Self-help is the way to help others. This is what I
find to be a working truth in my life. In order to treat others, I treat
myself first. In learning to bandage my own wounds, I am able to take
care of others, when they come to me wounded. So, I am thankful to God
today for the many wounds I have received in life.
I only convey the inspiration that I have received from
others. And often when I try to inspire others, I am also trying to
inspire myself to do the very thing that I am urging others to do.
God is indeed great. He uses someone as weak and as
flawed as I am, to convey his great strength. And that strength is found
not in his judgement but in his unmerited love and forgiveness.
Your faith in God will be rewarded. Your faith will heal you. So don't
despair. Go on in the hope that the one who waits for God will not be
disappointed. Wait in joy. Wait in expectation. And your Lord will come
and rescue you.
If you are in need ask God. He will supply your needs according to his
riches in glory. When you ask, believe that you will receive, and you
will receive. Put your trust in God and in no human being. If you are in
trouble, go to God, and not to any human being. Ask only God, and he
will honour your request when you do so.
Either
we are incompetent worshippers or we have an incompetent God. The
choice is left with each and every individual. The most devoted
believers would have no hesitation to swear by their own incompetence as
worshippers than lay the the slightest blame at God's door. But some,
like Job, will ask the unmentionable questions, and will receive no
answer. Perhaps the truth is that neither God nor his
worshippers are incompetent. They may both play their parts well, yet
there is another player in the game, who also plays his part well. God
is not obliged to answer anyone, I read a few days ago. Perhaps God
cannot explain, for the truth is too complex for the human mind. Still,
when troubles come unceasingly and hope is snuffed out repeatedly, a
terribly uncomfortable realization settles in the mind.
Beware, all you God-seekers! Your God will hide for a
while. He will be absent when he is most needed. He will arrive late,
after a death has taken place. But don't lose hope ever. Keep hanging on
to your faith in the God who never fails the one who trusts in him.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but his promises to you will never pass
away. Nothing on earth, or in heaven or in hell can separate you from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, your Lord. So stay near
Christ. Better, stay in Christ, and in him you will overcome your worst
despair.
Be
ready for humiliation, as you walk toward your God-given destiny. Your
God will not permit you to be humiliated in the end. But you will feel
humiliated for a while. You will feel forsaken and betrayed by a friend,
in whom you had invested all your hope. You will feel utterly lost and
cheated. But don't let this temporary state become a permanent reality.
Be determined to believe in God, despite
his absence and apparent betrayal of your trust. Remember that you
cannot see everything right now. You will not know fully until later,
when you see God face to face. Then you will understand why you needed
to walk through your terrible road. Then the injuries you suffered will
not matter. For great will be your joy, when you meet God. It will be a
perfect joy that erases all your pain, and gives precious meaning to all
your endless struggle. Believe in that day. Believe in your God who
will not fail to meet you on that day. No matter how it looks now, go
on. For what is seen is temporary, but what is not seen is permanent.
As you are lying helplessly in a hopeless situation,
you will wonder about your missing God. You will wonder why your God is
missing and uncaring. All his promises will seem hollow and false.
Unbelieving people may laugh at you and scorn you for your foolish
faith. "Where is your God?", they will ask again and again. But don't
hang your head low. Just say, "Even now I believe. I may be in a
desperate position. Yet I believe and hope in my Lord, for he is my
saviour and my God!"
Beware. There are twists and turns in the road to your
destiny. Some are so unexpected and dark, that they would endanger your
stability. Be warned. The road is full of pitfalls, and you will most
likely fall and injure yourself. And the injury may seem beyond hope.
But you need to believe, even as you are lying helplessly in your pit.
Believe that help will come somehow. And trust in God, who promised
never to leave you or forsake you.
Enjoy your failures. That is how you are happy. The
reason for much unhappiness is the failures that people experience often
in their lives. If you view failure as an attempt at learning to do
something, and that every failure reveals your ever-increasing desire to
succeed, then failure will turn into something sweet. The next time you
fail, don’t be bogged down. Rejoice in your steely will to go on and
get it right, no matter how many times you fail.
