DEAD FLIES IN A PERFUMER'S OINTMENT

How is that possible? What is the business of 'dead flies' in a perfume? How did the flies ever get into the perfumery? What happened to the perfume? Interestingly, the flies which got into the perfume bottle could not thrive there and died. Well, that sounds alright. The case did not stop there! The perfume started emanating foul odour, and got thrown away!! So says, the 'Wise Teacher' who wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes, in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible.

'Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a foul odour; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.' (Ecc 10:1) .

As I was pondering over this Scripture portion, I was reminded by the Lord, a whole set of the kings of Judah, His chosen people, who were honored for their wisdom and godliness, yet fell short of a glorious reign due the 'dead flies' that entered their lives. These 'flies / folly' should not have entered at all. Having entered, they were not chased away but allowed to stay. On letting them continue their existence, they died being unable to withstand the 'perfume'. They however 'stayed inside dead'.  It started the 'stink' and outweighed the pleasant odour of the 'perfume'. 

A WALK THAT TRANSFORMED HEARTS

Who walked? With whom did they walk? Where from and where to they walked? What happened during the Walk?

Most of us know the answer .... WALK ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS. Cleopas and another of the disciples of Jesus were going from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They were not part of the apostolic band but belonged to the larger group of disciples of Jesus. Probably they were much afraid and confused, by the crucifixion of Jesus and were trying to get out of the city to escape further disappointment and danger! Whatever be the reason for their journey, they had a wonderful transformation and the unique privilege of being encouraged by the Risen Saviour Jesus Christ. Hallelujah!

 It was a personal Bible study that taught me certain truths which I have shared with a youth group sometime back. We were all edified spiritually and I was led to present it in this blog post. I invite the readers to take a spiritual walk with Christ Jesus as these two disciples did, and experience their lives getting enriched and transformed!!

We read in the gospel according to St.Luke chapter 24 : 13-35,  the episode of two disciples of Jesus walking the road to Emmaus, from Jerusalem. Bible scholars opine that the one not named may be Luke himself. Some differ and say the other person may be the wife of Cleopas, called Mary. Early traditions say that Cleopas was the brother of Joseph, Mother Mary's husband. We leave these details here and take a closer look at the spiritual insights which emerge from that journey, to inspire us, Christ's disciples of this century.

The two were conversing sadly about the crucifixion and death of  Jesus, their master.  There was a melancholic note in their talk. At that precise moment, the same Lord Jesus started 'walking along with them.' There he appeared as a  'stranger' to Jerusalem and to them both!! During and soon after the 'walk', the duo got transformed from 'mourning into dancing' and sharing the 'good news' of Jesus' resurrection with the other disciples! They returned back immediately to the same city from which they were walking away. The one labelled by them as  'stranger' was revealed as the 'Risen Saviour' to them.

The transformation took place in stages. They were talking about  Jesus, had his presence accompanying  them in their sadness , were taught the Scriptures by the 'Teacher' himself, Lord Jesus, learned and understood these.They longed for his fellowship, invited him into their residence, communed with him, remembered his parting words and from the manner in which Christ broke the bread, blessed it and had their spiritual  eyes opened to 'see' the glorified Master! They took in the word and witnessed for the Word, Lord Jesus Christ and his resurrection.Mourners got transformed to Missionaries!! 

Beware of the Leaven

The 'Leaven' has an important biblical connotation. It is also referred to as the 'yeast' . The Israelites had been using it to make soft bread in Egypt. The leavened bread, was soft and round. The 'unleavened bread' was hard and flat. When they were delivered from the Egyptian bondage, by the strong arm of the LORD, they were commanded to eat unleavened bread. They had to leave Egypt in haste, and the LORD instructed them not to take the leaven from the land of slavery. They were asked to celebrate a week-long festival of the 'unleavened bread' in the wilderness. It was to remind them every year, of the hasty manner in which they had to leave Egypt and delivered by the LORD himself, out of the bondage. Later when they made their own leavened bread during their sojourn in the desert, they were allowed to offer it to the LORD and also to eat it.

Lord Jesus warned his disciples, to beware of the leaven of Herod, Pharisees and Sadducees. Why? 

He meant that the leaven-like effect of the life of these Jewish sects, should not be allowed to corrupt the witness of his followers. The 'leaven' has a fermenting effect on  anything in which it is mixed. Minute amounts of it is enough to ferment a big lump of dough. Its action is invisible, quiet but sure. On the exterior the  leaven looks beneficial and user-friendly. Elsewhere in the gospels, the leaven is also referred to in a positive note, in that it spreads easily and into any larger amount. Jesus used it to teach the hearers, about the spreading influence of the Kingdom of God.

An attempt is made in this blog of mine, to expound what is meant by the caution served by our Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples, so that the body of Christ now, heeds the warning.

ALL GENERATIONS CALL HER BLESSED

• Who is she, called blessed? 
• Why is she blessed? 
• Where in the Bible do we come across this? 

