CHANGE IN ATTITUDE

India is facing another general election starting next week. The question in everyone's mind is 'who is going to be the next Prime Minister?'.

From my office room, I can see streams of vehicles with banners and loud speakers proclaiming the virtues of their candidates and the supremacy of their parties over the others. One party candidate reiterates in particular the he is the epitome of 'holiness and purity'!!

That is a new claim in political levels. I have never heard that one before in my life during any election. The candidate in particular represents a party known for its trail of violence, political murders and assassinations!

India will elect 542 Members of the Parliament out of whom one will be the Prime Minister. The next 5 years, 541 will be drooling at the chair of the PM and waiting for the day when he or she will be the one chosen to sit on it. The circle goes on forever with the battle cry ......." I am the greatest"!!

THIS PHENOMENON STARTS FROM THE TIME A CHILD IS BORN.

The mothers always want their children to stand first in class, so that she can boast about that in her club or snob circles. When the child grows up, again there is pressure upon it to do well in sports, in games, in literary and fine arts competitions... most of which may be meaningless exercises for the young minds....

At work, the young man or woman is challenged to do the best and overtake their compeers. The way up, the promotions, the increments, the corner room all belong to the most aggressive, the most productive personality, who can excel only by putting down someone else. We climb up the ladder only by proving that we are better than our companions.

In the military, there is a stiff competition to be the best...the best cadet, the best officer, the best shot, the best all rounder.

Take any profession - be it sports, or medicine, or engineering, or architecture, or law .... we want to be the best, the one above the rest, in short, as the famed US boxer Cassius Clay alias Muhammed Ali said " I am the GREATEST".

This represents mans inborn or instilled desire to SHINE above the others.

Even in spiritual life, we see this competition to prove that we are the best in the business. There is a desire to put down one brother, to mock at the weak sister, to criticize the elder just to be able to say, if it were me, things would have been so different, so much better.

This is Passion Week; the world is remembering the sufferings of Jesus Christ at the hand of the unbelieving Jews and the occupying forces under Rome 2009 years back in Jerusalem.

Jesus faced one of the most agonizing moments in His worldly ministry which lasted three and a half years when on the approach road to Jerusalem on His way to the cross, He heard a heated discussion going on behind Him amongst His disciples.

Jesus stopped and asked them, "what was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?" [ Mark 9:33] It is written 'but they held their peace: for by the way, they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest.'

The same incidence is repeated in Luke 9 : 46, where it is written, 'Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest. Jesus, perceiving their thought of their heart, took a child, and set him by Him and said unto them, "whosoever shall receive this child in My name receiveth Me: and whosoever receiveth Me, receiveth Him that sent Me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great." [Luke 9: 47 & 48]

Yet, the disciples were not convinced ! On the eve of Jesus' arrest and trail, it is seen written in Luke 22: 24, ' And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest'.

Jesus said unto them " The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so; but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve." [ Luke 22: 25 & 26]

This message is reiterated in the Gospel of John [ John 13: 1 - 17 ] when after the Last Supper, it is written: ' Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God; He rose from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded....'

At the end of that passage, Jesus said to His disciples, "You call Me Master and Lord: and you say well, for so am I. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Verily, Verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than His Lord; neither is he that is sent greater than He that sent him. If you know these things, happy are you if you do them."

The next day Jesus was crucified by the Roman soldiers and buried. He rose again on the third day and appeared to His disciples for the next 40 days.

The same disciples, who till the death of Jesus, were striving and disputing amongst themselves who was the greatest among them, were transformed after the Holy Spirit came upon them on the day of the Pentecost ( 50 days after Passover when Jesus was crucified, 40 days after the resurrection, 10 days after the ascension of Jesus)

Allow me to tell you the changes that the vision of a Resurrected Jesus and the anointing of the Holy Spirit brought about in His disciples .....

Mathew, who wrote the Gospel in his name, mentions only the acts and words of Peter, John, Philip and Nathaniel. He had nothing to write about himself. He mentions not the feast that was held at his house, the great wealth that he had as a tax collector, his influence and how rich he was....

