MAY - JUNE 2015

Why do es God allow sickn ess?Do es God Really Love Y o u?A h ea rt devot ed t o God. . .

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Editorial Board

Advisory Board: Viliamu Aufai

Aniyankunju K. K.

Chief EditorPastor Santhosh Joseph

EditorsBen Wilson

Vidya Santhosh

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Disclaimer:The views expressed in the articles are those of the writers. The magazine will not bear any responsibility for them. Some of the images used in this magazine have been downloaded from websites. We acknowledge that the copyright of those images remain with the original owners, and The INSIGHT MAGAZINE does not intend to use those for commercial purposes and does not claim any rights for them.

MAY - JUNE 2015

Why do es God allow sickn ess?Do es God Really Love Y o u?A h ea rt devot ed t o God. . .

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M Millions of books are being published, sold and read yearly around the world in numerous languages and various themes. Books are published in hundreds of categories like Agriculture, Architecture, Art, Biography, Business, Children, Food, Family, Fiction, Health, History, Medical, Music, Philosophy, Religion, Self-Help, Sports and so on. Books that become popular are re-published with many editions and translated to the most spoken languages in the world. No one can think of a world without books today. Because, millions of people read, write, study, trade or do job with books publishing. Languages and communication skills play key roles in every aspects of human life. Men use the languages and communication skills effectively through the books.

Books and writers are important for the purpose of gaining knowledge in all the aspects of human life. But they have many limitations and are not ultimate. It is because, men are writing from their own learned knowledge, experiences and intellectual understandings. The writers are just human that they write to solve the divine problems of human with their philosophical and spiritual solutions. Therefore, these writers and books are unable to deal with human's ultimate problems like sin and salvation, heaven and hell. There is only one book which is accurately written about anything that relates with man and God completely. That is the Bible, written by Holy Spirit. The most printed, read and circulated book over the centuries is the Bible. Many other books have influenced so many, but the Bible has only transformed man to a real man.

Bible is the only one book that had overcome all centuries and its obstacles. Many have tried to destroy it completely, but never succeeded, rather believed in it. From now, it will live for centuries till its last prophecies are fulfilled. It cannot be marred by anyone, because it is written not by men, it cannot be overwritten because it is written by God himself. The Bible says that "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right" (2 Timothy 3:16). The phrase "inspired by God" is literally translated as "God-breathed". So the Bible is not merely a collection of wise men's writings, but is actually authored by God, through men, by the Spirit. The unseen writer of the man's history and destiny is the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Bible is the ultimate book for knowing the real and true God, who loves man through Jesus Christ, the image of God.

John Wesley said: The BIBLE had to be written by one of three people: good men, bad men or God. It couldnt have been written by good men because they said it was inspired by the revelation of God. Good men dont lie and deceive. It couldnt have been written by bad men because bad men would not write something that would condemn themselves. It leaves only one conclusion. It was given by divine inspiration of God

T h e u nseen writ er of t h e Hist o ryPastor Santhosh JosephEDITORIAL

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Y our suffering is a great enticement to Satan. He and his anti-God federation are irresistibly attracted to persistent pain. Notice how he obsesses over Jobs misery. Notice how he shows up in the wilderness at the height of

Jesuss weakness (Matthew 4:111).

Satan is savvy enough to know that his lies are less effective during prosperity, so he waits until life is hard and we are more vulnerable (though he has plenty of weapons for our good times as well). Then, when he suggests that God does not love us, he suddenly sounds compelling. In other words, we need all our wits about us when suffering comes our way.

Does God love me? Am I suffering because I have done something to incur his displeasure? These can drift into questions about God himself. Is he good? Does he hear? Does he care?

Here are five possible ways to engage these questions.

