Association

I had been desiring to see sunset and sunrise at Cape Comorin (Kanyakumari) for a long time. We had been to Kanyakumari many times but we used to go in the morning and return in the evening. So, this time we made an earnest attempt but as the Lord willed we could neither see the sunset nor sunrise due to thick clouds! Instead, we were able to see the Thiruvalluvar statue and visit the Vivekananda Rock Memorial which we had not done earlier. Standing at the Vivekananda rock brought to my mind his words about ‘association' which I had read sometime back.

Swami Vivekananda had explained ‘association' as follows: "The raindrop falls from the sky; if it is caught in the hand it is pure enough for drinking. If it falls in the gutter, it's value drops...

Teach us to Number Our Days!

Many prayers of Moses are recorded in the Bible and Psalm 90 is one of them. Psalm 90 is attributed to Moses and it makes it the oldest of the psalms, dating back to some 3,000 years or more. It might have been written after the death of Miriam and Aaron towards the end of Moses’ life.

This Psalm is always read during the funeral service because here Moses asks God to teach him to number his days! When compared to God who is eternal, Man’s life is truly short. Psalm 90:4,5 says, “A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night” and we are like the grass which grows up. We do not know the years God has ordained for us.

Sometimes somethings upset us. It may be due to some people or some events from t...

The Third Dimension of Faith

Every believer is saved by faith. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith."This faith results in believing the perfect sacrifice of Jesus and exchanging our sins for the righteousness of God! This is the first dimension of faith. The Philippian jailer asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” and Paul and Silas told him “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:30,31). This is the first dimension of faith.

There is another dimension to faith. It is something other than the saving aspect of faith. We say that we need faith to move the mountains in our lives. We say that we need faith to receive healing. This faith is also a gift to the believer in order that we might rec...

A Changed Life

We do not have much information about Matthew even though he is the author of the first and the longest Gospel in the New Testament. We first meet Matthew in Capernaum, in his tax booth on the main highway (Matthew 9:9) collecting taxes. Tax collectors were notoriously corrupt because they extorted far and above what was owed, to ensure their personal profit. Because they were working on behalf of the Roman government, no one dared complain about their deeds. Matthew was named Levi (Mark 2:14) before being called by Jesus. We don't know whether Jesus gave him the name Matthew or whether he changed it himself. It is a shortened of the name Mattathias, which means "gift of Yahweh," or simply "the gift of God."

Matthew displayed one of the most...

Chief Lesson from the book of Proverbs

My sister in law and her husband celebrated their fortieth wedding anniversary recently. In the thanksgiving meeting, the invitees were asked to tell one thing about each of them that had touched their heart or something they had learned from their life. One person had this to say about her husband which made a lot of sense to me. It seems this friend asked him about the advice he had given his daughter when she was going away to BITS, Pilani. The advice given by the father to his daughter was: ‘Always fear to commit sin. Do not fear anything else'. What a remarkable advice! Not only to a seventeen-year-old, I believe, it is sound advice to all of us across all age groups!

The three wisdom books of the Old Testament, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job offer thre...

Rest for our souls!

Long ago when bus services had been just introduced, it seems a farmer got into a bus carrying a sack of some vegetables from the field. Even after getting a seat on the bus, he refused to put his burden down saying that he had bought the ticket only for himself! When we hear the story, it may sound silly and stupid, but we also do the exact same thing! We carry our burdens to the Cross but instead of leaving them there, we carry them back with us! Our burdens are not just our sins alone. Our burdens include our situations, our trials, our troubling memories and our problems too.

Jesus says in Matthew 11:28," Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest". Jesus then explains how we can find His rest. Jesus advises...

Remember Me!

The Bible has lots to say about both remembering and forgetting! It sounds like a paradox at the outset but both are very important for the human mind. There are many things that have to be forgotten by us just so we can exist! If we remember every hurt, every insult, and every betrayal we have suffered through the years, then we cannot even live! It will completely destroy us. You don’t need a psychiatrist to tell you that! Whereas, when we remember the good we have received from the people around us, it promotes a healthy mind, healthy body, and many healthy relationships. But the human mind is really a strange thing: it forgets all the good things in our life and remembers only the bad experiences!

The Israelites on their way to the promised land, when they face...

In His Time!

Last month when we visited a jeweler's shop to poke the ears of our second granddaughter, I used the opportunity to mend a small piece of jewelry. After mending it, when I mentioned that I needed an ‘S' hook instead of the ‘U' hook that was already there, the jeweler offered to help. All he did was take the ‘U' hook and heat it with the blow torch. When it was really hot, he fashioned it into an ‘S' hook with great ease! It was really beautiful to watch him in action! As the gold was heated, it was very pliant in his hand. It did not give any resistance. So, instead of getting broken, it was shaped into a form that became useful! A refiner's fire not only cleanses us but it also molds us!

God allows some troubles in our life. It i...

Job’s Complaint

The book of Job is the oldest book in the Bible. It records some troubling questions and terrifying doubts. Job practically lost everything almost overnight. The common thinking about suffering is that a person’s suffering is always the result of his or her personal sin. So, the more one has sinned, the greater he or she is expected to suffer. If we base Job’s suffering upon this thought, then Job must have sinned gravely! But we see God Himself testifying about him saying, “there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil”(Job 1:8).

While we go through trials and times of suffering, when we walk through the valley of tears, we are often overwhelmed by self-pity! It makes us question the very purpose of our...

Faith and Works

Karma is a key concept in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Karma means action, works or deed. Good intent and good deeds contribute to good karma and future happiness, while bad intent and bad deeds contribute to bad karma and future suffering. Karma is a Sanskrit term that literally means ‘action' or ‘works'. In a way, karma is everything in a person's life!

On the other hand, the Bible understands the frailty of Man and how no man's intent or action can be ‘pure' in the way God, in His holiness, expects. We can do nothing- no works or karma- can ever make us holy and acceptable to God. That is why Christ became the ultimate sacrifice and paid the penalty for our sins on the cross. By accepting Jesus' sacrifice on our behalf, we are...