Fasting: a spiritual exercise

I once used to reject fasting as starvation, as I often ended up spending the hours without prayer and without food. I used to tell myself that unless I am also able to pray while I am abstaining from food, I am not fasting but merely starving. I had probably considered Isa 58:3,4 - "'Why have we fasted', they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves and you have not noticed?' ‘Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please . . . You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high'" - while coming to this conclusion. Hence, over time, I stopped fasting. But today, I begin to see that fasting by itself is a spiritual exercise just as praying is.

I now see Isa 58:3,4 not in isolation but within the context of the whole chapter. God is not displeased about the fact that they carried on their work while fasting. Rather he is displeased about the fact that their hearts were not in right alignment with him. In fact, their hearts were set all out against his tenets of justice. Their fasts were acts of hypocrisy, hoping to please God with their outwardly righteous acts while their hearts were far from him. They hoped to impress God and keep his eyes away from their quarreling and exploitation, so he could bless them. But our God is a flaming fire who examines our heart and searches our soul. He therefore called their bluff.

Just as prayer itself may be offered either sincerely where one is fully focused on God or lightly without much thought to what is being said and to who it is being said, a fast too may be offered sincerely to God or offered without any thought of God. The fact that one is working while fasting should not make it inappropriate. The human mind is capable of doing several things together and over time one should be able to learn to focus on God even in the midst of work, especially when he is fasting. Charles Spurgeon writes on Exclamatory Prayer in his book The Power in Prayer, "The mind can be praying while it is studying. It can be looking up to God while it is talking to man. One hand can be held up to receive supplies from God while the other hand is dealing out the same supplies that He is pleased to give." Just as we do not advise people to stop praying because they do not pray the right way when they begin to, but rather to grow in prayer by focusing their thoughts on God, even so, a weak attempt at fasting should not be discouraged but one should rather be encouraged to make his fasting more meaningful and effective.

How is a fast that one offers in the midst of a busy day, an act of sacrifice? To understand it, let us first look at what any act of sacrifice to the Lord signifies and accomplishes – be it prayer or praise.

Firstly, we honor God with our sacrifices. Pro 3:9 tells us to “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops". In Heb 13:15, Paul exhorts us to “continually offer to God a sacrifice of Praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name”. Just as we honor God, when we do not take the firstfruits for ourselves, and instead consecrate them for God, we honor God when we forego what is by default ours. In India, when we have guests at home and do not have enough cots for everyone, we honor the guests by giving them the cots for a good night’s rest and settling on mats on the floor ourselves. In the same way, when we give away the food that is rightfully ours, to focus on the food from heaven, we honor God. It is not that God is honored because he has the firstfruits; God is honored by our giving hearts.

Secondly, we humble ourselves before God. Ezra tells us that when he had to lead a large group from Babylon to Israel, he was ashamed to ask the King for soldiers and horsemen to protect them from enemies on the Road, and instead chose to ask God for a safe journey (Ezra 8:21). There was a great hazard on the way and he needed protection. He could have deceived himself by thinking that the King's supply will make him self-sufficient. But he chose to humble himself before God through fasting, together with the group he was leading, knowing well that it was not wise to trust man. By going to the Lord fasting, we declare that we are not self-sufficient in ourselves and the resources at our hands, and we are totally dependent on the Lord. Fasting expresses humility, self-denial and submission to God.

Thirdly, we express our regret over our sins. We find Samuel leading the Israelites to fast and mourn for their sins, and he himself interceded for them and cried out to the Lord on their behalf (I Sam 7:5-9). Elsewhere in Neh 9:1-3, we find the Israelites who had returned from Babylon, having revived worship in the temple and rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem, assembling to fast wearing sackcloth and with dust on their heads, to confess their sins and the wickedness of their fathers.

Fourthly, we show repentance and make way for God to change his declared intention of judgment. When David sinned and God warned him through Nathan that he will have to pay with the life of his new-born son, he fasted and spent the nights lying on the ground until the child died. He explained it later, “When the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ ”(II Sam 12:22)  We find elsewhere how Ahab tore his clothes, fasted, lay in sackcloth and went around meekly, when he was warned by Elijah of the coming judgment on him (I Kings 21:17-27). The Lord took notice and told Elijah, “Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day”.

We know that it is important to feed on His Word and listen to what He has to tell us. We know that it is important to seek God's presence and speak to Him in prayer. Therefore, irrespective of where we stand with regard to reading and meditating the Scriptures and praying, we always yearn to grow in these disciplines. Let us realize that Fasting too, is a very important discipline that the Lord has made available for us to grow closer to him, and begin to exercise it in our spiritual walk with God.

Do I need to fast ?

Jesus responded to the query from John’s disciples about why his disciples did not fast with a question, "How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?”. He then went on to elaborate saying, “They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.” (Mark 2:19,20)

Jesus did not say fasting was not necessary. Rather, he anticipated that they would fast at a later point in time. But before they could be expected to fast, he was at work in them. He was preparing their hearts so that when they fast they would not do it as an obligation to keep the law. Instead, they would do it for the right reasons. Jesus conveyed this through a metaphor. "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins." (Mark 2:21,22). He was giving them a new robe of righteousness. He was transforming their hearts that were old wineskins into ones capable of being home to his Holy Spirit. With his righteousness, they would then fast so that they are with the Lord even as their bodies are away from Christ. With fasting we seek him and draw near to him.

Today, some people fast as the pharisees did. They do it for all the wrong reasons . . . to be seen to be holy by others, to earn brownie points with God, or to wring God's hands into acting out what they desire. There are others on the other extreme who reject fasting as mere observance of the law that is no longer required, or as a dead tradition that yields nothing good. Jesus did not consider fasting to be an inconsequential and unnecessary practice.