Mathew fails to mention that it was in his house that Mary anointed Jesus with the flask of precious oil. All he says about himself are the three simple words in the list of the disciples " Mathew, the publican"; in other words, Mathew, the sinner, the corrupt, the dishonest...

Mark's Gospel is the gospel as recounted to him by Peter, the acknowledged chief among the Apostles. Mark was a Roman believer, who heard the story from Peter and wrote everything down for the believers in his hometown.

Peter's gospel does not start with the words, " dear friends, in the history of mankind, only two people have ever walked on water. The first was Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah; the second is me, Peter, the Big Fisherman.... "

Peter never mentioned this event to Mark; it is told only in the accounts of the other gospels !!! Mark's Gospel only shows the failings and falls of Peter, the disciple.

Mathew describes in chapter 16, verses 17 to 19, where Jesus said to Peter upon his confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, " Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed unto you by man, but by My Father in heaven. And I tell thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock, will I build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I shall give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever thou shalt bind on earth shalt be bound in heaven; whatsoever thou shalt loosen on earth shalt be loosened in heaven."

What a powerful authority that was given to one among the disciples! YET, Peter is strangely quiet about this great power that was given to him....he omits this in his account to Mark!

Luke, the physician, wrote the gospel in his name and the Acts of the Apostles. A fully qualified physician was a rare commodity in those days, respected and honored by the community. He never mentions that these two books are written by "Luke the Physician". We would have made sure of the identity of the author and pasted a full blown photograph also on the back cover!

The only words that John says about himself in the Gospel of John are ' the disciple whom Jesus loved '....

The same group who were arguing who is the greatest among them, were changed by the vision of the Resurrected Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Their priorities were changed, their identities were lost, their proclamations were only about their Lord and Master, Jesus.

John the Baptist said, " He should increase, I must decrease". This is the real attitude of a believer.

It is written [Acts 11:26] "The disciples were called CHRISTIANS first in Antioch." This term was applied to only those who had become disciples of Jesus. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and fired with the mission to reach the unreached in every corner of the globe.

Why then is the Church that bears His Name, meddling in politics and canvassing votes and acting as kingmakers and throwing their weight behind political leaders and political parties?

Here in 2009, now we are hearing bishops and pastors proclaim, " I am the greatest, I am the best". The Christian leaders are loud in the proclamation of their political loyalties and the strength of their 'vote banks'.

WHAT A CONTRADICTION!!

Let them return to the Scriptures and find out WHOM THEY SERVE...

God bless you

Motty

GOD'S TIME TABLE versus HUMAN TIME TABLE

Apostle Paul writes in Philippians 1:6 "I am sure that God who began the good work within you will keep on helping you grow in his grace until his task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns" [Living Bible]

In King James Version, it is written " being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ". American Standard version uses the words " .....will perfect it...."

We are often in a hurry to reach where we are headed. This is evidenced in the popular fast-food culture in our society, where we want the food ordered in a restaurant cooked and served within 10 minutes, gulp it down in another 5 minutes and be back on our way.

The same fast food attitude is often seen reflected in our spiritual lives too ... we tell the Lord, quoting the Palmist, David, "How long, O Lord ? Will you forget me forever ? How long will you hide your face from me ? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and everyday have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me ? "
[Psalm 13 :1 - 2]

We want a shortcut to sainthood, a quick march to wealth and richness, and an overnight experience of seeing the "goodness and mercy " of the Lord following us all the days of our life. And when we fail in our expectations, we fall away quickly having come to the conclusion, there is no point in following God in this Godless world.

We see ourselves as martyrs having done all in our power for the Lord but having received nothing in return for our zeal and love and enthusiasm. We blame God, we blame the Church, we blame the pastor, our colleagues, our neighbors , even our own family members and we feel very self righteous and holy.

The truth, as Bible declares, is very different from this.

It takes years for a baby to grow and attain maturity. The baby smiles when happy, cries when hurt or hungry, slowly turns on its side, then on its front, sits, crawls, sits up, stands, takes faltering steps, walks, runs, ..... the process is familiar to us; we went through the same circle.

