Sampark December 2008: An Amazing Thing

I’ll share with you some amazing things:

Amazing thing, there was an old woman who died in her childhood. Our mind does not accept this statement. But it is true, the old woman was born dead, lived dead and died dead passing into eternal death. Those who are in a condition of sin are in a dead condition. They may be called living but are essentially dead. David says, “…in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). Real life starts only after one is ‘Born Again’; as soon as we receive forgiveness of sins, we receive the real life.

Amazing thing, when filling our stomachs, we think about and check all that passes through the mouth – is it clean? Is it all right? Is there any rottenness in it? But when filling our heart with vile thoughts, hostility and other base things of the world, we never bother to spare a moment in similar examination; as if our hearts are a dumping place for filth. God’s Word admonishes, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it [are] the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

Amazing thing, there is a difference between a winnowing fan and a sieve. The former retains the worthwhile (heavy) things and discards the useless (light); while the sieve lets slip out the worthwhile and retains the useless within it. Man has a heart like a sieve, that casts out all the good things but keeps back the vile things for years; the Lord has a winnowing fan, “Whose winnowing fan [is] in his hand” (Matthew 3:12). Those who remain in the Lord’s winnowing fan, are cleaned moment by moment. Through His continual fellowship, new life flows through us continually.

Amazing thing, God gave everything to Adam and Eve except a garment to cover themselves. The covering garment is needed only when there is something to hide in life. Only when there is something shameful in our lives, we hide it or hide ourselves. The Lord does not ask for anything else from you, but that which is shameful in your life, “But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you” (Luke 11:41).


Amazing thing, but it is very true. The Lord neither gives the lure of heaven nor the threat of hell. Neither does He want to burden you with another religion. All He wants is to take away your burden of sin, “Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Amazing thing, a very wealthy merchant sold everything He had, to buy one pearl. That one pearl became His wealth, for that one pearl He, in a way, became penniless. This same pearl is the cause of His joy today, tomorrow and for eternity. His heart is where His treasure is (Matthew 6:21). Do you realize YOU are that treasure for which He emptied Himself!


Amazing thing, the heart does not take heed; rather, it always stumbles and flows towards the world, like water that always flows downwards. Water can be held steady only when retained in a vessel. The heart can only be made steady by meditating on God’s Word. Therefore “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16).

Amazing thing, you possess a fire that scalds many throughout your life time. Many people have to endure the pain your fire causes in their lives. The tongue is a small member but has the capability of starting a big fire. A small slip of the tongue can light a major fire in homes and amongst the Assembly. A small fire can engulf a large area (James 3:5, 6). It is said that speech should soothe, but often our speech starts sparks that cause calamity. Therefore be circumspect in the use of your tongue.

Amazing thing, the sin of hatred is a living sin that makes life miserable for the one who hates. By forgiving others, we do ourselves a favor (Proverbs 14:30). “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). Winning over an enemy to be your friend is true victory.

Amazing thing, some accuse me of abandoning the slavery of religion, only to become a slave of a book – The Bible. They don’t realize that it is only through the amazing and life changing power of this book that countless slaves of sin have gained salvation and freedom from sin over the ages.


Amazing thing, a woman poured out 300 Dinar worth of precious ointment on the Lord’s feet. Why did she do this? For her, compared to the Lord, the cost of the ointment had no value. But for Judas Iscariot, compared to 30 pieces of silver, the Lord had no value; for him all that mattered was money, no matter how it came. Their attitudes towards wealth has made them examples for eternity, she has become a supreme example of worship and he of treachery.

Amazing thing, it is not in your hands to defer death. But it is very much in your own hands to alter the consequences of death. You can change the sorrow of death to eternal joy, its sadness into eternal peace – you can do this. All you have to do is lift up your hands to God and say “Lord Jesus have mercy on me, forgive me.”

Amazing thing, fish died of thirst, do you know why? Because it did not open its mouth! The water of life is now with you, all you have to do is open your mouth and drink it, and eternal life will be yours.

Amazing thing, with thoughts of death, our sins come to our mind. If we die in sin then the sins will take us to an eternal death. To eliminate sin, we need to make use of a death – the death of Christ. His death gives us eternal life, and only through His death can we be victorious over sin.

Amazing thing, time that ages everybody, is now coming to its own end. The time that brought many to death is now approaching its own death; it is staring at its grave. A few more steps, then the limits of time will come to an end and an eternity will begin. Those who have life will enter into eternal life, those who have death will enter eternal death. This is not for some distant era, but for now and for everybody.

Pause now from your hectic life and spare this fleeting time a thought. Close your eyes, ponder over these Amazing Things and allow them to sink into your heart so that they transform your life into a life worth living – for eternity.

