A Dance with the Devil

"Judas Iscariot is proof that you can sit in a dynamic church with an amazing pastor & still become a friend of the devil" (Rev Fredy Paul)

Surprised? 

Judas did not spend a day with Christ, he spent 3 years. And yet.

The reason is that we humans have an affinity to the devil and his dance of death. By nature, we are materialistic and selfish, only interested to cater to our material life in this material world. Demi Lovato, a famous singer says in her song Dancing with the Devil -

"I was dancing with the devil

Out of control

Almost made it to heaven

It was closer than you know

Playing with the enemy

Gambling with my soul

When you're dancing with the devil It's so hard to say no"

I am sure a great many of us identify with that. A dance with the devil is extremely thrilling in the short term and extremely dangerous in the long term. 

An anonymous writer, a member of the Alcoholics Anonymous once said - "there is a devil in that bottle. When I open it, he shows me wonders I have not seen, possibilities I had not known & strengths I did not possess, and I have to, then, do whatever he says; I have no control over him. The only way I can control him is never to open that bottle and the only way I can do that is with AA".

Well, that's the kind of outcome we can expect when we dance with the devil, unless we have help of someone who is beyond the temptation and who lives in us and is available on call. Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We have to live in this world, but, as Jesus said, we are not to be of this world.

The only way is to WALK DAILY WITH CHRIST, and how many of us really do that?

Walking with Jesus is a conscious effort to exercise our faith and our belief to build spiritual muscle. It is a daily adventure - so let's start TODAY! 

Karma or Grace?

8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life...
The concept of Karma has become a byword in the lives of people today. Knowingly or unknowingly, directly or indirectly, we start believing in it. We do not realize that the concept of karma is temporal while grace is eternal. 
Just to be clear, karma is not a religion but a philosophy. The philosophy of karma is closely associated with the idea of rebirth in the schools of eastern philosophy and spirituality. In these schools, karma in the present affects one's future in the current life, as well as the nature and quality of future lives. What you do always comes back to you - much like the boomerang.
It is also widely believed that a semblance of karma is reflected in the Bible where it refers to reaping what you sow, in Galatians 6 verse 8 as quoted above. But it's not to be taken out of context. The reference is to the spiritual, which is eternal, and the physical, which is temporary, it does not mean our actions and the result of those actions. For through God's love, we rise above our actions into the bosom of God's grace.
Sarah Coleman explains:
"The Bible does not teach karma. It teaches grace. Grace is where you get what you don't deserve. Grace is unmerited favor. It is love and mercy bestowed upon us by God because He desires us to have it. As you can see, very different from karma. More like polar opposites".
God's ultimate act of grace is the salvation He provides through Jesus Christ. We do not get what we deserve for what we have done but like the prodigal son, we get forgiveness of the past and a rich (spiritually rich) future. 
Bono, the famous singer of the rock band U2, in the book, Bono: in Conversation with Mishka Assayas, commented as follows-
“I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge... I'm holding out for grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross..."
Think about it: if there were no grace but only the principle of karma, we would all, without exception, be in big, really big trouble!
It's sad if we think of karma as a fashionable philosophy of life, and adopt the principles of Karma as a guiding force of life and not grace, for we would have missed the eternal, the essence of God and His love for us. We will have completely missed His grace.