The spiritual growth can be compared to the same process. We cannot expect an overnight transformation from a sinner to sainthood with quick fixes, one seminar, one evangelist meeting, one session at a family counseling.

Moses was born at a time when Israel was in bondage in Egypt. [BC 1500 approximately]. His birth coincided with the Pharaoh's decree that every male child born to the Hebrew slaves shall die at birth. This is recorded in Exodus 1: 22 [ Then the Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: "Every boy that is born, you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live"]

Moses, set afloat in a basket in the River Nile when he was but three months old, was pulled out of the river by Pharoahs' sister who was childless, and he was brought up at the same palace from where the decree had issued forth to destroy him at birth. It is written in Acts 7: 21 & 22
" When Moses was set out, Pharoahs' daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action"

Next forty years of Moses' life was in the palace as the foster son of Pharoah of Egypt. He was the Commander-in-chief of the armies of Egypt and an accomplished warrior. But what he did not know then was that God had a plan for him and it was being being carried out in God's own time table !

We see the rest of his story written in Exodus 2. Moses had to flee from the palace and from the land of Egypt for his life for killing an Egyptian overseer, and the next 40 years, he spent in the wilderness of Midian, tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian.

In Exodus 3:6, by the time God reveals Himself to Moses in the burning bush [ "I AM the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob"] , another forty long years had passed by and Moses was eighty years old. By normal human standards, a person who has reached forty is well past his prime and is considered well and truly 'retired'! But when we continue to read the book of Exodus, we can see something really beautiful. THE NEXT FORTY YEARS WERE THE MOST SPIRITUALLY POWERFUL YEARS IN THE LIFE OF MOSES !!

God used a surrendered Moses to humble the mighty Pharoah and his empire, to lead His people out of Egypt after 430 years of bondage and slavery in the land with great signs and wonders, which put the dread of Isrealites in the minds of not only the Egyptians, but also in the people in the land of Canaan [ which Israel conquered under the leadership of Joshua ]

It is written in Jeremiah 1 : 5 'The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart/I sanctified you ....."

This call or selection of God comes to us even before we are born, even before you and I were conceived in our mother's womb ! He had seen us, He had already a plan and purpose for us, He already knew what you and I are going to be, going to do for Him .....

Is this not wonderful ? If this be the case, then why do we struggle so much against God's will, and end up being frustrated ?

The young, arrogant, proud Prince of Egypt was not a fit Deliverer of Israel, but a humble old man, armed with only a wooden staff was ! THIS TRANSFORMATION TOOK FORTY LONG YEARS !!

Would you and I wait 40 years to see God's majestic plan unfold in our lives ? Or would we rather jump the gun and put into practice our own plans [ 'to help God out'] in His apparent helplessness !!

The process of spiritual cleansing is a long one. We have to first come to terms with the idea that we need God, we need His help, we need His forgiveness, we need HIS GRACE that was shown on the CROSS at Calvary [ it is written : "FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE" - John 3:16]

We may feel we have surrendered everything to Lord, but the truth is that there are still un-surrendered areas in our lives which will go out only slowly; it is not easy to admit that we have faults, we are wrong, it was a mistake from our side or even to tell someone "I am sorry"

We are worried about how fast we are growing in spiritual life; God is more concerned with HOW STRONG WE ARE GROWING IN FAITH !

When God needs a mushroom, he makes it come up overnight. But when He wants a mighty oak [or a giant peepal in our land], He takes a 100 years.

The young sapling has to weather many a storm in its life, sway to the tune of many winds which makes the young sapling tilt and sway to their strength.....but after the storms are over, the saplings' roots grow down deeper and deeper, the stem becomes stronger and taller and finally the aged oak becomes the king of the forest, braving the very winds which made it sway and rock, providing shelter from the storms to passers by and to the birds in the air....

This process is called " putting off the old self, ...putting on the new self ".