Sampark December 2008: May this prayer become The Healer

According to Birbal, the wisest and most famous of King Akbar’s ministers, amongst the four footed animals, the cat cannot be trained to do the trainer’s bidding. The other wise men in Akbar’s court, always on the lookout for a chance to belittle Birbal, took up the challenge and trained 10 cats within a few months. Now King Akbar invited Birbal to dinner and showed him the 10 cats, standing still with platters of burning candles on their heads, in formation, while the King had dinner in candle light. Birbal was amazed and asked, “Sire, do they stand like this daily?” The King said, “Come again tomorrow evening and see for yourself.” Next day Birbal came again and sat with the King for dinner. The cats were also standing in formation with the candles on platters placed on their heads. Quietly, Birbal brought out a mouse wrapped in his handkerchief from his pocket and let it loose near the cats. As soon as the mouse ran on the ground, the cats forgot all their discipline and training and ran after the mouse. Birbal gave the King a sly smile, while the King was left dumbfounded.

People too have a similar nature, they disciplines themselves for years, but when temptation comes, all the discipline is forgotten and they end up doing and saying what they should not.

God’s Word says of such persons, “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). They learn to bring an external change, but their inner self does not change. Such people gradually turn a deaf ear to God and then God to stops speaking to them. Those who stop introspecting to correct themselves, start looking for shortcomings in others.

The Pharisees always lived with the thought – what do people think about us? They never bothered to stop and think for a moment of what God thought about them. They always tried to hide their faults. Their pride never allowed them to accept and confess their sins.

You must have heard of Aesop’s fables, which in very simple terms illustrate the truth about man’s nature. One of his tales is about the fox that tried to jump to reach a bunch of grapes, but could not succeed for they were too high for her. The fox tried many times, but failed every time. Finally, it gave up the quest, shook off the dust and started limping away. A hare hiding in the bushes and watching it all called out mockingly to her, “What happened, can’t reach them?” The fox sheepishly replied, “Oh no! Nothing like that, I was only checking them out. Actually the grapes are not ripe yet, I will come back for them when they ripen.” Man’s nature is shown in this story – he does not acknowledge his shortcoming but tries to cover it up. The fox stands for man’s hypocritical and cunning nature, the hare represents his conscience that time and again points to his deficiencies and deceptions. Our pride does not go from us, it only hides; we keep it under wraps through polite talks, in an attempt to show that we have no pride.

The Temple of the Jews was being managed by money, for earning money by people greedy for more money. Such a place they called ‘The Temple of God’. But when Jesus saw it, He saw it for what it actually was – a den of thieves. What a difference at how God looks at a thing and man’s view of the same thing. Today, if God i.e. His Word looks into your life, what does He see? Are you too able to see, in the light of God’s Word, what God sees in your life?

Have you ever thought about yourself? Or is it that you do not want to think at all? The person who stops thinking does a very foolish thing. But we are trying to compel you to think about yourself. Those who live to find faults in others are never able to see their own faults; they forget their own identity, they forget what they actually are.

May this prayer of David become the prayer of our hearts today – “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; And see if [there be any] wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalms 139:23, 24).

Sampark December 2008: What will happen then?

(This piece was written soon after the terrorist attack in Mumbai on 26th November 2008.)

I am writing this at a time when everybody is wondering “What will happen next?” Terrorism has shaken us. God’s Word prophesies that “Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth” (Luke 21:26). I was watching people fleeing here and there to escape death. But the days are coming when “in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them” (Revelation 9:6). The reason for terrorism is a desire for revenge and an attitude of resentment and enmity. This desire of revenge has eliminated the trait of being humane from within humanity. This terrorism is the most shameful blot on our society. Death dwells amongst the living. Man is possessed by feelings of apprehensions and insecurity. Life has acquired the loneliness of a cemetery.

Many days ago I had read in a magazine about an incidence. I no longer remember the names or details of the people involved, what I do remember I am sharing with you in my own words. At a tourist destination of the Middle East, a family with three children had come to vacation in a hotel. Their eldest son was about 7 years old, the second daughter was about 6 years old and the youngest son was about a year old.

One day the sudden sound of gunfire startled the 6 years old girl. She ran and looked out of the window to see the body of her father lying in a pool of blood on the bank of the nearby river. Three or four other persons had caught her elder brother by his feet and were thrashing him around on the stones to kill him. In the meantime her mother too came and saw all this and immediately realized that they had been surrounded by terrorists, who would next be coming towards their cottage. The mother quickly lifted up her youngest son, grabbed the hand of her daughter and ran to hide in the warehouse. She first hid the girl amongst the sacks of grain and then hid herself at a short distance from her. The youngest son sitting in the mother’s lap started to cry for fear, she immediately covered his mouth with her hand tightly. The terrorists reached there and started to search for them throwing things here and there, but did not find them. They then gave up the search and left the place. When they had gone a short distance, the mother removed her hand from the face of her son, only to find him dead. In her nervousness, she had not just covered his mouth but his nose too and he had died because of it. The mother could not control her scream of agony, which was heard by the terrorists, who returned and killed her too.

