Sanctification

People often get confused with salvation or justification and sanctification.  There is nothing we can do to obtain salvation.  Salvation is free, and we are saved by God's grace alone!  Jesus did whatever was needed on the Cross.  Justification happens all at once; sanctification occurs over a lifetime.  A Preacher said the process of sanctification could be compared to an iceberg, which is almost 90% underwater.  As the sun shines on the iceberg, the exposed part melts, moving the lower part upward.  In the same way, we are usually aware of only a tiny part of our sinfulness and need, which is all we can deal with at any time.  However, as the light of God works in our l...

Change of Heart

Heart transplants are increasingly more common today than several years ago.  I came across this account of one of the first heart transplants, which caught my attention.  Thirty-five years ago, surgeon Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant on Dr. Blaiberg at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.  He transplanted a human heart into Dr. Philip Blaiberg.  After the surgery, it seems Dr. Barnard carried the old heart in a plastic box and showed it to his patient.  The two physicians sat in the hospital bed, examining the scars and thickening of the useless dead heart.  Dr. Barnard said, ‘Dr. Blaiberg, do you realize you are the first man in the history of...

Standing Firm

In John Bunyan's book, 'The Pilgrim's Progress,' when the main character Christian loses his burden, some angels tell him he is free from his past sins.  They give him some new, clean clothes and a scroll.  The clothing and the scroll are meant to symbolize Christian's salvation.  After receiving the scroll of salvation, it is not easy for Christian to reach the Celestial City.  He meets several characters that try to lead him astray.  But Christian continues, enduring harassment and threats from demons and monsters as he travels through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.  Christian has to overcome Despair, Diffidence and persevere with great focus to reach the Celestial City.  Some...

Jesus, The Door

John Bunyan's 'The Pilgrim's Progress' is an exciting book where the characters have interesting names.  Bunyan writes that the character Ignorance, who accompanied the two travelers, Christian and Hopeful, to the Celestial City, goes up to the Pearly Gates but cannot enter the City of gold!  He is seized by the order of God and tossed through a door into Hell.  Into Hell right from the Gates of the Celestial City!   After taking up the long and arduous journey, Ignorance lands in Hell because he did not collect the scroll at the Wicket-Gate!  The Wicket-Gate symbolizes Jesus Christ as the savior of sinners.  Ignorance claims that he lives a good, religious life and is confident that thi...

Deny yourself

Every year when the Lenten season comes around, everyone starts thinking about what each one can live without for a while!  Some try to live without non-vegetarian food, while others try to be without wearing flowers.  Jesus told His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Mt. 16:24-27).  Just hearing these words is difficult, and implementing them is far more difficult.  And yet, 'self-denial' is right there, and not just once, but repeated in the Gospels.  The world advocates only 'self-fulfillment'  and 'self-actualization' and never 'self-denial.'  I do not think Jesus meant living without so...

God's Plan

I was listening to a Pastor's sermon a few weeks back, and he made a passing remark about the situation surrounding the birth of Moses, and it made a lasting impression in my mind.   Moses was born in troubled times.  When a new king who did not know Joseph arose over Egypt, he realized the children of Israel were more numerous than the Egyptians, so he wanted to end them.  Therefore he set taskmasters over them to afflict them and asked the midwives to kill all male children at the delivery time.  When Jochebed, Moses's mother, found herself pregnant, she must have been distraught.  I am sure his father, Amram, and his mother must have prayed fervently for the child to be a girl!  Did G...

Soil your hands!

Once, Navjot Singh Sidhu, a former Parliament member from Amritsar, visited Mother Theresa at the Missionaries of Charity, Calcutta.  Sidhu shared the experience of his first meeting with Mother Teresa at Missionaries of Charity in a TV show.  Recalling the moments, Sidhu said, first of all, he did not need any appointment to meet Mother, but he had to meet her while she was tending to the sick and the dying!  He had visited Mother Teresa to offer a donation, but she told him that he could dump it in the dustbin!  But she invited him to 'soil his hands.'  Mother Theresa did not want his money but his time!  This truly challenged me!

All of...

Esau and Jacob

In the household of Isaac, the prophecy regarding the boys that the 'elder (Esau) would serve the younger' (Jacob) must have been common knowledge known to all, including Esau and Jacob.  I believe it was because of this knowledge that Jacob asked for the birthright from Esau.  And it must have been for the same reason that Esau was so careless about his birthright.  Jacob did not want to wait for God's time or God's way but took matters into his own hands and grabbed the birthright!  Later we see Rebekah taking matters into her hand, making Jacob cheat Isaac into getting the blessing Isaac meant for Esau.  She knew of God's prophecy, but again she did not wait for God's time or God's methods. &nb...

Life of Paul

To understand Paul's life, one must read the Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline Epistles together.   A simple fact caught my attention as I read about Paul's journey to Rome.  Just before the journey, Paul was a prisoner in Caesarea (by the Sea) for about two years since the Jews wanted him dead.  Paul had appealed to Caesar and so he was bound and handed over to Julius, a centurion of the Imperial Regiment.  Their journey to Rome started from Adramyttium and landed at Sidon the next day.  What impressed me was the trust the Centurion had in Paul.  The Centurion had so much faith in Paul that Paul would not run away that he allowed him to visit with his friends at Sidon!  Wha...

The Island called Malta!

When I was a young girl, our family was in a crisis.  During that New Year service, the Pastor preached a message titled, "The island called Malta." In the Phoenician language,  Malta means "refuge."  I do not remember what the Pastor said, but I remember that God alone is my refuge, and that thought has been with me through the years!  Luke beautifully tells Apostle Paul's journey and the encounter with the storm Euroclydon in Acts 27 and 28 chapters.  After being caught up in the storm Euroclydon, when they had practically given up hope of survival, they sighted land.  It must have been the most exhilarating sight!  Malta was indeed the refuge to the ship-wrecked peo...