The Battle of the Tenses

Reference Passage:

Philipians 3:7-21 (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Read the whole passage here

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For an average Indian, cricket is more than a game. It's status in India gives the impression that, together with haemoglobin, cricket is an essential component of Indian blood. Even children dream of stepping into the boots of Sachin Tendulkar, and flaying the bowling attack all across the outfield. Team India, led by  skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, captured the World Cup this year and quenched the thirst of a nation running high for years since the last triumph in 1983. Yet, a recent tour of England brought our Galacticos crashing to planet Earth, playing a string of matches that have been labelled 'forgettable'. The reason is obvious: failure is a bitter pill. Nobody wishes to dwell too long on the memories of past losses.

The question before us is : is God asking us to ignore the past, so that we can feel comfortable enough to pursue the promises of tomorrow? The issue is a significant one, because it influences the presentation of the Gospel, and the knowledge of God's will for fallen man. The believer is being assailed on all sides with ideas that are potentially liberating by appearance. These days, it is commonplace to coax newbies into thinking that God would eagerly wink at our past, and welcome us into His house with open arms. After all, isn't He the one with the ultimate 'I-don't-care' attitude? Wrong.

History is bound to be repeated by those who neglect it. Every imperfect human being has a past record of failures and losses, that must be examined responsibly if any lasting difference is to be made. We must acknowledge that sin is not the mere result of someone's biological blood flowing through our veins, as many have come to believe. Nor does believing in Christ do anything to our vertebrate heart made of cardiac muscle. It is the absence of God's life-giving Spirit from our lives and the world system to which we belong, that keeps us detached from spiritual reality and drains us of every likeliness to God's image with which we were created. There's a throne in our lives that ought to have been rightfully yielded to the King of kings. Our reluctance to do this has repeatedly allowed history to block our progress.

On the other hand, what we really need to shake off is the complacent cobwebs of past success. Growing experience of success pulls the brakes on our momentum because we are so busy celebrating our yesteryears and foreseeing the next anniversary. We fail to humbly see the challenges of the future. Don't we act like we have 'seen-it-all' and there are going to be no more surprises in our spiritual experience?  Knowledge is quite different from understanding, although they sound like synonyms. Reading the Bible cover-to-cover or learning at a theological seminary may help absorb vast amounts of factual information. Nevertheless, realizing the purpose of God's call upon our lives and tuning ourselves to fit that role, is something else. When learning is supported by conviction, the student has entered the realm of understanding.

For example, heaven, at best, sounds like a distant dream to us but we're hardly bothered. Salvation has been reduced to a set of procedures, and no one is surprised. Our weekly church services are more akin to club meetings, featuring the local talents live. What a far cry from being the Body of Christ where members complement each other, feel each other's pain, and serve a single objective! It sounds great to talk about the revival of the 50s and the passionate 70s. In fact, we use this to question the status quo and long for the 'good old days' to return. Yet, there remain doubts surrounding the 'freshness' of the questioner's own experience. Do we have something new from the Lord today, when we point our fingers at someone else? You see, there is no point advertising a product that's unavailable in stock.
All this, and much more, tells us that the Christian Church, leaders and followers alike, are cushioned in the chambers of knowledge while conviction and understanding is largely lacking.

There's also something else to look out for. At times, the conflicts of the present compel us to stop. If our faith has led to today's troubles, we think to ourselves, why should we struggle endlessly? Suddenly, we give up all the grand plans, and our enthusiasm fades away. The disciples in the rough sea had already given up hope, which is why even Jesus in the distance, looked like a ghost to them. It becomes a mammoth struggle to row against the wind, and every pull of the oar is heavier than the previous one. Nevertheless, our Lord doesn't fail to show up, if necessary, even in the fourth watch of the night, His calm voice and authoritative presence bringing swift deliverance. Which is how we managed to suvive the last time! Surely, He won't fail us this time either.

The Christian's upward call is a continuing process of learning and practising the nature of Christ. There remain lots of unexplored territory in our quest, and we must not allow our past or present, whether failure or victory, to drag us down. To forget where we belong, and to divert our focus onto earthly things will be the biggest shame of all. The glory of our future lies in the undying love of the Saviour who called us to Himself, and His power will bear us all the way to the finish line and beyond. 

