“So in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” -Romans 12:5 (NIV)

Our bodies are like finely tuned machines, with each part dependant on one another. Though they are diverse in appearance and function, they work together in order to carry out the many tasks the body requires. If even one part of the body was rendered unusable, the entire body would be affected. For example, the brain can send signals to the legs to move and run, but if the legs are paralyzed or some other part of the body is preventing the legs to move, then the body will not go anywhere. Or suppose if the eyes see trouble brewing yet the mouth refuses to speak. How then will our voice be able to call out for help in that critical moment? That is why we seek treatment from doctors when something is wrong with our bodies, so that all its members will be able to work together in an effective manner.

Whether we like it or not we are all connected together in the same way as one body. Thus our attitudes and actions affect those around us. If we think that our anger and pride only affects the person that these are directed to, we are sadly mistaken for everyone will suffer in some form or another. Our selfishness and hatred can do devastating damage in our lives and just as how a spider’s web can fall apart if one thread is cut, so too will our relationships crumble. At the root of the problem is our innate sinful nature. This is what propels us to give into harmful attitudes that will only cause us to become mired in unnecessary conflict and misery. It is only when we have allowed Christ to enter our hearts that He will break the hold sin has over us so that He can begin His restorative work in our lives. When we abide in His Spirit and allow His love to shine from within us, there is no room for sin to taint our relationships with others. We will move forward together in unity as Christ propels us to love so that He may impart life to the people around us.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” –Colossians 3:12 (NIV)

One can often learn a lot about a person by the clothes he wears. Clothes can send a message about a person’s background, attitude, and personality even before the wearer utters a word himself. We can discern a person’s profession by the uniform he wears and their ethnicity on occasions where they would wear their native dress. Even more important is how a person wears his clothes. If an office worker shows up to his workplace wearing a neatly kept suit, it reveals his discipline, and commitment to represent his company well. Conversely, if a person should come to work wearing a suit, but one that is unkempt, it reflects his blasé and careless attitude towards his job. Whether we like it or not, people are always watching us and how we present ourselves before others is a choice we all have to make.

The love and righteousness of Christ are like clothes which we wear. They are beautifully designed, immaculately clean, and are gifts which Christ is more than willing to offer. Yet in our fallible human wisdom we choose not to wear them. Like little children who are excited about recieving new clothes, yet are unable to let go of a cherished shirt or dress that is worn and torn, we are comfortable wearing our clothes of sin and in fact prefer it. However, we do not realize how worn they are and how we are cheating ourselves out of something that is better than what we have. Once we have realized the filthiness of the clothes of sin which we are wearing, we try to wash the grime and mend the holes they have by ourselves. But we soon realize that we can do nothing to repair these clothes for our sinful nature is something that needs to be done away with entirely. Only Christ can give us new clothes of His love and righteousness and we receive them when we have allowed His Spirit to reside in our hearts. These clothes however come with a choice. Will we choose to return to our old clothes and shame ourselves by allowing sin to be displayed in our lives? Or will we choose today to allow Christ to help us put on His garments of love so that Christ may restore our lives as He draws others to Himself?

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

“Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.” -1 Thessalonians 4:9 (NIV)

Learning a new language can be notoriously difficult. There are two languages in which I am actively working towards achieving fluency, Hindi and Japanese. But as with any other foreign language, both these languages present challenges that must be overcome. One must get used to different sounds, learn a whole new set of vocabulary and idioms, and be able to correctly apply grammatical rules that can be vastly different from those of one’s native tongue. Yet those who have achieved fluency in another language testify to their discipline and humility as students. It takes that constant commitment to learn from textbooks, teachers, and native speakers in order to come to a point where one will be able to think, speak, and write in the language of their study.

Loving others is like a foreign language to our fallen nature. Since all of us have been corrupted by sin, it is hard for us to be fluent in love. Despite our best efforts to speak and show love to others, invariably we fall back on the language of our sinful nature which is pride and selfishness. Love is not something that comes to us naturally because sin has hindered our capacity to love with no conditions or limitations. Only Christ, who is love and perfect in His love, can teach us how to love each other as He has loved us. When we allow His Spirit to reside within us, He will train us in His love so that we may be able to speak life into others. But this can only happen when we have submitted ourselves wholly to His Spirit and with humility make that choice to surrender our attitudes to Him so that He may carry out His work in our lives. As we continue to keep in step with His Spirit and allow Him to teach us how to love, we will lose our fluency in sin and become conversant in His love and righteousness so that others will be drawn to Him.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

“For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.” –Philemon 1:7 (ESV)

Coconut water is very refreshing. It is sold in many tropical countries and is often drunk straight from the coconut itself. When I was travelling in India we once had to climb up a hill to visit a new school that was being built. Even though it was late December it was still quite hot and I could feel the sweat sticking to my back as we climbed. At the summit of the hill there was a family selling coconut water and we bought some to satisfy our thirst. As I felt the coconut water poured down my throat I felt rejuvenated and my exhaustion disappeared. Standing there drinking coconut water after a day of travelling made the lush surroundings of the summit, with the setting sun spreading its colors against the sky, look all the more beautiful.

