Habits Of Faith – Silence

“I pray that my ways may become firmly established so that I can obey your laws.” Psalms 119:5

Two baby birds fell from their nest in our porch as they were unable to fly. We found them among our plants in the driveway from their chirping and put them back in the nest. For three days we had to pick them up from our garden and even in the drain outside our house. I was thinking of getting a bird cage to keep them safe but felt led to message my small group to pray for them. To my surprise, one of them was able to fly soon after and the other, a couple of hours later. Later that day I was convicted by the Holy Spirit through the following verse in one of the books that I was reading:

“What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin ? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.  And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.” Matthew 10:29-‬31 NLT

I had felt foolish about asking my small group to pray for the birds but the Lord was teaching me an important truth about prayer enunciated by John Stott:

“Prayer is the very way God has chosen for us to express our conscious need of Him and our dependence on Him.”

To be conscious of God’s presence and power we need to experience God’s miraculous interventions. And for a miracle to occur in our lives we need the deep conviction that what occurred was an act of God – a direct intervention of God on our behalf in response to our prayers.  We do not pray to get God to do what we want but to experience His loving Presence embracing us so that we can live a life of faith and not be enslaved by fear.

A living faith, according to Jean-Pierre de Caussade, is the steadfast pursuit of God through all the things that seek to disguise, demolish and destroy our faith in God. He encourages us to accept each moment as a revelation from God:

“Love and accept the present moment as the best, with perfect trust in God’s universal goodness……Everything without exception is an instrument and means of sanctification…..God’s purpose for us is always what will contribute most to our good.” 

In fact, it is God who is pursuing us, but like Adam we are hiding from Him. We need to cultivate the habit of silence to be still to hear God’s whispers of love in a noisy world where silence is drowned. We need to experience the Holy Spirit as the breath of God filling us with the spiritual oxygen of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control. As we become aware of the thoughts flowing ceaselessly  through our minds we can practice breathing out the spiritual carbon dioxide of lust, guilt, fears, anger, envy, greed, acedia, pride, and gluttony:

“Breathe on me, Breath of God, until my heart is pure,

Until with thee I will one will, to do and to endure.”

It is not easy to practice silence but it is a habit we need to develop to rewire our brains. Without silence, “ourlifebecomesajumbleofletters” – we need the blank spaces to read: “our life becomes a jumble of letters.” God is always speaking but we cannot understand what He is saying to us when we do not moments of stillness in our lives. The practice of silence is not a skill to master but a habit to develop so that we can be mastered by the Holy Spirit through silence.

Practising silence is the most concrete and simplest way to express our intention to seek the presence of God. But it requires humility and perseverance to wait on God. It may appear to be a  “waste of time” when it seems like we are doing nothing with God and God is doing nothing with us. But as Thomas Merton reminds us, it is only when we give ourselves fully to God that we can receive from God:

“We receive enlightenment only in proportion as we give ourselves more and more completely to God by humble submission and love. We do not first see, then act: we act, then see…..And that is why the man who waits to see clearly, before he will believe, never starts on the journey.”  

So let us pray for the practice of silence to be firmly established in our lives so that we can live a life of joyful obedience to God.

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Resting In The Silence Of God

“Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Mark 15:34 NLT

The heart rending cry of Jesus on the cross, “My God, my God, why  have you abandoned me?” is the cry of many Christians who have to struggle with chronic pain, cancer, dementia, broken relationships, bereavement, financial crises and a host of other problems of life. In such times we are assailed by doubts about God’s love for us and even His existence. God’s absence and silence is more of a reality than His presence and voice to many of us. 

On the cross, Jesus lived out the truth expressed by the psalmist in Psalm 22. This is to inspire a living faith in us so that in times when God seem far away, when our prayers are not answered, when we feel like a worm, scorned and despised by all, and when we find no relief from our troubles, we can look at the cross and stand on God’s blessings and promises and be recharged by the power of the resurrection of Christ. A hard truth of human life is that we tend to seek God only in our pain and sorrows.  As he struggled with the question of pain, C.S. Lewis came to the following conclusion:

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

To grow in faith in God’s love, we have to listen to the still small voice as well as the silence of God. When the prophet Elijah was depressed, he found God, not in the windstorm, the earthquake or the fire, but in a still small voice (1 Kings 19:11-12). The prophet Habakkuk reminds us:

“But the Lord is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him.” (Habakkuk 2:20)

The silence of God is pregnant with hope when it turns us away from a dead faith in a God of our imagination that is founded on humanistic beliefs, thoughts and feelings and lead us to the living faith in God as our loving Heavenly Father that is revealed by Jesus Christ. In our increasingly noisy world, resting in the silence of God is a crucial habit we need to cultivate.

Our minds have been described as a “monkey mind”, jumping with all kinds of thoughts. Neuroscience has found that it is what we do with these thoughts that are important for where “attention goes, energy flows.” For example, the more we think of angry thoughts, the angrier we become. It is only when we break the stream of such thoughts that we are able to calm down.

Instead of seeing our mind as a “monkey mind” we can imagine our thoughts flowing down the river of our consciousness. Instead of reacting to them, we just need to be aware of them, to acknowledge them, to accept them and then to turn from them to abide in Christ through centering prayer. Centering prayer is not trying to master the “monkey mind” – it is opening our minds and hearts to the Holy Spirit and to be crucified with Christ. It is a spiritual circuit breaker to rewire our brains into the mind of Christ.