In fact, Jesus thought and taught ‘Fasting’ to be an essential part of a child of God – putting it in the same league as praying and helping the poor – as can be seen from another passage in the Gospels. In his sermon on the mount, he preached saying, "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Mat 6:16-18)

Why should we fast? If we know why we should pray, we would then know why we should fast. Fasting can be considered as an intense form of prayer. When we pray God often works changes within us though at times he additionally works out changes outside us too. Anyone who spends time with the Lord is transformed by his presence. In Exodus we find that whenever Moses returned from the Lord’s presence after speaking with him, his face was radiant (Exo.34:34,35). On most such occasions, his prayer was also accompanied by fasting. Prayer and fasting bring such glorious transformation. Fasting helps one to humble himself before God in order to experience God's intimate presence and more grace.

How is fasting an intense form of prayer? In prayer, we fervently petition God. In fasting, our prayer is all the more fervent and potent. A poet wrote “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of”. It is all the more true of fasting. In Mark 9:17-29, we find Jesus rebuking and driving out a deaf and mute spirit that also threw the boy it possessed to the ground, making him foam at his mouth, gnash his teeth and become rigid. His disciples wondered why they could not drive the spirit out. Jesus had a short reply, "This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting." Fasting is needed to save people from bondage to evil.

In the early church that got established soon after our Lord’s ascension, we find the apostles and the early Christians praying and fasting. In Acts 13:2 we find that while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." As they reaffirmed their consecration to God through fasting, he set out to do wonderful things in their midst. In verse 23 of the next chapter we see that Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust. Here, when they set out on a new task, they fasted to seek his grace for the task, even as Christ himself fasted ahead of his ministry (Mat 4:2).

Jesus fasted. His disciples fasted after he was taken up from the earth, true to the words he spoke while he had been with them. The early church fasted. All this should certainly encourage us to fast more than we do now, even as we are driven in our hearts to increase and abound in prayer.

Bread for life's deepest hunger

In John 6:5 to 14 we find Jesus feeding a crowd of five thousand with five loaves and two fishes. What a great miracle! It is therefore no surprise when the crowd crosses the Sea of Galilee (Tiberias) and looks for Jesus in Capernaum, the next day. On seeing the crowd Jesus tells them, “you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill". Now wait, what is he trying to dissect – thousands indeed had their fill and they had indeed seen this miracle with their own eyes. He seems to be implying that following because they saw a miracle was right but following because they were filled is not right.

A close examination of this outburst reveals a certain disappointment in Jesus. He had hoped that they will see the feeding of thousands with little food, as a miraculous sign pointing to the presence of God among them. A statement by Jesus to a different audience underpins this expectation: "Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe." (John 4: 48). Such believing will lead them towards seeking more of God himself who can fulfill their hearts’ deepest longings. But here they were, not realizing any truth but just hanging around hoping to get free food.

In Acts 8:9-19 we see a similar response from Simon when he saw people being anointed miraculously by the Holy Spirit. Simon had practiced sorcery for some time in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He had boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, had given him their attention. But when he heard Philip preach the good news of the kingdom of God, he himself believed and was baptized, and followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. Later when Simon saw that the Spirit was given when Peter and John placed their hands on the people, he offered them money and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." (Acts 8:19). He too had missed the point. Instead of seeing God himself at work and holding on to him, here he was trying to maintain or better his livelihood -- he had only changed the source for his power; it was devil and sorcery earlier and he now thought it could be God.

Jesus after pointing out that they were following him so they could continue to get food, implores them “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you”. (John 6:27) Does this ring a bell? The bible says that "if for only this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men". (I Cor 15;19)

God often uses miracles that address one’s physical and material needs – success in studies, progression in career, healing, etc., - to reveal himself and to grab one’s attention so one will hold on to him unto eternal life. He says in Hosea 2:14, “I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her”. His expectation is that she will no longer call him ‘my master’ but move to a closer relationship where she calls him ‘my husband’. (Hos 2:16). In Deu 8:3 we find Moses explaining to the Israelites, “God humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord”. When people cling on to the blessings rather than clinging to the one who blesses, he is disappointed.

Jesus fed thousands in a miraculous way to let people see that He himself is the bread from heaven that can satisfy one’s deepest hunger -- to know God intimately and to understand God's purpose for one in this life. Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6:35) The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." (John 6:33)

The Word of God as bread . . .

How do we live on the bread from heaven -- the word that comes from the mouth of God? Jesus said, "I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me". (Mat 4:4) "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work". (John 4:34) . This Jesus has now given us his word (John 17:14) and has sent us into the world just as he himself was sent by the Father (John 17:18). If we keep his word and do his will, we will feed on the bread from heaven.

The Living Word as Bread . . .

John recorded at the start of his Gospel, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the word was God. . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us". It is therefore not surprising that Jesus said "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day . . . Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him". (John 6:53-56) How do we quench the thirst and satisfy the hunger that only heaven can meet, with the word that was the express image of the invisible God? By accepting the sacrifice he made on the cross -- believing that he gave his body to be torn and shed his last drop of blood, that our sins may be forgiven and we may have eternal life. He also promises to live inside us and take us to heaven. Each time we partake in his last supper, we are reminded of his sacrifice to make us partakers of his heavenly glory and his indwelling presence to transform us from glory to glory.

Let us take our eyes from food that satisfies our physical and material needs of this life - success, prosperity, health - and set our eyes on the food from heaven that will lead us to eternal life. The word of God is the food from heaven that has come out from the mouth of God, and we feed on the heavenly manna by keeping his commandments while living on this earth. Jesus himself is the word that is the ultimate expression and revelation of who God is, who has given himself for us as the bread of life. Let us take this bread . . . have Jesus himself in us, that we may share in his glory.

Short-cuts lead us nowhere

We often look down on Jacob (whose name means 'deceiver') and look up to men like Abraham, Joseph and Daniel, all along assuming in our sub-conscious mind that we are somewhere in between Jacob and the other greater men in the Bible. We do not realize that if we can readily identify with someone in the Bible, it is Jacob.

