Growing in Christ

There are people who are born and brought up in a Christ centered family. Even for those people, there will be a point in life when they need to analyse themselves, repent and accept Christ as their personal saviour.

When you are saved, you will have peace and joy in your heart and your spiritual life will be very joyful. You’ll read the word of God, study it, meditate upon it, pray and have a great communion with God.

As the days goes, God wants to provide you with new knowledge and wisdom about him. So you have to go through tests and He will help you to go through it. With each and every test you pass, you gain new spiritual meanings about the word of God and will get closer with Him.

A student who is in 10^th grade will not study 2^nd grade subjects because he/she had already gone through that grade. Same way when you are developed in Christ, you will no longer be that same born again believer, but will get more meaningful life with respect to the scriptures.

Apostle Paul talks about it as for a baby you cannot give solid food, but only milk. When the baby grows you can give solid food. When you are new to Christ, the evil behaviour inside you may not change. Only your spiritual thought will change, but your character changes as you develop in Christ. For a person to develop in Christ, he/she needs help from other mature believers, same way a plant grows. One person sow the seeds, another water it. In spiritual world, one evangelise about Christ, another teaches you and another may show you to live a life worth as a believer. Even if all these things happen, it’s God’s responsibility to make you grow with respect to the choices he gives you (1 Corinthians 3).

Once you start growing in Christ, accepting tests and overcome it by the help of Jesus, more spiritual maturity and wisdom comes in life. Jesus taught how the commandments given to Israel can be taken serious in a believer’s life.

When you are angry with someone, according to the Bible, you are violating the commandment “You must not murder”. (Mathew 5). In the same way you are violating this commandment when you call someone idiot or curse anyone. Christ teaches us not to burden our heart with anger or jealousy, but to have peace within and out.

When Jesus taught the commandment about adultery, when a man/woman looks at other with lust in their eyes/heart, they have already committed adultery. He even strongly warned them to take off that part, whether your eyes and throw it instead of poisoning the whole body to hell.

People say lies. But some take vows. But when you are a believer of Jesus, you will say “yes I will” or “no I won’t” instead of taking any vow. Christ teaches that any beyond this is evil (Mathew 5: 21-37)

Once you come to Christ, it’s only about salvation. As you grow in Christ, it will be about life and death, blessings and curses and so on.

In short, when you live according to the word of God and in Integrity, without your knowledge God will lift you high and provide you peace, joy and happiness in all situations of life to be an example. May the Lord provide you wisdom to understand this process of growing in Christ and help you to be a part of it and live a testimonial life.

Light in Darkness

God created Adam and Eve and gave them a beautiful world to live and enjoy. But sin came in the midst of them and the world became sinful, wicked or dark through them. “This is the judgement, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light” – John 3: 19, 20.

From then on, people started living in dark, evil world. While some of them wanted to know God and live a faithful life, lived accordingly, while others enjoyed darkness. From Genesis 5 onwards, we see the life of Noah, how he was different from others around him.

In this world, today, you can see people, who enjoy darkness and sinfulness and live, lusting, insulting and gossiping against other people. Some characteristics of people who live in darkness are mentioned in Galatians 5: 19-21. “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissension, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God”

Today, we see worldly people hunting the ones who go after God. They tell gossips, and try to mock and laugh at their sufferings and persecutions. “With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbour, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered” – Proverbs 11:9.

In the midst of all these troubles, in the month of December, you should always remember and get encouraged by the loving God who prophesied about a light in Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel”. God sent that light, Jesus Christ, whose birth is celebrated on this month everywhere.

God loved everyone in this world and for their redemption, made Jesus to be an ultimate sacrifice for their sins, so that they can be free from the darkness and have light upon their life.

There are people who do not know about this light and there are some who knows about Jesus, but have never tried to experience Him. When you experience this light your way of life will be changed into a new direction towards the cross. If you are a worldly person who goes behind lust, sadism, gossip etc, once you experience the light, you will leave every evil in your life, encourage others and live a Holy life, pleasing God.

To have this light, it’s free. Call upon the name of Jesus, ask forgiveness and accept him as your saviour who made you free through his death and resurrection. “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” – Acts 3: 19.

May this month be a month of this divine light in your life and may you shine and guide others towards this light and enjoy the ultimate salvation and holy life in Jesus name, Amen

Change the Channel

When negative memories comes to the movie screen of your mind, people take up their chair, get some popcorn and watch it and get hurt. It’s like taking the remote control of a television, watch a channel where some program bring sad and hatred.