A simple way to do so is just setting aside some time to sit down and do nothing – to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1). It is developing the habit to sit still and do nothing for a specified period of time, for example five minutes. This is to express our desire and intention to seek the presence of God in silence. During this time, we will be distracted by thoughts and feelings and we simply practice turning our attention back to the silence of God by focusing on breathing in and out slowly. It is to rest and to be still in the silence of God by doing nothing.

Being still is a reflection of our trust in God to be our Potter and our humility to be the clay. Our success is not measured by how long or how well we can keep silent but by the times when we are able to turn back from our thoughts to rest in God. It is not trying to be “spiritually successful” or to seek the presence of God but to grow in our faithfulness to abide in the silence of God. God is never silent but it is in silence that we experience His unfailing love. In the words of Thomas Keating:

“The experience of interior silence or “resting in God” is beyond thinking, images and emotions. This awareness tells you that the core of your being is eternal and indestructible and that you as a person are loved by God and share the divine life.”

Let us rest in the silence of God so that we can have the blessed assurance of apostle Paul:

“I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love which Christ Jesus our Lord shows us. We can’t be separated by death or life, by angels or rulers, by anything in the present or anything in the future, by forces or powers in the world above or in the world below, or by anything else in creation.” Romans 8:38‭-‬39 GW

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The Power Of Silence

“Then the leading priests kept accusing him of many crimes, and Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer them? What about all these charges they are bringing against you?” But Jesus said nothing, much to Pilate’s surprise.” Mark 15:3-‬5 NLT

We are living in an information age in which we are overwhelmed by information as well as confused by misinformation and disinformation. We have access to any information we want or need at our fingertips through the Internet, but we are at a total loss to sift out the truth. We also choose only the information that confirms what we want to believe.

Jesus came to show us  the Way, the Truth and the Life, but our sinful nature leads us to exchange the truth about God for a lie. Consequently, we live disconnected and meaningless lives. We worship and serve the things God created instead of the Creator himself. (Romans 1:25)  Our human nature does not want God’s truth to reveal the dark and painful secrets that lies deep in our hearts – our crowd mentality leads us to choose Barabbas and crucify Christ. (Mark 14:6-16)

The Truth will set us free but it will provoke anger and hatred in those whose hearts are hardened like the high priest who tore his clothing in horror and condemned Jesus of blasphemy. (Mark 14:63-64) When the High Priest confronted him with the question, “Are you the Messiah, the son of the Blessed One?” Jesus broke his silence to speak the truth:

“ I Am. And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven. ” Mark 14:61-‬62 NLT

Likewise, Stephen was stoned to death by the Jewish leaders when, filled with the Spirit he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand, he declared:

“Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!” (Acts 7:55-56)

When Pontius Pilate interrogated him, Jesus kept silence. He only responded when Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” by replying, “You have said it.” Pilate was surprised by the silence of Jesus. (Mark 15:1-5) Jesus kept silence so that God’s purpose as recorded in Isaiah 53:7 would be fulfilled in him:

“He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.”

Jesus came to be our Shepherd of Love to lead us into the kingdom of God. The bad news is that when we truly seek to put God first in our home, work, school, or leisure, we can be sure that we will face some form of opposition sooner or later. The good news is that when Jesus is our Shepherd of Love, we do not have to chase after happiness but God’s goodness and unfailing love will pursue us all the days of our life! (Psalms 23:6)

We are called to be God’s sheep – to rest in the green meadows beside peaceful streams through the discipline of silence. It is entering into the experience of powerlessness that Jesus embodied in his trial. The spirit of poverty is the first key of the kingdom of heaven – blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)

It is only by letting go of our lust for power that we can experience the power of powerlessness as the power of love flow through us. Through silence we can be present to those in pain and touch their wounds with “a gentle and tender hand” instead of trying to cure or control. Henri Nouwen gives us the challenging picture of a caring and comforting friend:

“The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not-knowing, not-curing, not-healing, and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.”

It is extremely difficult to share the pain of others instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures – to be like Simon of Cyrene who was forced to carry the cross of Jesus. But those who are hurting and in pain need the healing space that is created in silence. We need this healing space to cry out to God and trusting that He will fulfill His purpose for us and in us. (Psalms 57:2)

Thomas Keating noted that it is the thought that we are separated from God that separates us from God – we fail to believe that we are always with God and that God is part of every reality:

“The present moment, every object we see, our inmost nature are all rooted in God. But we hesitate to believe this until our personal experience gives us the confidence to believe in it. . . . God constantly speaks to us through each other as well as from within. The interior experience of God’s presence activates our capacity to perceive the divine in everything else – in people, in events, in nature.”

This is the power of silence – to open our hearts and minds to the Holy Spirit. It is the expression of our intention to seek God’s presence – it is transcending our egos and going beyond our thoughts to see the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. It is to direct our thoughts towards the things of heaven and not the things of earth. (Colossians 3:2)

Let us seek the sound of silence so that we will not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way we live. (Ephesians 4:30) Through silence, let us meditate on God’s written word so that it can become His Living Word in us:

We’re fools when we do not know

How silence can help us grow.