1. The King Suffered, So I Suffer

In the Old Testament era, we would have had good reason to believe that God was either letting us go or chastising us in our suffering. Everything changes, however, when Jesus comes as the suffering servant, lives in poverty, is rejected by his closest friends, absorbs

Do es God Really Love Y o u? by Ed Welch

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shame, submits to a gruesome death, and inaugurates the new covenant with Gods people. In this, he is celebrated as the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4, Colossians 1:15), the one who is fully God and fully human, our perfect representative and our King.

This creates a new story for us. Jesus, who is clearly loved by the Father, goes through the worst of suffering. We have been united with the Son, so we expect to know both suffering and love. As King Jesus goes, so go his people. If the King was not spared the hardships of this present world, we should not expect to be spared. This is why the apostle Paul boasted about his suffering. Those sufferings showed his connection to Jesus and to the Fathers favor (2 Corinthians 11:30).

With this in mind, we might better question Gods love for us if our lives are relatively trouble-free.

2. The King Was Tested, So I Will Be Tested

Look more closely at Jesuss temptation in the wilderness. Gods children have always been refined through testing. Even before Adam sinned, he was tested. This is what royal children expect. If we are to ascend to co-regency, our allegiances will be tested too. But as we are led into our wilderness our suffering we are not alone. We have the Spirit of Jesus to help us, and with his help we can grow in maturity and wise judgment.

Two things are important here. One is that we can take joy in being tested (James 1:2). It is evidence that we are beloved children who have been found worthy. The other is that we want to grow in the testing, which means that we aim to trust him, believe him, and seek him in our suffering, rather than turn from him.

3. Gods Love Is Sophisticated, So I Trust Him

New covenant love takes on new features. Our Fathers love is now revealed as more developed sophisticated, in a sense. In fact, it is beyond our understanding. All we have to know is this: He displayed irrefutable love when he died for enemies, and his ongoing love includes reworking us into the shape of Jesus, which is the greatest of all gifts (Romans 8:2829).

To paraphrase the apostle Paul, this means God will certainly not abandon us now. He will not even get a little stingy with his love. His love is relentless, sacrificial, and generous. The cross of Christ is the evidence. So we trust him, as a young child trusts a good parent (Psalm 131:13).

4. I Walk by Faith, Not by Sight

These realities of Gods love are, of course, spiritual, which makes them difficult to see. To complicate that chronic challenge, suffering can impair our vision even more. It can

Look more closely at Jesuss temptation

in the wilderness. Gods children have always been refined

through testing.

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dominate our perspective and become the only perspective. So our questions keep haunting us. Does God love me? Does he hear? Does he care? To combat these questions, we acknowledge our need to see by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7).

This is when we call out for help from the body of Christ. Spiritual battles should not be fought without the aid of other people who can join us in prayer, encourage us with their presence, and offer apt words of truth. We could ask them to pray for us as Elisha prayed for his servant. When surrounded by an army that was sworn to kill the two men, Elisha prayed that his servant would see by faith. O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see (2 Kings 6:17).

Then we keep our faith-eyes peeled. We look back and see the pinnacle of love in the person of Jesus. We also look ahead and see that suffering will end someday, and the one we desire to hear with our ears and touch with our hands will be fully present with us. Then, with our eyes wide open, we walk with him, in suffering, today and believe that he will give us grace again for tomorrow (Matthew 6:3334). Where mere human sight sees only darkness, faith sees that we partner with Christ in his agenda to show his power in our weakness.

5. Here Is a Better Question: Do I Love Jesus?

In keeping with Gods surprising ways, one other response to sufferings questions is to ask a new question one Jesus posed to the apostle Peter. Peter had witnessed the life and resurrection of Jesus, so he had no doubt that he was loved. But he was still weighed down by his betrayals and assumed that he had relinquished his usefulness. In response, Jesus asked a question. He asked Peter, Do you love me? (John 21:1517).

Perfect, isnt it? We could be passive until now, as if waiting for enlightenment to strike. Now there can be no passivity. Our answer will not change his love (2 Timothy 2:13), but it might suggest that the problem lies within us, rather than in God. At the very least, this surprising question gives us another way to pray and ask for prayer we want to know the expanse of the love of God and love him in return.