Jacob was a man of short-cuts. He wanted to quickly grow up in life, without the attendant effort and hard-work. My 6-year son who fondly watches stories on Kids' channels, and is greatly amused by the magical powers of the whiz-kids that star in them, once remarked that he would love to have those powers as he can get great grades without having to study !! Grown-ups too are often like that -- only not so naive but very sophisticated and subtle.

Let us focus on Jacob for a while. Two of his infamous short-cuts readily come to our mind. His elder brother Esau by way of birthright probably was poised to inherit twice as much property (sheep, cattle, men-servants & maid-servants) from his father as Jacob himself will. Certainly, over time Jacob can get wealthier than Esau -- it could only require patience, hard-work and perseverance. Jacob figured an easy way out. He took advantage of his brother's despairing moment. When Esau once returned from the open country, without success in hunting and famished, and desired to have the stew that his brother was cooking, Jacob demanded that he sells his birthright and got it for the bread and lentil stew that he let him have (Gen 25:29-34).

Do we not do the same? We try to inherit the result of someone else's hardwork. At the workplace, when something good comes out of collective work, or worse still, out of the efforts of all the rest in the team, have we not tried to be the first to announce it to the Company and together with it be the beneficiary of all the accolades and rewards. If we have, we have been a Jacob. In Lev.19;11,13, we are commanded "Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another. Do not defraud your neighbour or rob him".

There are those who may not stake claim of others' deeds, but decry and belittle anything that others did. Such people use different yardsticks for themselves and for others. When they do something, it is heculean; when others do the same, it is just extra-mile. When they commit a blunder, it is just a mole-hill; while others commit the same, it is himalayan. The Bible warns us of using different yardsticks: "Do not have two differing weights in your bag -- one heavy, one light. Do not have two differing measures in your house -- one large, one small" (Deu. 25:13,14).

Jacob attempted short-cuts not just with men but even with God. Having deceitfully got the birthright, he did not hesitate to have heaven's blessings too - that his father would pronounce on his favourite son Esau - through deceit. Teaming up with his mother, he set out to decieve his father who was going blind with age. He put on his brother's clothes that carried scent of the open country he goes hunting into, covered his hands and neck with goatskin to impersonate his hairy brother, took the meat that his mother cooked from the choice young goats in his father's flock, and decieved his father that it was Esau who has come back with his wild game as his father had wished (Gen 27:6-29).

Is this not very common with us? We think we can decieve God with our praises, our offerings and tithes. We think that it does not matter who we are internally, as long as we present ourselves in the right way to God. We are often the Jacob deep within, presenting ourselves as Esau who deserves the heavenly father's blessings. We do not forgive others but presume ourselves to be broken-hearted pleading for God's mercies. One who attempts to deceive God is in effect deceiving himself. The Bible clearly admonishes us, "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (I Sam 16:7).

Jacob had to learn his lesson the hard way. He had to run away from his home, to an uncle at Paddan Aram he has never seen, for fear that his wronged brother would kill him. The man who thought he had won wealth and God's blessings is reduced to a desperate state. He pleads with God at Luz (which he renamed Bethel) on his way to Paddan Aram, "if you will be with me and watch over me on this journey and give me food to eat and clothes to wear, and bring me safely to my fathers house . . . (Gen 28:20)"

Jacob ultimately realized that one's smartness (read it as conniving) does not bring prosperity. The twenty years of hardship and toil tending his uncle Laban's flocks ( 14 years for having Rachel's hand in marriage and another 6 years for flocks as wages during which time he got his wages changed unfavouably ten times) taught him the lesson of his life: "If God had not been with me, I would have been sent away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands (Gen 31:42)".

We all need not have to learn this lesson the hard way - by commiting the mistake in our lives and receiving correction at God's hands. We can rather learn it from Jacob's life. Let us trust God for our growth and lean not on deceit. In due time, he will lift us up.

Balm to soothe our Pain

No one can escape pain in his lifetime. It therefore helps to understand how God views our pain and where he figures in our world of sorrow and pain. The Bible makes it amply clear that our creator God feels our pain, helps us bear the pain, redeems our pain and ultimately removes our pain.

The King on the Judgment throne tells the righteous on his right, "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me". When they fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, invited a stranger, clothed a naked, cared for a sick and visited a prisoner, they had done it all to Jesus. Every time a hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, stranger or prisoner was comforted, Jesus himself had been comforted. He also tells those on his left, "whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me". So whenever a hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, stranger or prisoner continued in his predicament without comfort, Jesus himself had been denied comfort. (Mat 25:34-45). How comforting to know that our God feels our pain -- whether it is that of hunger, thirst, loneliness, sickness or shame.

God reveals through prophet Isaiah, "In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old". (Isa 63:9) Irrespective of how the pain was caused - by devil's specific targetting as with Job, by accident when a nature's law is violated, or by rebellion against God as with the Israelites - our Lord does not leave us alone. He has promised in Isa 43:2, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze". How heartening to know that our Lord helps us in our pain - he will be right beside us in our hour of grief to carry us through.

He is a god who brings out streams in the desert. He is our eternal Provider who bestows on us a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair (Isa 61:3). The greatest example of how he redeems pain can be seen in Jesus. When Jesus hung on the cross, he was considered stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted. He was in effect taking away our infirmities and carrying away our sorrows. We were brought peace from the punishment that was upon him. We were brought healing from his wounds. How encouraging to note that our Saviour redeems our pain - what our foes (including the devil) intend for harm, he intends for good.

The whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time (Rom 8:22). Sin has caused God's beautiful creation to stray from the trajectory that the creator had launched it on. The creator's finger is on the button like that of the Authority watching a Rocket's launch to determine if it is on erratic line of flight and needs to be commanded to self-destruct. A day is coming, when all the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll (Isa 34:4). He will then wipe every tear from all eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. How glorious when our Healer will remove our pain - he has already provided the way through the cross.