Ephesians 4: 22, 23 an 24 says .. 'that you put off your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness'

Remember that God never in a hurry, but HE IS ALWAYS ON TIME. Great souls are grown through struggles and storms and seasons of suffering.

King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:1 "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven."and in 3:11 " He has made everything beautiful in its time"

MAY THIS STRONG FAITH HELP US FACE LIFE AND ITS UNCERTAINITIES WITH COURAGE AND PERSEVERENCE. God is working in us, and He is in full control of our lives.

God bless

COME UNTO ME, ALL YE THAT LABOUR

It is written that Jesus said in Mathew 11: 28 - 30 : " Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light"

Mankind received this invitation from the Lord 2009 years back. Many have accepted this glorious invitation and have had their burdens lightened, their labors reduced and in the process, they have found rest for their souls.

The mechanism by which Jesus brings about this change in the life of a person who comes to Him is by teaching and revealing to the 'new born' child of God about Himself. Jesus says here, "learn of Me". Learn what ? The greatest nature of the Son of God is revealed to his listeners here.

"for I am meek and lowly in heart" The One created heavens and earth, the universe and all that is therein with one word, came to planet earth, an insignificant spot in just one of the galaxies of the universe.....He came NOT as the emperor or the President of the greatest nation on earth at that time. He chose to be born as the son of an unknown carpenter in Israel, chose to be born in a street side, and to be seen laid in a manger....all the details of His birth points out to the meek and humble nature of the Son of God as foreseen 800 years before His birth by the prophet Isaiah [ Isaiah 53 ]

Here, I want to contrast this character and attitude with the present age culture and civilization.

In Romans 1: 13 and 14, it is written " professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man,and to birds, and four footed beasts, and creeping things".

Here we see a four-stage step by step degradation in the spiritual life of a man. First, he puts a man/woman in the place of God. There are many god-men and god-women whose claims for greatness and prophetic powers are accepted blindly by the poor, weary, heavy laden person who is seeking some consolation, some relief from the world's burdens. Pastors and preachers welcome believers into their congregations with the assurance, "we will pray for you and all your troubles will disappear, all your debts will be gone, your problems will be solved".

The poor weary christian finds that slowly the picture on the mantle piece is replaced by the beloved man of god who takes the place the heathen gods had in the life of the believer.

The next stages of degradation is when the prayers cease to be effective in solving the crisis, they turn to 'soothsayers' or modern version of prophets and prophetesses for an answer. They start looking up their birthstars and star signs to look for auspicious occasions and lucrative business ventures [ Aries, Taurus, Leo, Rahu....the list of animal and bird symbols that exercise control over the day to day activities of the average man is endless] and finally he ends up praying even to lowly creatures that CRAWL in the dust of the earth !!

Why does God allow such degradation in lives of man? The answer lies in the previous verse Romans 1 : 21 " Because, when they KNEW God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish hearts were darkened"

Mankind, everyone, even the uneducated, knows about the existence of God from the nature. Psalm 19 :1 says "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork". So, even the unbeliever, the atheist, the heathen, the primitive natural man knows that there is a God who has created all these stars and constellations and galaxies and all that is visually seen.

Romans 1: 21 says "....neither were thankful..." . A proud and self righteous man does not accept the existence of God or the blessings that would have come to him due to the prayer and/or faith of his forefathers [ The Bible says in the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20: 5 & 6 : "....for I the Lord Thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, and showing mercy to thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments."

Jesus faced the wrath of the self righteous Jews as written in the Gospel of John 8: 33 and 39, when they claimed that "we are the children of Abraham", and "Abraham is our father". They went one step further in verse 41 when they claimed, "we have one Father, even God".

Imagine !! They were telling the only Begotten Son of God, Jesus, that they too were children of God, being children of Abraham, the father of all believers !!

It was easy in AD 33 to become a Jew, one of the chosen generation and in the process become a " son of God" - the rite of CIRCUMCISION was a sign of the COVENANT given to Abraham by God, making his descendants a people set apart from the rest of humanity. Circumcision was to be a sign of a COVENANTED RELATIONSHIP with God. [Genesis 17: 1 - 14]

A covenant is like a treaty. Once we enter into a treaty or an agreement, there is no backing off from that. Our outlook, behavior, relationships, our attitudes all change after there is a new bilateral agreement between two rival business houses , or between two warring nations.