The little girl sitting scared stiff amongst the sacks saw all this. For the next about six years she was unable to speak because of the shock. The 12 years old girl for the next 18 years, full of vengeance in her heart, had only one thought – “How can I extract revenge from those people?” This was the only aim she had in life. She had forgotten to smile or laugh. At such a time she came in touch with a servant of the Lord Jesus who told her about forgiveness of sins, peace, contentment and freedom. This restless girl prayed to God for mercy and for His peace; she was then delivered from the feelings of revenge she had grown up with. She then asked the Lord to show her what to do. The Lord spoke to her through His Word, “Be not be overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). Today this same girl is serving the orphaned and destitute children of those terrorists. That experience of terrorism had nearly turned her into a terrorist too, but the Lord transformed her into a marvelous person. Now she is living her life not with hostility but love; not with an ill will but in doing good.

“Be not be overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).

Sampark December 2008: Realizing my Status

My name is Shashi Shekhar. I was born in Patna, Bihar. Since my childhood I was the most religious amongst all my brothers and sisters and would observe fasts on religious occasions and festivals. I never thought of anything more than my parents or my family.

I was two or three years old when I passed through a very grave ordeal, and narrowly escaped death. I did not have teeth but was biting on a broken glass bangle with all my might. Consequently I sustained cuts in my mouth and throat and started to bleed profusely. My parents had to rush me to Patna city for my treatment. We had to cross the river Ganga by a steamer boat to reach Patna, but due to the floods in Ganga, no steamer owner was willing to risk crossing the river. Since there was no other way of reaching Patna, my parents despaired of my surviving. By God’s grace with great persuasion, finally one person agreed to risk crossing the river in spate. We managed to cross the river with great difficulty.

My treatment period was a very agonizing time for my parents. They had to spend a large sum of money for it and they went through a lot of distress to save my life. I gradually recovered with treatment.

For my primary education upto class fifth, I stayed in a hostel and developed a peculiar attitude. I disliked others, would harbor wicked thoughts for them and never wanted to do any good. I was fully mired in sin within my heart. But on the outside I never did anything, which if my parents or brothers and sisters came to know, would feel bad about. I always wanted people to have a good impression about me. I was always very careful to maintain a good reputation and never wanted to be caught for the things that would tarnish my image of being an obedient child. In this manner, in my own opinion, I was a ‘good boy’ in the eyes of my parents and teachers.

I was enjoying sin in my own way. I was a very proud, selfish and mean boy, but maintained a very clean image in front of my parents. You can call me a hypocrite. Like a white washed grave that looks clean and decorated on the outside but hides a foul smelling and rotting body inside it, I was an obedient and civil child on the outside but my heart was full of evil thoughts.

Since childhood I was never interested in science. I never considered studies to be something important. Because everybody studied, therefore I also studied. I had patriotic feelings and wanted to become an officer in the armed forces to serve my country. I was never endowed with a brilliant brain; I had a very ordinary intellect, but somehow managed to score well in my studies. In the school that I studied in, before meals and before going to bed, we were made to recite prayers.

When I was 12 years old, I passed through another difficult period in my life; I was struck by ‘Encephalitis’ in 1994. This was an illness that had taken many lives in the city of Ranchi, where I studied. When I was admitted to the hospital, my mother became very apprehensive and lost hopes for my life, since like me, many would be admitted in the morning and by afternoon or night they would be dead. At one time even I was declared dead, but amazingly I came back to life. After a prolonged treatment, I could recover to some extent and after a month of hospitalization the doctors advised that I be taken home and treated by psychotherapy for further recovery. It took me three years after this to be able to resume my studies. After intensive preparation, I could finally complete my intermediate studies through the CBSE board in 1999.

After that, by God’s grace I cleared competitive exams for engineering studies and got selected in IIT Roorkee and came to study here. After joining this place, I was very perplexed by the behavior of the students here. For them swearing, using abusive language, smoking, drinking and committing lewd acts was the norm. My seniors and friends used to tell me that to be an engineer these are all very essential things. Since I never used abuses against anyone, did not use cuss words and had no vices, I saw nothing bad within myself and remained content with myself. I made serious efforts to avoid all these things and to have a good image amongst my friends, but within me, my heart had become very corrupt at that time.