Therefore in times of pain, let us persevere. Peter tells us that "when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised (Heb 10:36)".

On Life's Journey

Our journey in life towards eternity very much mirrors Israelites' journey from slavery to Canaan. The Lord heard the cry of the Israelites from their state of slavery in Egypt and decided to take them into a land flowing with milk & honey. (Exo 2:23b,25, Exo 3:7,8, Deu 8:7-9) In life's journey too, we face sickness, death, catastrophes, etc., in this world (Rom 8:22) but we are headed towards a new Heaven and new Earth, where there will be no death or mourning or crying or pain. (Rev 21:1,4)

We can learn 3 things from the Exodus which is a 'type' of the real journey called life:

1. The Lord gave 3 miracles for Moses to perform and prove to the Israelite leaders that the Lord has indeed seen their plight and has sent Moses & Aaron. The people believed their message after seeing the signs (Exo 4:29-31) but at the first difficulty they faced, they got discouraged and pleaded to be left alone. When Pharaoh asked the slave drivers to make work intense, they forgot God's message and His signs. (Exo 5:1,6,9,20,21, Exo 6:9b) Even so, a lot of us come to Christ and start on our journey after God intervenes in our life - say through a healing or a miracle in answer to our prayers - but we get discouraged so quickly when we face difficulty. We fail to recognize that the Lord who gave us 'starting' power can also sustain us with 'staying' power. This mistake comes from lack of right knowledge and expectation. The Bible tells us that in this world we will have troubles (2 Tim 3:12) but asks us to be of good cheer as he has overcome the world. (John 16:33b) Our expectation is not like that of the pessimist or the Stoic who anticipates the worst and thinks that is the best way to handle it. Our expectation is that there could be difficulties but He will be with us and see us through.

2. When they faced the Red sea with the Egyptian army charging behind them, they were again dismayed. (Exodus 14:11-13) Very often when we face difficulties, we assume there is no way out. We think of some solutions to our problems and when we do not see those solutions materializing, we lose all hope. We fail to understand that what we think as solution with our limited knowledge need not be the best or the only solution.

When caught in traffic, someone inside a car may have no idea how to get out of it. A police man on the road, at the intersection may have a better idea of what is the best way for any vehicle to get out of the jam. Better still, someone hovering about 50 feet above in a helicopter may have the best idea how long this will take to clear and what is the best way for vehicles to untangle. Our view is like that of the person inside the car, or with some additional research/ knowledge like that of the policeman, but our good Lord has the best view.

God's response to the Israelites in this juncture was to be still. (Exo 14:14, Psa 46:10a) It is possible to remain still only if we have faith that our Lord is with us and will see us through. Let us trust the Lord who told "if you believed, you will see the glory of God" and stand firm until we see the miraculous deliverance from the Lord, just as he lead the Israelites on dry ground after parting the sea.

3. When they had no water, and again when they had no meat, the Israelites complained and even cried, and pined for the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, garlics and meat that they had in Egypt. (Exo 16:3, Num 11:5,6,10) Of the hundreds of thousands who started on the journey to Canaan, only Moses, Joshua and Caleb lived to see the land of plenty because they strained towards what is ahead forgetting what is behind. Like the majority of the Israelites, we often get fixated on some material losses and lose sight of our destination -- we trade with the eternal for the temporal. We often direct our efforts and prayers at getting material blessings (of this world) but remain weak spiritually. The bible says if you falter at times of trouble, your strength is feeble. (Pro 24:10) We need to wait on the Lord, and renew our strength as the eagle, and rise up. (Isa 40:31, Psa 103:6) Very often we just interpret this verse physically and ask for good strength even as we age but fail to realize that inner strength is important. Our faith in times of adversity will be only as strong as we are in our spirit. We need to consciously keep building up our inner man. Else, the devil will use life's difficulties to deter us from our path.

Let us never forget that we are on our way to heaven. The Lord who brought us onto his highway with signs and wonders is an Almighty God and his arm is never too short. He is a God who makes a way for us, where there seems to be none. He has promised to break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. (Isa 45:2) While we will see his glory if we believed, we are also to remember that if only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. (I Cor 15:19) Let us therefore look ahead to our reward and not be bogged down by what we have or do not have in this world. We have miles to go.

Living out life's purpose

You would have often heard it said that ‘Man is the crown of God’s creation. Generally it is used in the sense that having been created in God’s own image, we are the highest forms of life, more glorious than animals and even angels. However, it is also true in another sense. Just as a crown gives glory to the King who wears it, our purpose in life as crown on God’s head is to bring him the Glory that he is worthy of.

The Bible affirms that man's purpose in life as intended by God is to bring glory to HIM. Peter tells the church (I Pet 2:9), "you are a chosen people . . . that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkeness into his wonderful light". Paul writes to the Ephesians (Eph 1:11,12), "In him we were also chosen . . . in order that we . . . might be for the praise of his glory". Man finds ultimate fulfillment when he serves this purpose. Often we look at our accomplishments and material success hoping they will give us fulfillment, but at the end we find only weariness in life. Our heart finds true pleasure in being in fellowship with God. In the Bible, 'Glorifying God' has been expressed in different ways as "declaring his praise", "worshiping" and so on.

God's purpose for man is so unmistakeable in the Bible, that you can find it from Genesis (Gen 4:3,4) right till Revelation (Rev 22:9).

Meaningful Worship

NOW, if man was created to declare his praises, is he a VAIN God excessively concerned about how great he is that he can be deceived by flattery which is passed off as praise? Does God fall for sycophancy and dole out blessings, like our politicians do?