Even though if some other channel is playing humour or motivational videos, some people will sit and watch the sad serials in another channel. Instead of playing your past victories, accomplishments and things you did right, people play the channel of defeats, failures and disappointments. Just because a bad memory comes doesn’t mean that you need to dwell in it. Learn to change the channel

Mostly people play the channel of failures when they feel disappointed in life. When you feel cheated in life, when you are not getting married at correct time, when you are not blessed with a child, or when you’re not getting a perfect job, automatically your remote will switch to past failures and regrets in life.

If you’re always relieving your hurts and watching them on the movie screen of your mind, talking about it and telling your friends, you’re just reopening your wounds. You need to change the channel. You may have weakness, but remember your strengths.

In the Bible we see David’s sin against God (2 Samuel 11). He did adultery and to hide it he killed Uriah. Even though David was cursed because of his sin, whenever he was in trouble, he cried to God and kept hope in God (Psalms). When you follow Christ, whatever disappointments comes into your life, you will be able to survive it with hope, faith and the have joy and peace in heart because of the salvation Christ gave.

Jesus Christ came to the world and died for the sins which we have done (1 John 2:2). So whosoever believes in him have the hope and confidence that Christ can change any bad situation to a good one (Psalms 71: 5).

Don’t make the mistake of remembering the things you need to forget, whether it’s your hurts, your disappointments, or failures. Instead remember your victories, successes and the hard times you overcame.

Always remember the sacrifice of Christ and the joy he gives to the one who walks with him. Leave the negativity, negative people and stay close with Christ by reading His word and meditating upon it. Change your channel to Christ who is your only hope and salvation – He will make a way

The BOOK – After the Fall

From Jeremiah 39 to 52 we see in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah and Jehoiakim was put into chains. Only the poor were left in Jerusalem now. Jeremiah likens them to bad, worthless figs, in contrast to those who had gone who were good figs (Jeremiah 24). The men who left were so weak and degenerate that the prophet could see nothing but doom for Jerusalem. Jeremiah incurred the displeasure of the prophets who had gone to Babylon because, in a letter to the exiles, he directly opposed their prediction of an early return from captivity (Jeremiah 29:1-14). Neither did the prophets in Jerusalem like it because they thought that soon they could throw off the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar.

Nebuchadnezzar swiftly marched against Jerusalem and the final siege began. As the siege proceeded, the hostility of Jeremiah’s enemies became more intense. They charged him with desertion and thrust him into prison. They even petitioned the King to put him to death (Jeremiah 38:4). They chose a worse thing for Jeremiah. They lowered hi chords into a miry dungeon, and left him to die of starvation and exposure. But God was with him and rose up a friend to deliver him (Jeremiah 38:6-13). 

After eighteen months of siege, Jerusalem was taken and Jeremiah was given the choice of going to Babylon where freedom and honour awaited him, but he chose to cast his lot with the remnant left in the land (Jeremiah 39:11-12; 40:1-16). At the same time Jeremiah was crying out against Babylon for the heinous crime in destroying God’s children. He told them Babylon would be demolished and would be in ruins forever (Jeremiah 51:37-43). By the time of Christ, Babylon’s power had gone, and in the first century AD, it was mostly in ruins. 

When the first deportation of Jews to Babylon occurred, Jeremiah wrote predictions which are seen throughout Jeremiah 24 to 49.

·         Concerning God’s future dealings with Judah (Jeremiah 23, 31)

·         Conquest of land by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (Jeremiah 20:4)

·         Judah’s exile or captivity in Babylon and return after seventy years (Jeremiah 25 and 26)

·         Concerning the Messiah (Jeremiah 23:6; 30:4-11; 33:14-26)

·         Israel will be scattered among all the kingdoms of the earth (Jeremiah 24)

·         Final recovery of Israel (Jeremiah 23:1-40; 32:37-41)

Jeremiah 23 is dear to the Jews; God’s chosen people and dear to the heart of God. It tells of the future of Judah, redeemed through the work of their Messiah. Jesus, the good shepherd, is promised (Jeremiah 23:1,3). He will gather his sheep from every corner of the earth and they will return to their own country, the Promised Land. This will take place when the King shall come and sit upon the throne of David (Jeremiah 23:5).

Other prophets in the Bible had at least occasional success to cheer their hearts in the midst of difficulties, but Jeremiah seemed to be fighting a losing battle to the very end. Disaster, failure and hostility were rewards for his work. He preached to deaf ears and seemed to reap only hate in return for his love for his people. In life he seemed to accomplish little. He was broken hearted. But God has given us a record that makes him one of the greatest prophets. God delights to trust a trustworthy child with a trial. When we go through tough times, stay connected with the love of God, even though you don’t see any results. May this book remind you to be a faithful child of God even when your prayers are not answered. Amen.