To hear God’s Word that He might teach us

Feel His Love that He might fill us           

That our lives like the bright shining stars

Will light up the world in silence

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Watch To Pray

“Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” Mark 14:38 NLT

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was deeply troubled and distressed. He told Peter, James and John, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me” (Mark 14:32-‬34 NLT). Jesus had to confront the apparent and dismal failure of his ministry – he knew Judas was going to betray him. He had warned Peter, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me” (Mark 14:30 NLT). He had told the disciples that they will desert him to fulfill the Jewish scripture as recorded in Zechariah 13:7:

“On the way, Jesus told them, “All of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’” Mark 14:27 NLT

Sooner or later, each one of us will encounter a grief that will crush our soul to the point of death – failure, loss, betrayals and being abandoned are part and parcel of belonging to a human community. Richard Rohr makes the poignant observation that all of us are trying to avoid the mystery of suffering in human life, instead of learning how to face it courageously, as Jesus did. He reminds us: 

“There are no perfect situations or perfect people. There is only the struggle to get there. It is Christ’s passion (patior in Latin, or the “suffering of reality”) that will save the world, when we are willing to join him in the pattern.”

The passion of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane is a dramatic demonstration that it is not a piece of cake to seek and do God’s will. There are dark and negative forces in the universe that will rise up to keep us from doing what God wants us to do. It is so easy to pray, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” but it can be very painful and distressing to pray, “Your will and not my will be done.” The story of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane reveals the heart-breaking emotional struggle and suffering that we will have to grapple with when we want to do God’s will. It requires the crucifixion of our human ego.

Jesus knew he has to fulfill what the Scriptures say about him (Mark 14:48) such as Isaiah 53:3-12. At the same time, he was fully human and he was tempted to pray that the awful hour might pass him by. He asked Peter, James and John to keep watch with him.  Perhaps they could have gotten away if they were able to spot Judas coming with the soldiers. But Peter, James and John fell asleep and when Jesus went to them the third time, it was too late for any escape plans. Jesus then told them, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest.” There is a time when there is nothing we can do except to rest in God and to watch how God’s will unfolds in our lives. It is a time when we have to truly surrender our will and put our trust in God’s faithful love.

It is important to understand and live out the Paschal Mystery of Jesus which comprises his passion, death, resurrection and glorification. This is the foundation of our Christian faith. Our flesh is weak and we are not able to keep watch and pray to overcome temptation. But if our spirits are willing, we can find rest in God through the practice of contemplative prayer.

As we rest in God, we will be able to “watch” our thoughts and feelings without judging them and reacting to them. The practice of meditation is to see how such thoughts and feelings distract and keep us from the love of God in our everyday lives. It is not trying to get rid of our negative thoughts and feelings but seeing how they are keeping us from remembering God’s love. We need to keep watch in order to pray. It is only when I am watching my thoughts and feelings that my prayers will be God centered and not self centered.

We will all encounter failure, relationship conflicts, suffering and finally death. We will be tempted to compete, to compare, to criticize, to condemn and to covet. But the Paschal Mystery of Jesus empowers us to choose co-operation, care, connection, compassion and community.  The dark seasons of our life are the times when we journey with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane  to choose God’s will and not our will.

In our struggle to give up the treasures of our hearts – our “Isaacs” – we can remember the faith of Abraham in God as Jehovah Jireh – the Lord who provides. Abraham was prepared to sacrifice Isaac for he believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing (Romans 4:17).  God does not demand that we sacrifice what we love but gave us Jesus as the sacrificial Lamb to show us the wonder of His amazing grace – God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, so that who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). God is not seeking the blind obedience of robots but the discerning faith of a lover that is rooted in His agape love.

Our human tendency is to see things as all-good or all-bad instead of recognizing that all things are both good and bad. There is a Judas and a Peter in each one of us for we all infected by greed and pride. There is evil as well as good in each one of us. Our spirits may be willing but our flesh is weak. Richard Rohr draws attention to  the shadow side in us, in the church, in history and of reality itself.  When we expect or demand a perfect reality we will become resentful and judgmental. It is only when we see the shadows undergirding our failures and failings as the opportunity for compassion and forgiveness, that we will become a people who are imperfectly perfect and filled with gratitude.

The wonder of contemplative prayer is that it is a simple way to practice the prayer Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane – that God’s will, and not our will be done. But it a journey into the depths of our hearts that must be rooted in the right attitude and right beliefs. It requires commitment and discipline. It  involves confronting our shadows – our sinful desires, ulterior motives and hidden agendas –  not with the spirit of condemnation, but with the compassion of Christ who knows how weak our flesh is.

It is in and through silence that such a prayer is born. Mother Teresa’s simple path to peace comes to mind:

The fruit of silence is PRAYER.

The fruit of prayer is FAITH.

The fruit of faith is LOVE.

The fruit of love is SERVICE.

The fruit of service is PEACE.

John Main saw meditation as the basis of civilization because ”it reveals a life of the human being as the freedom to be fully alive, which is to love, to care for others.” Through meditation we open our hearts and minds to the Holy Spirit to create a healing space for our past hurts, resentments and failures so that we can become wounded healers and peacemakers. So let us keep watch of our thoughts and feelings in order to bear the fruit of true prayer that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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Anointing For A Funeral

“She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time.” Mark 14:8 NLT

Jesus was having dinner in the home of Simon the Leper, when a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume. She broke the jar and poured the perfume over his head. It was a wasteful action that made no sense to everyone at the dinner. The perfume was worth about a year of wages – it could have been sold and the money given to the poor. But Jesus turned the woman’s act of extravagant love into a memorial of his impending betrayal and death:

“Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me?  You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me.  She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time.  I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.” Mark 14:‬6-‬9 NLT

It was a catalytic event that triggered the betrayal of Jesus by Judas – an act that is unimaginable for a disciple of Jesus. The essence of the story was recorded in all  four gospels although the details differ in the gospels of Luke and John – the woman’s deed was indeed remembered and discussed wherever the Good News is preached.