Suffering does interrogate our souls. But we have the means to wage the spiritual battle. We identify ourselves as united with the suffering servant, we see Gods purpose in testing, we trust him, we walk by faith, and we test ourselves by asking about our love for him. Taken together these spiritual disciplines can overcome our lingering questions about Gods love and send us in the direction of peace and even joy.

Ed Welch is s a counselor and faculty member at CCEF. He has been counseling for more than thirty years and has written extensively on the topics of depression, fear, and addictions. His books include Shame Interrupt-ed: How God Lifts the Pain of Worthlessness and Rejection, Running Scared, and most recently Side by Side: Walking with Others in Wis-dom and Love. (For more articles visit: www.desir-ingGod.org)

Suffering does interrogate our souls. But we have the means to wage the spiritual battle.

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A s human beings, we think earthly things, human thoughts, physical thoughts rather than thoughts of faith and God. Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:7, we live by faith, not by sight. It means we Christians are to live with

faith, not by sight. Therefore, we should turn our mind and heart upward and should begin to adjust our perspectives to match Gods view of our lives; He has an eternal view about our lives. We have to choose the necessary thing, that is, to live everyday for God. We must love God, worship Him, walk with Him, serve Him and look forward to be with Him in eternity.

What does a heart devoted to God means?

Scripture shows many faithful men and women of God who had devoted their hearts to God. For e.g., Abraham, Joseph, Job, Marthas Sister Mary, Mary the mother of Jesus all of them had chosen to love God and to follow Him. Their hearts were devoted to their Lord almighty.

The life of Mary who sat at Jesus feet listening to what He said, would help us to understand how to have a devoted heart towards God. When Jesus and His disciples were at the home of Martha and Mary, Martha was fully involved in making food for her Lord and Savior, rather to receive the eternal food from Him as Mary was doing. Martha failed to discern the priority and importance of time with God. Mary made the choice to listen from Jesus

Word-the Word of God spoken by God Himself. She knew it was important to set aside all her activities in order to focus Jesus. Marthas heart longs to make a delicious food for Jesus, but Marys heart longs to worship Him and to listen from Him. She knew that Jesus can give eternal as well as earthly food for her that is why she gave her first priority to Jesus and chose to spend her precious time with Him.

Like Mary we have to commit ourselves to actively choose God and His ways. Choosing God and His ways deepens our devotion to Him. That is why Jesus praised Mary and

Ah ea rt

devot edt o God

Vidya Santhosh

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saying Mary had chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from Him. Jesus knew that Mary had given her heart and soul to Him, and no disturbance from her family or friends can take away from her. This is what Jesus wants from us- a heart fully devoted to Jesus and Him alone.

What do you face when you devote yourself to God?

In Luke chapter 10 verse 40, we can see that when Mary was listening to Jesus, Martha was disturbed and asked Jesus Lord, dont you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me. The first thing you face is, to somehow make you distract to hear the Word of God. As soon as you desire to devote yourself to God, so many problems would arise to distract you from the Lord. And if you fail to persist, you cannot deepen your devotion to Jesus, and gradually your heart will be filled with problems and troubles alone. The second thing you face when you devote yourself to God is - someone will drag your attention to earthly things. Martha wants her sister to help her in kitchen to make delicious and tasty food. Martha wants Mary to give attention to what she was interested. However, Martha could not take away her attention from Jesus to earthly things. The third thing you face is problems that arise from your family. Martha was disturbed of Mary whole hearted devotion to God. Though Martha started to complain against Mary, her focus was only on Jesus and His words.

What will we receive from God when we devote ourselves to God?

