While Waiting for Home

 “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name” (Heb 13:14—15).

Living as a foreigner is a strange experience. Nothing belongs to them in the country where they live. If the foreigner is a newcomer, he needs help to make sense of things happening around him. Homesickness is high in the first few weeks, though it may wear out as time goes on. 

Christ-followers are sojourners on earth. Saint Peter calls them "sojourners and exiles" (1 Pet 2:11). The writer of Hebrews depicts them as people waiting in a foreign country for their permanent residence or a city that is to come. Paul reminded the church in Philippi, though they are Roman citizens that their real citizenship is in heaven, where Jesus is. "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…" (Phil 3:20).

Christ's followers are not idle passengers in waiting lounges, living in the tension of the now and the not yet. They cherish a dream of reaching their destined home. While on earth, they keep themselves busy, not with worry or fear, but with the joyous anticipation of the new destiny that God has called them to. They are filled with hope and excitement for what is to come.

This assurance of a permanent home that we travel to fills us with a deep sense of gratitude and joy, prompting us to praise God. The foundation of our worship is what God has done and what we will have through Jesus Christ. So, we sing on the way home, in every moment of our life on earth. We must not just sing but also integrate personal worship into our daily lives. Taking time out of our daily routine to sing praises to him is not just a suggestion but a vital part of our lifestyle, a source of strength and inspiration.

Today, take brief breaks to hum songs of praise to God. Let us punctuate our days with moments of personal worship.

The Math of Generosity

 

In terms of finance, this verse is an absurd proposition. It seems highly unlikely that any finance expert or someone with average skill with numbers would admit that the more one gives, the more one will have. It is common sense that the numbers will be negative if the outflow exceeds the inflow.

However, the Bible teaches that the more a person gives, the richer he becomes. The converse of this theory is that the one who withholds will be the loser. In other words, generosity never makes a person a pauper, but the opposite happens.

Jesus affirmed this principle: “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38). Paul quotes Jesus as saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

Human Generosity is rooted in God’s character. Apostle James describes God as someone who “gives generously to all those who ask him” (James 1:5).

Generosity is not giving away all that we have but meeting the needs of others in proportion to what we have. It is an attitude of not withholding and letting our resources be shared. The more we give, the more we are given to give. So, we become not big storehouses of resources but wider channels of God’s blessings to others.

The generous givers never run dry because they are like rivers of God, as the psalmist describes: “The river of God is full of water” (Psa 65:9).

Re-wiring Minds for Eternity

 “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col 3:1—2).

Christian faith is not just a set of beliefs but involves experiencing the Lord daily. Growing in faith means experiencing more and more of our Saviour and Lord and becoming increasingly like him.

The Christian life begins when we recognise the need for a saviour and continues as we identify with him in his death and resurrection in Christian baptism. We are seated with him through the spiritual resurrection, though we are still physically on earth. Paul sums up this experience: “Even when we were dead in our trespasses, (God) made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus….” (Eph 2:5—7).

People who accept God's salvation through Jesus Christ should also know they are destined for life in another world. They must have a different orientation of mind than the unsaved.

People who have experienced God’s salvation and belong to the world where Christ is should re-orient their minds from things of this world to things of that world. Just as a person who plans to immigrate to another country gets rid of things that are of no use in the new country, learns the language, culture, and manners of the host country, and lives each day waiting for the day of entry in the new country, so must we too; feet on this earth, eyes on the world above with eager anticipation.

Jesus had promised that one day, he would take us to be with him: “I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3).

This re-orientation of thinking, hopes, and aspirations determines the quality of Christian life we live. Paul reminded Philippians, who were Romans by citizenship, that “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it, we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil 3:20). This realisation of where we belong gives the momentum for the Christian life. Instead of being stagnant, in Paul’s words, we must forget “what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, [and] press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:13—14).

Wait, Do not Wilt

 “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!”

(Psa 27:13—14).

The person who penned this Hebrew poem expresses his trust in the Lord. Line by line, he describes how he will overcome every adversity that rises against him through the power of God. He narrates his story so that every believer then and even now may have their confidence in the Lord.