Most of us know that the woman referred to here is Mary, mother of Jesus. She is the first woman of the New Testament who prophesied and proclaimed in faith that, “From now on all generations shall call me blessed.” Why was she so confident? She ‘personalised’ the Word of God which came to her when she was still a virgin. The narrative is recorded in the gospel of St. Luke only. 

At the outset we need to understand that Luke’s records found in chapters 1 and 2 are unique to his gospel. He was a devout convert of the first century and a close associate of St. Paul. In three of his epistles Paul is making a mention of Luke. He was a medical doctor by profession and Greek by nationality. Luke’s accounts are historical and very orderly. As he himself points out he has ‘carefully investigated everything from the beginning’. The preamble he gives in the book of Acts, indicates that Luke must be well known to the governor Theophilus. Scholars believe that he would not have known Jesus personally and the account of the angelic visitation of Mary in Nazareth of Galilee would have been arrived at, by Luke’s personal interview with Mary the mother of Jesus of Nazareth and other eye witnesses.

As I was studying the narrative of the angelic visitation of Virgin Mary, I could find a good comparison and contrast between this and the satanic visitation of Eve in the Garden of Eden. The first one reported in the Old Testament is the satanic visit of Eve and the first one reported in the New Testament is the angelic visit of Mary. Both women had been all by themselves at the time of visitation. One resulted in a ‘fall’ and the other in ‘redemption from the fall’. How? Eve never ‘personalised’ the word of God while Virgin Mary though single, ‘personalised’ the Word when it came to her. This act of submission to God’s Word made her a channel of blessing to the whole world. Yes, from then on ‘all generations all over the world have called her blessed Mary’. There are a lot of lessons to be learnt from Virgin Mary . 

Personalizing the Word of God

For believers in Christ, leading a witnessing and fruitful life, springing from personalizing the Word of God as found in the Holy Bible, is a very important daily spiritual exercise. Few days ago, I happened to read a devotional written by a well known Bible teacher, Andrew Wommack, USA,  that was used by  the Holy Spirit of God to drive home this 'life point' to me. The inspiration to write this blog post  initiated there and my personal devotion times led me to newer lessons which I am sharing here.

Whenever we read the Bible, or listen to a message preached or a Bible lesson taught, many a times there are verses that make a deep impression on us at that particular moment. The light to guide us comes from there, for specific tasks to be dealt with that day or later. It may be a routine task or a peculiar one. It may be trivial or of utmost importance to us. It differs day to day and from person to person.  The Bible breathed by the Spirit of God is 'living and active' even to this day and will remain like that forever.  Hence it will be good for every one of us to personalize the WORD every time it comes to us.

REPENTANCE is much more than mere REGRET

Christians are very familiar with the term ‘repent’ and more often than not we tend to treat it lightly not realising the meaning in its wholeness. Time and time again we hear sermons and revival messages mentioning and emphasising the word ‘REPENT’. It is even mistakenly understood to be simply ‘regret’ for the wrong doings and sins of commission and omission. There is a lot more to it. It is like the tip of an iceberg. The hidden part is not easily recognisable unless some effort is put in to take a closer look. In this blog I am attempting to explain it with references from the Holy Bible and some illustrations.

THE LORD RESTORES WHAT HIS PEOPLE HAVE LOST

Time and time again the Bible presents the people mentioned in it having lost all that they have or a considerable portion of their possessions which they have lost. It never stops there. At some point later, there is recorded the manifold recovery of what is lost earlier and the losers rejoicing in the recovery. In scriptural terms, we even call these ‘total recovery’. Does it apply to our times also? The answer is an emphatic ’yes’.

The Holy Bible is a book for all people and all times. There are eternal truths which can never be altered. One such truth is the ‘recovery of the lost’. Jesus is telling parables concerning ‘the lost sheep /coin/son’. Everywhere the ‘loser’ persists till the ‘lost’ is found and more than restored. The redemption plan of the Bible is also that God came in search of the fallen humans and took upon Himself the whole process of recovering the ‘lost’. God is always the victor, though we stumble on the way, trip and fall. His love searches for us and He redeems and restores us back to Himself. The Eternal God does the same thing in spirit, soul and body. For those of us who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour there is always the hope of recovering all that we lost or lose now and then in the earthly journey. We are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. (Rom 8: 37). Loss is not at all the final word for God’s people.

Let me illustrate the point I am making with what the Lord has been teaching me. Hope that the readers will be encouraged and edified with the biblical illustrations I am presenting in this blog. Hallelujah!! The Old Testament is full of historical characters who ‘lost’ people and materials due to some reason or the other and have ‘recovered’ what was lost. I was intrigued by David, Job, Daniel and Isaac, men of strong faith who drew their spiritual strength from relying on God and His Word. Prophet Joel declares that what the people of Judah lost due to falling away from the LORD will be restored by the LORD Himself. He goes on to say that God’s people will never be put to shame in front of the others.(Joel 2:25,26). It holds good for any Bible believing person too.