We can understand from Luke chapter 10 verse 42 (Mary had chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her) that four things God would give us if we fully devote ourselves to God. First one is we can earn His praise for our good attitudes. Jesus was praising Mary in front of Martha saying, Mary has chosen what is better. The second thing is God will give us His grace to stand firm in faith amidst all circumstances. And He will not allow anybody to take away the best thing in us which means God will put ourselves in a position where He can grow in us- a heart of devotion. The ultimate blessing which we can receive from Him is eternal life. If we have a devoted heart and our focus is only on Him, we will surely enjoy the eternal life and can be the part of His kingdom.

As Andrew Murray said, God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him, we will submit ourselves to God, and He will take control our lives and help us to grow in Him. He will also give us His grace to live a holy life to enter into His eternal Kingdom. Jesus ultimate aim is to have us in His eternal Kingdom. Thats why He gave His very life to love us and redeem us from the sinful world. Therefore, let us ask God to give us to have a heart devoted to Him, and its sure that we can walk with Him by faith and not by sight. Amen.

Let us ask God to give us to have a heart

devoted to Him,and its sure that we can

walk with Him by faith and not by sight.

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...there's HopeinJesus

don't quit...

ARE YOU IN NEED OF PRAYERS?Share with us: mailtoinsight@gmail.com

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T he issue of sickness is always a difficult one to deal with. The key is remembering that Gods ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9). When we are suffering with a sickness, disease, or injury, we usually focus solely on our own suffering. In the midst of a trial of sickness, it is very difficult to focus on what good God might bring about as a result. Romans 8:28 reminds us that God can bring about good from any situation. Many people look back on times of sickness as times when they grew closer to God, learned to trust Him more, and/or learned how to truly value life. This is the perspective God has because He is sovereign and knows the end result.

Why do es God allow sickn ess?by James Denison

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This does not mean sickness is always from God or that God always inflicts us with sickness to teach us a spiritual lesson. In a world tainted by sin, sickness, disease, and death will always be with us. We are fallen beings, with physical bodies prone to disease and illness. Some sickness is simply a result of the natural course of things in this world. Sickness can also be the result of a demonic attack. The Bible describes several instances when physical suffering was caused by Satan and his demons (Matthew 17:14-18; Luke 13:10-16). So, some sickness is not from God, but from Satan. Even in these instances, God is still in control. God sometimes allows sin and/or Satan to cause physical suffering. Even when sickness is not directly from God, He will still use it according to His perfect will.

It is undeniable, though, that God sometimes intentionally allows, or even causes sickness to accomplish His sovereign purposes. While sickness is not directly addressed in the passage, Hebrews 12:5-11 describes God disciplining us to produce a harvest of righteousness (verse 11). Sickness can be a means of Gods loving discipline. It is difficult for us to comprehend why God would work in this manner. But, believing in the sovereignty of God, there is no other option than suffering being something God allows and/or causes.

The clearest example of this in Scripture is found is Psalm 119. Notice the progression through verses 67, 71, and 75 - Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word...It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees...I know, O LORD, that your laws are righteous, and in faithfulness you have afflicted me. The author of Psalm 119 was looking at suffering from Gods perspective. It was good for him to be afflicted. It was faithfulness that caused God to afflict him. The result of the affliction was so that he could learn Gods decrees and obey His Word.

Again, sickness and suffering is never an easy thing to deal with. One thing is for sure, sickness should not cause us to lose faith in God. God is good, even when we are suffering. Even the ultimate of sufferingdeathis an act of Gods goodness. It is hard to imagine that anyone who is in Heaven as a result of sickness or suffering regrets what they went through in this life.

One final notewhen people are suffering, it is our responsibility to minister to them, care for them, pray for them, and comfort them. When a person is suffering, it is not always appropriate to emphasize that God will bring good out of the suffering. Yes, that is the truth. However, in the midst of suffering, it is not always the best time to share that truth. Suffering people need our love and encouragement, not necessarily a reminder of sound biblical theology.

