Living to eat or eating to live

Living to eat and eating to live are two everyday phrases commonly used by all.  At the outset, it may look like they are not much different since we all have to eat, no matter what!  But there is a world of difference between the two phrases.  When we say living to eat, the focus is on eating, and when we say eating to live, the focus is on living!  The question is, what drives us?  Is it the desire to eat good food all the time or eat what is needed to live a healthy life?  Consider what drives us.  Is it the desire to please God or do what we have to do somehow or the other?  How we do things or what we do shows what we consider as the essential thing in our life. ...

Questions to God!

Sometimes our hearts are filled with questions.  We want to know why God is doing something or not doing something the way we expect!  Last week we had been to our daughter-in-law's parent's place to celebrate her father's seventy-fifth birthday, and God chose to call him home just a day before his birthday.  It was so shocking.  Our hearts are filled with questions when we go through physical and emotional pain.  It is natural, and it is not wrong to pose those questions to God.  When we go through acute financial crisis, our hearts are filled with questions!  Why me?  Why now?  Will I ever come out of this?  God, where are You?  These are so...

Praying without Ceasing!

"Pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17) is a verse that puzzles us always.  Did Jesus pray nonstop?  The Bible says (Luke 2) that Jesus was a carpenter, helping out his father before being baptized by John in the Jordan River.  Indeed this work must have prevented Jesus from continuous prayer, yet this Bible verse challenges us to pray continuously, to cover every moment with prayer.  When we are called to live everyday lives, how is it possible to pray without ceasing?  That is the question we have to answer today.  While working in HTL, Chennai, I used to drive to work whenever the car was available.  One day I was driving to work with a distressed heart.  Sittin...

Intercessory Prayers!

In his own words, Amos was no prophet, nor was he a son of a prophet, but was a sheep breeder and a tender of sycamore fruit (Amos 7:14).  He was from Tekoa, a small town in Judah, the southern kingdom.  But God chose Amos to deliver His warning messages to the northern kingdom and the surrounding nations.  Amos went to Bethel from Tekoa, delivered his message, and returned to his business!  The Lord showed Amos some visions of His impending judgment in the event Israel did not heed His warnings, repent and return to Him.  What is amazing about Amos is his intercessory prayer.  Amos not only delivered God's message to the people but also interceded for them.  The Lord showed Amos th...

The Day of the Lord!

The Day of the Lord is a major theme of Old Testament prophecy.  It is not an isolated or a single event in human history.  It describes any period in which God 'comes down in a dramatic way to bring wrath and judgment and awaken the hearts to repentance.  Joel wrote to call Israel to repentance (Joel 2:12) based on its experience of the recent locust plague.  In some contexts, the Day of the Lord also includes deliverance and restoration for the righteous.  The day of the Lord speaks not only of future judgment but also of future hope, prosperity, and blessing too.  When the plague of locusts and the drought devastated Judah, you might have thought that Joel would speak words of encouragement.  He could have said, '...

Lesson from the Life of Hosea!

Hosea ministered as a prophet in a time of relative peace and prosperity but rampant wickedness.  God knew it would take a rude wake-up call to move this wayward nation of Israel to repentance.  God delivered the shock through the life of Hosea.  Every relationship has its own set of problems but marriage being the most sacred and intimate of all relationships, unfaithfulness in this relationship is most hurtful!  That is why God chose this relationship to teach the people of Israel an object lesson through the life of Hosea.   Just as Gomer dishonored the marriage covenant, the nation of Israel dishonored its covenant with God.  Gomer’s adultery and the names of her children (“not loved...

Daniel

I have heard many sermons preached on the life and character of Daniel. But when a friend of mine pointed out a certain incident in his life, it was truly an eye-opener. Daniel was just 16 years old when he was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon. The chief of the eunuchs in Nebuchadnezzar's court (Dan 1:7) even gave them new names! Daniel's Jewish name meant ‘God is my Judge'. The name given to Daniel by the Babylonians was, Belteshazzar which meant, 'Lady Protect the King' referring to the goddess Sarpanitu, wife of Marduk. The Babylonians gave similar names after their gods to Daniel's friends also.

Rabbi Benjamin Blech in his article on the ‘Judaism and the Power of Names' says that in the Hebrew culture names were co...

Idols of the Heart!

Ezekiel was a priest among the Jewish captives carried away to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar.  God turned this priest into a prophet and made him prophesy to the exiles at about the same time Jeremiah was prophesying in Judah.  Jeremiah's prophecies reminding the people of their wickedness resulted in their captivity in Babylon.  Even after suffering much, the people did not realize their wickedness.  The elders who were the leaders of the Israelite community in exile came to Ezekiel to hear God's word to them as though they wanted to listen to the word and obey that word!  The Lord who sees the heart said, "Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them th...

Ebed-Melech

The Bible is an amazing book. It not only records the lives of great people like Abraham, David and others but it also records events from the lives of insignificant people- the slaves, the women, the gentiles and the downtrodden. And there are lessons to be learned from every word of what is recorded in the scriptures!

We read about Ebed-Melech in the 38th chapter of the book of Jeremiah. Ebed-Melech was an Ethiopian eunuch in the court of king Zedekiah. The name simply means 'servant of the king.' Even if it was his proper name, it shows that he had no identity of his own. Being a foreigner Ebed-Melech was excluded from the temple and many of the Jewish rituals.

At this point in the history of Judah, the princes had imprisoned Jeremiah becaus...

Pain is a Blessing!

Though born in India in 1914, Dr. Paul Brand studied medicine in England and came to CMC, Vellore, in 1946.  My father-in-law had the opportunity to work with Dr. Brand as his Executive Assistant in CMC throughout his tenure in India.  Working with Dr. Brand changed my father-in-law's views on leprosy and the people who suffered from it forever.  Pain is not something that most of us would count as a blessing.  However, in his book 'Fearfully and Wonderfully Made' Dr. Brand says that pain is one of God's great gifts to us.  Many think a painless life is the best, but they do not realize that pain is the body's built-in warning system that something is wrong that has to be fixed.  Pain is inde...