His confidence comes from the fact that the Lord is good and always favours those who approach him for help. He is confident that his prayers will be answered during his lifetime. (“The land of the living” denotes a person's lifetime).

The Lord may not act according to our timetable, but he certainly acts according to this will in his own time. This requires patience. Exhorting the worshippers to “wait for the Lord”, the psalmist encourages them not to give up but to hold on for the Lord’s time.

Waiting could be extended, and it could be tiring. People waiting for the Lord to act should be prepared to remain strong and courageous and never give up.

While growing impatient and at the point of giving up hope, the stories of godly people, ancient and modern, had always motivated me to keep my eyes fixed on the Lord. Wait, do not wilt—that is the punch of the last line that opens and closes with the phrase, “wait for the Lord.”

The Secret of Victory

 “He asked life of you; you gave it to him, length of days forever and ever” (Psa 21:4).

Psalm 21 thanks the Lord for answering the prayer for victory that the people prayed in Psalm 20 as the king set out for the battle. The people had confessed that it was not their military strength but the Lord’s might that made their army win the war. Now, the king and the military have come back victorious.

The first part of the Psalm (verses 1—7) elaborates on what the Lord has done for the king, while the second part (verses 8—12) expresses their hope for a future free of threats from the enemies. In the last verse, they praise the Lord for his strength and mercy in preserving them. “Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power” (Psa 21:13). Ancient Israel was a tiny nation among powerful and more prominent nations. They had never been an empire except during the period of David, who had subdued some smaller countries. Still, that is enough to make an empire. They were bullied by the small nations and raiders and were controlled by powerful nations such as Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. They had to keep alive throughout history, resisting the forces that demanded their life.

An overview of Biblical history teaches that the Lord protected them against their mighty enemies when they trusted him but had to give them up when they failed to acknowledge him and sought his protection.

Psalms 20 and 21 teach us an essential truth about our life with the Lord. Trusting in our strength alone is the recipe for failure since we never have the strength to protect ourselves. On the contrary, acknowledging the power of God and being totally dependent on him is the way to victory.

Why Elihu blew a fuse?

Elihu was a patientl listener to the arguments back and forth between Job and his friends. However, it came to a point were he blew his top! ‘Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God. He burned with anger also at Job's three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong’ (Job 32:2-3).

