Showing posts with label #meditation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #meditation. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Money, Money, Money

Money is never enough. We keep striving and working for more. This is not new; it is from eons that we already always trying to earn money and more money.
Tom Harper explains this from a Biblical perspective.
Imagine you suddenly find $100 million in your bank account (and it's rightfully yours). What would you do with it?
Once you've celebrated, paid off all your debt, bought a couple cars and moved into your new private-island home, what would be next in life?
An Indian saint and poet, Sant Kabir Das, said thus - 
"Sayeen Itna Deejiye, Ja Mein Kutumb Samaye.
Main Bhi Bhookha Na Rahun, Sadhu Na Bhookha Jaye".
(Please God, give me enough so that I can support myself and my family, and so that no one goes hungry, not me nor any saint who comes to my home). 
Proverbs 30:8-9 also says it so well:
"…give me neither poverty nor riches!
Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.
For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, "Who is the Lord?"
And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God's holy name".
Ecclesiastes chapter 5 directly addresses this dreamy scenario of finding the rainbowed pot of gold. Here are a few points Solomon makes in verses 10 and 11:
1. Those who love money will never have enough.
2. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!
3. The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it.
4. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!
These pithy statements are straight from the New Living Translation. And how true they are!
The main point, which is also a universal truth as we have seen, is in verse 15 "We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can't take our riches with us."
If we can't take it with us, why do we strive for more than we need?
Trusting God for just enough is a way of describing how God provides what is needed in the moment, while also requiring trust in what will come next. 




Wednesday, October 30, 2024

What's in it for Me?

“Religion today is not transforming people— it is being transformed by people. It is not raising the moral level of society— it is descending to society's own level and congratulating itself that it has scored a victory because society is smiling, accepting its surrender.” - A. W. TOZER (1897-1963)
These words reflect the true state of society and Christianity today. As Christians, do we embody Christianity? Or do we take what is convenient and ignore or justify the rest.
Christianity is not a convenience. It is a way of life to be led by emulating Christ for the Glory of our Father in Heaven. Don't we pray that? When we help someone in need is it for Gods glory or our own? When we perform church activities, is it for our own name to be up in lights or for the body of Christ? When we pray for someone to be healed is it for Gods glory or because we just like that person? Do we use the church as a social and networking platform or THE house of God? Do we follow Christ with a zero agenda ?
The fact is today's society views every thing with the lens of WIFM (what's in it for me) instead of "what's in it for God".
We cant pick and choose as we do. Living the Christian life means going out of our comfort zone and our "convenience zone", with a zero agenda. It means taking a step back from self glorification.
Christianity is not supposed to be the surrender of the church but our own surrender to God. It can involve surrendering small things throughout the day, or surrendering bigger things like hopes and dreams. Are we ready for that or is it an inconvenience?


Tuesday, October 29, 2024

The Coffee Story

The coffee story is quite a common analogy to human nature. If you are carrying a cup of hot coffee and someone jostles your hand, the coffee in the cup (or whatever is in it) spills over.
Similarly, in humans, hidden feelings, frustrations, fear etc spill over and out of us when our life is jostled by circumstances or someone's behaviour. We can take some ones advice negatively and react or some thing which hurts us.
In our life stresses and "jostles" are inevitable.
Consider the cup to be the heart and mind and whatever is in it to be the coffee. Whatever we fill in the cup is what will spill out, when jostled.
King David's cup ran over with Gods goodness and provision in his life because he recognised God. He understood His works. He talked, God answered and he listened. David was Gods friend. King David's heart was filled with God. His cup ran over with God.
Today let us meditate on ourselves: when we are under stress what spills out of our cup? Can I fill my heart with the Spirit of God rather than anger, abuse and violence so that when I am jostled, His spirit spills over?
"You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup runneth over. ."




Friday, October 11, 2024

Make Me a Blessing

                                           

Out in the highways and byways of life,
Many are weary and sad;
Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife,
Making the sorrowing glad.

Make me a blessing, Make me a blessing.
Out of my life may Jesus shine;
Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray.
Make me a blessing to someone today.


Have you ever heard this hymn? It was introduced in Sunday schools in 1924 and music added a decade later. These simple words are often used to challenge believers to make their lives useful to God.
Today, let's try and understand this simple yet powerful hymn and how we can implement it in our lives.
blessing can be defined as conferring prosperity, approval, or happiness. But what does it mean for a person to be a blessing? Perhaps this means that through our actions we help bring happiness and peace to those around us.
It's not about money. Even someone who is marginalised or poor or needy can become a blessing to someone else. When we take care of them, we also recieve emotional and physical blessings.
In some traditions, the blessings of those who are marginalized, or suffering are seen as particularly potent.
The simple thought is to share a part of our lives with someone who may need it. Someone who may be lonely, or sad or broken hearted. 
A touch, a smile, a sharing of ideas and thoughts can mean a lot to someone today. Be a Blessing!

This Week

The Devil Reads the Bible!

​The idea that the devil reads the Bible might sound provocative, but the Scriptures themselves confirm this chilling truth. The adversary i...