Not everyone gets everything in life. The wealthiest
man among us does not have something he badly needs. Want is the
distinguishing characteristic of the over-reaching heart. Learn to be
content with what is given to you. And not everything you want will be
given to you. To be content with what you receive, and to not want what
you cannot have is the essence of happiness.
You will fail many times in life. So don't worry about
failures. Just rejoice in the fact that you are still trying. As long as
you are trying to be thankful, you are trying to be happy. And every
trier meets with some success. And failure too is success. For every
time you fail you succeed in trying even harder.
You need to be a habitual thanksgiver to be happy. And
your thankfulness should not be fake. It should be a genuine
appreciation of your gifts. Learn to see all that you have as gifts.
Learn to see even your problems as gifts. Learn to see every painful
experience as an opportunity to learn from. If you do, it will be the
beginning of much happiness in your life.
Count your blessings. Name them one by one. And not
only will you be surprised by what God has done, but you will also
realize that there is much in your life you should be thankful for. So
start being thankful today. It is never too late to start. And it is
always difficult when you begin. But don't stop your thanksgiving, even
if it feels forced and unnatural.
You should endeavour to enjoy what you have. If you
cannot, you should seek help. The best helper out there is God. Ask God
to show you the value of what you have. Ask God to give you a heart of
gratitude for all you have received from him.
Happiness is enjoying what you have. When you cannot
enjoy what you have because you are thinking about what you do not have,
you are unhappy.
Whatever you do today, don't fail to worship God. You
worship God by honouring what he created. Be good to one another. Help
others as much as you can. Give love to someone who needs love. Be good
to animals and plants, and do whatever you can for them. Help in keeping
the world safe, by doing all that you can to preserve this world.
Don't seek love. But give love. Let your aim today be
to give love to someone. When you give love, you will receive it
inevitably. There is nothing better than loving someone. Turn to God for
the ability to love others. Ask him to help you love people. And as God
teaches you, you will be able to love even those who are not loveable
at all.
Observe the world, and notice what is all around you.
Don't be glued to your smartphones, believing that there is a better
world inside them. All that technology can do is to reflect inadequately
the glory of God. To see that glory, we need to lay aside technology,
and look at the world all around us and make note of what God has done,
as he has done it, without embellishment and exaggeration. Learn to
appreciate things as they are, and not as what they ought to be.
Let your mobile devices not be your best friends. Let
people be your best friends. Learn to communicate with people without
technology. There are times when communication is impossible without
technology. But if you wish to communicate at your very best, you should
do it face to face, person to person, as people have always done it
since time began.
To love God is to love others. Don't focus on just
loving yourself. Focus on loving others as you love yourself. This is
the commandment of God. And it is not something we can afford to ignore.
It is good to appreciate who you are. It is good to
know what God has made you to be. But don't be lost in yourself.
Appreciate others. Take the time to notice how special other people are.
And acknowledge their specialness.
Believe that you will do the impossible today. That is
the first step to doing it. And take from what God has placed in you.
Use the supernatural strength that only he can provide. And then do what
you never even thought you can do.
And
let us not stop rejoicing in the glorious victory of Jesus Christ over
sin and death. Let us not stop celebrating how he delivered us from the
power of sin. Let us never cease to praise God for his ultimate,
once-and-for-all sacrifice for all the sins human beings have committed
in this world. Let us never cease to receive hope from God's promises.
Let us never stop boldly approaching the throne
of grace every time we are in need. When we are in want, let us always
seek our Shepherd, for we will not be in want, as long as he is with us.
When we are sick, let us always touch the stripes of Jesus Christ, for
it is by them we are healed. When we are afraid, let us always hide
under the shelter of his wings, for he will protect us from every harm,
as long as we stay there. Let us not fail to rejoice in such a mighty
God, who has made all his power available to us. We need to believe
this, and then declare it joyfully. As we do so, we will experience the
power we can only dream about now.