It is not an acceptable behaviour in ancient societies for young people to speak in the presence of the elders, leave alone criticise them. Elihu had reserved the most disrespectful, caustic comments about the whole thing. The reason for his frustration is not that the debate between Job and his friends has been the poorest show on earth but they proved themselves to be fools, though they were widely accepted wisemen! He burst out, ‘I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you. I said, “Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom”’ (Job 32:6-7).
That is only a rather gentle introduction to sharp criticism of wisdom of aged that is to come. He said, ‘It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right’ (Job 32:9). That statement flies at the face of the values that the ancient world cherished. There was no Google those days to consult. Wisdom was oral, passed on from one generation to another. The older the person, the wiser he would be, because wisdom is accumulated by age. This is what the young man Elihu is dares to deny.
What is important here is that, Elihu is not denying the wisdom of the wisemen or the old. He points out to another source of wisdom which neither Job nor his friends have realized. That is the Spirit of the Almighty God which dwells in human beings. He argues, ‘But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand’ (32:8). Before we take a closer look at Elihu’s statement we need to do see why Elihu blew a fuse!
The secret of Elihu’s outburst is evident in the structure of the book itself. Job has lost everything: his wealth, his children and his health. He has moved from the honourable place he had at the city gate to the trash dump in the city. His friends wise in every way (the three came from the major seats of learning in the ancient world) comes to visit him. They argued only one thing: Job is a sinner and that is the reason for his suffering. Ask God’s forgiveness and he will be fine. That is exactly what Job could not accept. He didn’t hear the conversation between Satan and Yahweh in the heavenly court where Yahweh swore that Job is righteous in every way. But he had the inner conviction that he is not a sinner as his friends tries to argue. There are three rounds of arguments between Job and his friends. They will speak one after another and Job replies to each of them in each round. They used their wisdom and reasoning to convince Job but he kept justifying himself.
The friends were tired. Their arguments became shorter and shorter as they move from one round of arguments to another. The friends speak in the order as Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. However, by the second round Zophar seems to have given up. He has no speech in the third round. By the end of the third round the other two also gave up. The three friends ‘had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong.’ (Job 32:3). Now, did Job win the argument? Not at all. Because the rebuttal to his positions comes from God who speaks ‘out of the whirlwind’ in chapter 38. Elihu is only a transitional figure between human wisdom (of the three friends and Job) and divine wisdom. God then unleashes a barrage of questions at Job in his speech. Questions that have no answer. What is God trying to tell him? Its simple: there are hundreds of questions for which human minds have no answer! Suffering of the innocent is just one the myriad of such questions. Keep quiet!
Then finally, God condemned Job’s friends and gives Job the privilege to pray for them. The verdict is out now. The friend who were experts in traditional wisdom are wrong, Job who justified himself is wrong. All of them except Elihu who thought they can find answers to all the mysteries of life are wrong. The friends were wrong because they depended on the wisdom that they gathered over the years. They could not think outside the box of traditional wisdom. Job was wrong, though he is righteous in God’s eyes he had no right to justify himself. It is God who justifies.
Elihu is right! Because he did not depend on the traditional wisdom nor one’s own self-confidence of being right but on God’s wisdom. That wisdom was available to him not from Google or encyclopedias but by the indwelling of God’s Spirit in him. Before he set forth this argument he disclosed that secret when he said: ‘But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand’ (32:8). The Spirit of God that dwells in him makes him restless. He said: ‘For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me. Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins ready to burst. I must speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer’ (Job 32:18-20). The nearest parallel to this restlessness is in Jeremiah. The prophet is filled with the Word of God that he is so restless until he get it out of his chest! Jeremiah laments: ‘If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot’ (Job 20:9).
Then after Elihu has spoken and relieved himself of the great burden that the Spirit of God has placed in his heart, be breaks into one of the great doxologies we find in the Bible, the great praise of God almighty in Job 36-37 at the end of which God takes his place on the stage to speak out of the whirl wind and take the debate to its conclusion.
We just learn one lesson. Human wisdom has its limits. Even those who are righteous in God’s own eyes have no right to justify themselves. The source of wisdom is God and God imparts this to human beings through indwelling of his Spirit. All other wisdom and reasoning is an endless merry-go-round going round and round in vain and comes to an end when we are tired of speaking/thinking! The real source of wisdom is the Spirit of God which dwells in everyone who believes.

