Kindness & Love

THE KINDNESS AND LOVE OF GOD OUR SAVIOR WAS REVEALED. Titus 3.4.

A lady who is involved in caring ministry to the poor was the speaker in our big church of many affluent members. She was relating about the thousands who lack a good meal a day in our own cities. There is poverty in every country. I was surprised to know through the media that the American Idol show collected over USD70 million for the poor in America and Africa! The Poor in America? Who would think that there are starving, homeless millions in the richest world in the world? But that is the truth!

The people of the world lack kindness and love! We, you and I, the Christians too, belong to this group! No kind words or deeds. Everyone lives for himself. At the most, one might love his immediate family members. Many would be fighting instead of forgiving and loving. People are too busy and self-centered that they have no time left to visit or do some kind deed for their own aged parents, relatives or friends.

Tragic things are happening to families everywhere. Husbands and wives, parents and children, siblings, neighbours and colleagues are all losing their love and kindness to one another in their selfish pursuit of wealth, fame, pleasure and lust! But people, even Christians, do not realise that love, joy, fellowship, peace and happiness cannot be bought by wealth and fame!

It is to a generation like ours that the apostle Paul gave this warning, “be ready to do good in every way. Tell them not to speak evil of anyone, but to be peaceful and friendly, and always to show a gentle attitude toward everyone” (vs 1,2).

Our Home Fellowship is held in our home. There are many inconveniences in opening our house for about 15 to 20 adults and a few little children, week after week, year after year! But my wife and I decided that we will do our best to make the fellowship as friendly and homely as possible. We are looked upon as foster parents anyway! Every week we would be there to genuinely welcome all with kindness and love. At the end, there is a lovely supper and the place is turned into something like a vibrant Christian club! All these little things lead to an inevitable overflow of kindness and love among the members themselves.

The secret? Simple! The kindness and love of God our Savior extended to us is revealed in us. We just pass it on to others, enriching their lives and making them happy. To us it will be total ingratitude to God and our Lord Jesus, and to our fellowmen if we ignore God’s love and kindness shown to us and hold it back from others!

Dear believer, do not hold back the love and kindness God has shown to you so generously. Take some positive efforts to pass it on to those in need so that God will see your vessel being emptied for Him to keep filling from His overflowing fullness!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, You said, “Freely you have received, freely give” (Mt 10.8). Let me freely pass on Your love and kindness, in words and action to all around me and not hold back selfishly. Amen.

Live By The Spirit

LIVE BY THE SPIRIT, AND YOU WILL NOT GRATIFY THE DESIRES OF THE SINFUL NATURE. Galatians 5.16.

Have you tried to get rid of bad habits in your life? I have done so at various stages in my life, often with little success. You and I have ‘pet sins’ that we indulge in and that are hard to overcome. They differ from stage to stage in one’s life and from person to person. But the Word of God tells us “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles/besets us” (Heb 12.1).

Have you ever felt like the apostle Paul during his early converted life? How he struggled with sin on the one side and the desire to obey the law on the other! Dear friend, if you are genuinely struggling with some sin or sinful habit, read Romans 7 and you will find company. The good company of Paul. Follow him and he will tell you all about how to shake off your besetting sins.

The problem with us is that we do not consider sin as SIN and call it SIN. But Paul did. He did not call it a ‘bad habit’ and try to excuse it. That is the first lesson Paul shares with us. Whatever is that sin against God that you have been calling by some innocent name – ‘habit’, forget it! From now on call it a sin against God!

The next thing Paul shares with you and I is, ‘stop struggling with that sin by yourself!’ That is what you have been doing. You can’t win! You have been losing all this while. How many times have you said, ‘I do not want to do it again! I will stop doing it!’ But you go on doing it, only to feel sad and angry at yourself. Paul knew it all when he cried out, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7.24,25).

Jesus Christ gives you victory over your besetting, entangling sin! But Paul says, “live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature”. How do you live by the Spirit of God? Keep in step with the Holy Spirit! (vs. 16,24). That’s it! How do you keep in step with the Spirit? Read God’s Word everyday. Take time to pray. Tell the Holy Spirit you want to walk in step with Him. Do only what the Holy Spirit will do. Go only where the Holy Spirit will go. He won’t take you to the places of your ‘temptation’. The Holy Spirit will always alert you and tell you what is right, the moment you face any temptation. If you do not listen to His still small voice and try to argue and justify the situation, you are in deep trouble. Quickly respond to the promptings of the spirit. If you are thus careful to walk with the Spirit, not only will you not repeat your sin but the sin will leave you!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, help me to be careful to keep in step with Your Holy Spirit everyday. Thank You Father for the victory through Jesus Christ. Amen.

May Your Will Be Done

MY FATHER IF IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR THIS CUP TO BE TAKEN AWAY UNLESS I DRINK IT, MAY YOUR WILL BE DONE." Matthew 26.42.

While reading through the gospels during the passion week, I was confronted with the above prayer of our dear Lord Jesus to His Father. Once again the old dilemma faced me. Should I add ‘if it is God’s will’ to ALL my prayers just because Jesus did it 'once' in Gethsemane? Over the centuries, we have floundered over this simple prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.

I come from a very pious Christian heritage where the old saints taught us that whatever you pray and ask, you must add ‘if it is Your will!’ More so if the request is serious or important! If not, it is tantamount to not submitting to God. I could understand their teaching and logic. But when I began to study the Scriptures myself, I wondered why I should follow it! Didn't Jesus promise, "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you."(Jn 15.7).

By providence, I now worship with Christians who are a bit more aggressive in their faith. We take the promises of God literally. We believe that ‘when you ask, you must fully believe that you will receive’. So you need not add, ‘if it is Your will’ to any prayer. That is of course unless you know that what you ask is against God’s will! To add to all your prayers, ‘if it is God’s will’ is to cast doubt in your mind when you pray!

But dear believer, when you pray for yourself or your parents or children when they are seriously ill, do you add, "If it is God's will" please heal? Definitely NOT. You would cry out for healing and deliverance and if I may add, without any consideration for God's will. That is human nature. That is what Jesus too did as He suffered like a human! No where in the Bible does it teach us to add ‘if it is God’s will’ to our prayers. If you do that, you will lose your earnestness in asking and limit its effectiveness. You might as well not pray but leave it all to God’s will.

Why then did Jesus finish His most urgent prayer three times with, “Yet not as I will, but as you will?" There’s a simple biblical answer. When Jesus came, He knew God’s will for Him was to die on the cross. But His suffering in Gethsemane was so great that as a human being He prayed to the Father, “if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me”. May I reverently venture to say, Jesus was asking for something He knew was 'opposed or against the will of God’. So in reverence and submission, Jesus prayed , "Father, if it is your will"!

I have been praying for seventy decades. From my experience I have learned this practical lesson. “When you pray, pray as if the answer depends on your will and fervency! (Mt 7.7) After you have prayed, trust that the answer depends on God’s will which is perfect and good and acceptable” (Rom 12.2). When God gives, it is according to His will. Thank Him! When He does not give, you know it was not God’s will. Submit to His will and still praise God. But do not forget that sometimes God condescends to change His will according to our fervent prayer. God said King Hezekiah would die of illness. But he cried and prayed. And God extended his life by fifteen years!! (2 Ki 20.5). So keep on praying and trusting God.

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, You promised, “Ask and you shall receive”. Yet it is Your will to give or to withhold. You alone know what is good and perfect and acceptable. Help me to accept both in faith. Amen.