. It is 'exciting', but it is 'transcinet' just like 'vapour', it is there for a moment and vanishes within no time. But the problem occurs when we do not have strength to resist the so called 'transcinet temptation'. Instead of resisting it, we embrace it because we do not have the strength to fight against it. Eventually the so called 'Transcient Temptation' becomes a 'Permanant Temptation'; unless God gives the strength, we cannot leave it just because it is too sweet to leave. In addition to that, our guilt piles up!! May God be our help to resist the tempatation and to deliver us from evil. The reason for this is because, we have run away from the 'Father', had we been with the him, he would have come to our rescue, now, who is going to bother? who will come to our aid? The fact is no one. Frankly speaking, why should anybody spend a  second for you when you never had time  for anybody in the past? People always do 'tit for tat' but priase God that He never doest that. Remember, Father didn't leave the son, it was his own decision to go away.

The son lost all that he got, and remained there all alone! What a tragedy, all alone by himself!! But that's a good one as God orchestrates all things well in advance. It was God's plan that he should be alone. It is good to be alone. Not many knows what it means to be alone with God. We live in a nation where lonliness is out of question with small houses crammed with people, even though it is not an excuse to be with God, but it is a fact, where there is a will, there is a way. Now, my friend, take a minute and reflect on your life; where are you standing in the light of God? Get away from people and pray to God to be reconciled!! I will come back to the story in my next post, God willing. 

Father's Love on a Prodigal Son like me!!(Luke 15:11-23)

Why should ever Father have showed such love upon me (should I call it love or wisdom, I don't know) by giving me my share in his property was the point where I left in my previous post. How could he do that knowing the kind of person I am? But the father remained silent and let his son do whatever he wanted. The son came, asked and got what he wanted and vanished; he didn't have time to think what a turmoil the father would have gone through; it must have been very hard for the father to see his son going away; away from his vicinity, far away from his love and affection. This is where we need to pause for a while and think; we must not turn our backs to God regardless of the innumerable oppurtunites we are given to seek Him and to reconcile with Him. When we do, the chances are very slim to remain within God's reach because He will let us go wherever we want and do whatever we want. King pharaoh and the king Saul are classic examples where people denied God, having seen His might. Al though God doesn't act like this with all His children but some hard- hearted, unfeelingful, unrepentant children will have to face 'abandonment' forever. What we can understand if we rundown through this story is that if we get away from God, we might forever lose Him as well!!?? This has to be true from human perspective and the reason for that simply because we do not know whom God will restore, al though God's children will never be lost !! And therefore, the summary is 'do not ever think or attempt to run away from Him simply because it is too dangerous; you might as well never come back!! To our astonishment, this is not the case in this story. Father was always waiting for his son to come back because he knew he would return home at some stage. Now, where are you my friend? are you with the Father within His vicinity or away from Him, seeking those transient wordly pleassures?? Have you ever pondered upon the fact that He would actually wait for you to come to Him? This is a staggering thought to end with; none other than God himself is waiting for you to come is in deed a staggering thought, isn't it? I shall come back to this ever- fascinating story in my next post..but you take a time to think about life- changing truths, will you?!!   

     

Father's Love!

Every time I read this parable of 'Prodigal Son', my heart melts. This is a fascinating story narrated by the Lord Jesus Christ himself; a story of love and affection and kindness. Millions of sermons might have been preached on that very subject but none could have possibly posessed the Lord's unique art of preaching with the aim to reach out to people from all walks of life. And this story is also a living example of the relevance of God's word for modern times!!

