kosarajuraj

Our culture is full of false interpretations of love. Day by day, true love is being buried under an avalanche of selfishness and confusion. If we continue to steadily feed upon a diet of confusion and distortion, we will lose sight of true love completely. As we view love through the world’s lens, soon we will also begin to believe that those who really love us, including God, will do what we want them to do. Many people view love as a warm affection or desire. There are times when love can produce warm affection and desire, but these can also be selfish feelings. When the feelings fade, those who view love this way move on to the next warm embrace. In contrast, Biblical love is selfless. True love is more about giving than receiving. True love is about sacrifice. True love casts aside pride and self-conceit. Galatians 6 tells us, as we have opportunity, to bear the burdens of others, especially to those who are of the household of faith. We can affirm, appreciate, a...

The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. – Nahum 1:7 Where do we turn in the day of trouble? That’s an important question to ask ourselves. The world gives us a lot of options doesn’t it? We have drugs and alcohol that we can turn to, but that has never done anything except create deeper issues. Sex and pornography are one of the biggest strongholds in this country, but then I’d have to ask if the guilt and shame that comes with either of those is worth the price we will pay? What about music? I love music. Sometimes the words of a particular song strike a chord with me, and I will turn to listening to that song to deepen whatever emotion I may be feeling at the time. Music is great, but after 3 or 4 minutes the song ends, and we are left with stirred emotions and nowhere else to turn, except for maybe the next song. Movies, friends, video games, social media, there are a lot of things this world offers but none of them ...

The truth is: We serve a generous God. He delights in giving us opportunities beyond our capabilities. He has promised to equip us, and remain with us through each bend in the road. Although we may not know what is around the corner, we can trust the One who called us. He is our comfort and courage, sustaining us through difficulty and rewarding us generously. While we understand that God has sovereign control over all things, it is important to remember that God is not the source of tragedy. The vast majority of human suffering is caused by sin, all too often the sin of other people. For instance, a mass murder is the fault of the murderer disobeying the moral law of God (Exodus 20:13; Romans 1:18-21). When we look to find meaning in such an event, we have to understand why this world is the way it is. The hardship of this world was originally caused by mankind’s sin (Romans 5:12), which is always a matter of choice (1 Corinthians 10:13). While God is perfectly capable of s...

"For He knoweth our frame...." - Psalm 102:14 Billy Graham once said, it is significant that our first astronauts, while being trained for their moon flights, were required to give twenty answers to the query, “Who are you?” Take the same test yourself. When you have made your list and run out of things to add, ask yourself if you have truly answered. Do you really know who you are? Scientists agree that our desperate search leads all humans to seek heroes and to imitate others, to “paste bits and pieces of other people on ourselves.” We make love as some actor would. We play golf in the style of Jack Nicklaus. Part of this process is natural, for we learn by imitating others. The tragedy is that the person we assemble is not genuine. “Who am I?” you cry as you roam the world looking for yourself. Consider this: there are three of you. There is the person you think you are. There is the person others think you are. There is the person God knows you are and can be thr...

Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.” Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? John 13:36-38 The propelling force behind Peter’s denial wasn’t his lack of faith. Otherwise he wouldn’t have made the claims he did. It was his overestimation of his faith. He believed he was ready to die for Jesus. But he wasn’t, and Jesus knew it. So Jesus said the unthinkable: you can’t follow me. But it wasn’t. Jesus knew exactly what He was doing because He knew the exact measure of Peter’s faith. Peter had initially followed Jesus. Peter had followed Him on the water. But he wasn’t ready to follow Jesus to the cross. Peter wasn’t ready to follow Jesus everywhere. Not at that moment. You’re not ready to follow Jesus everywhere either. Not at this moment. Peter walke...

Hindsight is always 20/20. Yet while we are in a particular situation, we tend to make things out to be what they aren’t and infer wrong meanings. We kick ourselves, thinking, If only I had known then what I know now. Like the word "fatigue" frequently shows up in the headlines, preceded by a host of adjectives. Congress suffers budget fatigue. Sports teams lose because of travel fatigue. Trains derail because of driver fatigue. Soldiers face battle fatigue. Trusts and Non-Charitables go unfunded because of donor fatigue. There was even a report recently about young people suffering Facebook fatigue. All these reports -- and more -- are accurate. We are a society of tired people in a tired world. What's more, simply by believing what we had seen, no matter our background, history, race, or education, we could restore our long-lost connection with the Kashmiri Pandits. I am all the more curious to know about the strong linkages that exist between Saraswat Bra...

God never promised that we would be exempt from affliction; rather, suffering is part of our lot in a fallen world. However, there is hope because, though He does not always deliver us from suffering, He promises to deliver and transform us through it if we rely on His resources instead of our own. In such times of suffering, we can know for sure that we are not alone. In the midst of our pain, God promises to never leave us or abandon us. Therefore, when we grieve, we do not grieve like the world does; we grieve with hope, knowing that God is often revealed most clearly in the midst of our trials. God will never despise us or hide his face from us. When we cry for help, He will hear and will enable us to endure. The certainty of His companionship in the midst of our afflictions allows us to view them as a means to a greater end. Our suffering is accomplishing something in us, forging within us the character of the One in whose image we are made. Because of Christ, eve...