Paulson Post

Sometimes we enter streets ignoring signs to realize later that it is a dead end and back track in embarrassment. Sometimes we enter one way roads and may not realize it until we spot the first vehicle in the opposite direction. In sum, we realize that we are in the wrong direction only when faced with the consequences. However, it is important if we knew where the road leads before took the turn to that road and before bumping into something that is disastrous. Making wrong choices about the direction our life takes is much serious than the analogy used so far. It is okay in driving to enter the wrong roads and to realize that we are wrong direction. We can always take a U-turn or reverse. But life may involve choices of huge consequences as one of my friend recently found out. His family did not realize that the road they have taken will lead them to a financial ruin when they were close to their retirement. Each step in the path was comfortable, there was no warning signs until cala...

Faith of a believer need not always maintain the same level. As the days go by people grow weaker in their faith. This is true of faith as trust, our ability to trust God but also of faith that controls our moral behavior. Faith in Christ has made us new persons, people with a new value system, a new world-view etc. However, this may deteriorate as the days go by. Loss of sensitivity to sin, casual approach spiritual disciplines, general coldness to spiritual matters, lack of love for God and other believers are some of the symptoms of this. This is caused by the overwhelming influence of the world that we live in from which we have made a departure. The kingdom of darkness (the old way of life, values and world-view) hasn't given up the fight and always has been trying to take back the grounds it lost. It is possible that believers of Christ succumb to this. Peter calls this " the corruption that is in the world caused by evil desires" (2 Peter 1:4). Analogy with iron pr...

A life pleasing God has to draw its spiritual nourishment from the Word of God on a daily basis. This is what Peter tries to explain using the metaphor of the seed and sapling. He wrote, "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God" (1 Peter 1:23). The metaphor is a powerful one. A seed normally has two halves (cotyledon) and a small plant sleeping between them (embryonic leaves and roots). Once it finds favourable conditions like moisture and soil the little sleeping plant begins to grow and peeps out of the cotyledons. The seed divided into two separate pieces by the sprout can be seen on either side of the little sprout. Then it develops small little leaves and runs its roots to the soil. In the entire process, the cotyledon on either side of the sprout provides it with nourishment for this crucial stage of its growth and turning into a sapling. Then once the sprout turns into a sapling the cotyl...

It is in utter dismay that the Psalmist asks, “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Psalm 11:3) This question has the answer implied in it: there is not much a person can do when the foundations are destroyed! Foundation is basis of the existence, like a building rests on its firm foundation. A building cannot be hung from thin air! Human life also has many such foundations on which it stands. Good health is a firm foundation. When the health of the breadwinner is affected the family begins to feel the shake and eventual fall. Financial security is certainly an important foundation. I once met a man in his late sixties who lost all his money when the investment company where he invested all his retirement savings collapsed. He did not know what to do for the rest of his life. All that he has saved for the future is gone and he is too old to work. The factors that shake the foundations are many, but they shake foundations across the board....

The Psalmist said, “If I had spoken out like that I would have betrayed your children” (Psalms 73:15). This is a confession of a man who reflected on life’s realities and had drawn his own conclusions. He realized that some of his conclusions would have destroyed an entire generation of people. The psalmist was pondering on the question of why the wicked people prosper while people like him who lead honest life do not fare very well in life. This has led him to conclude that his upright life is a waste of time; he should have tried to be rich and not bothered about being a good person. He said, “Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments” (Psalms 73:14). However, later on he took his questions to the God and received an entirely new perspective on life. He realized that the prosperity and comforts of the wicked are not permanent. He came to know that paucity with deep devot...

“Take stock of your talents, skills and experience. What are you good at. That is what you should focus on and that is the direction that you should take.” This is a standard advice given to young people who seek direction in their life and career. The best career is something that is in line with what you are good at. No one can question the wisdom in this and that is true when every person is on his own with no help coming from anywhere else. However, the stories of God’s dealing with individuals in the Bible tells us that when God takes control of a person he takes them beyond their abilities. Moses is a typical example. God called him to do a job where a lot of talking was involved- reasoning, negotiating, teaching, and the list goes on! But when God called him he was not eloquent and was a man who stammerred. God takes that man with speech impediment and takes him beyond that limitation. What about the «unschooled» fisherman who followed Jesus? For example, Peter turned out to be ...

All these years my work always involved dealing with youth who have left their old ways and made a commitment to follow Christ. Just as old habits die hard, so also the old friends. They have to keep the old companies for various reasons. They live in the same neighbourhood, they are the same college and there could be various ways they share their spaces. There are times of conflict as their conversion brings in new moral demands different from that of their friends. For example, a new believer in Christ who was a chain smoker finds it difficult to keep the friendship of his fellow smokers. Peter wrote to first generation Christians who were in a similar situation: "They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you" (1 Peter 4:4). Unable to enjoy the company of the new believer, the friends begin to abuse that person. Many of us who had to part with sinful ways of life when we embraced the new life in Christ may still ...