Philemon was like coconut water for not only Paul, but for all he came into contact with. It seemed that many would agree with Paul’s description of Philemon and considering how Paul was relentlessly persecuted, it is not surprising that he would write that Philemon’s love was a joy and comfort to him. What about us? Would we be able to claim that our love and the attitudes which flow from within us are refreshing for others? The truth of the world is that it is weary. It groans under the weight of sin and injustice. It mourns over the consequences of wrong choices. Are our attitudes doing anything towards the healing and restoration of the world? Or are they only exacerbating the problem? If sin has control over our hearts, then we are unable to be refreshing and act in perfect love no matter our most earnest of efforts. It is only when we have allowed Christ to enter our hearts that He will make His love shine forth from within us. As His Spirit continues to work out His love in our lives, He will make us refreshing to others so that they may come and drink of the living water which Christ offers; finding an eternal hope and joy which will never be taken away.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.” –Mark 6:34 (NIV)

One of my favorite things to do while traveling is people-watching. Whether it is while taking the public transit in the city, waiting at the airport for a flight, or walking the streets of a foreign country, I am always drawn to the faces of those who I pass by. I often wonder where they are going, where they have been, and what they must be experiencing now. It is this curiosity which draws me to people and I find it both a joy and an honour when people extend the hand of friendship and we exchange our stories with each other. Yet more and more I am coming to see people as souls in need of being in relationship with God their Creator, and that has added a whole new sense of urgency to tell others of the hope which is available through Christ.

Every day we encounter many faces. Some of them we do not know and only see for a brief second before they go their separate ways. Others we know quite well. They are our family, our friends, and our colleagues. Yet are they just faces to us? Are they but mere bodies which we are forced by circumstances to interact with? It is easy to think of people in generalization, where we can nicely fit them into our pre-conceived notions. But when we see people through the eyes of God, we see them as individuals uniquely and wonderfully made with souls that are made to be in relationship with Him. This calls us to a radical love that transcends all boundaries, yet this is a love which we can never work out in ourselves because of our sinful nature. It is only when we have allowed Christ to enter our hearts and have allowed Him to free us of our sinful nature that we are able through His Spirit to see people as how He sees them, as His precious creations in need of His restorative work. With His love overflowing from within us, His Spirit will compel us to show His compassion towards others and tell them of the eternal joy of knowing Christ as Lord and Saviour.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

“And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them” Genesis 3:21 (ESV)

Adam and Eve could not have had it better. They lived in a perfect world created by the all-powerful hands of God where He lovingly provided for their every need. But when Adam and Eve disobeyed God as a result of their deliberate choice to eat of the tree which God explicitly forbade them to eat from, the closeness they once shared with God was broken. Since God is holy He cannot tolerate even the slightest act of sin and as such He expelled Adam and Eve from the garden. Yet what is beautiful of this otherwise tragic episode in human history is how God shows His unfailing love. Despite Adam and Eve’s rejection of Him, God provides them with clothing to endure the harsh realities of their new lives in a fallen world. The animal skins foreshadow what Christ has done and will do for us by Him becoming the sacrificial Lamb for us so that through His death on the Cross we are forgiven and our relationship with God restored.

The love of God is unchangeable and inherent in His very nature. He has never been the God who oscillates between the angry God of the Old Testament and the loving God of the New Testament. Through a careful reading of Scripture His unconditional love and desire to restore His precious creations to Himself is made evident from the very beginning right through to the end. The difference between human love and God’s love is that our love is limited and can be overpowered by sin, while God’s love remains constant regardless of what we may do. He knows that no human being on this Earth can achieve His standards of righteousness and thus He will never withdraw His love and grace for us. Will we choose to accept his love so that we will no longer have to be slaves to sin and its consequences? When we allow Christ to enter our lives we will be able to experience His love as He breaks us free from our sinful nature and faithfully provides for us according to His perfect will. He will perfect His love in our hearts so that it will overflow and bring hope and life to those around us.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,” -2 Timothy 3:3 (NIV)

It has been argued that revolutionaries are amongst the most loving people in the world. In some cases there does appear to be a hint of truth in that statement. So great is their love for their nation and countrymen that they will risk all that they have in the service of creating a better society for all to live in. However, because a revolutionary’s love is but mere human love, it can easily be hijacked by sin. In their zeal, a revolutionary is quick to find enemies and persecute them with ruthless brutality. Their love does not extend to those they have deemed deserving to be punished for their crimes, whether real or imagined. Thus in the past century so many innocent lives have been snuffed out by these revolutionaries who claim to love by taking justice to a revolting extreme in the name of weeding out so-called “villains”.

Justice is something that is desirable and good. God Himself is a God of justice and desires that His righteousness be upheld. Yet too often we get carried away by the cause of justice and allow ourselves to fall into sin. How often do we look down upon those guilty of heinous crimes with anger or scorn? How often do we relish the thought of them receiving the harshest of sentences? It seems that we quickly forget Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:22 that, “anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” All of us are deserving of punishment under God’s holy standards. None of us, despite all our efforts to live moral lives can ever match God’s standards and vindicate ourselves before Him. Yet because God is a God of love He wants to redeem us so that we may not face eternal judgement, and instead partake in the joy and hope which comes from being in a relationship with Him. Through Christ’s death the penalty for our sins has been paid in full and by His resurrection we are made new in His sight. What right then do we have to withhold love and forgiveness from others when Christ Himself has forgiven us? When we have allowed His Spirit to take control of our attitudes, His love will overflow from within us, bringing healing and hope to those who desperately need it.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.