The woman’s action marked the beginning of the end of Jesus’ life on earth. In caring for the dying, it is very critical to be able to identify when a patient is at the end of life.  When doctors are able to identify that a patient is at the end of life, they can focus their attention to provide the patient with terminal loving care instead of subjecting him or her to futile and painful death denying and delaying measures. When we deny the reality of death, we cannot truly live. The good news of the Christian faith is that Jesus came to empower us to face death and to live the abundant life by remembering His death on the cross through the ritual of the Holy Communion:

“For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again. So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.” 1 Corinthians 11:26-‬30 NLT

Jesus transformed the Jewish Passover feast into a means of God’s grace for all of us who accept Him as our Lord and Saviour. It is not a magical ritual to save us from hell – it is a sacred act that leads us from having a transactional faith with an impersonal God  to a transforming relationship with the Risen Christ. We no longer have to strive to obey God out of fear with a transactional faith – that God will bless us only when we please Him. We will seek to obey God out of love because we have become the broken body and the poured out wine of the Risen Christ. We are set free from God’s judgment so that we can live as a forgiven and forgiving community of love.

The most important act in the celebration of the Holy Communion is the examination of our hearts and the confession of our sins. God does not want us to live in the shadow of His judgment but in the light of His unfailing love. Self examination and confession are not rituals to appease an angry God.  As our loving Creator, God knows what is in each person’s heart and knows that we cannot be trusted  (John 2:25). We have a sinful nature and we are perfectly imperfect.  Spiritual disciplines are to help us grow in our relationship with God – to be in a right relationship with God rather than to be perfect:

“If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.” 1 John 1:8-‬10 NLT

The woman’s apparent waste of the expensive perfume aroused negative and sinful emotions in Judas that led him to conspire with the Pharisees to betray Jesus. Meditating on this story drew an awareness that the spirit of Judas lies deep within all of us. It is so easy to be critical and judgmental when we see things only from the human point of view. Our actions are driven by our thoughts and feelings. Judas’ act of betrayal is the fruit of anger, greed, envy, pride and lust.

Jesus knew that Judas was going to betray him and told the disciples as they were eating, “I tell you the truth, one of you eating with me here will betray me.” But Judas was so blinded by anger, greed and envy that not only did he ask, “Am I the one?”(Mark 14:17-‬19 NLT), but he took the bread and the wine and then went on to betray Jesus. Our sinful desires keep us from hearing the whispers of love in the silence of God.

God’s agape love dictates that we have the power to choose. We are not created to be robots but to be God’s beloved children. Just as Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, Judas was tempted to betray Jesus. Likewise, we too will be tempted to disobedience and rebellion.  Even Jesus was tempted in the wilderness to test God – to jump off the highest point of the Temple to prove God’s promise in Psalm 91:11-12. But he held fast to God’s commandment in Deuteronomy 6:16 – You must not test the Lord your God Matthew 4:5-7).  Jesus came to be the spiritual bread and wine for us to change our distracted and deceitful hearts into discerning and devoted hearts  for “obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols” (1 Samuel 15:22-‬23 NLT).  

Many of us have not been able to celebrate the Holy Communion over the past year or so and our souls are hungry and thirsty for God. The woman anointed Jesus for his funeral but God is waiting to anoint us and has prepared a feast for us:

“You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.” Psalm 23:5, NLT.

We are called to be God’s anointed priests to mediate His love and grace to a hurting world. God’s amazing grace is that He is always waiting for us to turn back to Him:

“So the Lord must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help.” Isaiah 30:18 NLT

With the social distancing measures and restrictions for corporate worship, we need to find new ways to nurture our souls and to draw near to God. The best way to counter the spirit of Judas that is in us is to remember that Christ is in us and our hope of glory. Cultivating times of silence each day to wait on God is a simple way to seek God’s presence. God is waiting to anoint us and fill our cup with His love.  And as we do so, we will find what Thomas Keating found –  the freedom to do what God likes – the freedom to be our true self and to be transformed in Christ. 

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From F.E.A.R. To F.A.I.T.H.

“For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.” Philippians 1:10 NLT

 After I came home from work on Monday I found I had a fever when I did my routine temperature check. It was providential that I just had my routine swab test for COVID-19 earlier in the afternoon. My wife isolated me in the bedroom in compliance with the COVID-19 measures and we sent our neighbor’s son who was playing with our grandchildren home as we practiced a mini “lockdown” while waiting for the result of my swab test. Later that night, I had diarrhoea and the fever came down. I felt relieved that the fever was probably due to an attack of gastroenteritis. The swab test result came back 27 hours later and was negative. We lifted my isolation and our lockdown.

My brief illness was a taste of the biblical truth that we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalms 139:13-14). Fever is the body’s perfect defence mechanism to kill bacteria, viruses and cancer cells. Diarrhoea is the body’s cleansing system. I did not take any medications but simply rested in my wife’s TLC and drank more fluids.  It was a time of resting in God’s loving embrace.

The enforced solitude for more than a day was a time for reflection – to understand what really matters. Our technological advances in modern society have turned the human body into a machine. Thomas Moore, in his book, Care of the Soul, described the modern view of the human body:

“The modern body is an efficient machine that needs to be kept in shape so that its organs will function smoothly and for as long as possible. If something goes wrong with any part, it can be replaced with a mechanical substitute, because that is the way we picture the body – as a machine.”