The Bible says that God discerns 'flattery' from 'genuine praise'. The Psalmist sings of such people "they would flatter him with their mouths, lying to him with their tongues; their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant" (Psa 78:35-37). God accepts only the praise that comes from a loving heart and his word says that if we love God, we will obey his commandments.

He is not deceived by the quality or sophistication of our 'praise' when our heart is not loyal to him. He says of the offerings by people who have not listened to his words and have rejected his law, "What do I care about incense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me".(Jer 6:19,20)

We are not to approach "praise" as a success-formula or as a ‘Guaranteed to work’ methodology for obtaining God’s favour, as is often made out by some. Of such people, the Lord says "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men".(Isa 29:13).

God is not interested in mindless worship that one indulges in as a matter of mere habit/routine. The Lord speaks to prophet Ezekiel, "My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice". He knows when worship is born out of a selfish greed that hopes to gain from praising God. He tells the prophet, "With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain". He discerns when worship becomes mere entertainment. "Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice" (Eze 33:31,32).

Beyond lip-service

True worship from a loving and obedient heart is not confined to just community and private prayer. Deriving fulfilment from serving life's purpose too, is not limited to just Sundays and quiet hours. In fact, God expects us to be a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1). We can do that by striving to glorify God in all that we do. When we do not seek our own good but the good of others, we cause many to praise their creator (I Cor 10:31-33, Mat 5:16). When we look at ourselves as stewards of all the blessings we receive and help God bless the whole world through us - his body - we glorify God as we turn multitude of hearts to be thankful towards their creator (Heb 13:16, II Cor 9:8). This is how we can praise God, round the clock, all days of the week, around the year and be a living sacrifice.

Let us find meaning in life, through worship that is acceptable and pleasing to God. Let our worship come from a heart that is overflowing with love for God and thankfulness for HIS love. Let it not come out of greed or as a matter of following a rule. Let us ask God to help us understand His love so that our hearts will overflow with love for Him and offer genuine praise. Let us extend this meaningful worship to all parts of our life, by seeking the good of others and realizing that we are His stewards.

Meaningful worship will not only bring true happiness in this world, but will also earn us our master’s accolade when we meet Him in glory. 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'

Considering how the heroes lived

Paul exhorted the Jews of his time "Remember your leaders . . . Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith." (Heb 13:7). He had just produced a long list of warriors of faith that reads like a Who's Who of the times past - a Hebrew hall-of-fame - a couple of chapters before making this exhortation. He had also asked them to look up skyward at this great cloud of witnesses and at Jesus the Morning Star, and run with perseverance the race marked out for us, without growing weary and losing heart (Heb 12:1-3). We too will do well to heed this advice and look at the giants of faith amongst our ancestors and in the 20 centuries since Paul's exhortation, and follow their footsteps.

While I would want to look at the faith of some modern-day giants at a future date, today I would like to look closely at the early Patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. All three obeyed God under circumstances that were not conducive.

Abraham's was a life of faith - believing he will be a father when he was without child and already 99 years old, believing he will be a father of nations when he had just one child, and obeying God's command to sacrifice even this only begotten son -- a bundle of joy he had awaited for atleast 25 years if not more . . . And it all began about 25 years earlier when the Lord told him "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great Nation." Abraham, then Abram, was a resident of the UR of the Chaldeans. Ur was a thriving city inside Mesopotamia (corresponding to modern Iraq, North-East Syria, South-East Turkey and South-West Iran) - often referred to as the cradle of Civilization. Ur, according to one estimate, was the largest city in the world from 2030 to 1980 B.C. Here was a man who was being called from the most developed part of the world at the time, to an obscure, under-developed part by God. Imagine someone in the U.S. being called by God to go to the dark continent to live among tribals -- not many can palate such a thought, leave alone heeding such a call. And this man, stepped out in faith. The Bible says, he took his wife, his nephew, all the possessions they had accumulated and all the people they had acquired, and set out for the land of Canaan. His caravan would have had to walk across deserts, braving the bandits, defying the desert storms, all in faith on the one who called.

Abraham's son Isaac, we see, had excelled where his distinguished father had failed. Earlier in Abraham's time, there had been a severe famine (Gen 12:10). The Hero of Faith who had journeyed to Canaan all the way from Ur, did not have the faith to stay in Canaan. He had tried to escape famine by running to Egypt and was apparently successful acquiring, livestock, menservants and maidservants. Little would he have realized that one of these Egyptian maidservants - acquired when his faith wavered for once - would prove to be cause for torment not only for him but for all generations. Fourteen chapters later, in Isaac's time, there is again a famine. Isaac was probably contemplating moving to Egypt, while in Gerar among the Philistines, when the Lord tells him "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands . . .(Gen 26:1-3). In verse 12, we find that Isaac planted crops in that land. Imagine someone planting crops during a famine, during years of drought . . . he would have been laughed at. He had faith on the Lord who promised to bless him even when there was a wasting famine around. And we find that he reaped a hundred-fold because the Lord blessed him. He became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very rich. (Gen 26.12,13). Did not Jeremiah say centuries later, "blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. (Jer 17:7,8) "


Jacob was probably the most unlikely hero. Here was a man trying to be successful in life through deceit. He is now running away from his brother who is seeking his life, anxious for food and clothing, despairing for life itself. His 'gate of heaven' experience at Luz, leads him to place his trust on the Lord. At Paddan Aram, he finds his match in his maternal uncle Laban, who is a master of deceit. He first tricks him into hard-labour for 7 years for a wife, tricks him again into another 7 years for the girl he loved, by marrying off the other daughter through deceit, and attempts to trick him by changing his wages 10 times in the next 6 years. After 20 years of settling in a far-off land, having learnt to thrive under the nose of the deceitful Laban, he hears the Lord telling him "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you." (Gen 31:3) Paddan Aram is now his home. The one who had just a staff when he came over, now has livestock, menservants, maidservants and two groups (of family). But instead of trusting his possessions, he trusted the Lord who showed him kindness and faithfulness that he was totally unworthy of. He dared to meet his brother again, risking the lives of his wifes, his dear children and his own, in obedience and faith on the one who said "I will make you prosper". (Gen 32:10-12)

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob . . . all were sure of what they hoped for, certain of what they did not see, placing their faith on the one who spoke to them. And God was not ashamed to be called their God. Do we trust God with our lives - having seen God's love and faithfulness expressed unambiguously in his son Jesus ?

