Sayings Of Samuel Godfrey George - April 2016, Part 2

Seeking the Lord always, seeking his face always - this is the key to our living well.

A pure heart is a gift from God. No human has it at any point in time. Purity, if possible, is only in Christ.

God is stronger than some people imagine him to be. He knows human nature thoroughly, and he is no longer shocked by it. There was a time when he was revolted by the depravity of the human heart. But God is no longer surprised by human misbehaviour. In any case his love is stronger than any human sin, and can overwhelm any depravity that the heart can think of. God is not quite the Victorian prude or the Puritan of the pre-restoration times. He is also not identical to the moral police of this day. He created the human. So he knows what the human is all about. Sin is indeed offensive to God. But he is also very aware of sin and sinners. One third of his angelic sons, were led astray by one extraordinary angel that God himself lovingly created. Human sins cannot hold a candle to angelic rebellion. Also God has paid the required price to erase the guilt of Man.

No good parent withholds forgiveness from his or her child because that child has not yet asked for forgiveness. I believe the God of the Bible can do better than a good human parent. And in fact, he has done that already. When Jesus Christ was nailed on the cross thousands of years ago, it was for one purpose only - to pay for the sins of humanity. When the payment was made, forgiveness was granted. Now what humans ought to do is not to doubt that forgiveness, and believe that they can merit it by asking penitently for it. They should just receive it gladly and boldly.

Who insincerely asks God for forgiveness? Such an act if possible, is a terribly self-defeating one. Only a great fool will be guilty of that. Still God is more tolerant than most human beings give him credit for. He is willing to forgive even without being asked. Jesus forgave his killers, because they didn't know what they were doing. God does take human ignorance and moral bankruptcy into account, when he chooses to forgive. Those who even think of asking God for forgiveness are those in whom remorse has already planted its seed. Finally those who ask God to forgive them do so with the help of God. No repentance or remorse is man-made.

When a man wonders whether God would forgive him for his past misdeeds, he is surely at the threshold of repentance. No unbeliever or godless person ever wonders like that.

Do you have to ask God for forgiveness to be forgiven? Does your child need to ask for your forgiveness so that he or she may receive it? Do you normally harbour unforgiveness in your heart before someone asks you to forgive him or her? Did Jesus Christ wait for his killers to ask for his forgiveness, before he pleaded with his Father to forgive them? Did he wait for people to ask for his forgiveness, before he forgave them in the accounts we read in the Bible? True, repentance is a divine requirement. But repentance itself is a grace from God. It is not humanly produced. What a human needs to do is to recognize his need of God and take a step towards him. And then God will move forward, and the rest will follow in God's timing and working.

Prayer may not be enough. You should show that you care by doing something about it, if you can.

Be encouraged. There are some who are fighting the same battle. God is for us. And though it may look terrible, we are already victors. And no matter how many times we fail, we have already triumphed in Christ. Stand firm in this.

Christians reveal Christ to the world. Christ is God. And God is love. But when the world looks at Christians does it see love? Or does it see bigotry and hatred and petty narrow-mindedness and ridiculous in-fighting? Does it see a community that is willing to love the marginalized and the downtrodden? Will Christianity welcome the criminal and the prostitute? Will it be a haven for all those who have committed unspeakable acts of sin? As an observer of the world, I see Christians likely to be more unlike Christ than like him. And when people see Christians they are likely to see a degraded Christ incapable of grace. And that is putting it mildly.

Learning is an act of humbling, sometimes great humbling, and a disarming loss of pride.

You are a great person in Christ. When you know that, you will feel a lot better.

If God be for us, who can be against us? Don't be afraid. Just believe. We can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us.

Satan is near the person who seeks God. Satan is always near those who trust in God. And Satan will do all that he can to destroy their trust in God. Don't be surprised by your temptation to disbelieve in God. It comes from Satan. And he will not tire of offering that temptation time and again.

If you think God is like people, who say they will forgive, but will not, then you will expect God to be the same. But God is not like man. When he says he will forgive, he will forgive. He has forgiven us of all sins already. All our sins have already been paid for. There is no other payment to be made. Your sins are forgiven. All that remains for you to do is to accept that forgiveness, and accept your privileged position as a child of God. Will you dare to believe in the forgiveness of God today? Or will you cringe in unbelief and treat God as a liar? It is a decision that will determine the quality of your life in the long run.