How
does one rejoice in the Lord? Particularly, how does one rejoice, when
the situation in life does not warrant rejoicing? In what about the Lord
does one rejoice in a time of ever increasing suffering? What are the
benefits of such rejoicing? Why should we rejoice in the Lord, when this
life is so full of troubles? What has the Lord done, which gives us any
hope that our lives will improve? Jesus
Christ, our Lord, warned us clearly that the life we live on earth is
full of troubles. Particularly troubled is the life we live for God. The
Bible warns us that many are the afflictions of the righteous and also
assures us that God will deliver us from them all. The Lord, who warned
about the many troubles, also said that his people should be encouraged
by the fact that he had conquered the world and its evil. We need to
believe that Jesus Christ, has conquered the world, and its evil, by
laying down his life for all of us, and by rising from the dead three
days later. Knowing that he has done this should encourage us to go on,
despite the troubles in our lives. And even though we may find ourselves
surrounded by problems in life, we should be encouraged that we can
always stand firm in Jesus Christ, as he has overcome all the challenges
in this earthly life, and in him, we are already more than conquerors.
This is not only a matter of belief, but it is also a matter of vocal
declaration. Let us not merely declare this victorious truth, but let us
affirm it with joy. Yes, let us find that unearthly joy in uttering
this truth, of a victory, which we have not seen with our eyes, but have
believed, for our Lord himself affirms it. Let us ask God to fill us
with this joy. Let us first believe in what he says about us. We are
more than conquerors, without having conquered anything. This is what we
should rejoice about.
What we have may not be much. What we have may feel
like a curse. But let God reveal what we have in his time. Let us submit
to his mysterious working, and believe that he will give us beauty for
our ashes, and will turn our mourning into dancing. Let us thank God
today for what we have, though it may be the last thing we want to do.
Will we gain everything we have lost? Will God restore
everything that has been lost? I don't think so. Not in this life,
anyway. But there are victories that are secured only in pain. There is
wisdom gained only in disappointment. There is a grace that emerges only
from despair. So don't stop hoping today, if you have lost much. You
have certainly gained what you could not have obtained had you not lost
so much.
Say, "Thank you God" even in pain. Thank God for life,
even if that life is filled with disappointments and pain. Recognize
what you still have, and try to feel happy about it. That will be the
beginning of your road to recovery.
Expect much. Receive whatever is given. And be grateful for what you have received, even if it failed to meet your expectations.
Be grateful when you receive less than what you did
before. Be glad now for all that you have received, even if what you
have received today has fallen below expectations.
Our fathers do not always rise to our expectations.
That is why we need a heavenly Father. On him, we can safely rely, or so
we think.
And
my faith survived a major crisis in 2004, when my father died, after I
had prayed so desperately for his life to go on. God denied the most
urgent prayer request, and inspired in me a fear that he would do that
again and again. And I had to live with a terrible mystery. Why did God
deny my request? Why did my father have to die, soon after I was
reconciled with him, after many years of mental
separation? Why did I not get more time to spend with my father? Why
could I not tell him more about God, and convince him that Jehovah is
God? Why did God deny the miracle, and the victorious testimony that
would have followed? I wanted to testify to the great miraculous healing
power of God, along with my father, and I could never do that. Did my
father accept God, before his death? Did he accept the Lord Jesus
Christ, as his Saviour, before his death? I do not know the answers to
these questions, and at times, I dread what the answers could be. But I
go on despite this slaying, for God did slay me, when he denied me my
father's life. I go on believing in a good God, though I have seen a
goodness, which is nothing like my understanding of goodness. How I go
on defies understanding. How I persist in my belief in God is beyond
rationalising. But the truth is this. Even after twelve years, I am not
ready to abandon my belief in God and his essential goodness.
The
answers to some of our most persistent questions will not come from God
in this lifetime. There is much unfairness and injustice in life. And
even God appears unfair and unjust, at times, in life. Some would say,
that this is usually the way life is. The good appear to suffer more
than the bad. The godly are often deprived, and the godless are often
thriving. The people who pray the most appear
to suffer the most as well. The people who never pray appear blissful.