Human beings are behaving and treating each other like robots and trying to create robots that behave like human beings. But we are embodied souls and not robots. In the sixteenth century, Paracelsus gave doctors the following advice which holds true even today:

“The physician should speak of that which is invisible. What is visible should belong to his knowledge, and he should recognize illnesses, just as anyone who is not a physician can recognize them from their symptoms. But this is far from making him a physician; he becomes a physician only when he knows that which is unnamed, invisible, and immaterial, yet has its effect.”

Thomas Moore noted that modern medicine trusts the microscope to reveal the roots of illness, but the microscope doesn’t look far enough within. I was challenged by the perspective of a Paracelsian physician – to  take into account the invisible factors at work in illness – emotion, thoughts, personal history, relationship, longing, fear, desire, etc.  In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic we can live in F.E.A.R. or we can live by F.A.I.T.H.

Fearful Expectations Appearing Real or Feeling Afraid I Trust Him

One of the important lessons we can learn from COVID-19 virus is that we need to face the reality of death. Death is part and parcel of life and much of our human suffering comes from the denial of death. To be infected with a COVID-19 virus is not a death sentence. In fact most of the patients will recover and many are even asymptomatic. It is the fearful expectations about COVID-19 that appears real that are the problems. It is a time to grow in F.A.I.T.H. – Feeling Afraid I Trust Him. The good news is that Jesus came to set us free from the fear of death:

“Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.” Hebrews 2:14-‬15 NLT

False Expectations Appearing Real or Feeling Abandoned I Trust Him

We are living with a false expectation if we think we can get rid of the COVID-19 virus.  The reality is that we need to learn to live with this ubiquitous virus by learning to appreciate the blessings of solitude as we practice isolation and social distancing. Jesus cried out on the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” to show us that in life there will inevitably be times when we feel abandoned. But in such times, we have a God whom we can trust. The times of lockdown are opportunities for Christians to draw close to God through prayer and meditation – a time to experience F.A.I.T.H. – Feeling Abandoned I Trust Him. It is a time to stand on God’s promise:

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” Romans 8:38 NLT

Fickle Experiences Appearing Real or Facing Anger I Trust Him

Life has been uncertain and unpredictable with the COVID-19 pandemic. With the appearance of new clusters, new rules for social distancing had to be implemented. Many couples had to make adjustments or changes to their wedding plans. The holiday plans of many were disrupted.  It is human to feel frustrated and angry in such situations. But these are times to live out the truth of God’s Word:

“Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog – it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that. Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.” James 4:13-16, NLT.

We do not have to deny or bury our anger.  We can exercise F.A.I.T.H. – Facing Anger I Trust Him to help us channel our anger into constructive and healing acts of love.

Fake Evidence Appearing Real or Facing Adversity I Trust Him

In the social media we are bombarded by so much fake evidences about so many things in life. Even cow’s urine and cow dung are being promoted as remedies for the coronavirus infection – an example of “cow-sense” taking over common sense. This is but a reflection of our human nature to seek easy and short term solutions for our problems and suffering. Thomas Moore draws attention to the important following truth:

“Illness is to a large extent rooted in eternal causes. The Chrisian doctrine of original sin and the Buddhist Four Noble Truths teach that human life is wounded in its essence, and suffering is in the nature of things. We are wounded simply by participating in human life, by being children of Adam and Eve. To think that the proper or natural state is to be without wounds is an illusion. Any medicine motivated by the fantasy of doing away with woundedness is tryng to avoid the human condition.”

Suffering is part and parcel of human life but it is our response to our suffering that is important. False teachings about health and wealth blinds us to the truth that times of adversity are opportunities for spiritual growth – a time to grow in F.A.I.T.H. – Facing Adversity, I Trust Him. Suffering is never the will of God – it is the evidence of the reality of sin and evil and our need for the redemptive grace of God. Bishop Fulton Sheen gives us the following insight:

“Every mortal sin consists in a turning away from God and a turning to creatures. Because we turn away from God, we feel the absence of His Love, His Beauty, His Truth – and this is called the pain of loss. Because we turn to creatures and pervert them to our sinful purposes, we are punished in some way by the very creatures we abused. Hell fire is one of the aspects of this pain of sense.”

The COVID-19 virus is causing cracks in our capitalistic world and a new world is breaking through. The good news is that God is making everything new:

“And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” Revelation 21:5 NLT

Only the truth can set us free and Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jesus is our Shepherd of Love who will use our adversities in life to turn us into wounded healers. What really matters is that we can carry everything to God in prayer:

‘What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear,

What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer.

O what peace we often forfeit

O what needless pain we bear

All because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer.”

SDG

Living With The Hope Of Heaven

“The coming of the Son of Man can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. When he left home, he gave each of his slaves instructions about the work they were to do, and he told the gatekeeper to watch for his return.” Mark 13:34 NLT

On Aldersgate Day, Monday, 24 May 2021, our small group was reflecting and discussing Mark Chapter 13. It was a chapter about the end times and we shared our thoughts and beliefs about heaven. One uplifting thought that surfaced was “heaven is our hope and heaven is having a personal relationship with the Risen Christ.”

Earlier that day, I had visited an elderly woman who had an episode of hallucination. I had seen the patient one month ago. She was well except for a poor appetite and had told me she was prepared for death although she did not have any serious medical condition. On my arrival, the daughter shared with me that the patient had been very distressed last Thursday when she saw three heads floating in the air and could not sleep. The patient, who was a Buddhist, then told her daughter that she wanted to be a Christian. The daughter quickly arranged for her to be baptized the next day. The patient experienced peace and did not have any more hallucinations.  

