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In more than three decades of my Christian life, I have been blest by 2 types of Daily devos'
(matter not exceeding 500 words) in universal Christian literature. Not only those Devos'
which have a different theme everyday but also the ones which revolve around a certain
theme over a period of time, say a fortnight, have richly edified me. In fact, both
styles have their own inherent advantages. If the former style caters to the varying
spiritual needs of a christian from day-to-day, the latter aims 'to ground'
a child of God in a certain subject in order he derives the full benefits of the
deep insightful study of a certain topic, spread over a fixed span of time.
In my Daily devo page, I have consciously tried to go in for 'a blend of both the
styles' whereby within a constant theme, I would be aiming to focus on different
facets of it which admittedly is a closer imitation of the 'Constant theme' style
than the 'Varying topics' one.
As the month of December coincides with the Christmas season, in this month I intend to
dwell exclusively on all the topics revolving around Christmas using the visit of the
Wise man described in Matthew 2 as the base.
Let me wish you a happy and an edifying read… oh yes-MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF US!
Suresh Manoharan
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December 27th
He alone sees clearly…
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my
ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”.-
Isaiah 55:8-9.
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Long before hyper linking technology emerged to make cyber linkages possible whereby, we can so
effortlessly, by the click of a mouse, sail into connected ideas’/topics’ in
our browsing exercise, there has been all along that fantastic human mind
capable of doing very much the same work, especially when it comes to moving
from one thought to another connected one.
Take our own study of the Christmas story of the Wise men for example. Deep thoughts on their purposed
visit to Bethlehem to worship the Christ child, took us fro one connected topic
to another, whereby after a study of a connected topic… that of fulfillment of
prophecies and its implication there of, we landed on yet another ‘apparently’
unseemly topic (unseemly because, when the meditations began, the readers’ may
not have envisaged that) …Tsunami waves, which are an irrefutable sign of our
Lord’s II Coming
(Luke 21:25b).
That these gigantic waves sent many to an early grave is undeniable, what however is deniable is the false
notion of many uninformed (in the scriptures) folks that natural calamities
that God are a proof of a God who is not loving. Trying to fathom His infinite
wisdom and love with our finite mind is very much like driving on a foggy
night. As it were in this subject we require the ‘light’ of the scriptures of
guide us.
Even as we are complaining that many premature deaths are a travesty of Divine justice, for the dead
apparently have been deprived a chance of repentance and turning to Christ for
salvation, let’s consider this Scripture portion…
After laying his life on the cross as atonement for our sins…’So he went and
preached to the spirits in prison
, those who disobeyed God long ago when
God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were
saved from drowning in that terrible flood’ –
I Peter 3:19-20.
Now these are not my words, rather they are straight from the Scriptures, about which we may have never thought about
deeply. Now what do they state explicitly? The spirits of those who perished in
the Noah’s flood were not cast into hell but kept in some ethereal prison,
which Christ visited in spirit and preached. It follows that when these spirits
repented consequently, they were accommodated in Heaven. NOW THOSE, WHO
PERISHED IN TSUNAMI WAVES, MAY ALSO HAVE BEEN GIVEN A SIMILAR OPPURTUNITY
WHEREUPON THEY WOULD HAVE SET RIGHT THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND ARE HENCE
NOW IN HEAVEN PRAISING
HIM. NOW WHEN, THOSE WHO PERISHED HAVE NO PROBLEMS WITH GOD ARE WE THE
LIVING GOING TO FOOLISHLY FIGHT WITH HIM ON THEIR BEHALF FOR SNUFFING OUT THEIR
LIVES?
My arguments on behalf of my righteous Creator aside, He is much greater than our human mind can ever imagine and only
in eternity, we would see and appreciate the complete picture. With our limited
blurred vision, which is at best sometimes comparable to that of drivers’
commuting in a foggy night, let’s not jump to hasty conclusions about God who
is love
(I John 4:8). Period.
Prayer:
Father, never can we fully fathom thy infinite wisdom with our finite minds.
So in our earthly lives, when Thy doings our beyond our limited understanding,
enable us to trust Thee with a child-like faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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