Reflection on Truth

Reflecting on what kept me going for the past few months, when at times even God Himself did not seem to make sense, I came to the conclusion that there exists an eternal God who created the universe ex nihilo. The universe is completely and absolutely contingent upon God for its beginning as well as its continued existence. He is among other thing, personal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, perfectly good, necessary and infinitely wise. It was not always easy to see His goodness. Neither did I understand His wisdom at all times. Through it all however, I came to be more convinced of His existence and perfection more than ever before.

I realized that God created me in His image and likeness. I am not merely a collection of physical parts. I am valuable to Him. Just as much as am of great value to Him, so are all the other human beings around me. Human life is sacred and ought to be protected. He has instilled in me the capacity to make moral choices. As a moral agent, I have the capacity to make decisions and judgments within the lager framework of family and government.

For me as a Christian and God’s agent in this world, marriage, government and church are not merely social constructions that can be shaped in any way consistent with some utopian vision of justice but rather are natural institutions in which and by which human being ought to learn what is good, true and beautiful. I seek and plan to get married soon not because all my friends are married. Not because my relatives want me to get married. Not because I feel am getting old. But because am convinced that God ordained marriage and has put in me a desire to get married, that I may establish another institution within which I can make moral choices. I honor and submit to the authority of the government and my Church not out of fear but out of respect for what God has established.

There were times when God revealed Himself to me in some special way apart from the revelation of Him that I found by reading the Bible and observing nature around me. For me to accept the truth in the bible, I had to accept the perfectness of God. If he is perfect as stated in Mk 10:18; Heb 6:18, then His word must be without error. I have to believe every bit of it. And that’s how my faith was built.

I got a chance to combine my faith with reason. I found every reason to believe in what I believe in. at some point, I held on to the fact that faith is believing in something when common sense tells you not to. This is not what faith is all about. In our post modern society, I found a greater need to authenticate my faith. I purposed to “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks me to give the reason for the hope that I have. But I seek to do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against my good behavior may be ashamed of their slander”. Yes, i have to explain what i mean when I say that my faith is true!

Talking of faith, my faith in Christ (Christianity) is more than something to give me peace of mind and purpose for life and happiness. It should to this but there is something more. True Christianity must be grounded in reality, it must make true claims about reality – who we are as human beings, who God is, and how we relate to God. The religion that cannot truthfully answer these questiuons is false, not because it fails to give one peace of mind, but because it makes false claims about the way things are. I therefiore go to church wevery Sunday not to feel good about myself, but to meet the real true God. I study His word not because I want to find some portion of scripture that will make me scream in happiness, but because it contains the real true truth.

And so my reflection and search for the True Truth continues

Treachery

Thou art the beloved of the Lord, redeemed by blood, called by grace, preserved in Christ Jesus, accepted in the Beloved, on thy way to heaven, and yet, "thou hast dealt treacherously" with God, thy best friend; treacherously with Jesus, whose thou art; treacherously with the Holy Spirit, by whom thou hast been quickened unto life eternal!

How treacherous you have been in the matter of vows and promises. Do you remember the love of your espousals, that happy time--the springtide of your spiritual life? Oh, how closely did you cling to your Master then! saying, "He shall never charge me with indifference; my feet shall never grow slow in the way of His service; I will not suffer my heart to wander after other loves; in Him is every store of sweetness ineffable. I give all up for my Lord Jesus' sake."

Has it been so? Alas! if conscience speak, it will say, "He who promised so well has performed most ill. Prayer has oftentimes been slurred--it has been short, but not sweet; brief, but not fervent. Communion with Christ has been forgotten.

Instead of a heavenly mind, there have been carnal cares, worldly vanities and thoughts of evil. Instead of service, there has been disobedience; instead of fervency, lukewarmness; instead of patience, petulance; instead of faith, confidence in an arm of flesh; and as a soldier of the cross there has been cowardice, disobedience, and desertion, to a very shameful degree."

"Thou hast dealt treacherously." Treachery to Jesus! what words shall be used in denouncing it? Words little avail: let our penitent thoughts execrate the sin which is so surely in us. Treacherous to Thy wounds, O Jesus! Forgive us, and let us not sin again!

How shameful to be treacherous to Him who never forgets us, but who this day stands with our names engraven on His breastplate before the eternal throne.

They have dealt treacherously against the Lord : Hosea 5:7

Relations

When we and our relations are parting, by death or otherwise, it is very comforting if we have both their testimony and the testimony of our own consciences for us that while we were together we carefully endeavored to do our duty in the relation. This will help to allay the bitterness of parting; and while we are together, we should labour so to conduct ourselves as that when we part we may not have cause to reflect with regret upon our miscarriages in the relation.

A homeless Stranger amongst us came To this land of death and mourning; He walked in a path of sorrow and shame, Through insult, and hate, and scorning. A Man of sorrows, of toil and tears, An outcast Man and a lonely; But He looked on me, and through endless years Him must I love--Him only. Then from this sad and sorrowful land, From this land of tears He departed; But the light of His eyes and the touch of His hand Had left me broken-hearted. And I clave to Him as He turned

My Life

In whatever you do always remember that you are in charge of your feelings, beliefs, and actions. And you teach others how to behave toward you.

While you cannot change other people, you can influence them through your own behaviors and actions. By being a living role model of what you want to receive from others, you create more of what you want in your life.

It is with this idea in mind that I choose to do unto others what I expect them to do unto me. However we are all never perfect and are bound to fail in one way or another but since the finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling, it is my hope that we will treat ourselves and one another thus tenderly.