In the final semester of my first year, I met a righteous person. He brought me to the Lord. Initially I was not willing to listen to anything that he said, but gradually I found out about him and started to listen to him. I started to keep company with God’s people. After a long time, having come to know that He is willing to forgive and accept a vile person like me and that He is the only one who can forgive my sins and give me a new heart, I personally accepted the Lord Jesus as my savior with a prayer of repentance.


I was earlier following those who took me to religion but had nothing to offer after that. After I believed in Jesus, I realized only He is the way to salvation and forgiveness of sins, through by faith in His blood shed on the Cross of Calvary. Now I can say with certainty that even when I did not know the Lord, He knew me and all that happened in my life happened for my good.

I think about some things today – if by virtue of my religious practices, I was righteous person, then why did evil thoughts dwell in me? Could those practices have ever made me righteous with God? I had to come to conclusion and make a choice between right and wrong. The Lord showed me the way and I consented with Him that I can trust Him with full confidence. In Him, I had reached the conclusion of my quest.

The Lord has done many works in my life and I am very grateful to Him for all He has done for me. I now desire that he will choose me for His work as His servant.

Sampark December 2008: Please pay heed

Pretence and adulteration have become the most common things in this age. Water, air, food everything is adulterated. Death is sold as spurious ‘life saving’ medicines. If you want to die, it may be difficult to procure ‘pure’ poison. Would you believe it, live insects are found in insecticides! In this age of adulteration, God’s Word is being adulterated too. There is no dearth of false preachers. In the prophecy of Daniel, the last age is shown standing on feet of iron adulterated with mud (Daniel 2:33, 41, 42).

Today sin is not a desperate act committed under compulsion; on the contrary, it has become a source of livelihood and entertainment. People find it quite thrilling to befool or deceive somebody and thrive on it. We have lost our identity; we have forgotten who we are. People accuse others of being liars, greedy, revengeful; but ignore introspection – am I guilty of the same? If somebody does introspect and finds some deficiency, they try to justify it in one way or the other, or else to gloss it over as a compulsion.

The wife was complaining, “There is no honesty left in this world. People from all walks of life, big or small, are deceiving and being deceived. Surely, the end of the world is at hand now. See, what happened this morning, the vegetable vendor slipped a counterfeit coin to me; for one rupee, he sold his conscience; and he was swearing in God’s name.” The husband said, “Is that so? Show me that coin.” The wife replied, “Oh! Don’t worry; I palmed it off to the milkman!” If somebody sneaks in one damaged currency note along with other notes to us, we feel very hurt at the deception and find it hard to suppress our anger and irritation. But when we succeed in slipping off that same note to someone else in a like manner, we feel quite relieved and happy about it!

Satan is a salesman who deceives with big promises and enticing propositions. By the time reality comes out, man is left cleaned out having lost everything. The seeds of assurances that he plants in our hearts, will actually never bear any fruit. For thousands of years, from deceiving Eve till today, he has been promising to make man to be like God, and through this enticement has been destroying them. Instead of God, man has gradually acquired the image of Satan.

If a lie does not appear to be true, it will never pass scrutiny. Counterfeit currency, if it does not appear to be genuine, will never get into circulation. Will the fish swallow the hook, if there is no worm hiding it? The deadly hook has to be covered with something alluring for it to accomplish its purpose; the actual intention of the allurement becomes evident only after the tempting hook has been swallowed, but by then it is too late. Eve was beguiled and trusted the lie of Satan just once; the consequences are being suffered to date. Once you are caught up in Satan’s deception, you will be left struggling to find an escape.

People nowadays are only after miracles and healings, not the truth about God. They are searching not for God but for a road-side entertainer to entertain them, somebody who will fulfill their selfish desires and many preachers take advantage of this. These false preachers put up big shows and with dramatic actions make wonderful promises, all the time only serving themselves. A big crowd is following them, and these preachers “…overthrow the faith of some” (2 Timothy 2:18); and make it difficult for the true preachers to teach God’s Word in truth.

Therefore God’s Word says, take heed “…Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Ephesians 5:14).

Sampark December 2008: The Enigma known as Man

A swindler in the garb of a monk was traveling by train without a ticket. The ticket checker came checking tickets and asked him for his ticket. The monk answered, “Monks don’t need to buy tickets” the ticket checker said, “This is not your father’s train, either get off it or pay up.” An argument ensued, the situation got ugly and the monk was thrown out on the next stop. On the platform, he created a ruckus, a crowd gathered and the monk declared “I’ll see how this train moves now.” In a little while, the guard blew the whistle and waved the green flag to signal the train’s departure and the train driver started the train, but the train would not move. The driver tried his level best but the train would not budge. The crowd started to get restive; the train’s passengers became annoyed. The station master sensing trouble told the ticket checker, “Before the crowd starts any trouble, go and apologize to the monk for the situation you created.” The ticket checker refused, the monk also held his ground and the situation continued to deteriorate. Ultimately, the ticket checker had to back down and apologize to the monk; the monk also exploited the situation to his advantage and demanded hefty offerings, flowers, sweets and that the ticket checker should publicly fall at his feet to apologize. All done, the monk in a dramatic manner ordered the train to depart and now it did. Not just the train but even the monk’s reputation took a surge. He became an instant hit, people started to flock to him, and life became quite comfortable for him.

