How to get your rewards as a Christian?

Lot of us are seeking our identities through various means. It could be through our jobs, talents, abilities, influences, status in the society etc. It is a never ending quest. As Christians, how are we to go about it?

Let me explain this a bit. When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, He has given us a "new life". Yes, a brand new life. We must first believe this. Next, this new life is hidden in Christ who is in heaven at the right side of God. But, one important thing, what happened to your old life?

You have died to the old ways of living or your "old life" is dead. Only when we understand this, we could clothe ourself with the new life. It is all about thinking and setting our minds in the right direction. We will see how we can do it.

1. Think about those things that are part of heaven rather than here on earth. Following the teaching that Christ gave through the sermon on the mount is a good place to start with.

2. Put to death all the earthly and sinful things that are hiding secretly inside you. This includes sexual impurity, lust, impurity and evil desires.

3. Clothe yourself with the new nature that consists of things like mercy, humility, gentleness, patience and kindness and above all "Love".

4. Teach and counsel other with all the wisdom that Christ gives you.

5. Forgive the faults of others as God has forgiven you.

6. Do all your work as if you are doing for God and expect a reward from Him not from this world.

All these things should be done on a daily basis and the peace that comes from Christ will rule our hearts. What is the motivating factor to do all these? It lies in Christ and the things that He will give us when he returns. As Christians, we should always hope for the rewards in heaven rather than trying hard for them here on this earth.

The greatest reward of it all is to share in the glory of Jesus Christ when He comes back. There is nothing better that can inspire a true child of God than this. Jesus Christ offers us hope beyond this life here on earth and that to us is the ultimate comfort, peace, joy and satisfaction. Every reward, accolade, fame and adoration that you get in this world is tempoary and would be gone the moment you die and leave this earth, People would forget you.

Do you want that everlasting reward? Then clothe yourself with the new life that Christ has given you. God bless you!

Will following a set of rules make us spiritually strong?

We establish a set of rules to be followed by ourselves based on what we think is "right" or "wrong". There is an impending danger and deception in it. Let us assume that we set the following three rules that we would follow very religiously

1. No lusting
2. No over eating
3. No jealousy and greed

Now, on what basis we can be sure that we would be able to follow this without compromising? If we say that it can be done through self control and will power, we may deceived. Though, people may say that they have great self control outwardly, only a person's own soul knows the pain and agony it goes through each day fighting against many of these moral and ethical obligations.

The biggest danger of it all is when we try to showcase and discern that strict observance of these rules actually gets us closer to God or in other words helps us to grow in our spiritual life.

The Bible says that in Jeremiah 17:9 that “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?"

It is a matter of the heart rather than anything outward. Jesus also said in Matthew 15:19, 20 "19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. 20 These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.”

The most important point to understand is that "We cannot make ourselves good by following a set of rules that are set by ourselves and by depending on our own strengh". Unless, there is a change of heart through true repentance, we will never grow in our spiritual life.

Apostle Paul in Colossians 2: 23 says "These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires"

What is the way out? There is only one way and that is through the saving power of Jesus Christ. This is the greatest miracle of all in which a person's heart is changed and mind is renewed day by day by the power of God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It is only by accepting Him as our Lord and truly following His commands that we become spiritually mature and strong. It is more to do with renewed thinking and priorities rather than just following a few rules that may just give us a temporary feel good factor. God bless you!

God loved us even when we were sinners. Why?

Have you seen the way children with behavioral issues react on certain things? They may show some tantrums, cry or even become so aggressive and intolerent. How do we view them? We think that they do everything deliberately and try to confront them in the worst possible ways. We shout, yell and scream at them in the pretext of correcting and disciplining them. Why? Because we have not understood their thought process. We have no clue about what is going on inside them. We just try to force our views and disciplining strategies on them without even realizing their need and in abilities.

Now, imagine that each of us are people with behavioral issues and assume God would deal with us in the same way as we do with our children. How would that be? Would we be spared for the sort of atrocities we do in and out during our lives, even after getting old and think that we are "correct" in everything and have become "holier" than others? Is God trying to thrust a set of rules on us even after knowing that we have our own limitations and weaknesses? How many of us would have been spared if God had not abolished the ten commandments?