There were no medical causes for the patient’s hallucination that I could determine and her daughter thought it was a spiritual problem. It was an earthly medical problem that have only answers from above. As it was Aldersgate Day, it brought to mind John Wesley’s  experience of his joy of salvation:

“I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

The “strangely warmed” heart experience of John Wesley on 24 May 1738 is our hope of heaven. Speculations abound about the end of the world and the second coming of Christ amidst the turmoil in the world caused by the COVID-19 virus, political crises, wars, and natural disasters. When our focus is on the chaos in the world we lose our joy of salvation.

The bad news about the end of the world is to wake us up from the comfort of our spiritual stupor – to make us spiritually hungry and thirsty for God. We are in the midst of a spiritual war but the battle belongs to the Lord. And God is patiently waiting for us to turn back to His love – to be born again and claim our spiritual inheritance:

“Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! God has given us a new birth because of his great mercy. We have been born into a new life that has a confidence which is alive because Jesus Christ has come back to life. We have been born into a new life which has an inheritance that can’t be destroyed or corrupted and can’t fade away. That inheritance is kept in heaven for you,” 1 Peter 1:3-‬4 GW

Hell is the playground of sinners where lust, greed and pride reigns. Jesus came to transform our hells on earth into a training school for saints. Pain, suffering and adversity are not God’s will. They are the realities we have to face for we live in a fallen world that is dominated by sin and evil. But God will put an end to sin and evil in due course. In Mark Chapter 13, we read of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, of wars, earthquakes and famines which are the beginning of the end. There will be persecutions and false prophets and false messiahs. Sin and evil will be judged by God but the Good News must first be preached to all nations (Mark 13:1-27, NLT). But God does not want anyone to perish:

“The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” 2 Peter 3:9 NLT

Jesus did not come as a Judge to condemn the world but as the Saviour to save and redeem our rebellious world:

“God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world.” John 3:17 GW

Some of us may see heaven as the dream playground for the saints – a place where there is no more tears or suffering. But in caring for the terminally ill, another picture of heaven comes to mind – a hospice for sinners. To be in heaven is not to be perfect but to be in an intimate relationship with God. Heaven is not the absence of suffering or pain but the Presence of God’s everlasting Love. Edwin Hatch provides us with a beautiful picture of heaven in his hymn, Breathe on me, Breath of God:

“Breathe on me, Breath of God, so shall I never die, but live with thee the perfect life of thine eternity.”

When  EGO rules in our hearts, we are in hell for we are Edging God Out. We are in heaven when our EGO takes its rightful place in our hearts so that we are Embracing God Only. For God is not a wrathful dictator but our loving Heavenly Father. It is only when Jesus is our Servant King that we can  live with the hope of heaven as God’s beloved children. And with Jesus as our Shepherd of Love,  we can be the channels of God’s love, joy and peace as the broken body of Christ to others.

Jesus taught the disciples that when the fig tree sprouts leaves, summer is near.  Events of the world are signs of the end times. In such times we are to prepare to meet God by paying  attention to God’s Word so that we will be sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit:

“So we regard the words of the prophets as confirmed beyond all doubt. You’re doing well by paying attention to their words. Continue to pay attention as you would to a light that shines in a dark place as you wait for day to come and the morning star to rise in your hearts.” 2 Peter 1:19 GW

Prayer and meditation are to help us pay attention to the Light of God shining in the dark spaces in our lives and in the world. God does not demand our presence but patiently waits for us to delight in His presence. It is a waste of time discussing when and how the world will end or when Jesus will come again. Our time will be better spent to bring heaven to earth by turning our churches from museums of saints into hospitals for sinners. We can turn the hells on earth into training schools for saints by caring for the poor and companioning the sick and dying through the valley of the shadow of death.  

God has a special work for each of us to do and which only we can do. Let us praise God that we can live each day in these end times with the hope of heaven. As we turn our eyes upon Jesus the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace!

SDG

To Have Nothing But God

“For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.” Mark 12:44 NLT

We are living in a very difficult and fearful time – a time when life is uncertain and unpredictable, a time when we feel imprisoned in our own homes. We are paralyzed by fears as our minds are bombarded by bad news and false news. We lament the loss of our freedom to meet in fellowship and for worship. But at the same time, we have more time to spend with our families as well as in  solitude. It is a sobering time to reflect on the meaning of life and death and our relationship with God.

Jesus was having a debate with the Sadducees and a teacher of religious law asked Jesus which of the commandments was the most important. Jesus replied:

“The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord .  And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’  The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” Mark 12:29-‬31 NLT

When the teacher of religious law saw the truth that the love of God and neighbor is far more important than the all burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law, Jesus assured him that he was not far from the Kingdom of God (Mark 12:32-34, NLT). Indeed, the hallmark of life in the Kingdom of God is the love for God and neighbor. Unfortunately, it is so easy to lose our first love for God. Like the church in Ephesus in the book of Revelations, we may work hard and endure trouble by standing up against false apostles and false teachings but our zeal for right doctrines may lead us to lose the love we first have for God:

“I know what you have done—how hard you have worked and how you have endured. I also know that you cannot tolerate wicked people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles but are not apostles. You have discovered that they are liars. You have endured, suffered trouble because of my name, and have not grown weary. However, I have this against you: The love you had at first is gone. Remember how far you have fallen. Return to me and change the way you think and act, and do what you did at first. I will come to you and take your lamp stand from its place if you don’t change.” Revelation 2:2-‬5 GW

