Contributed the following article to the JAN '14 issue of VANAMUTHAM,
that attempts to connect the world (with its events and practical issues) to God's word.
My Friend,
I wanted to share
my views on three issues that I believe will be weighing heavily on the mind of
any individual. It is for you to accept
my view or reject it, but I cannot withhold it from you for fear of either
being rejected or mocked. It has helped
me handle three of the biggest problems in my life, and it is out of friendship
and love that I want to share it with you.
All of us have done things that we are not
proud of -- Things that we did out of some compulsion that we felt in our
body and mind; Things that we did hoping it would bring us happiness. We might have lied to someone who trusted us,
cheated our elders, grabbed what is rightfully someone else’s, hurt those who
suddenly turned enemies, disobeyed our parents, disrespected our teachers, and
humiliated someone who was not as wealthy or handsome (beautiful) or
knowledgeable as we are. All of us may
not have done all of these things, but I am sure there is none who has not done
any of these things.
Memories of some of
these things haunt us. Depending on the
values we hold today, we try our best to erase memories of these or justify
them. Some of us justify these by
looking at people around us and concluding that none is exempt from these and
therefore to be human is to be imperfect.
Others among us justify these by attributing our past actions to impulses
in the body which are determined by our Chromosomes, something that we are not
responsible for. To be sure, I have had
a good share of these from all the years of my existence.
Next, all of us want to rise above ourselves.
We all want to be good people who will not lie, cheat, grab, hurt or
disrespect. We want to be good, kind and
do good to others. But our dormant nature rears its ugly head, just when we
think we have moved on. When we stand in
any queue, be it at the Post Office, at the Ticket Counter or at a Wedding Reception,
the urge to edge out some and gain a few slots up just would not die down. When
we are in a crowd, be it at a social party or a team meeting, the urge to stand
up and be counted, even at the cost of putting down someone else, just would
not go away. When we are moved in our hearts and would want to extend a helping
hand, the thought of what it will cost us in time, money and effort just does
not help our actions to match with our intentions.
We are all
struggling with these contradictions within us.
We want to do something beautiful but end up doing something else. But we tell ourselves that we will
improve. We read self-help books and
attend camps.
We are told that we
are intrinsically good; that it is what we have acquired over the years through
our up-bringing and environment that is causing our actions to be incongruent
with our true self; and that they can be shed by inward gazing to see our self
in isolation from our actions. But we
have not become any better.
Others have asked
us to wake up the lion inside us. But we
feel ever smaller as we realize again and again that we just don’t measure up
to our own expectations.
Finally, given our
past and our present struggles, we
wonder what life is all about. Is
there any meaning in life? Is it not all
about finding happiness? If happiness is
what is paramount, does it really matter if we are kind or cruel? Does it make any difference whether we are
proud or humble? Despite all our
blemishes, if we can still be happy, is that not what we should pursue rather
than be bogged by this discussion about good and evil?
We are told that
there is no over-arching meaning in life; that we are to give small meanings to
our day-to-day activities and events that we come across; that if we can have
small things line up our lives that bring us a smile, or a laughter or
happiness, we can provide meaning to our life.
Accordingly, we
have crowded our lives with parties, celebrations, ceremonies and travels. We have arranged trainings, competitions and
performances for our children. But the
emptiness refuses to go away.
If you have read thus far, it is likely you
agree with me that you share the Top 3 concerns for life:
1. We all have done
things we are not proud of. 2. We want
to rise above ourselves. 3. We want to
find what will bring meaning and purpose to life. I will now want to share how I have got these
concerns addressed in my life.
When I have done
things that I am not proud of, obviously they are things that are not
right. I find a moral law written in my
conscience that is telling me what is right and what is wrong. If I know they are not right, I deserve
punishment. My own conscience will judge
me as a culprit, as someone who has trespassed.
If my own conscience judges me, God the maker of you and me, is greater
than my conscience and He being just is sure to judge me. I therefore deserve and await God’s
judgment. It is this burden of knowing I
deserve punishment that is called GUILT.
I cannot wish my
Guilt away. The fact that others are
equally guilty or worse does not help me.
I still deserve God’s punishment, like all others. Thankfully God understands and He has
provided me a way. He loved me so much
that He came down to pay the penalty so I can be free. I have
chosen to trust Him and enjoy freedom. The alternative will be to refuse to
acknowledge His kind act for me, and continue to grovel in guilt.
When I have found
that no self-help helps, obviously I need help from outside. I find that no matter how hard I will, I
just don’t have it in me to carry it out.
It is true that when I sow an action, I reap a habit, when I sow a habit,
I reap a character and when I sow a character, I reap a destiny. But the trouble is with the start. If I am brutally honest with myself, sowing a
thought is not necessarily helping me reap an action. Despite the amount of good books I have read,
the discourses I have listened to and the trainings I have attended, being good
is something alien. I am just too
selfish.
Here again, if I am
not too proud to recognize my limitation, help from outside is available. God Himself comes to live inside me. He gives me a sensitive heart that easily
recognizes His prompting. When I obey His prompting, He enables me to carry it
out. The power of Him that created the
universe and all that we see around us with His word is available for me to
resist the tug from my weak self. God
living inside me transforms me by renewing my mind, and enables me to act as He
would.
Now that I have
accepted God’s forgiveness and have Him living with me, fellowship with Him has
become a reality. I am no longer alone. The all-knowing God is living in me. He knows best and that is true with knowing what
brings me happiness and fulfillment too.
He made me for Himself. He did not make me for myself, nor did I
create myself. I am therefore incapable
of defining purpose. My creator alone
knows what He made me for.
He does not give me
a blue-print about my future. He does
not tell me what I will become in the next 5 or 10 years, and how I will get
there. He tells me what I should do
every moment and in every situation. He
has laid out principles in His written word for me, by which I should direct my
steps. When it is His pleasure that
becomes paramount to me, I can be sure that my life will be lived out
beautifully and meaningfully. Any time I
turn back and look at how my years have been spent, I will see how wonderfully He
has accomplished His purposes through me.Would you like to have Him, know His purpose, and enjoy His Enabling presence and power to make your life meaningful?