Deceitful Pretense

Last week, we looked at the right way to dress up that will bring us growth -- imitating Christ towards perfection. This is a slow and painful process of constantly looking into the mirror of His Word, and being taught, rebuked, corrected and trained in righteousness. (2Tim3:16). This is a process that works inside out. This growth process constantly reminds us about what we lack in love, humility, forgiveness and faithful response to suffering. This reminds us that by ourselves we are selfish, proud, unforgiving and looking out for self-gratification, and that we need to lean heavily on His grace to bring forth the fruit of righteousness.

This is much like how a small manufacturing company would like to emulate a leader that has already grown to enormous proportions. It would want to emulate the engineering processes that guarantee quality work-products, the training methodologies that produce well-equipped work-force, and HR practices that keep the work-force motivated, for the industry-leader. However, this is a slow process that can not be completed overnight. This company would need to identify gaps, bring changes to bridge the gaps, and let the processes, methodologies and practices mature. Growing to be a Son of God is very much the same except that we grow by leaning on HIS grace and not on our own efforts.

Since this is often painfully slow, most of us often look for a quick way to grow. We look out for short-cuts that will quickly take us where we want to be and in the process we are deceived. Since there is no short-cut to growth, we often find ways that give us a feeling of having grown, where in reality we have not progressed much. We start focusing on the outward results without bothering if anything has changed on the inside. This is akin to a small company learning to advertise like a leader while continuing to produce inferior products. Or worse still, a company deciding to produce counterfeits and be an impostor in a market place that has unsuspecting consumers. This is what a desire for quick-gratification often leads us to.

It is the same in the spiritual world too. Paul warns Timothy that in the last days, there will be people 'having a form of godliness but denying its power". On the outward they will look like godly people – either professing to be godly people, or showing themselves to be godly with all external marks of godliness – but denying the fruit of godliness. Instead of loving others more than themselves, they will be lovers of themselves and lovers of money. Instead of regarding others as honorable than themselves, they will be boastful, proud, abusive and disobedient to parents. Instead of forgiving others as they themselves have been forgiven by the Heavenly father, they will be without love, unforgiving, slanderous and brutal. Instead of being patient in suffering, they will be ungrateful, unholy and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. (2Tim3:2-5)

Why does this happen in the spiritual world? It could be because we, like the Pharisees, love praise from men more than praise from God (John 12:43). The Pharisees loved to pray standing in the synagogues and on street corners to be seen by men (Mat 6:5). When they fasted they looked somber and disfigured their faces to show men they were fasting (Mat 6:16). When they gave to the needy, they announced it with trumpets in public places. Do we spend time with God alone in our rooms more than we spend in community worship? If not, we better beware of the trap of enacting righteousness before men to be seen by them. Jesus warns that such people have received their reward in full.

If we are not playing out to the crowd, we could be playing out to God himself. We do this when we trust God for this life alone and for things of this world. In a world that is heavily focused on wealth, success and fame, we could be attempting to deceive God, hoping to be blessed. We try to hide the dirt inside and hope that God will be pleased by our prayers and praises. But rather than deceiving God, we will be deceiving ourselves. For God is not fooled by our appearances. Paul warns the Ephesians, "No immoral, impure or greedy person has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God . . . for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient (Eph 5:5,6)

A third possibility is that our conscience could have become seared as with a hot iron. We might listen to the word but not do what it says. The Bible likens such a person to a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like (James 1:23,24). Paul calls them as men who are always learning but never acknowledging the truth.

Where do we stand today ? Are we imitating Christ and growing to be like him, or are we being an impostor masquerading as Christ? The difference is in the intention. The imitator is looking up to Christ, while the impostor is looking out to deceive. While we find how fallen we are, we could either be driven to our knees in humility, painfully conscious of our insufficiency and seeking His grace, or we could be driven to put up a facade of righteousness, unwilling to admit our inadequacy. A dangerous line divides the Imitators and Impostors. On which side are you?

Dress Up to grow

Growth is something that we would all like to experience ourselves and see happen in those we love. No matter how lovely a baby's talk is, no mom would be happy to continue to hear the child talk without any improvement in structure and pronounciation. No matter how fascinating an year old's walk is, no pop would be delighted to continue to watch the child stumbling and faltering at every step. It is the same with God about his sons. He wants us to grow by bounds and measures --a figure each day, a form every hour.

Paul writes to Corinthians in I Cor.13:11, "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me". How does a child grow? A boy keenly observes his father's actions, speech & mannerisms, and tries to imitate him. He tries to copy, duplicate or reproduce the style that his father exhibits, and in the process he grows to be like him. Which is why, we often see the traits of the father in a son. You must have heard people say 'Like Father, Like Son'.

It is the same with the Sons of God. God calls us to learn his ways and imitate him. Jesus cried to the God in Heaven from Gethsamane, calling him "Father". Earlier, he had taught the Sons of men (who would grow to be Sons of God) the Lord's Prayer, teaching them to pray to God calling him 'Our Father in Heaven'. Jesus who said 'Iam the Light of the world'(John 9:5), also told the people who followed him "You are the light of the world (Mat.5:14)". He spoke of his followers as 'not of the world' even as He himself was 'not of the world' (John 17:16). We are called to become like our Father.