Time passed, as the monk lay on his death bed, one of his close followers pleaded to know from him how he had managed to keep the train from moving. The monk answered, “Now that I am nearing my time, I won’t lie to you; I had given a heavy bribe to the train’s driver for it.”

Many such charlatans similarly are fooling several today and playing with their faith. Therefore many people question the very existence of God. If one talks about God to people, some retort –“Keep your God to yourself. Where is God? Has anybody ever seen him? What is the proof of his existence? You keep frightening people with the fear of hell and Day of Judgment or enticing them with stories of heaven. Go tell your stories to the timid, if you ever come back to me, I’ll pack you off to your God.” They behave in this manner because they are convinced within themselves that there is no God.

Others are somewhat gentler and say, “Where is the need of a god? When life is moving well without him, why drag him in unnecessarily?” They too do not want to accept God’s reality. Then there are others who believe in God, only in a casual way, or because of fear of suffering a loss, or just for the sake of pleasing others, or to fulfill a ritual for the demands of a religion. But there are a few who honestly and with a sincere heart search for God; their ways and methods may not be right, but they honor Him from their hearts, not hypocritically.

It is a very simple fact, nobody needs to be a genius to understand it, can anything be made without a maker? He who made everything is God.

All boasting vanishes away

For the journey of life we need various ways for various situations. Look at it this way – man cannot face every kind of adverse situation by his limited physical abilities. He cannot face wild animals directly, and if confronted by a lion, all his bravado vanishes. Forget facing a lion, if even a street dog chases him, he runs for a place to escape and hide. Man does not have the abilities of animals, his eyes are not like theirs, and neither does he have their agility nor their speed. He does not have claws, nails, teeth like them nor wings to fly like birds. So he has made arrows, spears, swords, knives, guns, airplanes, boats etc. to overcome his limitations. It was man’s compulsions that made him to invent the weapons. He has made his own ways for everything (Ecclesiastes 7:29). Even to reach heaven after his death, he has devised his own ways – ways of religion to carry him from here to there.

Everything has two aspects, one that is evident on the outside and the other that remains hidden. Things that seem similar on the outside are actually very different from within. Something that seems to be very nice and attractive on the outside, may be very repulsive on its inside. Religion is one such entity; on first look it appears to be very good but is actually very ghastly. Ponder for a moment and check it out for yourself, don’t the evils that plague our society e.g. terrorism, sectarianism, divisiveness etc. have their origin in religion? These religions have raised the egos of common people to their extremes, for their religion its leaders goad their followers to proclaim – “Say with pride that I am a…” Is this not an indirect way to debase other religions? On the other hand, how many ever spur people to say “I am proud to be humane”. They will never say this because they have no compassion for others. Today, religion has become more important than God. In fact, religion has now become another name for terror.

For the politicians, religion is no problem. It is evident to all that for them, religion is a means for self-serving. In the financial world, man is the cheapest and most efficient machine to earn profits; humanitarianism has no place there. There is no lack of anything in our country, still people are restless. If there is anything is lacking, it is integrity and honesty.

There is no rose in this world that does not have thorns on its stems. The thorns in man’s life are because of sins that he has sown in his life. There is no home where these thorn pricks are not felt. Just look around in your own home, how many thorns of pride, anger, resentment, greed etc. are strewn around, causing pain and problems. Problems always remain with man, as long as he lives on this earth, he will have problems. Sin is the root cause of all problems.

Even a blood brother cannot be relied upon, who knows what selfish motives are keeping him attached to you? The conditions are worsening by the day and the world is facing its most difficult times. Everywhere people are perplexed and groping for answers – what’s next? What to do? Calamities and problems are coming upon the world very unexpectedly. Man is suffering the consequences of his own doings, and is now unable to find a way out of them. Whose fault is it? The fact is that the fault is with us, dwells in us, in our behavior and in our temperament. We don’t need to bring about hunger or thirst; they happen naturally, they are built into the system of our physical self. Similarly our heart has its own nature that manifests on its own; one does not need to learn e.g. to be greedy, to be proud, etc. these are all naturally present in the system of our hearts.