Mr. Bright counts the stars

Reference Passage:

Genesis 15:5-6 (NIV)

He took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then He said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness.

Read the whole passage here

 

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The name is Abram, and not Abraham – your eyes weren't playing tricks on you. Abram became Abraham much later, which symbolically testifies that life is a progressive process of God-induced change. Its difficult to understand this Biblical legend without some background investigation. It must be kept in mind that three of the world's most significant religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – draw different views of his life, and are also nicknamed Abrahamic faiths.

Abram first heard God's call while part of a family with no reputed spiritual heritage. For all those who believe that circumstance defines character, Abram doesn't fit the theory at all. How starkly in contrast Abram stands, as compared to us who can't discern God's voice even while surrounded by religiosity on all sides! The Bible leaves out the specific details of how Abram first picked up the Heavenly signals, or recognized them for their true worth, but that's part of the mystery of true spirituality. I wonder how many readers would linger on this blog if Abram's precise technique was known. We'd all be busy trying to ape and market Abram's recipe for instant faith, just as we're already attempting in other spheres of our professional lives. Its heartening to know that the Almighty draws us to Himself in so many different and unpredictable ways, and the only common thread for our success is the undying trust we place on Him, come what may.

At that time, Abram had just emerged from a thumping victory in battle against other powerful kings in the area. All the same, God knew that Abram was uneasy within. Abram had left much behind to follow the Voice he heard years ago, but it felt like he was still on square one. The original Divine promise had been centered on the fruitfulness of Abram's family life, and to date, there was no sign of this.

As Abram expressed his anxiety concerning the heir to his estate, God reaffirmed His promise and pointed Abram to the twinkles dotting the night sky. To win over the troubled warrior, God suggested a game of childish innocence and simplicity – counting the stars! Feeling nostalgic already? We fancied that we'd seen it all and that our elementary school mathematics teacher had equipped us well for the venture. And so we began. Yet, in the end, we all gave up the game for the sheer limitlessness of the number. "So shall your descendants be", God vowed.
The celestial lights were not new to Abram, yet this moment of revelation transformed his view deeply. In effect, God was telling the saint that he'd still not seen all that God could do.

Nature surrounds us in all its created splendor. Man is unique in his capability to appreciate the beauty of the universe. Nobody has created science, we're merely observing that which already exists. Interestingly, human science is generally limited to the five senses. Even the greatest scientist can only retrieve information through these, and cannot say whether other higher senses exist or not. This is equivalent to saying that a tape recorder that "hears" and "speaks" can know nothing about smell – being limited to the two senses by design. We do well if we employ our God-given talents to explore and study our surroundings.

However, nature's ultimate objective is not simply this. It holds in its heart priceless nuggets that point us to the mind of our Creator. Nevertheless, as was Abram's case, and ours, this "higher" information is not readily edible for our five senses. It takes a Divine act of revelation to digest such greater sense. Abram saw the sufficiency of his sovereign God in the midst of his depressing problem, and gathered courage to continue the journey. This responsive faith scored high in God's marking scheme for righteousness.

In the absence of revelation, humans stumble upon the same childish assumption of knowing everything on their own. Which turned out to be Mr. Bright's fatal error.

Mr. Bright decided to take up the challenge and count the stars. He felt that the naked eye was not sufficient, and so began to develop complicated instruments to sharpen his gaze into the heavens. Next, was an ambitious project of discovering, naming and classifying new stars. The burgeoning greatness of his knowledge somehow convinced him that God and spirituality were alien to science, and therefore Mr. Bright brilliantly suggested that a drive to cleanse academic circles of this 'alien' culture was necessary. While Abram was busy learning faith and moving towards the Heavenly places, Mr. Bright was lecturing to packed auditoriums about the greatness of man and the delusion of religion. His report card in Heaven had a lot of zeroes, but how would he know that?

Mr. Bright lived a good life, by the way. Comfort in the bank and a loving family at home – what more could he ask for? Yet, it irked him to think that all of his knowledge could not formulate a comfortable solution to the universal problem of death, or even predict a glimpse of the reality on the other side of that yawning doorway. He guessed that only dust and bones would remain.

The day of death arrived – and in moments, Mr. Bright's eyes opened to discover the literal meaning of a 'grave mistake'.