It is undeniable, though, that God sometimes

intentionally allows, or even causes sickness

to accomplish His sovereign purposes.

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W ithout fear of challenge Jesus could say: I am the light of the world (John 8:12). His claim does not surprise us in the least. What is surprising, however, is that he should then say to his disciples, and so by implication to us: Ye are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14). For he does not exhort us to be that light; he plainly says that we are the worlds light, whether we bring our illumination out into places where men can see it, or hide it away from them. The divine life planted in us, which itself is so utterly foreign to the world all around it, is a light source designed to illumine to mankind the worlds true character by emphasizing through contrast its inherent darkness. Accordingly Jesus goes on: Even so let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. From this it is clear that to separate ourselves from the world today, and thus deprive it of its only light, in no way glorifies God. It merely thwarts his purpose in us and in mankind.

It is true that, as we saw earlier, the career of John the Baptist was rather different. He did in fact withdraw from the world to live austerely in desert places apart, subsisting, we are told, on locusts and wild honey. Men went out there to seek him, for even there he was a burning and a shining light. Yet we are reminded that he was not that Light. He came only to bear witness to it. His testimony was the last and greatest of an old prophetic order, but it was so because it pointed forward to Jesus. Jesus alone was the true Light which lighteth every man, coming into the world; and he certainly was in the world,

by Watchman Nee

Lig hts in t h e Wo rld. . .Jesus alone was the true Light which lighteth every man, coming into the world; and he certainly was in the world, not outside of it (John 1: 9, 10).

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not outside of it (John 1:9, 10). Christianity derives from him. God can use a John crying in the wilderness, but he never intended his Church to be a select company living by the principle of abstinence.

Earlier we saw how abstinence-handle not, nor taste, nor touch-was merely one more element in the world system, and as such was itself suspect (Col. 2:21). But we must go a stage further than this, and once again the apostle Paul comes to our help. In Romans 14:17 he shows how the Christian life is something removed altogether from controversy about what we do and what we dont do. The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking-not, that is to say, to be conceived in those terms at all-but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, which are in a realm wholly different. The Christian lives, and is guided, not by rules specifying just how far he may mix with men, but by these inward qualities which are mediated to him by Gods Holy Spirit.

Righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost: It may be good for a moment to direct our attention to the second of these. For peace, we find, is a potent element in Gods answer to his Sons prayer that he would keep us from the evil one (John 17:15).

In God himself there is a peace, a profound undisturbedness of spirit, which keeps him untroubled and undistressed in the face of unspeakable conflict and contradiction. In the world ye have tribulation, Jesus says, but in me ye may have peace (John 16:33). How easily we get troubled as soon as something goes wrong! But do we ever pause to consider what went wrong with the great purpose upon which God had set his heart? God, who is light, had an eternal plan. Causing light to shine out of darkness he designed this world to be the arena of that plan. Then Satan, as we know, stepped in to thwart God, so that men came to love darkness rather than light. Yet in spite of that setback, the implications of which we appreciate all too little, God preserves in himself a quite undisturbed peace. It is that peace of God which, Paul tells us, is to garrison our hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:7).

What does garrison really mean? It means that my foe has to fight through the armed guard at the gates before he can reach me. Before I can be touched, the garrison itself has first to be overcome. So I dare to be as peaceful as God, for the peace that is keeping God is keeping me. This is something that the world knows nothing about. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you (John 14:27).

How utterly men failed to understand Jesus! Whatever he did was wrong in their eyes, for the light that was in them was darkness. They even dared to identify the Spirit that was

In God himself there is a peace, a profound

undisturbedness of spirit, which keeps him untroubled and undistressed in the face of unspeakable conflict and

contradiction.

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in him with Beelzebub the prince of devils. Yet when they accused him of gluttony and drunkenness, what was his response? Father, I thank thee! (Matt. 11:19, 25). He was unmoved, because in Spirit he abode in the peace of God.

