Myth and Faith - 13

Myth: My identity is in my birth, my geneology, my genre, my caste, my family status, my position and the riches I earn in this world.

Faith: True identity is that every human being is a child of God. Once it is claimed alone the identity of the position and status and riches we earn in this world will be meaningful.

It's a call from the Lord that every human being should retrieve to their true identity that he/she is a child of God. God created human beings in His own image (Genesis 1: 26) This image refers not exactly to the physical structure, but to spirit and the intellect. God gave his nature to man. But first man Adam sinned against God, due to which sin entered and alienated man from God. It is said about Adam that Adam is the son of God in Luke 3.38. Since man lost all the glory of being the son of God, God wants to give the lost glory to us through his only begotten son Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever believes in Lord Jesus will become Children of God (John 1:12-13).

What this identity gives us?

Now let us see what this identity gives us. If you try to understand the word ‘identity’, the thing that immediately comes to our mind is Identitiy card which we will carry with us always. There are two types of identity cards we all have. One is our personal Identity cards issued by the government, like aadhar card, PAN card, Passport etc, which are a proof of our nationality or citizenship, when we are born and who are our parents too. It basically shows to which place and country we belong. So with the country we belong comes our privileges too... If you are US citizen, you have free access to live in any part of the dream country. If you are an Indian citizen and have US citizenship too, then you have free access in to and out of United States of America, which many people do not have. Like wise once we are born again, we will become the children of GOD and our citizen ship is in Heaven with the Lord (Philippians 3:20,21). We will have free access to God through Jesus Christ. We have the word of God which is full of promises and help us to learn our walk with God in this world. We can ask God what we want and He we will give them(I John 5:14). And above all we will have the presence of God through Holyspirit dwelling in us, who will be with us and guide us in all things.

Second type of Identity cards we will have is professional, They show which organisation we work at and what is our designation/role. With designations comes the responsibilities. When we accept the Lord as our personal saviour, we join in the multitude of "People of God" who are the "Holy Nation" and God gives us the following designations, "The Choosen Generation and Royal Priests" according to I Peter 2:9. As with designations will come the responsibilitites, so we should think of what is expected from us.

What is expected from us as we are given identity as People of God through Chist Jesus?

If we try to understand these roles, it clearly shows God's love and plan for us. We are choosen generation in christ and Royal priests. The same verse I peter 2:9 says, firstly, we are a generation choosen to declare the praises of Him who called us from the darkness to light. So we have obligation to proclaim the name of the Lord to the world both through word and deed. 

Secondly it says we are royal priest hood. If we observe the old testament, there two different roles, kings and priests. It is the duty of kings to protect the people of the kingdom from all sorts of enemies, external as well as internal. It is the duty of the priests to offer sacrifices on behalf of people. God didn't want these two roles to be performed by a single person. Infact King Saul was condemned for doing so. This is so because the king protects by means of sword. But in the new covenant, our Lord through whose blood we are saved is a high priest, who carried His own blood to the Holy of Holies for the redemption of all our sins (Hebrews 4:14-16), and is going to return as a king (Revelation 17:14) who will reign forever with sword that comes out from His mouth (Revelation 1:16, 11:15) which is His word. Since we are given the Royal priesthood, we should have this burden for the perishing souls and pray and lead them to the Lord, as a priest. And we should pray for the Church, that means fellow believers/Christians that the Lord protect them from the attack of the enemy.

Self examination

1. Did you re-establish/restore your identity as child of God by accepting Jesus Christ as your personal saviour? When will you accept?

2. Are you proclaiming the glory of God in your life through your words and deeds? In what ways?

3. Do you have burden in your heart for the perishing souls and the Church? Are you Praying and working for these obligations imposed by God?

 

Myth and Faith - 11

 Myth: Life is a normal phenomenon, only being rich and having a good problem-free life is the gift of God.  If I don't have such a life, then God did not do anything for me, I do not need to thank him or acknowledge him in my life.

Faith: Yes life is a normal phenomenon, we all work or do something or the other day long, sleep at night, get up refreshed after a good sleep, and the cycle continues until we have breath in our nostrils. Even if we don't acknowledge God, we can live for so long, as we see many people nowadays, unlike the olden days. But it is surely important to know and acknowledge God our creator when we still have breath in our nostrils. 

Let us see why is it so. we are all human beings, and all of us are born with equal faculties, except for people who are physically and mentally challenged. All of us may not have equal privileges, or perfect mindset, and desired resources to work with, due to which there maybe a difference in what we achieve or to what level we may reach by the time we finish our life. It suggests had we had the similar situations and privileges, we are also capable of doing the same. It gives room to the thought that no human being is premier to other, but what matters at the end is where and how one started the life and what are the facilities one has got. There will be few people who have exceptional capabilities, though they start very low they reach to great heights, we call them achievers. If we examine the life's of such people, it is the persistency and diligence they have shown that helped them to reach the position where they are. Maybe we are not having those!, so literally there is no chance to think God did not help me. 

But end of the day we all must agree no one is permanent here and we all should go though the same thing DEATH, though we lead a remarkable life or a unnoticeable life, rich or poor, healthy or suffering, beautiful or ugly, we all will die. When all are reaching same fate, that means we all are equals or no one is supreme.

Then if no human being is supreme, there must be a supreme being who is in control, and that is God, as understood from human point of view. Each race on the face of the earth revers their own Gods/Goddesses. Some say there is only one God, we are worshipping Him in many forms.

But if really if there is a God who really controls all these, this entire universe, with billions of people and a billion issues of each of these billions of people, then how great must be the wisdom and capability of God, which we are taking lightly and ignoring, just because we are overwhelmed with our own life matters!! It is unimaginable... and it is surely unimaginable foolishness to ignore God...what if he really is in control...and you are ignoring just because you did'nt get everything you wished for in your life??