The early Christians had to be reminded that the Christian faith is not about being right but being loving which flows from our personal relationship with God as our Heavenly Father. Jesus gave the following warning:

“Beware of these teachers of religious law! For they like to parade around in flowing robes and receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces.  And how they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the head table at banquets.  Yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, they will be more severely punished.” Mark 12:38-‬40 NLT

Without a prayerful relationship with God, the bible is only a book of rules and may even become an idol in our lives instead of the amazing story of God’s love for us. Jesus asked the people in the Temple:

“Why do the teachers of religious law claim that the Messiah is the son of David?  For David himself, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies beneath your feet.’” Mark 12:35‭-‬36 NLT

Without the Holy Spirit, we will live by the letter of the law instead of the Spirit of God’s letter of love.  It is a spiritual law that all acts of evil which includes hypocrisy will keep us out of the Kingdom of God.  Just as patients with COVID 19 and their contacts need to be isolated and quarantined, those who are infected by sinful desires will not be allowed into the Kingdom of God:

“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-‬21 NLT

We are all suffering from “spiritual dementia” – we have forgotten God and do not know what we do:

“We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.” Isaiah 53:6 MSG

The good news of the gospel is that God is waiting for us to return to His Love for He has answered Jesus’ prayer on the cross for all of us:

“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

As followers of Christ, our calling is to live as forgiven people who can love God with all our minds, our hearts, our strength and our souls. This is seen when we give our all to God like the widow with two mites – she gave everything she had to live on. This was not so much a sacrifice but the exercise of her spiritual freedom to make life meaningful and purposeful. In giving her two mites instead of one she chose to love God in spite of her circumstances. She gave freely because she was free from her fears for the future through her faith in God’s eternal love.

Viktor Frankl shared memories of the people in concentration camps who walked through the huts comforting others and giving away their last piece of bread. He saw in these people the truth that everything can be taken from a person but one thing: the freedom to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances and to choose one’s own way. When we cannot change a situation, we always have the freedom to change ourselves. We can choose to be a beloved child of God and not a slave of the world. When we are filled with awe and gratitude for God’s love that is seen through the cross of Christ,  we have God’s promise:

“Delight yourself also in the Lord , And He shall give you the desires of your heart.” Psalms 37:4 NKJV

Jesus drew attention to the sacrificial giving of the poor widow to show us the truth of how important it is for us to have nothing but God – and we will have nothing when we die. Perhaps, this is the most important lesson that the tiny COVID 19 virus is teaching us:

“Naked I came from my mother, and naked I will return. The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away! May the name of the Lord be praised.” Job 1:21 GW

True wealth is found when our lives are a sacrifice of praise to God as we sing and pray:

“Breathe on me Breath of God, Fill me with life anew

That I may love what Thou dost love, and do what Thou wouldst do.”

SDG

Seeing Life With Heaven’s Eyes

Seeing Life With Heaven’s Eyes

“Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.” Mark 12:24 NLT

Hari Raya Pausa on 13th May 2021 was also Ascension Day – a day when the Muslims celebrate their New Year and when the Catholics commemorate the ascension of Jesus to heaven after his resurrection. It was a time to reflect on the meaning of life and on life after death. The COVID 19 pandemic has also opened our eyes to the harsh reality of the uncertainty of life and the certainty of death. Discussions about end times and about life after death abound. We all want to live a life that matters as well as to die a death that will bear the fruit of love in the lives of our loved ones.

In Chapter 12 of the Gospel of Mark, the Sadducees who do not believe in the resurrection from the dead, tested Jesus with a ridiculous question about a woman with seven husbands. Their question was but a reflection of their lack of understanding of the Scriptures and the power of God. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus died and rose from the dead so that we can see our lives with heaven’s eyes.

The parable of the tenants in Mark 12:1-12 is a story to show us how dangerous the sin of pride can be. Pride blinds us to the truth that we are not owners but stewards of God’s gift of life. Pride tempts us to use God blessings only for our own good and pleasure instead of blessing others. When we do so, we will have to face the judgment of God. But it is not God’s will for us to live in fear of His judgment – God wants us to live the abundant life of joy by abiding in His love.  Jesus drew attention to Psalm 118:22-23:

“Have you not read this scripture: ‘ The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.  This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes ’?” Mark 12:10‭-‬11 NET

Psalm 118 is a psalm to remind us that God’s faithful love endures forever. It is a psalm of praise for God’s answers to prayers for deliverance and affirmation of God’s amazing grace. It is a reminder to rejoice each day of our lives by remembering that each day is a special day that God has made. This is God’s prescription for the sin of pride that blinds us to the “burning bushes” and deaf to God’s loving whispers in the mundane activities of our daily lives.

When we see the whole of life with heaven’s eyes, we will not divide our lives into the secular and the spiritual – all of life will become a “sacred seminary for our souls.” Answers to questions such as “is it right to pay taxes to Caesar? (Mark 12:14) becomes crystal clear when we have a right relationship with God. It is so easy to politicize social problems instead seeking to be God’s solutions to these problems. When we truly want to see God’s kingdom come and God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we will be challenged to walk by faith. We will encounter difficult people and situations to test our faith and patience.