Belief in God seems like a hopeless waste of time, at the least, and
terribly unfortunate and misguided, at the most, for it apparently
ushers in a guaranteed life of misery. But the great believers in God go
on believing in God, despite these terrible appearances masquerading as
realities screaming at them that God does not exist, and if he does, is
nothing like they thought he was. They are like Job who held firmly to
his belief in God, though God seemed to be slaying him mercilessly.
Despite what appears to be God's heartless denials of prayers, they go
on holding on to their beliefs, for there is much mystery in all of
God's workings. They go on probably because they have also seen and
experienced God's goodness in their lives. They have received favourable
answers from God as well. So the happy memories in faith, keep the
people of faith going, even in a time of terrible crisis. And strong
faith will have to survive these crises.
On
this day, twelve years ago, my father, B Ganesan, passed away, leaving
me wondering whether God cares enough to answer prayers. After all these
years, I know this and hold on to this: God answers prayers, but his
answers are not always what we want. Some answers are actually denials,
and when these answers come, we don't receive them well. We often deny
the denials, and move on, believing and hoping
for a favourable answer. But I was led to face this truth head on. God
will sometimes, maybe even more often, deny the very thing we ask. And
we often deny the denial, believing that God will always grant what we
want. God will not grant all that we want. In fact, the life we live for
God is full of surprises, some of them, very unpleasant. But we go on,
in the faith, that God is ultimately good, and even the bad that he
appears to do, will ultimately benefit us. This seems like madness even
to me sometimes, but I hold on to it nevertheless, and I'm in no hurry
to give it up any time soon.
I welcome all people, even unbelievers in God. Some of
my best friends are unbelievers. But what I will not welcome is an
insensitive approach to people and their beliefs. If someone does not
show the required sensitivity to different beliefs and ideas, then such a
person will find himself or herself unwelcome. I endeavour to
appreciate different ideas as long as they are expressed constructively
and sensitively. But when they violate such requirements, I do not
welcome them at all.
It is good to express your mind. But it is not good to
hurt others, and their beliefs and ideas. Don't ever make the mistake of
correcting someone insensitively. For you are not without mistakes
yourself, and if someone should point out your mistakes in a
thoughtless manner, you would not like that as well. And bear this in
mind, what you think is a mistake made by someone, may not be a mistake
at all. In fact, you may be mistaken in thinking that it is a mistake.
When you have decided not to expect anything from
people, you will not be disappointed often in life. You will, in fact,
be often pleasantly surprised.
Silence speaks louder than words. I am grateful for the many silences I have received in life.
None of us is equipped to love like God. None of us can
love like Jesus Christ. Our love is at best selfish and restricted to
our near and dear. And even in such a close-knit circle, our love is
seldom selfless. But to love selflessly, we must get rid of self. And
God alone can do that. And he does that when we welcome him into our
lives. When we have more of him, we will have less of us. And as we let
him invade our lives, our selves will be thrown out eventually.
If you tread cautiously, you cannot love. If you want
to love, you should be prepared to go where you feet can get seriously
damaged and even destroyed. Your entire body and self will be at risk,
when you love like that. Such self-sacrificing love is the greatest
love, and that is the kind of love that Jesus Christ told us to give. Do
you dare to love like that? Do you dare to die in the process of loving
someone? Do you dare to be destroyed by your love? If you are, then you
have the love of God in you.
Don't be paranoid about extending your friendship
today. Walk boldly if you are confident in your love. But if you are not
confident, don't express your love. For such love is not love. True
love dares to give with absolutely no expectation of a favourable
return. Aim to love like that. Or do not love at all. All friendship is
love. Anything less than that is not friendship.
May all friends be happy today and every day. There is
something very special about a friend, that we cannot derive from
anywhere else. Family is very special, but so is friendship. It is said
that there is a friend, who sticks closer than a brother. I have had
very special friends. Without them, my life would have been quite
unbearable. So I am thankful for all my friends. May the blessings of
heaven always be with them. It is indeed a wonderful designer who placed
in us the desire for a friend. Friendship, in its most beneficial,
unselfish state, is a blessing that no one should ever miss in this
life. This is my wish for all people.