Big in name, small in deeds

We are quite different in our words and in our deeds. What we appear is a facade, and what we actually are.

Mullah Nasiruddin invited one of his friends, a maestro of classical music, with his group of musicians for dinner and a night of music. The friend was perplexed, how come Mullah Nasiruddin has developed an interest in classical music? Anyway, he and his group reached Mullah’s house that evening. Food and drinks were served lavishly and the party carried on till around mid-night, and then Mullah requested his friend to start the music. The friend said, “The whole neighborhood is now sleeping, this is no time to start music.” Mullah replied, the whole night the neighbor’s dogs bark and disturb me, I never complained. So what if I don’t have dogs, I have a classical musician. So now why should they complain?” The wish for revenge and the desire to settle scores is present in every person. There are no exceptions. People may have changed the method to settle scores, but nothing in life has changed.

See the condition of this home

The wife grumbles, as long as this irritating man remains out of the house there is peace. As soon as I see his irritating face, I start loosing my temper. There was a time when she pined to have a glimpse of his face and she considered herself to be his handmaiden. He had loved her more than his life, but today the same handmaiden has made his life miserable. Now his feet tremble at the thought of her who once desired to stay at his feet.

What actually is, may not be evident. The sky appears blue, but who can paint it blue when it is not even real? In reality there is nothing there, the blue color that we see is only an illusion. That which appears to be an ocean of bliss is just a mirage. The idea of contentment through the possessions of this world is a similar illusion, the moment you acquire them, the feeling of satisfaction vanishes and the discontentment recurs.

Till the problem of sin is sorted out in our society, nothing else will be sorted out. Our knowledge, religion, wealth will all keep us entangled in problems of one kind or the other. We have corrupted our environment, our life, our air, our society, our social and family relationships. No matter how many religions, governments, neighborhoods and families we may change, unless our hearts change, nothing else will change.

Life waiting to die

This is the story, actually the tragedy of a young man. On being asked what he was living for, he replied, “Living is not a necessity for me, but a compulsion; but I cannot gather the courage to commit suicide since I am afraid to die. The arrows of destiny have left me neither dead nor alive.”

‘Baul’ is a religious tradition from Bengal, its followers live a solitary life, and the ‘Baul’ plays a single stringed instrument while singing songs to his deity. In one of the songs, a Baul, in front of the dead body of a young man is complaining to his deity, “This is absurd, I should have gone, but I did not. He who did not want to go has gone. Those who do not want to go are taken away.”

The only certainty of life is death, but the weird thing about death is that it takes away those who don’t want to go but leaves behind those who are waiting and wanting to go. Who knows whose turn will come when? Some play with death and escape, others are not even thinking about death but get snatched away by it. We don’t know whose turn is it, but surely somebody’s turn is next. If you die in your sins, then think for yourself where will you be?

The days of life are numbered and one by one everyday dies away. Some have completed their days, others are about to complete and some will be completing them in the days to come. Everyone is on the road to death. No religion, wealth, knowledge or science will deliver you from death. You are absolutely unaware of what tomorrow will bring.

Eyes full of helplessness

A doctor advised an 80 year old man to have his eyes operated; a small surgery and he will be able to see again. The old man answered the doctor, “There are 34 eyes looking after me day and night. I have 8 sons, their 16 eyes, my 8 daughters-in-law their 16 eyes and the 2 eyes of my wife. So why should I bother about an operation at this age?” He disregarded the doctor’s counsel. Not even a week had passed since this incidence when his house caught fire. Everyone rushed outside to save their lives; alone and unable to see, he was left groping for the door but could not find it. Flames and smoke prevented help to come his way. He now remembered the doctor’s counsel, but it was too late. The 34 eyes that he had boasted of could only watch helplessly, full of tears as he succumbed to the fire.
If we give up our stubbornness, then being delivered from sin will not take any time. Sin does not die, it slays. It destroys all our peace and happiness. When we talk against sin, please take note, we are not talking against any sinner – a person, we are talking against sin – the act. We do not stand against any particular person or religion. We stand against sin that destroys the sinner, the very person who indulges in it; while our effort is to see the sinner being saved, not perish.
The moment we talk of Jesus, people have a conceited response – “Jesus of the Christians? Christians, who go around converting people to their foreign religion, by enticing people through their foreign money. They have opened shops of prayer to sell promises of jobs, healings from diseases etc. They only deceive people. ” Other’s say, see crowds flock to them, can so many people be wrong? Are they all out of their minds? But believe me, it is a crowd that behaves crazily. Jesus never promised that if you convert to Christianity, you will get jobs and will be cured of all diseases. I challenge you to show me one instance from the Bible where such a claim has ever been made.