The 'God-deficiency' of our days

'God is closer to me than I am to myself,' said Meister Eckhart (1260-1328), the German mystic and theologian of the bygone days. He went on to say that God is close to the wood but the wood doesn't realize that. That's true. God is closer to us but we don't realize the fact of God's nearness to us.
This insensitivity to God's nearness is caused by those things that have exiled God from our consciousness. It could also be that that many of our worldly concerns, cares and the like has created a wedge between us and our God and we let that gap grow as time went by, thus distancing us from our God.
We have many things that can take the place of God in our life. There are many rivals to God and we have consciously or unconsciously give these rivals to God the place of God in our lives. These are things that engage each moment of our lives. Our busy life, life's priorities, the things that demand our attention, those things that we adore have engaged our minds so much that we don't have time to realise the presence of God around us. These make us so insensitive like wood to the presence of God.
We then become like chidren who left their parents hands and were finally were lost in the crowd. Some search frantically for their parents to be united with them, some don't even realize that they are lost. This is what has happened to most of us. We have deliberately travelled too far from our Father who want to be closer to us.
One reason for wandering away from the Father is our own false self-confidence. We are made to believe that we are independent and we can do things without Him. As children grow and are more and more used to their world, they develop a sense of independence. That make them to dare to venture out themselves. This independence resulting from the false self-confidence is what makes us less and less aware of the presence of God. We are certainly less aware of what we don't make use of at all.
Jośe A. Pagola a Spanish bible commentator thinks that the problem of the modern world is not atheism but a 'God-deficiency' that we experience. We may not deny the existence of God but we don't acknowledge or experience God as much as we ought to. God is there, but we feel a deficiency of him in our lives.
This God-deficiency in our lives is the reason for all the ills of the modern day. Our world has turned more violent than before, because we in short supply of the God of love. We are merciless to women, children, the unborn, the poor etc, because we are deficient of the God of mercy.
God created the world centered around him, beautiful. The Bible encourages us to live our lives centred around him. God in the Old Testament had his presence in the midst of his people in the Tabernacle. He led his people through the wilderness. Jesus invited us to abide in him and promised his presence in our midst. He is ready to dine with anyone who opens the door of his heart for him. However, our insensitiveness, our God-deficiency and the lack of the God-centredness of our lives has thrown us off balance. There is a great need to return to God.
The devotional masters always tried to 'centre' themselves before they prayed, studied their scripture or even before they wrote. Everything has to be activities centred on God and proceed from the great awareness of him around and in us. This is why learning to centre our lives on God, whenever we feel that we are away from him is important.
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Christian Faith as Allegiance

Christian spirituality has to do with a system of beliefs, so we tend to think. We often equate spirituality with beliefs and rituals. However, in the light of the Bible, spirituality is not something that you believe or do but something that you belong to. Let me put in another way, it is not belief but belonging.

What did Peter had to do when he left his father, the net and the boat when Jesus called him to follow him? He did not have to sit for a membership test. If he had, I am sure he would have failed! All that he had to do was to leave what he had (what belonged to him) and follow after Jesus. He was no more a man of the lake, he belonged to Jesus. Ask James, John and even Paul who came to the scene much later. They just changed their allegiance. They had to reorder their relationships and loyalties so that they belonged to Jesus.

"What shall do to be saved?" the terrified jailer of Philippi screamed at Paul and Silas? What did he mean by "being saved"? He might have Paul preaching about Jesus who is the savior of the world. He was an employee of the Roman empire and by law accepted the fact that Caesar is Lord or divine. As a Roman citizen his allegiance was to the Caesar. Paul's answer was not to believe in a system of doctrines, but "believe on the Lord Jesus". It is to accept the Lordship of Jesus which demands that he denounce the Lordship of Caesar over him.

All that the Apostle demanded from their audience was confession of sins and confessing that Jesus is Lord. They did so in absolute obedience that the Lord had given them: to make disciples. The apostolic ministry in the first century was to make followers of Jesus and not believers of Jesus.

However, this change of allegiance, like any allegiance is not devoid of a set of beliefs. They had to believe that God has sent Jesus to this world, they had to believe that Jesus rose from the dead. They had to accept the fact that all humanity are sinful and needed a savior and that savior is Jesus of Nazareth who is God. However, it is the order that matters. Their faith is primarily an allegiance to Jesus and what they had to believe was to make that allegiance and to foster it in the days to come. Belief was at the service of this allegiance and not a substitute to it.

Jesus always thought in terms of relationship; that is why he called those who put their trust in him "my sheep" and his disciples "friends".

 

Have we not reduced Christianity to a set of beliefs and have lost this dimension of our relationship with Jesus. When we imagine Christian spirituality in terms of beliefs only we don't regret about the unholy alliances that we have made with the world and its sinful system.However, Jesus demands our absolute loyalty. 

Guidelines for a good sleep

What do you do before sleep? There are various ways of going to bed. Some people will like to read in bed and finally you will find them sleeping with an open book on their chest. Some people watch TV and doze off to sleep, the remote still in their hands. Some may have their earphones plugged in and the iPod still playing. However, there a number of people who go to bed fighting thoughts that wage war in their heads.