So when God entered into a covenant with man, He would not back out because He is Unchanging. But on the other hand, we, the second party to the covenant, often backs out, breaking this special relationship with Him.

Let us take Moses, the man of God, for example. He was brought up as the adopted son of Pharaoh of Egypt. He was learned in the martial arts, he was the commander-in-chief of the mighty armies of Egypt. Once, it is written, he slew an Egyptian [ Exodus 2: 11 & 12] for smiting a Hebrew slave. But the same Moses, after fleeing to the wilderness from Pharaoh's wrath, and wandering in the deserts Midi an, taking care of his father-in-laws' sheep for 40 years, met God face to face, a meeting that changed his life and destiny and brought him back to Egypt as God's chosen deliverer of His people from the bondage of Egypt which lasted 430 years.

In Numbers 12:3, it is written, "now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth"....see the transformation an encounter with God brings into the life of a man.

Numbers 12 continues to portray the special relationship that Moses had with his God. In verse 6,7 &8, God declares to Moses' sister Mirium, " if there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make Myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all Mine house. With him, will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of God shall he behold....."

The once arrogant and proud heir-to-the-throne Goonda had become a child of God !! The transformation was complete and absolute and GENUINE ! And God knew this....

In 1 Corinthians 10:1,2 , it is written, " ....our fathers...were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea..." .

But of the 600,000 men and their families [ a rough count puts the total number of the Jews who left Egypt in BC 1405 at 30,00,000 ] who followed Moses out of bondage, ONLY TWO ENTERED THE LAND OF CANAAN !! [ Caleb and Joshua] The rest perished in the wilderness...

They had some small flaws in their character even after they saw God's hand working for them; they had some defects in their nature which would not go even after they became God's people.

Romans 1 : 29, 30 and 31 lists 23 characteristics of the ungodly. Verse 32 says, not only have such people these flaws, they " have pleasure [ or admire or encourage] in them that do them".

To the Jews who came to Him, Jesus said " bear fruits worthy of repentance"

To the Jews who claimed 'Abraham is our father', the Holy Spirit spoke through Apostle Paul in his Epistle to Romans 2 :28, 29 " For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God."

Churches practice baptism without repentance; forgiveness without genuine remorse; baptism without church discipline; Holy Communion without confession and absolution without commitment to a covenant relationship with our Savior JESUS CHRIST.

This is cheap grace sold in the market place at a discount or at throwaway prices. This is the doctrine of cheap grace which justifies the sin without justification of the sinner. This is the doctrine of cheap grace, all paid for in advance by Jesus on the cross at Calvary.

This is grace without discipleship; this is grace without the cross; grace without JESUS CHRIST, Living and Incarnate.

Jesus said [ Mathew 28:18, 19, 21]" All authority has been given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world"

The MISSION is EVANGELISM.

ARE YOU AND I FAITHFUL TO OUR MISSION ? I PRAY THAT LORD GOD MAY BLESS YOU AND ME, ANOINT YOU AND ME , AND USE YOU AND ME AS HE WILLS FOR THE GLORY OF GOD

God bless
Motty

RELATIONSHIP WITH PARENTS

I feel happy when I see the emotional attachment some families have to their parents. This is seen more strong in the joint families that have become rare in these days.

Modern times have turned children to machines who manage their time efficiently to earn the maximum and spend the maximum, sometimes spending even more than what they earn, to 'unwind'.

"Parents" have ended up as a social visit obligation to be undertaken every year on their birthdays or anniversaries during a vacation of 10 days or a couple of weeks allowed to a working couple. Old parents are the strangers who get a hug and a kiss accompanied by a beautiful bouquet of flowers and the words "we love you" once a year in their old age homes where they are shut in to see through the rest of their lives 'in comfort' by their children.