All of us have one problem or the other in our lives and all of us have our own burdens and weaknesses to carry. Only God can understand our concerns and worries as He created us. We are so precious to Him and that is the reason He doesn't get angry with us for every wrong thing we do. Instead, His grace and love covers us. It is because of His sheer grace and mercies that we are alive and are spared.

And, God expects us to do the same with others. He wants us to be people with compassion on others. God wants us to live without cheating others. God expects us to be genuine in all that we do. God doesn't want us to show partiality in anything and act otherwise on the outside.

God sees through our hearts rather than just the outside smart behaviour of us. He knows what is inside there and we can't fool him just in the way we walk fooling others around.

Let us be people who love others genorously, live without selfish motives, help others, seek and offer forgiveness and more importantly show the attitude of "Jesus Christ" to every one whom we come across.

God chose to love us even when were wicked and dead in sin. In front of this amazing love, even our best intent or works in this world would look as filthy rags. But, God honours our attitude. When we pray for someone or show our concern, love and empathy for other's problem, God honours that and He would never let you go empty handed for it.

John 15:13 says "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends." and Jesus Christ practically demonstrated it on the cross. We are no way worthy of such an amazing love, but yet God chose to love and heal us from our sins.

Let us be people who honour this great God of ours by practicing what He preached. Let us love one another, let us help one another, let us pray for one another and in this way, God is glorified and honoured. Let us take our worries and concerns to God in prayer and also understand that He expects us to show the same kindness and love towards others. In this way, we can have a fulfilled and complete life. God bless you!

4 Steps to a successful Christian life

The human mind has the capability to conceive evil beyond our imagination and control and then forces us into sins which we would never think about. Nobody is immune to this. Is there a way out? Yes, read on...

Once, We were enemies of God and were seperated from Him through our evil thoughts and actions.This was the helpless situation of mankind from the time of Adam to Christ as there was no permanant cure for the wretched soul. But, everything changed when Jesus Christ sacrificed His life and rose up again. We were again united with God entirely through His grace, the sacrifice of His son and the unimaginable power of the Holy Spirit.

Colossians 1: 22 says "he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault"

It was not 99.9 % salvation but 100%. Jesus completed everything that we would need and thus He said "Finished" on the cross. The foundation has been laid and it is upto us to cooperate with God to build our lives on top of the foundation. We need to do the following four things to make sure that we grow consistently in our relationship with God.

1. We "must" continue to believe in this truth all the time. We should always think that Christ has won the battle and we need to march on with Him as His truthful soilders.

2. We "must" mediate on the Word of God every moment. This will help to strengthen our souls through nourishment with Spiritual food.

3. We "must" pray all the time. Prayer helps us to connect with God, submit us to His will, take all our worries to Him and receive the peace that He offers.

4. We "must" continue to grow in the fellowship of others, giving and receiving all the help that is needed to grow more and more in the image of God.

It is not in isolation that God wants the church (His people) to operate, rather each and every stone in the church should be equally strong so that it stays together in tough times.

If we truly follow the 4 steps above, we will never miss the mark as God is faithful and is ready to help all those who genuinely desire to walk in His ways. Jesus Christ is the "only" one who can change our lives. We take Him for granted many times, but we may not have the period of grace all the time. It is better to seek and find Him now than never. God bless you!

Are you going through a difficult situation in life?

It is in difficult times, that your listening ability to the voice of God increases. When everything is going on well, you create a maze around yourself that comprises of the passions and ambitions of the world. You lose interest in prayer, reading scripture and thereby you start neglecting God and pour out your time and resources to fulfill your worldly lusts and desires.

But then, our God is more loving than anyone you can imagine. He gets your attention back by ways and means that you and I cannot understand. King David become closer to God through difficult times, Apostle Paul, Daniel, Joseph, Jacob, Moses, Abraham, Peter...all of them utilized their low phases of life to come back to God strong!

If you are going through a troubled phase in life, then do one thing...come back to God. Pray and re dedicate your life! It is very simple. God will take care of the rest. Our God is a loving and merciful God. He carries you in His arms like a loving shephered! That is why King David said "The Lord is my Shephered and I shall not be in want of anything". Amen!