The Misplaced Faith?

Sometimes back I got this interesting forwarded article by mail. It does have point to make so I thought it worth to share with you all Christian friends here in this post. Here it goes…

In a small town, a person decided to open up a brothel, which was right
opposite to a church. The church & its congregation started a campaign
to block the brothel from opening with petitions and prayed daily
against his business.

Work progressed. However, when it was almost complete and was about to
open a few days later, a strong lightning struck the brothel and it was
burnt to the ground.

The church folks were rather smug in their outlook after that, till the
brothel owner sued the church authorities on the grounds that the church
through its congregation & prayers was ultimately responsible for the
destruction of his brothel, either through direct or indirect actions or
means.

In its reply to the court, the church vehemently denied all
responsibility or any connection that their prayers were reasons for the
act of God. As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over
the paperwork at the hearing and commented:

"I don't know how I'm going to decide this case, but it appears from the paperwork, we have a brothel owner who believes in the power of prayer and we have an entire church that doesn't."

How often we try to pray by Faith but Fail miserably to assess the results of our prayers by Faith.

My dear Brothers and Sisters, Can we dare to stand by our Faith?

God Bless You,

Santosh Thankachan

Have you seen the mirror today?

There is hardly any day when we forget to see the mirror though it depends how much time we tend to spend before the mirror. Even though being one of those ordinary objects at our home “Mirror” is perhaps the only lifeless object that dares to be honest with us at all times.

When I look in the mirror in the morning, the first thing I observe is, myself. My rugged look and untidy appearance is something that my mirror points to me very plainly and without any fear. I wonder why a small trivial thing like mirror finds its place in Word of God, Bible.

Bible Says:

If you listen to the word, but do not put it into practice you are like people who look in a mirror and see themselves as they are. They take a good look at themselves and then go away and at once forget what they look like. - James 1:23, 24

How wonderfully Apostle James compares, the Word of God with a mirror and draws a conclusion worth seeking our attention. Apostle says when we listen to word of God and fail to bring it into practice we deceive ourselves as a Christian. The quality of mirror is that it speaks honestly to us. If we are looking untidy it never says that we are looking good instead it brings our true picture in front of us. Our trust and subsequent reaction on the mirror decides how we are going to impact others.

The more time we spend with the mirror the more it helps us to identify the scars, flaws and filth surrounding us.

Holy Bible for a Christian is indeed a true mirror. When a Christian spends his time with Bible, it reveals the spiritual blindness, moral deficiencies and sometimes his fake righteousness too. Most of the contemporary Christians have built around themselves a cocoon of worldly thoughts and a layer of disguised spirituality that stops them to rise and act according to word of God. Their inability to mend their ways after encountering the Word of God, further deteriorate their spiritual conscious. The moment we see mirror we tend to organize our physical appearance just because we want to present ourselves to the world in a pleasing manner. As long as we are in front of mirror the process of self adjustment and correction continues but the moment we look away from mirror, slowly and steadily we tend to forget how we looked. We continue to assume that there is nothing wrong with us and that others are comfortable with us. One day while I was getting ready for office I forgot to see the mirror and went to office being unaware that my hairs were uncombed. When I came back home and saw myself in the mirror, I found that how untidy were my hairs. I wondered what everyone in the office might have thought about me. I felt bit embarrassed too. Sometimes though people around us won’t complain or comment about our shortcomings directly but they do note them.

Bible Says

“Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his Word; instead, put it into practice.” - James 1:22.

Notice the use of word “just” by apostle. He admits that listening to the Word of God is important but he also suggests that just listening alone is not sufficient. We must act according to the Word of God and try to follow it sincerely in our day to day lives and practice it diligently.

Do we remember, when was the last time we followed that timid voice of Holy Spirit?

When was the last time we acknowledged our sins and filthy ways in front of God and sought His help?