Paul instructs us to imitate God. He beseeches us to imitate his attitudes and actions -- his sacrificial love, his humility, his forgiveness, his response to suffering and his faith. We see in Him:

sacrificial love [he came to give his life as a ransom for many (Mat 20:28)];

Paul writes to the Ephesians, "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.." (Eph 5:1,2) He tells the church at Philipi "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." (Phil 2:4)

humility [the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve (Mat 20:28)];

Paul challenges the Phillipians to have the same mind as Christ and "do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." (Phil 2:2,3).

forgiveness [Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luk 23:34)];

Paul sets himself as example in the matter of forgiving others. "We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly...I urge you to imitate me".(I Cor 4:16-17)

calm response to suffering [yet not my will, but yours be done (Luk 22:42)] and

Paul commends the Thessolonians, "You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. (I Thes 1:6)

faith in His father [into your hands I commit my spirit" (Luk 23:46)]

Finally, Paul exhorts the Hebrew church "Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith." (Heb 13:7)

While we imitate Him, we are growing. While imitating him, we will realize that we are just sons of men who have been asked to imitate the Son of God, so that we are transformed to his likeness. We will come to know our limitations and confines, and learn to depend on His grace. We will then understand that we are not there yet, but we are on our way towards his perfection and need his grace every step of that way. This is the path the Lord has set before us to make us Sons of God. C.S.Lewis calls this process "dressing up as Christ". Let us allow our good Lord to dress each of us as a "Little Christ", for that is the divine purpose to which we have been called.

On man's trail

Have you wondered any time how Jesus's life on earth 2000 years ago, is of any significance to a man living today in the 21st century ? We often think of it as one act of intervention by God, which is now history. We think of it as God's sacrifice that lasted no longer than about 33 years. In reality, it is an intervention that lasts for eternity and that has changed the face of humanity on earth.

Several men in the old testament had agonized over the triviality of human life. Bildad while advising Job in Ch 25 compares a son of man negatively to the moon and the stars and says he is less likley to be pure as he is only a maggot and a worm. King David in Psalms 8:3-5 muses, "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings". Again in Psalms 144 he wonders, "O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow." In Numbers 23:19, we find that man is called a liar who speaks and does not act, one who changes his mind and does not fulfil his promise. Man who had been created in God's image, had stooped to this depth over time, and God was about to act to restore him to his original glory.

Phil 2:5-7 states that Jesus, "being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!" He did not hold on to his status as the Son of God, but came down to become a Son of Man. In Eph 5:23 we find that "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her", as an ideal husband does for a wife he loves. In verses 32 and 33, we find that marriage on earth is a type of God's union with man. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." Paul calls this a Profound mystery.

His union with man is not a 33 year old affair that is reversed and forgotten for eternity. It has forever changed the Son of God. God who is a spirit, and who does not live in a body of flesh, came down to inhabit a body and forever carries the mark of that intervention. That is what we find in John 20, where on the evening of that first day of the week after his death, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Jesus showed him once again to Thomas who said "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it", and asked him "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Apostle John in Rev 5:6 sees Jesus as " a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne". Even today, he carries marks that will remind him of the days he walked among men.

Why did he intervene in an irreversible manner as this? Hebrews 2:9-11 say that we see Jesus, who as a Son of Man was made a little lower than the angels, "now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. Further in verses 14-15 we read, "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".

Jesus descended to depths, enmeshed himself with us, and has picked us up into glory together with him. Son of God became son of man, to help the sons of men become Sons of God.   Hebrews 2:16 points out that he did not do such a thing for the Angels. From this intervention we see that the sons of men are precious in His sight, more than anything else. Today, we need not despair as Job or David did. We need not doubt if God really cares for man. When God looks at Jesus, bearing the marks of the cost he had borne to make us his brothers, he forgives us and accepts us as His children. Today, we know that we are worth all the trouble he has taken to restore us to former glory and have the hope of becoming Sons of God. That is what Christ's sojourn on earth 2000 years ago, has done for humanity.

Power to overcome

Have you ever wondered what happened to the promise in 2 Cor 5:17, of all things becoming new. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" You probably expected a miraculous change overnight. If you can recall your first commute back home from the evening evangelistic crusade where you gave your heart to Christ, you might remember the feeling you had that all your old nature is gone. Then over the next couple of days, as some of those defects slowly began to show up again, you might have been surprised and shocked that they were still lurking below the surface. And over the ensuing days, you might have slowly given up and finally started to believe that nothing happened when you experienced new birth.

What is the reason for this common experience. In 1 Cor.1:22, Paul tells the Corinthian church that "Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom". We too like the Jews who repeatedly wanted God to prove himself with some miracle, probably expect God to work magic with our lives. In Mat 16:1, we find that "the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven". We want him to transform us in an instant in a painless manner. When we don't see that happen, we get disappointed. Or like the Greeks who looked for wisdom to live the right way, who listened to the likes of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, look for some wonderful formula out of the bible, that will help us live victoriously without much labour and pain. Paul adds "...but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (I Cor 2:23)". Paul says that we do not need a miracle or some new wisdom, but we need to learn of the crucified Christ. Why did he not qualify this Christ with some other adjective such as the 'coming King', or 'the son of God'; why talk about his cross?