It's
good to have a friend in this world. I'm glad that I'm not friendless,
though there was a time when I avoided people. Today, I'm breaking free
from this long-standing tendency, and I'm paying attention to those
around me. On the Internet, I've made many meaningful connections with
people. On Facebook especially, I've made several of these. Of late,
I've received many friend requests, and have
accepted nearly all of them. I'm not sure that a Facebook friend is
similar to a non-Internet friend, whom I've known and interacted with
face-to-face in life. In the non-Internet life I have a few friends. But
on Facebook, the word "friend" conveys to me anyone in the world, who
is willing to walk along with me towards similar goals. Though I don't
meet a majority of my friends on Facebook, I seem to have, at times, a
more meaningful and a richer experience of oneness with these friends
than I do with those whom I call my non-Internet friends. So I am
thankful for all my Facebook friends today. And I say to all of them,
"Thank you for extending your friendship to me. Thank you for knocking
on my door. Thank you for coming in and enriching my life. May heavenly
blessings be showered on you every day."
Sing a song of praise, even as you want to weep with
pain. Even as your body is racked with unbearable pain, sing a song of
praise to the One who can relieve your pain. Sing to him. Acknowledge
his greatness and his ability to save you. Sing for relief. Sing for
strength. And keep singing until he moves in you and calms your fear,
and dulls your pain. Sing to him all through the dreary night, until
rejoicing comes in the morning. Don't fail to sing to him today.
Don't scream out meaningless sounds in your pain. But
scream out the name of the One who removes your pain. Scream out the
name of the One by whose stripes you are healed. Scream out his name all
night if you want to. And as you scream, plead with him, and ask him to
relieve your pain. He is merciful and just, and he will not let you
suffer beyond your ability to endure. Believe that, and continue your
entreaties, until you receive your answer.
When you suffer with pain, remember the one who
suffered more than any other human will ever suffer. And remember that
he suffered for you and me, and every other person in this world. When
your own suffering becomes unbearable, think of the one who suffered for
us. And though he didn't have to, he suffered for us. And let us look
at the tree on which he was hung. Let us see his pierced hands and feet.
Let us imagine the unbearable agony of the one who suffered for us. And
let us be happy to share in his sufferings to a small degree in this
world. For it is blessed to suffer for him who suffered for us.
Don't focus on your pain. But focus on the reliever of
pain. Call to him, cry to him if you need to. But know that he will pay
attention to what you say. Also know that he will respond to your
request. But try not to doubt his goodness and faithfulness. When you
call out to him, believe that he will respond favourably, and expect
that favourable response. Let your pain not be bigger than your pain
reliever today.
What
does a person care about? Does he care about life as it ought to be
lived? Or does he care only about how he wants to live his life? Does he
have any preference for external direction, or does he choose to direct
himself? If he prefers external direction, where does that preference
lead him? Does it lead him to others or to God? And then the question
arises, "What people and which god?" Or if
he depend on his own ideas of life, we need to ask: "are his ideas of
life valid enough for him to live well?" And finally we should ask,
"What is a life that is lived well?" The answers to all these questions
will vary from person to person. But there are some agreements, and even
these agreements are variable among groups of individuals who are
supposed to believe in the same thing.
Life is a matter of choices. A good life is the sum of
many good choices. There is the possibility of accident determining the
course of life. But barring that, the choices that human beings make
determine the quality of their lives. And when we speak of a person's
choices, we can also ask, "What does this person care about?" His life
will answer this question.
Glib statements won't do. Life is a very complex and
frustrating thing. The mind is the ultimate centre of decisions. It is
in the mind that God works. And he works only if permitted. So will the
human permit God to do what he wants him to do? This is the
problem-ridden question in faith. We want something, yet we are not
willing to change. This is the tragedy of human inaction. It is a
tragedy because desire does not lead to action.
Don't make friends casually. Be serious about the
people you extend your love to. Don't quickly withdraw what you give.
For such behaviour is not love, and simply not wisdom.