It is sad, but, we feel, we have a responsibility to our children too; we have to earn to pay for their education, their marriage, make their future etc etc....

But in the process, those amongst us who are working away from their home town do have this conflict in mind when we meet our elderly parents, maybe even briefly, once in a while.....

Do we remember the old times.........?

When we were small, they took care of us, met all our needs whenever we wanted - whether they could afford or not - most times even what they could not afford, they scrimped and saved so that we were made happy, they were ready to do all they could to see that we were made comfortable.

Most of us had only one working parent which meant lot of balancing in the family budget to see some thing kept aside to bring home a 'special' for their kids.

Now we are grown up and strong and we have our families [nuclear families] and we move away from home with spouses and children .... due to varied reasons, we cannot have our parents with us, or they are not ready to come and stay with us. Maybe the reasons are understandable: difficult weather in a strange and far away place versus family ties and friends in their home town maybe some of the good reasons parents have not to move away from their home town. Small, compact apartments also limit the scope of their feeling welcome to occupy the second bedroom or spare room available for an extended period of time.

The only looser is our own children and the coming generations.

The grandchildren grow up without hearing the folk stories that our grandparents told us... they will never hear the rhymes that our grandmothers sang to make us sleep...they will never taste the "NADAN" [home-made] curries, the nadan cookies and the granny's recipes......we have eaten tones of these homemade stuff , made by our parents and we still look the same as ever, with normal weight for height ratios ......they will grow up fed by Macdonald and Pizza hut - all those yummy looking deadly dishes which transform their thin frames into obese overweight structures requiring constant medications even from early youth...

Our parents built our house years back- not so beautiful by modern standards, maybe - with one bedroom for each child when we grow up. But when the children grew up and left, the big houses for the most part, remain empty.

Do we see the pain in our parents as they waited, seemingly for ever, for the children to come home, with their grandchildren, once a year, or once in 2 years.

They come with small kids who cannot understand their mother tongue or whose conversations the parents could not follow......How can we blame the grandchildren? They did not really know these oldies well enough to talk with them or share their daily routines [ most of it would be eat, sleep, school, work, watch TV, eat, sleep.....]

I always thought how lucky I was to have my parents with me all along, my kids would run to Ammachi [ before she passed away of Multiple Myeloma in December 2004 ] than to my wife, Beena for anything they wanted...Joseph, my younger son, would eat only if Ammachi told him fancy tales and imaginary stories...Even when she was really sick, I have seen her standing patiently at one corner of house while he would pedal his bicycle around the house to take one mouthful.....Philipose, the elder, had special dishes cooked to his taste and ready on the table when he came home from school.

When she died, only my kids really cried and, once the funeral was over and everybody else had left, they talked endlessly about the times they had, the fun and care and love and affection that their Grandma had given them and how they missed all that - I have seen many grandchildren who come to the funeral of their grandparents , gawk at the dead body and go back to their own world with no real sense of loss....

Will that old world joint family system ever come back? Will WE, in our turn, get the same indifference and disregard from our generations?

Out of the Ten Commandments given by God [ Exodus 20: 1-17], the first 4 dealt with man's relationship with God. The rest of the Commandments dealt with mans' relations in the world.

The Fifth Commandment states, [ Exodus 20: verse 12 ] "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you"

Moses, when he repeated this Commandment in Deuteronomy added [ Deut: 5: 16] " Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you"

This 5th Commandment is the first Commandment WITH A PROMISE: to live long, to have things go well with us, - another version says "so that you may prosper in whatever you do", - the ONLY condition God has put is "HONOR" your father and your mother.

God did not say, "put money in the church drop-box, burn candles, organize or sponsor festivals, put offerings, do social service, climb mountains carrying a wooden cross, fast, do this, do that....so that I would bless you in the land."

The one and easy way for blessings that last, for prosperity that endures is and always will be : Honor your father and your mother.

Prosperity is not wealth alone. It is not money in the bank - for that matter, when God gave the Ten Commandments, there were no banks or savings accounts or business accounts.