Let’s learn from David when he cries to God:

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. - Psalms 51:4

When word of God reaches us and convicts us of our sins and unrighteousness, we can say it’s a mirror that is being honest with us. And when we being the true child of God listen to that true voice, admit to God that we are indeed weak and ask for God’s forgiveness and help of Holy Spirit to combat our sins, trust me, we are acting honestly to our Almighty Father in Heaven.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters, how long will we continue to deceive ourselves? Its time to seek Lord’s Help and His Grace to follow what Holy Spirit is telling us to do? Jesus himself has said:

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." - Mark 14:38

So let’s pray to God to do His good will and let’s not forget to gaze the mirror (Holy Bible) daily.

God Bless You,

Brother in Christ,

Santosh Thankachan,

New Delhi, India

Have you seen the mirror today?

There is hardly any day when we forget to see the mirror though it depends how much time we tend to spend before the mirror. Even though being one of those ordinary objects at our home “Mirror” is perhaps the only lifeless object that dares to be honest with us at all times.

When I look in the mirror in the morning, the first thing I observe is, myself. My rugged look and untidy appearance is something that my mirror points to me very plainly and without any fear. I wonder why a small trivial thing like mirror finds its place in Word of God, Bible.

Bible Says:

If you listen to the word, but do not put it into practice you are like people who look in a mirror and see themselves as they are. They take a good look at themselves and then go away and at once forget what they look like. - James 1:23, 24

How wonderfully Apostle James compares, the Word of God with a mirror and draws a conclusion worth seeking our attention. Apostle says when we listen to word of God and fail to bring it into practice we deceive ourselves as a Christian. The quality of mirror is that it speaks honestly to us. If we are looking untidy it never says that we are looking good instead it brings our true picture in front of us. Our trust and subsequent reaction on the mirror decides how we are going to impact others.

The more time we spend with the mirror the more it helps us to identify the scars, flaws and filth surrounding us.

Holy Bible for a Christian is indeed a true mirror. When a Christian spends his time with Bible, it reveals the spiritual blindness, moral deficiencies and sometimes his fake righteousness too. Most of the contemporary Christians have built around themselves a cocoon of worldly thoughts and a layer of disguised spirituality that stops them to rise and act according to word of God. Their inability to mend their ways after encountering the Word of God, further deteriorate their spiritual conscious. The moment we see mirror we tend to organize our physical appearance just because we want to present ourselves to the world in a pleasing manner. As long as we are in front of mirror the process of self adjustment and correction continues but the moment we look away from mirror, slowly and steadily we tend to forget how we looked. We continue to assume that there is nothing wrong with us and that others are comfortable with us. One day while I was getting ready for office I forgot to see the mirror and went to office being unaware that my hairs were uncombed. When I came back home and saw myself in the mirror, I found that how untidy were my hairs. I wondered what everyone in the office might have thought about me. I felt bit embarrassed too. Sometimes though people around us won’t complain or comment about our shortcomings directly but they do note them.

Bible Says

“Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his Word; instead, put it into practice.” - James 1:22.

Notice the use of word “just” by apostle. He admits that listening to the Word of God is important but he also suggests that just listening alone is not sufficient. We must act according to the Word of God and try to follow it sincerely in our day to day lives and practice it diligently.

Do we remember, when was the last time we followed that timid voice of Holy Spirit?

When was the last time we acknowledged our sins and filthy ways in front of God and sought His help?

Let’s learn from David when he cries to God:

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. - Psalms 51:4

When word of God reaches us and convicts us of our sins and unrighteousness, we can say it’s a mirror that is being honest with us. And when we being the true child of God listen to that true voice, admit to God that we are indeed weak and ask for God’s forgiveness and help of Holy Spirit to combat our sins, trust me, we are acting honestly to our Almighty Father in Heaven.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters, how long will we continue to deceive ourselves? Its time to seek Lord’s Help and His Grace to follow what Holy Spirit is telling us to do? Jesus himself has said:

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." - Mark 14:38

So let’s pray to God to do His good will and let’s not forget to gaze the mirror (Holy Bible) daily.

God Bless You,

Brother in Christ,

Santosh Thankachan,

New Delhi, India