Coming back to the point, when the son came to his father and asked for his portion of property; very surprisingly, the father gave consent to let him have his share in it. Generally, it is very unlikely that a father would have agreed to his son's suggestion of taking half or some of his father's property away with him. Well, certainely, this is not what we see regularly in India. Fathers demand respect in here, and rightly so, having cared for their children right from the beginning, they deserve respect from them. But fathers, in general, like to think that they are the bosses! and they dream of their children becoming bosses at some stage when they are grown up.'How much have you earned?', 'how much is your son earning?' are the kind of stereo type questions go round and round in all classes and sections of the society. When people are obsessed with money, how can anyone expect to lose it just like that! A normal reply, when a son comes to his father for his share of property, would be 'how dare you come to ask that?!', ' what right do you have?'. But the father we are talking about must be completely differrent from the fathers of the world. The question is, why did he give his son, when didn't have to and especially when he knew the fact that he was a pleasure seeking person? You think about it, I will continue it in my next post, God willing. 

  

   

A Living Sacrifice unto God (Rom 12:1).

We need to present our bodies as a living sacrifice unto God. Our bodies need to be 'living' but at the same time, they need to be 'sacrificing' as well. How do you reconcile with this seemingly apparent 'contradiction'?. I think the best way to understand this is by turning our minds to the 'burning bush' where God spoke to Moses (Ex 3:1-3); 'Moses' was awe- struck when he saw the 'bush' was burning but not being 'consumed'. Even a kid can say when somebody asks him 'what happens when you lit a bush on fire or a plant for that matter?'; he says without any hesitation that 'it will be burnt!!'. Here, to our astonishment, the 'bush' is burning but it is not 'burnt'. 'What!! is it burning properly?' somebody yells. Moses would have thought 'The one who set fire to it was none other than God himself, so surely it was burning'. Do we see the analogy here; 'burning' represents the sacrificial part. The object of sacrifice always needs to experience the pain and suffering. Turn your minds for a minute on that 'Lamb' which had to go though the painful experience of being killed before the alter in the Old Testament. For the object of 'sacrifice'; death is what assured; it is certain. It will die in a minute or so after it was slaughtered. But the 'bush' wasn't being consumed.

I think, this is what it means when the Apostle said ' present your bodies a living sacrifice unto God..'. We need to be dead to sin but live for God (Rom 6:5 to 11). We formerly used our bodies as a medium though which all the sinful activity took place. Our bodies were the objects of death. And we were slaves of sin and Satan (Eph 2:1 to 3). But now, having been redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ, we no longer present our bodies to sin or Satan but to God alone. A living sacrifice? What sacrifice can we offer when the ultimate 'sacrifice' was already paid, that is why all that we do is termed as 'our reasonable service'(KJV) or 'our spiritual worship' (RSV). Do you live for 'Christ' from now on?

Presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice..(Rom 12:1)

What did the Apostle Paul mean when he said "present your bodies a living sacrifice ....unto God"?; as I was grappling to understand what it exactly means; my mind some how turned to the sacrifices of the old testament. The pictures of the sacrifice surely should have been very graphic. When Adam and Eve crossed the God given boundaries by eating the fruit from the forbidden tree, they stood naked and guilty which means God had every right to do whatever he wanted do with them as they brought disharmony into the God's world. Here we understand that by crossing the God given borders, we not only bring disharmony into our world (our homes, families..etc) but also bring devastation on us. So 'sin' generates multiple consequences. When Adam and Eve stood naked and guilty; God, instead of wiping them off; he chose to provide a way by giving them skin-coats. Surely God must have killed an animal to cover the naked bodies of Adam and Eve. And they must have been the witnessed to the animal killing. If they were to be covered; the killing should have taken place. Here the animal was killed for somebody else's trespass. Surely the couple would have understood the seriousness of their act against God's will (read Genesis ch 3); a part of God's creation was sacrificed. God decided to give the humans a second chance instead of imposing penalty directly on them. This is where we see God as a God of Grace and Mercy.

The very meaning of 'sacrifice' tells that something or someone dies on somebody's behalf or something valuble is given up in order that one may live or be happy. What is this 'living sacrifice' then? When we offer sacrifice, that will die. But when we offer ourselves, we must die too. But the Apostle is asking us to be 'living sacrifices'. How can you answer this 'apparent contradiction'? ..I shall try to glean some more thoughts in my next post, God willing, only with His help.