"Does God hate me because I fail so often? Does God want me to fail? Is God good to me? He seems to be good to others. He claims to be good. But he does not do good. He does bad. He has been bad to me. God's word is false. He is a liar." This is the testimony of some people. This is the conclusion of those who have failed badly after trusting in God. Such assessments do exist. In fact, almost all people experience disappointment with God. The question really is, "What do we do with this disappointment? Shall we let it lead us to unbelief and denial of God and his truths? If we do so, it is my belief that we are making a hasty and unwise decision. God is our Maker and the shaper of our destinies. It is never a good thing to be at odds with him. Everyone who has received the blessing of God has paid a price for it. Jacob paid it with his hip joint. Joseph paid it with many years in an Egyptian jail for a crime he did not even commit. David paid it by running away for many years from a king who was intent on killing him. Which man of God received his blessing without pain and suffering? Ask this question before you dismiss God from your life today.

When you face your fears, and not run away like a coward, you know what it is that frightens you. And when you know it well enough, you will be not frightened by it anymore.

The Lord speaks in our hearts. His assessment is more valuable than any human criticism, however worthy it may be.

So what should our response to life be, we who follow and worship God? How do we respond to an unfair life? Though life may be unfair, let us treat one another fairly. Let us show fairness despite the unfairness of life. We the children of God seek his order and fairness. Let us learn from God. Let us learn to treat one another as God treats us. So despite the unfairness of life let us treat one another fairly. Let us love one another and care for one another, because God loves us and cares for us. Let us not look at life and imitate its unfairness. Let us look at God and imitate his love and fairness. This will not be easy. We will have to know God. We will have to receive his love. Once we taste his love, we will be transformed by it. We will begin to love and we will begin to care.

Life is unfair. But it is not deliberately unfair. Life is not conspiring against those who are living. Life is the way it is because of a certain decision a human being made at the very beginning of history. A certain human being disobeyed God and bore the consequences of that disobedience. Not only did he bear those consequences, but all his descendants including us have also borne these consequences, and will continue to bear them. When the first human disobeyed God, he was sentenced to death. God pronounced the curse of death. With death came decay. Not only man, but all living creatures are also in a state of disorder.

Life is so tough that we cannot live it without God. It is to know him and to receive his love that we are alive. We just don’t receive his love and do nothing about it. We share it with everyone. We want everyone to know that there is a God, and that he loves us and cares for us. We can go to him with our problems. Life is tough. We need God’s help with everything. There is nothing we can do on our own. Let us seek him today. Let us ask him to help us. Life is tough. We need God.

God created us because he wanted to love us. God is a Creator who creates out of love. And we are the created beings. We are created to know God and to receive his love. And when we receive his love, we receive God in his totality. When we receive his love, we are enabled to be like him. When we receive his love, we learn to deal with one other.

God is the one who gives life. It is his life that we are experiencing now. It is his breath that keeps us living. Our very breath testifies to a living God. It is the belief of all those who are enlightened by God, that life is not something that happened without any reason. Life came from God for a certain purpose. What is that purpose? Some may think, “What purpose is there in life? Aren’t we here just to survive? Aren’t we here to take care of ourselves?” This is what I think. God has given us life, so that we may live for him. But to live for him, we need to know him. The purpose of life is to know God and to live for him. The purpose is to know the One who gave us life, and to find out this Person who is the reason behind our existence. He is God. And God is presented in the Bible as the Creator of all life forms. More than that, he is the Creator of the universe. In personal terms, he is my Creator. He is your Creator. He is everyone’s Creator.

Life is so tough that one cannot live on one’s own. Life is so tough that one needs the help of God. People live their lives. But not all of them live well. To live well one needs God. When a person is enlightened, he or she knows, that life is not accidental. Life is not just what happens. He or she will know that life is a gift from God.

Let us not see the sacred in a holy book. Let us see the sacred in each and every one of us. including ourselves.