Common distorted images of God

There are common distorted images of God carried from our upbringing when we were still children:

1. God is stern, angry, cruel, erratic and revengeful. When a child is naughty, obstinate, and disobedient and make childish misdeeds, parents use God to strike fear on the child.
2. God is easily hurt and offended. When a child has done something ‘bad’ parents usually say to project their own feelings. You hurt Jesus! You offend God!
3. God is the withholder of love. If the child does not act according to the desire of the parents, he is threatened with the loss of God’s love. God is presented as someone who loves us based on the way we perform our duties.
4. God is a policeman and an accountant of our failures. God is presented as being occupied with hostile snooping and recording merits and demerits.
5. God is a temper and a tester. God is often depicted as one who delights in sacrifice, who exacts from us countless sufferings and chastises us when we reject His will.

True motivation to continue in Good...

The face of Christ inspires us even

to trust those who are not trustworthy

 

What motivates you to do something good for the other person? A certain philosopher named Emmanuel Levinas once remarked that the face of the other should move us to responsibility and compassion. But for Christians, it is the face of Christ in the other which should move us to do good towards him/her. We need to see Christ in the other person. According to human standards, this at times does not make sense. Once a woman mentioned that she wants to give up her membership from a certain renewal group because some members are not showing their true color, in her words: “plastic face.” Immediately I asked, “What moved you to join the group in the first place?” she replied: “It is my faith in Christ.” Without hesitation, I told her: “Then, by all means continue for the sake of Christ!” Indeed, it is too difficult to welcome, clothe, feed, visit and give a drink to a person when he/she doesn’t pass your taste or standard. But for the sake of Christ, you’ve got to do it.  People tend to be ungrateful but this should not discourage a Christian from showing his/her concern and love. This is the beauty of Christianity. The face of Christ in other moves us to serve the less fortunate, the unlovable and those undeserving of our help. The face of Christ inspires us even to trust those who are not trustworthy. Only in this manner that we never get tired of doing good to the other.

SELF EVALUATION AND CHECKLIST OF LOVE - (1 Corinthians 13:4-13)

SELF EVALUATION AND CHECKLIST OF LOVE (1 Corinthians 13:4-13)
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them... (Gen. 1,27)
The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 Jn. 1, 48)
By equation, if God created us in His image, and God is love, Then we are Love...
Love in the Bible	My way of living Love?
Love Is Patient
Love Is Kind
It Does Not Envy
It Does Not Boast
It Is Not Proud
It Does Not Dishonour Others
It Is Not Self-Seeking
It Is Not Easily Angered
It Keeps No Record Of Wrongs
Love Does Not Delight In Evil
Rejoices With The Truth
It Always Protects
Always Trusts
Always Hopes
Always Perseveres
Love Never Fails
16	(   )

Times go by Turns

There is an appointed time for everything...a time to weep, and a time to laugh; (Ecl. 3, 1). Good and bad alternate in any human life. Some would say that joy and pain balance out over the course of the years. The poet St. Robert Southwell puts it better in his poem, "Times go by Turns" (1561-1595) - that "The saddest birds a season find to sing..." Very often we find that just allowing the passage of some time gives us a better perspective on today's worries or allows God to do us good.  Let's look at the message of the poem:

Times go by Turns by Robert Southwell.

THE lopped tree in time may grow again,
Most naked plants renew both fruit and flower;
The sorest wight may find release of pain,
The driest soil suck in some moist'ning shower;
Times go by turns and chances change by course,
From foul to fair, from better hap to worse.

The sea of Fortune doth not ever flow,
She draws her favours to the lowest ebb;
Her tides hath equal times to come and go,
Her loom doth weave the fine and coarsest web;
No joy so great but runneth to an end,
No hap so hard but may in fine amend.

Not always fall of leaf nor ever spring,
No endless night yet not eternal day;
The saddest birds a season find to sing,
The roughest storm a calm may soon allay:
Thus with succeeding turns God tempereth all,
That man may hope to rise, yet fear to fall.

A chance may win that by mischance was lost;
The net that holds no great, takes little fish;
In some things all, in all things none are crost,
Few all they need, but none have all they wish;
Unmeddled joys here to no man befall:
Who least, hath some; who most, hath never all.

Real Celebrities...?

     So often we think of the famous biblical character David as the beard-less shepherd boy who kills the giant Goliath for his people; a brilliant writer of Psalms. We are even told that the Lord will come from the house of David (Lk. 1, 27...) and will be called the son of David. The guy who was a king and even forgave Saul totally. But that is not the end of the story...the same David (2 Sam. 11...) we hear of a particularly heinous episode in his life involving adultery and murder. And there is more. True, at other times, we have penitence and tears.

         Hey, David pictures on the large screen the ambiguities and inconsistencies in the life of any one of us. Over the whole period of our lives, isn't there some comparable collection of good and bad deeds? So who is the real celebrity?

From Dissension to Harmony (1 Corinthians 12:22-25).

There is an old African fable showing that every member of the community, including those who appear to be useless, is important after all.

       Once upon a time, the various parts of the body began complaining against the stomach. “Look at me,” says the hand, “I till the soil to plant the seeds, I harvest the crops, I prepare the food. All that the stomach ever does is lie there waiting to be fed. This is unfair.” The feet agreed, “Me too, I carry the heavy stomach around all day, I carry him to the farm to get food, I carry him to the river to get water, I even carry him up the palm tree to get palm wine, and all the stomach ever does is lie there and expect to get his ration of food, water and wine whenever he needs them. This is unfair.” The head, too complained how he carries all the heavy load from the farm and from the river, all to feed the stomach who does nothing to help. The parts of the body decided that this injustice must stop. To force the issue, they decided to embark on a protest action. They agreed to stop working and feeding the lazy stomach until the stomach learns to be a responsible citizen of the body.

        A whole day went by and the stomach was not given any food or water or wine. All that the stomach did was groan from time to time while the others taunted him. By the second day of starving the stomach, the head said that he was beginning to feel dizzy. By the third day, the hands reported that they were feeling weak, and the feet were wobbly and could not stand straight. Then it dawned on them that, much as they were visibly supporting the stomach, the stomach was also supporting them in a less obvious but equally important way. It dawned on them that by feeding the stomach they were feeding themselves without knowing it. So they called off their strike action and went back to work to feed the stomach. Their strength returned and together with the stomach they lived happily together after.

 

A Checklist on Love...

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

(1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

 How much of a loving person are you? An exercise based on this reading helps us to find that out easily. The text, taken from the New International Bible, version reads: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) Now let us read the passage again putting “JESUS” and “HE” wherever we find “LOVE” and “IT.” You can see that it read smoothly. You can still agree with every line of the passage. Next read the passage again, this time substituting your name, “NN”, and the pronoun “I”. Do you still agree with every line in the passage? How do you score yourself on a scale of 1 to 10? That shows how loving a person you are.