I will count myself to be successful only if I am able to laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children, to earn the approbation of honest critics; to appreciate beauty; to give of one's self, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because I have lived

RELEVANT AND PRACTICAL LIVING

In today's technology-influenced, cynical, anything-goes-world, is Christianity practical? Is it realistic and useful, or just a 2,000 year-old fairy tale?

All you have to do is look around to see that modern society seems to condone just the opposite of Christian principles: Grab yours first. Don't worry about the other guy. Do whatever you have to to get to the top.

Money is the most important thing in life. Have sex with as many people as you want. Don't be concerned about other people's feelings. The poor are lazy, stupid people who don't want to work. There's no god, heaven or hell, so live it up and do whatever you please. That, unfortunately, is what millions of people believe.

Maybe that's a pessimistic assessment of how things are today. Yet that's exactly what we see on television and in movies.

Are Christians naive suckers who are being conned by feel-good preachers promising pie-in-the-sky? Is Christianity practical or is it a just a quaint relic from a simpler time?

A recent book on the missional church argues that we need to "reinvent the church" in "revolutionary" ways so that we can "incarnate the gospel within a specific cultural context."

I found one example of such a church on the Internet, a congregation in Florida whose very name is Relevant. Here is its description:

"Relevant is a casual, contemporary, Christian church meeting at the Italian Club in Ybor City, Florida. Our service is designed specifically for college students, urban professionals and young families. At Relevant, we feel that it's our responsibility to "clear the way" for you to come to church. We want you to be able to experience the great music, encouraging messages, friendly people and enjoyable atmosphere that are a part of Relevant."

People who shut out God go from one thing to another trying to get peace and fulfillment, but they never find it.

Materialism? A house full of junk brings no peace, just a hunger for morejunk.

Affairs? Sooner or later, the shallowness and futility of that life ends in the terrible toll of self-loathing.

Career? Companyloyalty is a joke. Have a bad month or a bad year and you're thrownaway like a piece of trash.

Jesus Christ is real. Jesus Christ matters. Jesus Christ is eminently practical and totally fulfilling, moreso in today's worldthan ever before.

Who knows better how to live than the God who created your life? Whocan teach you lasting values better than the God who has alwaysexisted? And who can heal your hurts better than the God who loves you so much he took alll your sins upon himself to save you?

Is Christianity practical? It is the only way practical in this world, and your only guarantee of neverending happiness in the next.

MEN / WOMEN

MEN
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Men are too visually oriented and don't give themselves a chance to know a woman who doesn't meet their visual ideal. It seems to be a physiological fact that men respond to visual stimuli much more than women, and women respond to verbal stimuli more than men. That has given rise to the notion that a woman can be 'sweet-talked' into anything, and sometimes that's true. But it's also true that an over-emphasis on visual input has many dangers.

The qualities that make a relationship meaningful and durable are not how someone looks. Yet many single men simply refuse to associate with or get to know a woman at all unless she visually meets their standards. Let me tell you that you may pass up a terrific woman by refusing to get to know her simply because she's not exactly what you were dreaming of.

For some men, it's shape or size that is most important. For others it's hair or skin. But most men, if honest, would admit that they really place a high importance on some aspect of the physical appearance of a woman.

While I'm not proposing that men should miraculously change their physiological makeup and dismiss appearance as a non-essential, I am suggesting that this tendency can get out of hand easily, and a Christian man needs to check it out. 'Looks don't last, cookin' do,' the old adage goes, and there's something there to think about.

WOMEN
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If you're a single Christian woman, have you ever said, 'Where can I find a really sharp Christian man?' I admit it's not easy. Men think it's not easy to find just the woman they want either, but it's no secret that there are usually more women than men involved in church and Christian groups. That's true in every category-young, old, single or married. It's also true that there are more women than men in this world. So, there don't seem to be enough to go around.

Faced with this fact, we must learn to live with it and not allow ourselves to go nuts over any Christian man who comes along, nor allow ourselves to be plunged into despair. A couple of probing questions to ask yourself to keep from this is:

What is your first thought when you see or meet a new Christian man? Let me guess: Is he single? Or Is he taken? Now, I don't know if you'll ever be able to stop that first thought, but the secret here is to immediately abandon that line of thinking. Say to yourself, 'This is first of all a person. I will relate to him as I would to any new person I was meeting. I will not allow myself to look at him as a potential partner.'

Do you find you are feeling sorry for yourself or commiserating with other single women about the shortage of men? I frequently hear talk like this among single women. It's not a great topic for conversation, for you to simply keep reinforcing the idea that there's a big problem finding a Christian man, because that starts affecting your thinking. It causes depression and dreariness. I see it on the faces of single women so often-the look that says, 'Oh, poor me, I'm a good Christian woman, but where are the Christian men?'

It's one thing to recognize the shortage. It's another thing to let that reality control and depress you. I have discovered that often when I'm having difficulty accepting some situation, it goes back to my lack of trust in the sovereignty of God. When you really focus on believing that God is in control, it changes your outlook on the circumstances of your life. You have to trust him; nothing else makes sense.

Most single women don't believe that God can truly make them fulfilled and happy except through marriage. That attitude really limits God's ability to work in our lives. You know, we keep putting the cart before the horse. We don't find fulfillment by filling up our lives with things that we think will make us happy, such as a man. We find fulfillment when we stop looking for it and concentrate instead on knowing God.