Thoughts for another day
September 9, 2010
Today's verse: James 1:27. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)
Christianity is not a religion of aloofness and lack of compassion; rather its very foundation is built on sympathy and love and communion. Our Father showed us much love and compassion in giving His Son so we aren’t separated from Him, rather commune with Him. Christianity is also about keeping oneself pure in the midst of a crooked and dirty people of the world who always shout down your throat about the goodness of wanton sin and the perks of a life of gregarious living; and indiscretion filled with gluttony and sloth.
Scriptures reveal to us the fact that God loves when we look at others in their distress and reach out, particularly to the underprivileged, like orphans and widows. Reaching out doesn’t mean doing everything. We live in the false notion that if we reach out, we’ve to spend both time and money which we find scarce in our lives anyway and so we don’t begin at all. Reaching out may just mean a small gesture or maybe giving one small loaf of bread from the many we’re carrying. Reaching out means, drying just one small tear from the eyes of someone in pain. You don’t have to do all things yourself, but reach out in small ways among the others. If there’s none, let your action of reaching out begin so that others will follow; even if they don’t, you need not bother for you will be eligible for Grace from the Father.
Then, the issue of living pure lives – well, how can you do it when you live in a morally bankrupt society and a people in whom there’s a total vacuum of character, it is difficult. Sometimes, I shudder to think of the life Jesus lived, moving among sinners and prostitutes. Unlike Him who changed them, I might be changed by them! Yet, honesty and sincerity are prime in this area and God looking at our hearts and understanding our honesty, sends us His Grace in equal measure which in turn helps us live blameless lives. You know, I’ve been struggling to live like that and I know how difficult it is. When I look at my ‘holiness meter’ I find that unlike other meters that whirr at break-neck speed, my holiness meter is stuck at the same spot as when I began. But yes, I trust Him who will perfect everything in His time.
September 9, 2010
Today's verse: James 1:27. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)
Christianity is not a religion of aloofness and lack of compassion; rather its very foundation is built on sympathy and love and communion. Our Father showed us much love and compassion in giving His Son so we aren’t separated from Him, rather commune with Him. Christianity is also about keeping oneself pure in the midst of a crooked and dirty people of the world who always shout down your throat about the goodness of wanton sin and the perks of a life of gregarious living; and indiscretion filled with gluttony and sloth.
Scriptures reveal to us the fact that God loves when we look at others in their distress and reach out, particularly to the underprivileged, like orphans and widows. Reaching out doesn’t mean doing everything. We live in the false notion that if we reach out, we’ve to spend both time and money which we find scarce in our lives anyway and so we don’t begin at all. Reaching out may just mean a small gesture or maybe giving one small loaf of bread from the many we’re carrying. Reaching out means, drying just one small tear from the eyes of someone in pain. You don’t have to do all things yourself, but reach out in small ways among the others. If there’s none, let your action of reaching out begin so that others will follow; even if they don’t, you need not bother for you will be eligible for Grace from the Father.
Then, the issue of living pure lives – well, how can you do it when you live in a morally bankrupt society and a people in whom there’s a total vacuum of character, it is difficult. Sometimes, I shudder to think of the life Jesus lived, moving among sinners and prostitutes. Unlike Him who changed them, I might be changed by them! Yet, honesty and sincerity are prime in this area and God looking at our hearts and understanding our honesty, sends us His Grace in equal measure which in turn helps us live blameless lives. You know, I’ve been struggling to live like that and I know how difficult it is. When I look at my ‘holiness meter’ I find that unlike other meters that whirr at break-neck speed, my holiness meter is stuck at the same spot as when I began. But yes, I trust Him who will perfect everything in His time.
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