Laziness the devils weapon!

For some it is shame but for others it is fame!

The world is after fame. The greatest goals are to be famous and rich.
There is a way of being known though it may not make you rich. Let me explain.

Paul begins his letter to the Romans with thanksgiving and prayer. He does so in most of his letters. The reason for thanksgiving is that their ‘faith is proclaimed in all the world’ (1:8). Here, 'faith' is not the dogma or the act of believing. Faith here means how one struggles to keep what one has come to believe as true.

We don’t know how the believers in Rome were famous for their faith. It is clear from the latter part of this epistle that Paul knew many of them by name (Rom 16:1-16). We may guess that many of the believers or even the church collectively had to struggle to keep their faith alive in hostile circumstances. Their battles to keep their faith might have become known in all the churches all around the world. Note that Paul later commends them also for their obedience that had become famous all over the world (16:9). In similar ways, the church in Thessalonica was also known around the world among the believers for their faith (1 Thess 1:8).

Being known for the steadfastness of faith is highly commendable. We are familiar with the inspiring stories of the courage of the Christians in persecuted countries. Many of them who followed Jesus to the point of their death or imprisonment are famous—not for their contribution to art, literature or sports like many famous people. But they are known for their integrity and steadfastness of faith. They held on to Jesus and hated their own life. The churches in Rome and Thessalonica and many other places rose to fame through ways that for the world were shameful. Imprisonment, suffering and public execution are shameful by the world's standards. But their faith that made them uphold Christ turns out to be something to be remembered for ever.

Some Thoughts on Christian Identity

Our identity in Christ matters most. We need to know and affirm it. That is what Saint Paul does in Romans 1:7.
The letter was written to the Romans, 'to those in Rome.' We have come to know it as the letter to the Romans. However, it is not meant for all the citizens of Rome.
Paul further qualifies the word ‘Romans’ by the phrase, ‘who are loved by God and called to be saints.’ That is the followers of Christ in Rome.
It is notable that Paul describes the followers of Christ not in terms of what they have done but what God has done in their lives. God has loved them and has called them.
To be loved by God is a privilege. All that we need to do is to accept that love. However, being called elevates us to a new level of existence, 'saints.'
All the citizens of Rome haven’t risen to that level, only a few among them. They are the community of Christ-followers by accepting God's love through Christ and being called to live as saints of God.
You and me also belong to that group if we follow Christ, by accepting God's offer of love through his son manifested on the Cross.

How would like you to be known?

‘Could you introduce yourself briefly, please?” This question was part of the opening ritual of almost every meetings that I have been to. Likewise, an inevitable question in any job interview was, ‘tell us something about yourself?’ Though every member of the interviewing panel had a copy of the candidate's resume, this question was also part of the ritual. The answer to the question was indicative of the candidate’s confidence and self-image besides the communication skills.
Following the pattern of letter writing in the Greco-Roman world that he lived, Paul greets the churches in Rome to whom he wrote the letter with a self-introduction. However, his introduction was unique in many ways. First of all, it was rather unusually long (1:1-6), six verses!
Unique it was in another sense too. He just mentioned his name, ‘Paul’ and his job, ‘Apostle.’ He said that he is an apostle for the Gospel of God. Then the rest is all about Jesus! The part about him was unusually short. He begins with Jesus’ status in his incarnation and his exaltation in resurrection. Then he talks about our relationship to Jesus—he is our Lord. Then he becomes eloquent about what Jesus has done for all of us—he gave grace and apostleship. The purpose of all these being to bring the nations including the church in Rome to obedience.
Paul has a lot to say about himself. He talks about himself in other places as a thorough-bred Jew, well educated, respected in society and the list goes on (Phil 3:5). But he was not boastful but to say that how he considered all these as trash in comparison to Christ. For Paul all that matters is Christ. He has come to a stage in his spiritual maturity where he has nothing to say about himself than who he is in Christ.
Now, could you introduce yourself?

Such love!

We have never experienced love that is comparable to God's. Human love is conditional. 

Unattractive people are hard to love. Even though it was my first visit, the lady at the post office counter greeted me with a very friendly smile. I visited that town after 30 long years. She acted as if she is meeting a friend, but her appearance scared me so that I did not greet her or smile back. The left side of her face was charred, and she had lost the left eye. Her gums and teeth were visible since the left portion of her lips were burnt too. Her smile was frightening. 

A young man, envious of her relationship with another person, threw sulfuric acid at her face, disfiguring her. As a result, her real lover abandoned her since she was no longer as beautiful as she was before the accident. It turned out that we were friends at school thirty years ago, which explains her friendly smile. At school, I remember her as a vibrant and winsome girl. One of the conditions we set for people to deserve our love is their physical attractiveness.

A morally acceptable behavior is also a requirement for our love. Criminals, muggers, women who sell their bodies for a living - who will love them? She is not even beloved by her own customers, even if they hire her body for the evening.

We tend not to love people who are not useful despite their physical beauty and moral uprightness. My friend is an engineer who moved with his family to another country to find a better life. His preferred job was not available. He became a burden to his family since he was dependent on his wife and daughter, who were the only earners in the family. Therefore, the wife turned hostile, the daughter joined in, and they conspired to send him back to his country of origin. As soon as he landed, they revoked his visa, so he cannot return. His wife and daughter live in the land of promise while he lives on charity. Her marriage vow of love was only valid if he helped her.

God's love, however, differs from ours. God loves those who are unlovable by human standards or even by his own standards–sinners. God loves us even if we do not love ourselves!

 

The cross is the greatest display of God's love. The Bible says that "in this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him"’ (1 John 4:9).

The love of God does not have any conditions, so he loves everyone regardless of their appearance, their purpose, or how useless they are. In Romans 5:8, Saint Paul addresses this aspect of God's love. "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." In other words. "God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…." (Eph 2:4).

