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.

THE EYES OF THE LORD….. They are magnificent!!

The Bible teaches that we need to guard our eyes with all diligence. Why? It is because, the eyes of the Lord whom we serve as Christians, are supremely magnificent. The Master’s eyes require us to keep our eyes fitting to behold His glory. As I was meditating on this fact, the Lord taught me certain things which I have put down in this blog. The readers will find it engaging themselves in spiritual edification, I am confident. Here we go!

Thus Far ….. And No Farther…        Job 38:11

Kalaneethy Christopher

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

 ‘FREEDOM WITHIN LIMITS’

‘I

   Placed the sand as the boundary for the sea’, says the Lord. (Jer 5:22). The book of Job talks about the magnificence of God and the whole of creation that is sustained by the Lord God. He gave the sea its limit (Pro 8:29). The LORD has set a boundary for water that it will not pass over. (Psa 104: 9). All of God’s creation is perfectly controlled and managed by the God Almighty. The mighty, fiery orb, even the Sun is set by Him to ‘run its course’ only. (Psa 19:5). This order in the universe is applicable to us humans also. The Lord has bestowed us with freedom which has limits or a boundary. It is not unrestricted. ‘God limits our freedom for our own good.’(Joyce Meyer)

                                                                   A Sea Shore

IN THE GARDEN

How Deep Is Our Relationship With Jesus Christ Our Lord?

How Deep Is Our Relationship With Jesus Christ Our Lord?

Kalaneethy Christopher

T

he Lord God created and placed man and woman in the garden of Eden. He came in search of their fellowship each afternoon. One fine day He entered and not finding Adam and Eve waiting for Him, called out to Adam saying “Adam, where are you?” This is in fact the first question of God to humanity as recorded in the first book, the Book of Genesis in the Bible. [Gen.3:9] Hence it is important to every Christian, to ask ourselves the question, ‘Where am I, in my fellowship with Christ the Son of God, who came to the world, in search of me?’

Prophet Ezekiel had a vision wherein he was taken to a river flowing from the temple of God, where the waters were first ankle deep, then knee deep, then loin deep and finally rose to a swimming level. [Ezek 47:3-5].  The waters are referred to as the Holy Spirit flowing from the throne of God who fills the lives of God’s people on earth.  Christians need to go deeper in fellowship with Christ, so that we reach a stage where we flow along with the Spirit of Christ in the Christian walk to be fruitful in the world.

When our Lord Jesus was on the earth walking about in Galilee and Judea, many people followed Him, for many reasons. Some with good but others with wicked intentions. Wherever He entered we find people going after Him for earthly blessings alone or for the blessing of eternal life. He always had a group of Jews following to corner Him and to accuse Him.

As we read John 6: 60-71 there appear many types of disciples who followed Jesus, and left Him for some reasons. John dissects this crowd neatly and we can trace the various groups of followers. It makes an interesting study to help us decipher, our motives for being followers of Christ in this generation.

After we locate ourselves, let us progress to a closer walk with Christ on earth. This is my wish for all of the readers who read this blog! May the Lord help us in this introspection?

They knew Him (Jesus) not!!....

They knew Him (Jesus) not!!....

Prof. KALANEETHY CHRISTOPHER

Scripture passages from the gospel according to St. John, the disciple of Jesus Christ

John’s gospel was chronologically the last to be written in the group of the four gospels of the New Testament. It was around 95 A.D when the church started establishing itself  . Fundamental factors like church government and other issues had been settled by then. Hence there was less need to concentrate on the historical details once again. John dwells on the spirituality factors more than the other gospel writers. His gospel was known to be the ‘spiritual gospel’. A new Christian needs to study this gospel to know ‘who Jesus is’. 

Christian Perspective of Peace as a Child Right

Prof.Kalaneethy Christopher and Dr.J.Christopher Daniel

Humankind has been experiencing a crisis of values over the centuries. Crime, clashes, racial discrimination, communal ism ,disintegration, war, ethnic cleansing and indifference to human suffering have spread to all aspects of life. It is distressing to notice that leaders who profess peace and goodwill are dethroned or done to death. At the same time, those who harp on peace clamor for war. People have always wanted peace. Today they seem to want it more than ever. Yet, notwithstanding the efforts initiated by world leaders, we see terrorism, rebellion and conflicts among people.

War has been a major preoccupation with man in this century-two world wars and 140 or lesser wars since the second. The world had witnessed world war type situation in Kosovo in 1999 which became more ‘sophisticated’ and horrendous.“O war, thou son of hell!” William Shakespeare’s lamentation today rings even more accurate a warning than four centuries ago”.

The great Frenchman Victor Hugo who made a pronouncement with the following words more than one hundred years ago at the Peace Congress in Lausanne, Switzerland, a slogan beneath which every peace loving person who values his/her peaceful life and peace for his/her children would sign ‘WE WANT PEACE, PASSIONATELY WANT PEACE. PEACE FOR ALL PEOPLE, FOR ALL NATIONS, FOR ALL RACES’. Late Thomas Jefferson, the outstanding American democrat had had a dream of ‘peace ,commerce, and honest friendship with all nations’. Unfortunately, peace as a ‘value’, a ‘virtue’ and a ‘force’ seems to have been forgotten by humankind over the centuries. To quote from the book ‘May you live in peace’ written by Vladien Kachanov(1986)’If durable peace has not triumphed on our planet yet, it is not the peoples of the world who are at fault, but those who aspire to increase their wealth be seizing and exploiting others lands and by producing instruments of annihilation’.

The biblical connotation of the term peace (Gk.eirene) is a state of harmonious relationship between God and people, among the people, nations, and families. Jesus as Prince of peace gives peace to those who call upon Him for personal salvation. Peace is not the absence of conflict. Peace is a state of rest, quietness and calmness; an absence of strife; tranquility. It generally denotes a perfect well being. Conflict is an inevitable fact of daily life-internal, interpersonal, inter- group, and international conflict. Peace consists in creatively dealing with conflict. Peace is the process of working to resolve conflicts is such as a way that both sides win, with increased harmony as the outcome of the conflict and its resolution. The resolution is peace-full if the participants come to want to cooperate more fully and find themselves enabled to do so’.(Kathleen and James McGinnis,1990).’To work for peace is the concern of all individuals and of all peoples. And because everyone is endowed with a heart and with reason and has been made in the image of God, he or she is capable of the effort of truth and sincerity which strengthens peace’(Pope John Paul II, 1980)

The knowledge and understanding of what peace means has grown tremendously since the Second world war in the light of the nuclear catastrophe. Interestingly enough, there are biblical evidences to the value of peace openly averred by the Hebrew prophets who called the people of their time to respond to Yahweh’s call for peace which has justice as its precondition .