The Father’s heart!

'The Story of My Experiments with Truth', is the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi, The father of our nation, India. In it, Gandhi recounts an incident from his childhood that changed his life.  As a young boy, he had gotten into petty thefts to feed his bad habit of smoking.  Once, Gandhi had run up significant debt and had to clip out a small part of his brother's golden armlet. Even though Gandhi decided never to steal again, it was still troubling him, so he decided to confess to his father since there could not be a cleansing without a clean confession! Gandhi decided to write a note to admit his guilt and ask his father to punish him adequately.  Gandhi was not afraid of being punished, but he was fearful of the pain he would cause his father.  In the note, Gandhi pleaded his father not to punish himself for his offense!  As his father read the note, tears ran down his cheeks, and it seems he never spoke about it! Gandhi had learned a valuable lesson that day!  The agony Gandhi had felt about hurting his father by his lousy behavior touched my heart!

Our heavenly father is watching us his children with an expectant heart, but what does He find?   The Bible says, " The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God.  …. there is none who does good, no, not one." (Psalm 14:2-3).  It is true even today. When Judah sinned, we see the Lord anguishing over their fall.  The Lord agonised saying, "For My people have committed two evils:  They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jer 2:13).  Even those who call themselves believers feel no guilt or pain in breaking the moral law set forth in the Bible.  If we can imagine the pain we cause our Father in heaven by our compromises and double life, we may think twice before engaging in sin. But Satan blinds us with the pleasures of sin.

My friend, the Bible has a suggestion in Psalm 119:9, "How can a young man keep his way pure?  By guarding it according to your Word."  This advice is not just for young men but for all of us. We have to guard ourselves according to the Word and live in obedience to the Word.  Let us not be the ones who nail the Lord Jesus again on the Cross!

---