Prosperity is a combination of peace, joy, love, good health, happiness and lack of want in essentials. This can only come from God Himself. Thus this commandment by itself, is a strong reminder from God about our responsibilities to our parents.

Jesus, when He condemned the Pharisees in Mathew 15: verses 4 -9, He said, " For God said, 'Honor your father and your mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death'[ Exodus 21:17 and Leviticus20:9] . But you say that if a man says to his father or mother 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban ' [or a gift devoted to God / an offering made to the temple ], he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the Word of God for the sake of your tradition.

You hypocrites ! Isaiah was right about you when he prophesied about you: "These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men" [ Isaiah 29:13 ]

In Jesus' time, anyone who made a Corban vow was required to dedicate money to God's temple that would have otherwise gone to support his parents. Corban had thus become a religiously accepted way to neglect parents, circumventing the child's responsibility to them.

Although the action of giving money to God seemed worthy and no doubt conferred prestige on the giver, many people who made the Corban vow were disregarding Gods's command to care for their needy parents. The Pharisees who promoted this idea, knew about God, but they did not KNOW God.

May God help us do honor, to love and to cherish our elderly parents in their lifetimes and be blessed in return.

God bless you

THE WORLD THAT WE LIVE IN - Psalm 27

Today, the world around us is in doubt and confusion. We do not know where the economy is heading. Enterprises that were leaders of economy have folded in one by one, are asking governments to supply them with funds in order to continue their operations. Starting from New York, the financial center of the world, the word "Economic Depression" is sending shock waves around the world

Companies are handing out pink slips to thousands of employees who never thought of finding themselves one day without jobs, with families to support, school going children, mortgages unpaid, loans repayments to be met.....

Uncertainty looms over the horizon with more and more bad news of stocks crashing, banks floundering, insurance companies winding up and savings meant for a relaxed retirement life evaporating into thin air overnight.

When the world around us makes us tremble and fear, when everything that we held in high esteem crashes around us in ruins, only FAITH IN GOD can help us move forward with confidence and strength.

Psalms 27: 1 says " The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life - of whom shall I be afraid. "

David [ exact date of birth is not known, but it is believed that he lived approximately between 1050 BC to 970 BC ] wrote this psalm, while he was running for his life from his own father-in-law, Saul, who was also King of Israel at that time.

Every hand was against him, the officials of the kingdom, the common people, the priesthood, the military..... all his friends and family were either mute witnesses or supporters of the regime. [ His brothers were officers in the Israel army].

But David says, "whom shall I fear ? ....of whom shall I be afraid ?" The reason he had no fear was because the Lord was his light, his salvation and the strength of his life, not the fact that he had politically powerful friends, he had high connections, lot of money in the bank, a beautiful wife, chariots to drive around in, palaces to occupy.... all those things things that we would value in these modern days were NOT the source of strength or confidence for David.

This shows an unwavering confidence in God in face of terrible personal calamity. Such a strong faith would be the only antidote for fear and loneliness.

David continues in Psalm 27: 2 & 3 "When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war breaks out against me, even then will I be confident"

An equivalent situation in our present generation would be the creditors , the moneylenders and their thugs, the recovery agents of financial enterprises and banks, the court orders that come with eviction notices ..... are we in any way better off in this 21st century?

Fear is a dark shadow that envelops us and ultimately imprisons us. Each of us has been a prisoner of fear at one time or another - fear of rejection, fear of misunderstanding, fear of uncertainty, fear of sickness or even death.

But we can conquer fear by trusting the bright liberating light of the Lord who brings salvation, hope, strength and confidence. God offers believers help for today and hope for tomorrow.

The psalmist ends with these beautiful lines: [ verse 13] "I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living " . This was the basis of David's faith - that his God would not let him be destroyed by his enemies or by the circumstances.

THIS SHOULD BE OUR FAITH.

A PERSON WITH SUCH A GREAT FAITH CAN FACE THE UNCERTAINTY OF 3rd FEBRUARY 2009, AND SING PRAISES TO GOD ALMIGHTY WITH JOY AND GLADNESS.

God bless you