The fact is that you do not need to convert to any religion. To convert to or from a religion is meaningless, is a deception and is sin. Jesus Christ wants you to convert your heart, not your religion. The same heart that is troubled, sad and restless. The heart that is full of envy, lies, greed, adultery and all evil thoughts. Jesus died on the cross and rose again the third day to deliver you from these sins. His blood cleanses us from all sin. Give Him an opportunity through just one simple prayer – “Lord have mercy on me a sinner and forgive my sins.”

To listen to all this is okay, but to accept and follow this is the problem. Many people frequently ask for prayers for their various physical needs, but never have the courage to pray a single prayer of repentance. They are worried about how others will react – “What will the people say about me?” Many counsel themselves that nothing happens by mere prayers, you have to do some rituals. But this is an undeniable fact that whoever has come to the Lord, He has never turned him away (John 6:37). There is no other way out of this.

Consider, for example, that the President of the country is willing to forgive a heinous offence, but the offender says that I don’t need any forgiveness from anybody; I’ll find my own way out. Would that not be insulting the President? Similarly, the God of this universe is willing to forgive your sins, by spurning away his forgiveness you are insulting His grace and pouring scorn on Him.

If you have the courage and honesty for it, take an account of your life. There is so much written against your name; even things that you yourself will be ashamed to admit. There is a time for everything, you now have this time of opportunity before you. You can accept it or reject it. There are some who would be reading this out of curiosity or just to pass time, or even to ridicule. But some will be there who will take this seriously.

Now the time has come for you to come to conclusion about yourself. If you are obstinate and unwilling to accept, then there is nothing left to say. The Lord has brought this to you in His grace and with a purpose. I ask you dear reader, what do you think about yourself? You have this opportunity to step out of all problems and despair. This is not the wizardry of words but the call of God to you. He is waiting to shower His grace and mercy upon you, all you need to do is reach out to Him with a prayer, “Lord Jesus, have mercy and forgive me a sinner.”

Sampark December 2008: From the heart

A little girl was asked, “Is there something that Jesus cannot do?” She thought for some time and then with a beaming face replied, “My Lord cannot sin.” Yes! The Lord can neither sin nor tell lies. He has never gone back on His Word, not even to a deceiver like me. Therefore His flame is still burning in me; in all my problems I live happily, deriving comfort from His Word and I sleep peacefully in all circumstances because of His assurances.

The Lord said “IAM”; a very peculiar name, but very appropriate. When I have no hope in life and cannot find any help anywhere, His “I AM” reassures and revives me. When I fall in sin and struggle to lift myself out of it, His “I AM” comes to me for help. When it seems that all have forsaken me and I am left alone, His “I AM” reminds me that He is still by my side. When tormented by doubts about my and my family’s future and welfare, He says “Don’t be afraid, only have faith, I AM.” Giving all honor to the Lord for the grace He has bestowed upon us, is to worship Him. To reach God’s heart, our worship too should arise from our hearts. His honor flowing from our hearts is the origin of worship.

The world abounds with empty words that cannot bring any comfort. But God’s Words are full of love, forgiveness, mercy and truth. They are so soothing. To rest upon His Words is like resting our weary heads on the shoulders of our Father. Comfort a weary person through God’s Words; he will feel relieved, be at rest and will start thinking aright.

The house you are sitting in, to lay its every brick, many homeless laborers sweated it out in the blazing sun. Maybe we have never realized it or thought about it. God has also built His house through the blood of His Son, blood that flowed onto the ground like sweat.

We are righteous because we are His children, not because our works are good. But why does the Lord love me? Understand this through an example, why do you love your little children? What have they done for you? What have they given you except worries, problems and broken things in the house? There are many other children in the world, children who would be better looking, healthier, very understanding and obedient, but you still love your children; and the manner in which you love your own children, you don’t love anybody else’s – why? The one and only is reason is that because they are your children. Maybe we are not as good as we ought to be, but we are His children.

Before concluding, I want to leave something for you to ponder over:
When Abraham had no children, he brought up Lot, his brother’s son like his own. Lot’s father had passed away from this world. Abraham brought up Lot and provided everything for him. As time passed, Lot acquired everything – a wife, family, wealth, possessions, everything. Then came a time when Lot started to feel that continuing to live with Abraham will cause problems, while Abraham felt that if they live together it should be in love not through compulsion. So he gave Lot a choice, he asked him to choose any place for himself. Possessing thousands of animals and having to make a living in a desert, anybody’s natural choice will be a green and well watered place (Genesis 12). So young Lot chose the green area for himself and left the dry desert for the elderly Abraham. After some years, Lot lost everything (Genesis 14:11, 12). Aged Abraham ran with his men to help Lot; he risked his life and rescued Lot along with his family and possessions and brought them back. But Lot went back to settle in the same Sodom once again. He could walk away from Abraham but not from Sodom. Soon Sodom’s time came to an end; Abraham was again worried, not wanting Lot to perish with Sodom. He started to plead with the Lord for Sodom, in some way trying to ensure that Lot should not suffer any loss. Whereas all through these years, Lot had never bothered to visit elderly Abraham, nor did he ever care to even enquire of Abraham’s welfare. So, why did Abraham love Lot so much? Was it because Lot had been very good to him? The only reason was because Lot was his own! “…The Lord knoweth them that are His …” (2 Timothy 2:19).