The psalmist who penned Psalm 4 talks about two such people because their thoughts while going to bed are different. While Psalm 3 is generally considered as a morning Psalm, Psalm 4 is considered as an evening Psalm. That means, a Psalm where the psalmist gathers his thought before retiring to bed.

The psalmist has been facing immense opposition from his enemies. His main worry is the plot of his enemies to spoil his reputation. He seems to be a man of some standing in the society, may be a king or a person of reputation. However, the plot is to spoil his reputation in society. That is why he cries, "How long will you people ruin my reputation? How long will you make groundless accusations?" (Psalm 4:2 NLT). A good name is important in his society where the controlling factor was shame. In his culture whether you are guilty or innocent doesn't matter much, but what matters is what people think of you.

This is enough to give sleepless nights. If his accusers can find enough buyers for all the false accusations they are making, then his very life even will be at risk. However, the psalmist is cool and composed. He is so cool to say to himself while going to bed: "In peace I lie down and sleep." (Psalm 4:8). His cool stems from his faith in God who makes him dwell safely (Psalm 4:8).

However, the people who are bent on spoiling his name in the society go to bed restless. Their heads are booming with plots and schemes to destroy the godly person who wrote this psalm. However, the psalmist full of confidence in his God has an advice laced with some sarcasm. "In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent." (Psalm 4:5). His advice is that do not lose your sleep thinking about the harm you can do to me. I am special to God and no harm can ever happen to me.

We can carry the anger and frustration of the day to bed at night and keep ourselves awake. Most of the time, the people who hurt us or people whom we are envious of, take shooting positions in our thoughts when we descend to bed. We lose our sleep because we fight battles that we should not fight in our thoughts. Some of us worry a lot about the harm others can do to us and lose our sleep. However, the example of the Psalmist is to sleep trusting in God. That quiet trust, which the psalmist who authored Psalm 3 also echoes is important: "I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me." (Psalm 3:5).

Paulson Pulikottil Ph. D. is Professor of Old Testament at Union Biblical Seminary, Pune, India and Pastor of the COMMUNITY OF THE REDEEMED (CORe) a Full Gospel Church in Pune, India.

Paulson Pulikottil Ph. D. is Professor of Old Testament at Union Biblical Seminary, Pune, India and Pastor of the COMMUNITY OF THE REDEEMED (CORe) a Full Gospel Church in Pune, India.

What Happened to My Unanswered Prayers?

Some time back, I sent an email to my friend’s Gmail account. However, for many weeks there was no response from my friend. Then I wrote another email to him to the other email ID of his that I had. He promptly replied. Later we discovered that the mail I sent was sitting in the Spam folder of his Gmail account. My mail was automatically filtered to the spam folder!
This made me contemplate on the prayers. I have been praying ever since my childhood. From short bed-time prayers to long intercessory prayers, pastoral prayers, prayers for the sick, in desperate need, etc. God answered some prayers but many are yet to be answered. What is happening to those prayers of mine that are not answered? God did not get it, or are they sitting in his spam folder?
I wish I could just visit heaven and see what is happening to those prayers of mine that are not ever attended to. For that, I will have to wait. However, God has specially favored John the Apostle with some special privileges. One such privilege is that he had an opportunity to peep into heaven and the throne room of God.
In Revelation chapter 8, John reports from heaven what is happening to our prayers. I draw a lot of encouragement from those words. In verse 4, we see that the angel who stands in the throne room of God offers the prayers of the saints to God along with incense. Verse 3 clarifies that the prayers are held in a golden censer. A similar picture is found in the fifth chapter also. Here the twenty-four elders are offering the prayers in golden censers before the Lamb who is our risen Savior. In this picture the incense are the prayers of the saints held in golden censers. They have harps in one hand (symbolizing praise) and censers in the other (symbolizing our prayers).
With this assurance, I still pray though all my prayers are not answered. I pray because I am assured that my prayers are not going to the trash bin, nor are they deleted my mistake. They are offered to God. They are valuable to God: the cries of anguish and questions that I presented in my prayers are so valuable to God so that they are offered in a golden bowl before him.