Or recall that last night before his passion. Everything seemed to be going wrong: a friend going out into the night to betray him, another drawing a sword in anger, people going into hiding, or running away naked in their eagerness to escape. In the midst of it all Jesus said to those who had come to take him, I am he, so peacefully and so quietly that instead of him being nervous it was they who trembled and fell backwards. This was an experience that has been repeated in the martyrs of every age. They could be tortured or burned, but because they possessed his peace, the onlookers could only wonder at their dignity and composure. It is no surprise to us therefore that Paul describes this peace as beyond understanding.

How striking is the contrast Jesus draws between in the world where we are to have tribulation, and in me where we may have peace. If God has placed us in the one, to be thronged by its pressures and claims and needs, he has placed us also in the Other, to be held by him undisturbed amid it all. Jesus himself once asked, Who touched me? The believing touch of one in that Capernaum multitude registered with him. It matched his own heart of compassion, whereas the pressure of the rest crowding upon him had no such effect. All their impatient jostling did not touch him in the least, for there was little in common between them and him. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. If our life is the life of men, we are swayed by the world. If it is the life of the Spirit it is unmoved by worldly pressures.

Righteousness and peace and joy: with such things is the kingdom of God concerned. Never let us be drawn away, therefore, into the old realm of eating and drinking, for it is neither the prescription of these things nor their prohibition that concerns us, but another world altogether. So we who are of the kingdom need not abstain. We overcome the world not by giving up the worlds things but by being otherworldly in a positive way: by possessing, that is, a love and a joy and a peace that the world cannot give and that men sorely need.

Far from seeking to avoid the world we need to see how privileged we are to have been placed there by God. As thou didst send me into the world, even so send I them into the world. What a statement! The Church is Jesus successor, a divine settlement planted here right in the midst of Satans territory. It is something that Satan cannot abide, any more than he could abide Jesus himself, and yet it is something that he cannot by any means rid himself of. It is a colony of heaven, an alien intrusion on his territory, and one against which he is utterly powerless. Children of God, Paul calls us, in the midst of a

Jesus himself once asked, Who touched me? The believing touch

of one in that Capernaum multitude registered with him. It matched his own heart of compassion, whereas

the pressure of the rest crowding upon him had no such effect.

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crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are seen as lights in the world (Phil. 2:15). God has deliberately placed us in the cosmos to show it up for what it is. We are to expose to the divine light, for all men to see them, its God-defying rebelliousness on the one hand and its hollowness and emptiness on the other.

And our task does not stop there. We are to proclaim to men the good news that, if they will turn to it, that light of God in the face of Jesus Christ will set them free from the worlds vain emptiness into the fullness that is his. It is this twofold mission of the Church that accounts for Satans hatred. There is nothing that goads him so much as the Churchs presence in the world. Nothing would please him more than to see its telltale light removed. The Church is a thorn in the side of Gods adversary, a constant source of irritation and annoyance to him. We make a heap of trouble for Satan simply by being in the world. So why leave it?

Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel (Mark 16:15). This is the Christians privilege. It is also his duty. Those who try to opt out of the world only demonstrate that they are still in some degree in bondage to its ways of thinking. We who are not of it have no reason at all to try to leave it, for it is where we should be.

So there is no need for us to give up our secular employments. Far from it, for they are our mission field. In this matter there are no secular considerations, only spiritual ones. We do not live our lives in separate compartments, as Christians in the Church and as secular beings the rest of the time. There is not a thing in our profession or in our employment that God intends should be dissociated from our life as his children. Everything we do, be it in field or highway, in shop, factory, kitchen, hospital or school, has spiritual value in terms of the kingdom of Christ. Everything is to be claimed for him. Satan would much prefer to have no Christians in any of these places, for they are decidedly in his way there. He tries therefore to frighten us out of the world, and if he cannot do that, to get us involved in his world system, thinking in its terms, regulating our behavior by its standards. Either would be a triumph for him. But for us to be in the world, yet with all our hopes, all our interests and all our prospects out of the world, that is Satans defeat and Gods glory.