What is the message of the Cross that Paul speaks of loftily, in many of his epistles. It is true that cross signifies agony and shame that Christ had to suffer, to pay for our sins. But there is something more to Cross than these. If we look at Christ hours before he hung on the cross we see him praying, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done (Luk 22:42)." It is the submission of the human will to God's will that so roundly defines the cross. In Heb 5:8,9 we find "Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered, and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him". Learning obedience is the path to eternal salvation. He has shown us the path that we may follow, and has thereby become the source of eternal salvation. It is not by an overnight miracle or through some quick and easy formula, but through minute-by-minute submission of our will to God's will. Paul reiterates this to the Galatians "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. (Gal 5:24)"

To them that obey him and learn to submit their wills to God, Christ gives strength and power to overcome. Paul therefore concludes in I Cor 1:24, "but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." In I Cor 2:2 he asserts, "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified". This he says he did, so that our faith might rest on God's power, and he later goes on to add, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (I Cor 2:9). We have the example of Christ and Paul, who were enabled by God's power when they submitted to the cross. Consider the following verses. "For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God's power we will live with him to serve you (II Cor 13:4). "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. (Rom 6:6-10)"


Let me now summarize in one verse. Gal 6:14,15 shows us this relationship between new creation and the cross. "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world...what counts is a new creation." If we remain in Christ, we are a new creation, and we remain in Christ by continually submitting our wills to God's will. When we are wronged, do we repay the wrong or submit to Christ's command that tells us to repay the evil with good. When someone slaps us on the cheek, do we show the other cheek as Christ commanded or do we say it would be foolish to do so. To the greek, Cross is foolishness but to him who is called to follow Christ, it is the Wisdom of God.

The Prime Victim

In Mat 9:2, Jesus tells the paralytic man that his sins have been forgiven. Now wait! This paralytic man like any of us could have wronged a lot of people, but how can Jesus write away all his wrongs. Only the victim can forgive the wrongs. But we may say that He is God and therefore can forgive. The Jews in Jesus's time too,like us, thought God can forgive except that they were not willing to believe that this Jesus was God. "Who can forgive sins but God alone? (Luk 5:21)"

But there could be others who question the Christian Gospel on the grounds that how could even God simply wipe away all of one's sins when one has wronged so many people in his lifetime. The reason why Jesus can forgive sins is because he suffers along with any victim. He is the suffering God who suffers with his children in the world.

Consider Jesus's statements about judgment day: "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.(Mat 25:37-40)' Similarly he tells that those on the left also will answer "'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.(Mat 25:44,45)' He makes it plain that the good we do to the least in the family, neighbourhood or society, we do it to him, and the good we deny to the least, we deny it to him. He is impacted positively or negatively by all our deeds.

Consider Paul's caution to the labourer and to the housewife: "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord (Eph 5:22)". "Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free (Eph 5:5-8)". These are just 2 illustrations by Paul to highlight the fact that whatever we do on earth, impact our Lord. Not just the wife's obedience or the worker's service but a whole lot of other acts that we do, actually reach our Lord and impact him.

Probably to highlight this fact, our Lord shows the prodigal son as pleading to his father, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you (Luk 15:18)". Joseph seemed to know that committing adultery with Potiphar's wife is not just sin against her husband but also against God. "My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God? (Gen 39:9)"

Let us know for sure this day, that whatever we do, impacts the Lord. May the Lord give us this understanding, and let this knowledge keep us from sinning against our Lord, in all that we say and do.

Vital Connection

We have been created for a purpose and that is to bear fruit. In John 15:16, Jesus tells his disciples ".. I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last". In ver 5 Jesus says "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit". Imagine the world to be the Father's garden (John 15:1). He has sent his son Jesus into this world to bless the world by placing him as the Vine at the center of the garden. The vine can take its fruits to all parts of the garden through the branches that reaches out in all directions. In the same way, Jesus can bless all sections of the society through us his children. The world will see love, know joy and obtain goodness through us who will bear the fruit of "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22,23).

His purpose for us then is that we are loving, joyful, peacable, patient, kind, good, gentle and self-controlled while we live on this earth. We might know already that we are to be people of this kind, but all too often we might be running out of love, patience, kindness, goodness and gentleness. At the drop of a hat, we might be losing our joy and peace and controlling our minds can only be easier said than done. We then start questioning if that really is the purpose when God does not seem to help us bear fruit.

Our God is a good God who does not expect something from us without providing for it. He is Jehovah Jireh who provides for our needs. He has told us how we can bear fruit and serve our purpose on earth. Let us look closely at the 'vine & branches' metaphor to unlock the secret. If you see fruits on some branches and don't see them on others, what can be the reason? They are branches of the same vine, so the problem does not lie in the soil or in the vine. It is in the "connection". "No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine (ver 5). A branch that is not connected to the vine is actually cut off from it and soon withers and dies (ver 6). It is the sap in the vine that carries the nutrients to the ends of each branch and helps it to bud, blossom (into flowers) and ripen (into fruits). For us to bear fruit and be a blessing to the world we must remain - stay connected - in him.

In John 15, Jesus specifically talks about 3 connections. Remain in me (ver 4). Remain in my love (ver 9). Let my word remain in you (ver 7). He is the Living Word, and all 3 connections are related to His word. We remain in his love by obeying his commandments (ver 10). To obey his commandments, we should be instructed in his word (his word should remain in us). And how can we be expected to receive instruction unless we remain in him, wait on him in prayer, and in reading and meditating on the Bible. When we think we are God's children and that missing one morning's devotion or one night's prayer will not matter too much to God, we will do well to remember that we are slowly losing connection and a branch that loses connection is sure to wither and die. We often forget this and then wonder why we don't seem to be the new creation that God has made us into. We often doubt our salvation or the word that implies a saved person to be a changed person -- "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come (2 Cor 5:17). That is because we are not remaining in him, though we have come to know him and have experienced what it is to be in Him. We then start trying to be good by ourselves before finally giving up.

The secret is to "keep remaining in Him." Let me close with 2 verses that tell us clearly that we can bear fruit only through God working in us when we are remaining in him. Paul tells the Colossians that he prays that they "may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, . . . being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might (Col. 1:10,11)". He calls this power "his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet..(Ephes. 1:19-22)". We can win over flesh, sin, devil and self and bear fruit, ONLY with his power.

Paul calls our hope for such glory "a mystery" and that secret is "Christ in you" (Col 1:27). When we remain in Christ, he remains in us and enables us to bear fruit.