We will be challenged to totally surrender our lives to God.  I  need to let go of my desire to feel good by living a comfortable  life and being in control of my circumstances. I need to let go of my desire to look good by seeking the praises of men and making success an idol in my life. I need to let go of my fear of failure by trusting that God will use my failure for His glory.

The task of our Christian faith is not to be a dedicated Christian but to be a committed disciple of Christ. The spiritual disciplines of prayer, meditation and bible study are not mundane chores we do to please God – they are God’s loving invitations to enter into an intimate and personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. We will be discouraged by our struggles in life. We will face doubts as we seek to do God’s will. Our minds are distracted and our hearts divided. Sin and evil sow distorted images of God that keeps us away from the throne of grace.

The power of the resurrection is to awaken us to our identity as a child of God so that we can overcome our doubts. Through centering prayer and meditation we can become more aware of our distracting thoughts. We can turn our “monkey” thoughts into messengers to seek the mind of Christ. As we do so, we will be more attentive to God’s loving presence to heal our divided and deceitful hearts. We will then no longer be dead branches but pruned branches connected to the Living Vine and bearing the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control.

When we are spiritually alive and connected to the Risen Christ, we will not live in fear of God’s judgment but we will have the blessed assurance of God’s promise:

“Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? ” 1 Corinthians 15:54‭-‬55 NLT

Let us stand firm on the mystery of our faith:

“Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith : Christ was revealed in a human body and vindicated by the Spirit. He was seen by angels and announced to the nations. He was believed in throughout the world and taken to heaven in glory.” 1 Timothy 3:16 NLT

And see life through heaven’s eyes.

SDG

The Power of Our Thoughts

“I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.” Mark 11:24

The stories in the bible are sacred and powerful – not to fill our minds with information but to transform our deceitful hearts. Hence we need to “bookend” our bible study with prayer. What we read and understand with our minds is determined by what we believe in our hearts.  It is so important to study and meditate on the bible – not to know about God – but to listen to what God wants to tell us about what we are to do with our lives. The stories of Jesus in the Gospels are to teach us spiritual truths and spiritual laws for us to live by. So to discover them, we need to pray:

“Lord, open my mind to Your Word and open Your Word to my heart.”

Reflecting on the thoughts my small group had shared in our study of Chapter 11 of the Gospel of Mark, I discovered four spiritual truths. Firstly, Jesus came to deliver us from our spiritual slavery to sin and change us into a people of prayer. But the Jews were hoping for liberation from the political and military oppression of the Romans. They welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday as their military and political leader shouting:

“Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is our ancestor David’s kingdom that is coming! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Mark 11:9-‬10 GW

Jesus came, riding on a donkey, to be a powerless, suffering Servant King and not a powerful, victorious and demanding king. But his anger was aroused by the commercialization of the religious activities when he went to the Temple. He exercised his spiritual authority, driving the money changers and the people who were buying and selling animals for sacrifices out of the Temple. He reminded them:

“Scripture says, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a gathering place for thieves.” Mark 11:17 GW

Jesus died on the cross to reveal the power of God’s agape love to overcome evil. Jesus rose from the dead to transform our human lives into the living stones of God’s spiritual temple and ordain us to be a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:4-5). To be a follower of Christ is to be the temple of the living God (2 Cor 6:16) as well as to be the living sacrifices each day to transform our minds so that we can know God’s perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)

Secondly, Jesus demonstrated the power of our thoughts and prayer. Jesus was hungry when he was on the way back to Jerusalem. He saw a fig tree with leaves but could not find any figs and said to the fig tree: “May no one ever eat your fruit again.” When they were leaving Jerusalem the next day, the disciples found that the fig tree had withered from the roots up and Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the fig tree. It was a grim reminder of the power of words to cause death as well as healing. The barren fig tree provided Jesus with the opportunity to teach his disciples of the power of our thoughts and prayer:

“Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart.  I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.” Mark 11:22-‬23 NLT

It is a spiritual law that we will receive whatever we pray for with faith. We can pray for anything but not everything is good for our souls. The effect of the words of Jesus on the fig tree teaches us of the power of our words. With great power comes great responsibility and hence we need to follow the example of Jesus in the wilderness and in the Garden of Gethsemane. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, he did not confront the devil as God. He confronted the devil as a man with the Word of God. When he was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus did not resist and told his disciple to put his sword away:

“Don’t you think that I could call on my Father to send more than twelve legions of angels to help me now?” (Matthew 26:53 NLT)

Thirdly, the hunger and anger of Jesus is a demonstration of his humanity – to show us how to live with sin but not in sin. The theology of the cross teaches us that we can find strength in our human vulnerability. Vulnerability is not weakness. Through the cross of Christ, the stories of those who are betrayed, rejected, weak, lonely, sick, dying and afraid become parts of God’s love story. Jesus died on the cross not to appease an angry god but to transform our suffering in this world:

“Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.” Hebrews 2:14-‬18 NLT

Fourthly, we need to experience the joy of being forgiven in order to forgive. We are unable to forgive without the grace of God. Following Jesus is not trying to become a super saint or a perfect human being – it is living out the prayer of Jesus on the cross by the grace of God:

“Father, forgive them. They don’t know not what they’re doing.” (Luke23:34 GW)

The discipline of meditation is to help us to be more conscious of our thoughts and feelings so that we can be more forgiving. Discipleship is the exciting journey of discovering  the wonder of growing up as a child of God and to be fully human and fully divine. Our lives are all stories in the end and the most important question is whether they are a part of God’s love story or just a human story of futility, comedy or tragedy. 

SDG