The love of God is unparalleled, unsurpassed, and all-surpassing. It has not been fully explained or understood. Christ's love "surpasses knowledge" (Eph 3:19), according to Paul. God's love is self-initiated, without riders. John the apostle of love, declares in a note of jubilation: "In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10).

Most importantly, it is not outdated, but it is still relevant today. "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever" (Revelation 1:5-6). Even though the King James Version translates all the verbs in a sentence to align them with the past tense – “freed us” and “made us.” The Greek uses the present tense, as in, “loves us,” currently.

In the first century, the present reality of God's love was relevant to the communities suffering persecution for their faith in Christ. They need to know that Christ still loves them. God does not abandon Christians when they go through pain. They suffer, but God's love is not diminished. Yet God continues to love them despite everything. Love from God is a reality now. God gives us this assurance even when we find it difficult to love ourselves.

Life and Light

'For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light' Psalm 36:9.
 

When David sang to God, 'For with you is the fountain of life', he was not thinking of life in the ordinary sense of that word. Similarly when he said, 'in your light do we see light', he had a different idea about light also.
Life is not just a mere existence. Generally speaking, we associate life with the state of creatures to have an existence. When an animal dies it's life is taken from it. However, the word life means more than mere existence.
Life also means that vitality and vigour with which we lead our lives. Two people join us at the party. We say one is lifeless because she is not enjoying our company or contributing anything to enhance the enjoyment that we are all looking forward to. Maybe she is a party pooper by her presence. The other person is altogether different. We may also even say that she is the 'life of the party.' She not only keep the party going, but makes it enjoyable by her active presence, and by the way she contributes to the spirit of the party.
Our earthly existence has ups and downs. There are times when the vitality and vigour are drained out of our lives. We can say that we live because we walk, talk, work and earn a living, etc. However, most of the time, we do it without real life in us. Our relationships, our talk and even our work are 'lifeless.'
However, it is possible to lead our lives without unrealistic ups and depressive downs. It is possible to live on a higher plane but still on level ground. We can maintain a healthy, steady level of vitality and vigour of life even in the most trying circumstances.
The secret of how much life we have in our lives depends on where we draw our life from. There are two sources of life. One like all nature we draw our sustenance from the surroundings and ourselves. That is how trees and animals live. They draw their food and nutrients from their surroundings. When they have nothing to draw, they use what they have stored up for the difficult days. They survive in arid places in dry summer until the refreshing rain arrives. Human beings too keep going using their built-in coping mechanisms.
The other source as the psalmist has discovered is to draw our life from God who is the source of life. When there is nothing that the surroundings can offer and there is no inner strength left, godly people look up to God. Then God who is the source of life provides new vigour in abundance like a fountain refreshing those who parched with the heat of the day.
Jesus told made it more clear to the Samaritan woman. He told her that the water that Jacob's well offers makes a person come back to it every time they thirst. And the heat of the day makes them thirst again and again. The trying circumstances of our earthly existence are like the heat of the day. However, he offers living waters that never causes thirst. The water that Jesus offered the Samaritan woman is qualified as 'living' in two senses. First of all, it is not stagnant as the water in Jacob's well. It is like a stream that flows with water because it originates from a spring that keeps gushing out fresh water. It is also living waters because it gives life.
On the last day of the festival, Jesus said something that elaborates this truth. He said, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink' (John 6:37). He was calling all those who lead lives like the beasts of burden, heavy-laden and lifeless. He promises all those who drink from him a life that doesn't thirst but also becoming streams of life for themselves and others. That is the message hidden in the words that Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman:' ... but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life' (John 4:14).
The concept of light also is similar. David uses it in this verse metaphorically to illustrate its spiritual aspects. Bible associates light with the truth. This is clear in some passages where light is lumped with truth, wisdom, knowledge etc. Having light means having the ability to avoid what is false and to know what is true. The psalmist would say, 'The unfolding of your words gives light;it imparts understanding to the simple' (Psalm 119:130). In a similar vein, the Book of Daniel lumps it with 'light and understanding and excellent wisdom'  (Dan 5:14).
However, this is not just an inner illumination that we possess. The source of this life is God because God is light. It is one of the powerful statements in the Bible: 'God is light; in him, there is no darkness' (1 John 1:5).
This leads us to this truth: Without God being the source of light, we will not every discern truth from falsehood. Without God the light guiding us we will never be able to find the pathways to everlasting life.
David thus in a poetic manner expounds this truth that life and light or vitality of life and wisdom for living comes from the living God, the God of the Bible.

Joy, the hallmark of Christian life.

Joy is the hallmark of Christian life. Jesus mentions a long list of adverse human circumstances and concludes, ‘rejoice and be glad.’ Each of these adverse circumstances he introduces with the word, blessed.’ Matthew 5:2-12.
The word used for ‘blessed’ can also be translated as ‘happy.’ Some translation have it so. It is the ‘transcendent happiness or religious joy.’ So blessed are those who mourn, blessed are those who are persecuted, and so on ....
We get a sharper picture of the adversities in the parallel passage in Luke 6:20-23.  Luke's version includes poverty, hunger, weeping, being hated, etc... There too Jesus sums it up saying, 'rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for your reward is great in heaven.'
Followers of Jesus are destined to be happy in all circumstances that their earthly existence throws at them.
The reason for this transcendent joy is that they have a larger vision of life. They can see life that stretches to eternity, beyond this transient earthly existence. The success and failure, joy and sadness, and all the sort of experiences are not final, but there is more to human life. There is eternity or our life that extends beyond the grave to heaven.
Those who have that vision can literally 'leap for joy' now because they can see their reward in heaven. They are not losers at all.