Of Jesus presence in the world it is written that the darkness overcame it not (John 1:5 margin). Nowhere in Scripture does it tell us of sin that we are to overcome it, but it distinctly says we are to overcome the world. In relation to sin Gods word speaks only of deliverance; it is in relation to the world that it speaks of victory.

We need deliverance from sin, because God never intended we should have any touch with it; but we do not need, nor should we seek, deliverance from the world, for it is in the

We do not live our lives in separate

compartments, as Christians in the

Church and as secular beings the

rest of the time.

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purpose of God that we touch it. We are not delivered out of the world, but being born from above, we have victory over it. And we have that victory in the same sense, and with the same unfailing certainty, that light overcame darkness.

This is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith. And who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:4, 5). The key to victory is always our faith relationship with the victorious Son. Be of good cheer, he said. I have overcome the world (John 16:33). Only Jesus could make such a claim; and he could do so because he could earlier affirm: The prince of the world ... hath nothing in me (John 14:30). It was the first time that anyone on earth had said such a thing. He said it, and he overcame. And through his overcoming the prince of the world was cast out and Jesus began to draw men to himself.

And because he said it, we now dare say it too. Because of my new birth, because whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world, I can be in the same world as my Lord was in, and in the same sense as he was I can be utterly apart from it, a lamp set on a lampstand, giving light to all who enter the house. As he is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17). The Church glorifies God, not by getting out of the world but by radiating his light in it. Heaven is not the place to glorify God; it will be the place to praise him. The place to glorify him is here.

AN ULTIMATE GUIDE TO

LIFESIGHTin

seeing god's heart

It was the first time that anyone on earth had said such a thing. He said

it, and he overcame. And through his overcoming the prince of the

world was cast out and Jesus began to draw men to himself.

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There was a shocking news yesterday and it literally pricked my heart. Not only mine, it might have hurt everyone who as a heart. A 41 year old woman fell unconscious on a rail-track and in few minutes time she was killed by a running train. The heart-breaking side of the incident is not just this. A few youngsters were standing nearby and they shot a video of what happened. Those who were far from the spot rushed to rescue her, but they were late. All of them were shocked by the callousness and insensitivity of those youngsters who could have saved her easily. Instead of saving a life, these youngsters were rather thinking about the publicity the video would bring to them!

These youngsters are not lone ones in our world of individualism today. Greater and greater percentages of people are getting confined to their own joys and are totally insensitive to the pains of others. The other is totally a stranger to our generation and hence what happens to them bothers us not. Even those who love others restrict their love to their loved ones or friends or the circle they belong. However, this is not what Christ has come to teach us, for sure.

John, the apostle, who was also known as the beloved disciple writes these words, For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning (from Jesus), that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brothers righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. (Parenthesis is mine, 1 John 3: 11-15).

The apostle continues his great exhortation, By this we know love that he (Jesus) laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the worlds goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does Gods love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3: 16-18)

By this we know love, that Jesus laid down his life for us. We were all strangers (Ephesians 2:12) yet he died for us. I wish to do an exposition of the above verses, for they must be expounded repeatedly by the significance of the subject matter. This, we will do another time, let us focus now on just the need to love the brother or the stranger as a follower of Christ.

Christ means love. He manifested it from the beginning till the end. Any feeling short of love for the other is not from Christ and John the apostle says it is from the evil one. We need conscious, really conscious attempt to love others in deed and in truth. Let Gods love abide in us (1 John 3: 17) as we keep our eyes and heart open to the world around us. The world might hate us (1 John 3:13), but our calling is to love. Remember the Lord whom we serve, Amen!

LAST WORD

JOHNSON GEORGE

Ca n w e love a st ra n g er?

MAY - JUNE 2015

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