If you have accepted the Lord, He has said – for you He has said “…I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).

Sampark December 2008: Editorial

This issue of Sampark is in your hands only because of the many hands that were joined in prayers. I thank God from my heart for all of them, my brothers and sisters in the Lord. Truly speaking, without their support I would never have been able to bring this to you.

A man went to the river with another swimmer to learn swimming. The stones on the bank of the river were slimy and quite slippery. As he stepped on them near the water, his foot slipped and he fell with a thud. Immediately he got up, turned back and briskly started to return. His friend called out after him, “Hey, where are you going?” He replied, “Sir, this is a very dangerous proposition. It was good that I happened to slip on the river bank, outside the water; had I slipped and fallen in the water then what would have happened to me? Let me first learn to swim; only after that will I go in the water.” Speaks volumes of his faith in his friend and the friend’s abilities! Was he being rational? Can anyone learn swimming without entering the water? But similar irrational fears hold us back from growing in the Lord in various ways.

The fear of loosing makes us loose our own confidence too. But loosing can lead to learning if we understand the reasons. Loosing can teach us to stop trusting in our own capabilities and totally rely only upon the ever faithful Lord our God. For a believer in the Lord, even loosing can be a blessing – Romans 8:28. Maybe your problems, your own nature, or maybe even your own family has left you dejected and at a loss. Don’t despair, you may have been defeated, but not your God. Your Omnipotent God is far greater than any and all of your problems.

Every incident recorded in God’s Word has a lesson to teach. His Word speaks to me, to you, to every defeated person – don’t be dejected, a big victory ahead is awaiting you. In Mark 5:22-42, we have the story of two defeated people. In the house of Jairus, a ruler of a synagogue, a cause for joy had been born 12 years ago; this, his only child, was now on her deathbed and he came to the Lord for help. The Lord did not disappoint him; He immediately hurried to go with him to his dying daughter. At the same time, in the life of another woman, a sorrow had come 12 years ago in the form of an incurable infirmity. She had spent everything she had for the healing of her body, but to no avail. She too came, believing that “if I can only manage to touch the edge of the Lord’s garment, I will surely be healed.” She was confronted with an insurmountable problem, a huge crowd, people falling one upon another to see Jesus; how was this frail and sick woman to reach Him to be healed? But against all hope, this woman with a sickness of 12 years somehow made it across the crowd and reached Jesus. How did this impossible happen? The Lord had said “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” - John 6:44. It was only the Lord’s power that could draw her to Him. Here was her chance and she took full advantage; just a touch of the Lord’s garment turned her gloom to cheer and her defeat to victory – she was healed.

Having received healing she wanted to stay quietly hidden in the crowd, but she could not hide herself from the Lord. He stopped for her, and she had to step out to give a brief testimony. The ensuing delay was causing anxious moments to the desperate father, due to fears of the looming irretrievable loss, since his only daughter was taking her last breaths. But from the Lord’s perspective, this testimony of the woman was necessary for the faith of the apprehensive father. And as Jairus waited for the Lord to resume journey, the dreaded news came from his home – your daughter is no more, don’t bother calling Jesus home anymore. What could be done now? All his hopes were crushed. But the Lord spoke to this dejected father now left with no hope, “Be not afraid, only believe.” The father did believe in the Lord even in this impossible and hopeless situation, and his faith in the Lord brought his daughter back from death. The Lord overturned all hopelessness; He won victory over the defeat brought by death. With such a Lord in control of all your life situations, can anything ever leave you defeated?

Despairing Moses cried for death, dejected Elijah cried for death, disconsolate Job cried for death, defeated by his nature Paul cried out “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24). But the loving Lord did not just change their problem situations, He transformed even them!

Trust me; even I led a shameful and defeated life for many years, where I could see no way out other than suicide. But through just one prayer of repentance and submission the Lord wrought a miracle in my life; and those onetime defeated hands are today able to write this message of triumph for you. This is the power of that Blood shed on the Cross of Calvary.

Do write and let us know about this copy of Sampark. Your letters encourage us and your suggestions help us to improve.

Yours in the Lord,
- Editor, Sampark