A Transformed Heart

3 John 1:2-4
Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Sometimes I wonder what is the point of trying so hard to serve God to man when man does not want God. If God wanted, He could turn the heart of men towards Him just as He turned the heart of Pharaoh against Him when the Israelites were living in captivity in Egypt and Moses was requesting Pharaoh to release them. When I look around, the world around me seems to want to live in oblivion to God, sin and any sense of morality. Things that were shameful in the past is now acceptable and trendy and things that were condoned before are now revered. In such times, would it not be easier to blend in with the world and believe what we believe in the privacy of our hearts so as not to look foolish? What is God saying to us today as we rationalize our purpose?

Basis Of Our Faith

2 John 1:7-11
Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.

These are very uncertain times and there seems to be a great search for the truth to life and God as there is little or no hope left for us here. Many twist the word of God to suit their pursuit of power and contort God’s word to the way that would benefit them. John wrote this letter to a matronly lady and praises God for the way her children have turned out. This lady provides hospitality to Christian teachers who travel through her town and John warns her about entertaining teachers who do not teach the truth of Jesus Christ as she could actually be hosting a deceiver. In these uncertain times, how do we know who holds to what belief and what is the truth? What is God’s word speaking to us today?

Testimony Of God

1 John 5:9-15, 20
We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him… We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

After many days of rest and rejuvenation, it feels wonderful to sit at the feet of God again and write His words. Like I previously said, it is wonderful to have faith but it is essential to know what we have faith in and the only way to know is to seek of God from His word. To know God, we need to seek of God because if all men have sinned, then no man can testify about a holy and righteous God and so the words in today’s chapter ring true that God’s testimony is certainly true and worthy of accepting. We live in Satan’s dominion here on earth and he ensures that we live a life far from the heart of God. Everything about God feels alien to us and therefore we doubt God and trust only man. How can we know the truth and how can we see beyond the cobwebs Satan has woven into this world to prevent us from seeing God in truth and light?

The Command To Love

1 John 3:21-24
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

As I continue to journey with Christ and witness to the world about Him, I have found that there are many sore people out there who seem to want to avoid knowing Christ and are eager to place all the blame on Him. That really makes me mad and I sometimes wish I could shake them up to realize the truth. Today I was told by a friend that to conquer oneself is a greater victory than to conquer thousands in a battle (Buddha) and I wish every person we shared Christ with would overcome their ego. How can the world not see the truth of Jesus Christ and His unconditional offer of perfect love and total forgiveness? What is it that holds them back and is there a better technique to sharing the gospel? This is a question that has long confounded me and today, I see my quest in a new light…

The Truth About Lies

1 John 1:5-9
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Sometimes I wonder what it must’ve been for the apostles to live with the Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and to serve Him? What a privilege that God chose them over the wise and the learned men of Israel to be His own disciples. Imagine their self-doubt when they were called to share the good news of Jesus to the world that had just killed their messiah! Even with all the opposition, they lived lives that showed their real belief in Jesus Christ and eventually succumbed to their beliefs by dying painful deaths themselves. In all of the Bible, there seems to be no great earthly benefit of following Christ and add to that today’s passage that confuses us about our righteousness. What is God saying to us?

Is There Really Hope?

2 Peter 3:8-13

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

As I continue to listen to the news from around the world, it seems more and more apparent that the only possible change in our world  for sanity and peaceable living is a total reconstruction of humanity but that would not work because we will remain sinful and continue to be selfish by nature, therefore bringing us back to where we are. Some of us might live in very surroundings and are possibly sheltered from the harsh realities of the 21st century but a brief glance at world news will show us how broken our world is. Also, the peaceful lives that we lead are often peaceful because we are made to think that everything is well but a simple dipstick check of how people are doing around us will show that everyone is strained by the burden of suffering. People with more worry because they have more to lose, those with less worry about how they will survive and those in-between are never at peace about where they are. In all this confusion called life, where is God and what is the answer He offers us?

Can God Be Trusted?

Hebrews 6:17-20
God wouldn’t change his plan. He wanted to make this perfectly clear to those who would receive his promise, so he took an oath. God did this so that we would be encouraged. God cannot lie when he takes an oath or makes a promise. These two things can never be changed. Those of us who have taken refuge in him hold on to the confidence we have been given. We have this confidence as a sure and strong anchor for our lives. This confidence goes into the [holy] place behind the curtain where Jesus went before us on our behalf. He has become the chief priest forever in the way Melchizedek was a priest.

I’ve always wondered why courts around the world ask people to promise to speak the truth and then judge them based on what they speak. Someone or the other lies when in the paddock after taking an oath and therefore the exercise of making the person promise to tell the truth seems futile. Corruption and brokenness is a reality in our world and as much as we would like to deny its existence and live in a bubble, we cannot because the truth eventually comes out in the open and it is hard to deal with. People who make promises should be able to keep them and I for one am a failure in that area. I have made a billion promises and doubt that I managed to keep any but worse still is the fact that I don’t remember any that I have made. How can we then believe that God keeps promises He made and will continue to keep them?

Why God Loves Us?

Hebrews 2:14-18
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

I’ve been a loud participant of the debate that fought against the concept of God, our need for a God and the futility of our backward minds in falling prey to historic myths quoted in the Bible. In this dark world where survival of the fittest is the theme, the need for God was accounted for as equal to holding a lucky charm and hoping for hope’s sake that it worked. Being good, doing good and feeling good were fictions of fertile imagination because no one really cared and therefore I preached self-reliance and making a future for one’s self rather than being told what to do. One day in the not so distant past, I was met by this very God who changed my heart and mind forever and suddenly everything made sense and life had a purpose and I had a goal. I found that I was not alone and that many like me were riveted by this great God who was not a myth but a reality, more real than I am as a human. Are you like me one who wonders if any of this is true or are you one of us who found the truth?

Above The Angels

Hebrews 1:3-5, 13-14
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father”? Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”?… To which of the angels did God ever say, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

Angels, in my head, have always been the sweetest of creatures who have a soft heart, a gentle demeanor, look pretty/handsome, have fluffy white wings and are always watching out for us. This is what I assimilated probably from all the greeting cards, movies and books that refer to them and in a way they are a representation of God to us. Jesus Christ was born of humble means, grew up in hard times, was challenged by every religious leader and was crucified for us, not as pretty a sight or life as that of angels. To some, angels are more than just nice beings and are considered worthy of worship and today God explains to us who is worthy of our worship and why.

Double Standards

Philemon 1:8-11, 15-16
Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. I then, as Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus— I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me… Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good— no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord.

This book is only a chapter long and is a letter of appeal from Paul to Philemon, a wealthy man who owned a runaway slave by name Onesimus. Onesimus met Paul after he fled from Philemon, accepted Christ as His Lord and Savior and was now despatched by Paul back to Philemon with a letter which is our text today. Philemon was a member of the church in Colosse and Paul appeals to him as a Christian to another for the life of Onesimus and for his freedom. What caught my attention was the humility Paul shows in his request and the way he brought out the benefit of Onesimus in his new skin, as a Christian brother. What does this story have to do with us today?