Hidden (Krypto) Treasures

To get pearls, one must dive deep!

Walking and Witnessing

When we hear of the person Enoch in the Bible, often the thought that comes to mind is that Enoch walked with God and was taken by God (Genesis 5:22,24). Seldom do we hear that Enoch not only walked with God, but He also witnessed about the coming of the Lord (Jude 14). We ought to do the same as well. We ought to walk and witness.

Unfortunately, many of us walk with God but we do not witness of his imminent return; his second coming and then there are some who witness of the Lord but not walk with him. And some neither walk nor witness while others walk and witness. Walking and witnessing is not mutually exclusively. Without walking with God we really cannot effectively witness and we cannot witness without evidently walking with God. Let each of us take a stand to walk (with God) and witness (for God) and not just do one or the other. And what are we to be witnessing about? We are to be witnessing about the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Genesis 5:22,24 (KJV)
22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
24
And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

Jude 14 (KJV)
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied [witnessed] of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

The life of a Christian – Come and Go

Celso, a Colombian evangelist with the Voice of the Martyrs eloquently stated his purpose in life and posed a thought provoking question when he said “Jesus told me to go. He never said I would come back. Isn’t this the life of a Christian?” The life of a Christian can be essentially summed up in two words, ‘come’ and ‘go’.

Jesus Christ said, “COME unto me, and I will give you rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29). This means that when we COME into CHRIST, we COME out of the world. Only in the “coming” to Jesus Christ is Salvation, there is no other way.
Jesus Christ also said, “GO for me and teach and baptize” (Matthew 28:19-20). This means that when we GO for CHRIST, we GO into the world. In the “going” for Jesus Christ is Sanctification, being set apart for his cause, always ready to give an answer to every man that asks us for a reason of THE HOPE that is in us. (1 Peter 3:15; Colossians 1:27)

Point(s) to ponder:

  1. The model is Come into Christ, Go for Christ. The problem starts when people attempt to Go for Christ, without first coming to Him. Without the coming (into Christ) there is no going (out for Christ). One ought to first be Saved themselves, and then serve God to save others.
  2. The model is Come out of the world, Go into the world. This means that we need to go into the world but not be part of it. In other words, we are to be set apart (sanctified) for Christ.

The reason for creation

Genesis 1:26 records the discussion that ensued in the tribunal  council of the Godhead as God planned to create man. It is recorded as “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:” We are not a byproduct of some chance evolutionary process but the result of a conscious plan of an Almighty God. The word “us” and “our” in Genesis 1:26 indicates that the Blessed Trinity (God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and His Holy Spirit) participated in the creation of man. Creation is the result of the choice of God and not of chance (happenstance).  But did you ever take time to wonder as to the reason for our Creation? Colossians 1:16 which reads “For by him all things created, …, all things were created by him and FOR him:”, answers that question. We are created for Christ. He is the reason for our creation.

Point(s) to ponder:

  1. We are created after careful design and plan BY Christ Jesus, the agent of creation, and not just a product of chance. The God who planned our creation has also planned the course of our life as He declares through the mouth of his prophet, Jeremiah (which means God establishes); plans to prosper us and not to harm us; plans to give us a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11 – NIV).
  2. We are created FOR Christ Jesus. This means that while God’s plan is for our prosperity, hope and future, are we for His glory?
  3. Christ Jesus is not only the agent (BY Him) of our creation, but He is the reason (FOR Him) for our creation.

Colossians 1:16 (KJV)
16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

Give Life For

Colossians 2:13 calls out two characteristics of the work of Jesus Christ, first the Quickener or the one who makes alive a.k.a. the Life giver and second the Forgiver.
What is interesting to note is that in these two functions of the work of God, we are revealed that Jesus Christ is a giver; a LifeGIVER and ForGIVER.

God so loved the world that he GAVE his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish (i.e, is FORGIVEN) but have eternal life (i.e., is GIVEN LIFE).
We are forgiven because Jesus was given for us!

Jesus GAVE His LIFE FOR us; the question that remains then is Can we Give Our Life For Him?

Colossians 2:13 (KJV)
13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened [made alive] together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

Not fail nor forsake until …

1 Chronicles 28:20 records the charge that king David tell his son Solomon. He counsels his son to be strong and of good courage and to build (do) the temple of God according to the pattern God had written (1 Chronicles 28:19). He tells his son not to be afraid or to lose courage because he avers that God will be with Solomon and that God will not fail nor forsake Solomon until the work of God in building His temple is finished.

Our commission is to reconcile man to God so that their minds are renewed to not conform to the patterns of this world but to the pattern of Jesus Christ, God’s son. We are commissioned to build the temple of God i.e., reconcile man to God so that their bodies (which is the temple of the Living God) are presented as living sacrifices. Unfortunately, many times we are timid and fearful when it comes to acting on this commission. We can however take heart from the words of a king who said that God will not fail nor forsake until the work of building His temple (the people who come to his saving grace) is finished. And more importantly, we can take heart from the words of THE KING of kings, Jesus Christ, who said, “I will never leave (fail) you nor forsake you and lo I am with you even unto the ends of the world” (Hebrews 13:5-6; Matthew 28:20)

1 Chronicles 28:20 (KJV)
20 And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.

Philippians 1:6 (KJV)
6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Showing – Knowing God

It is nine years since Sangeetha and I have been married
and as I pondered on times past,
a roller coaster deluged my mind of emotions varied
and memories that eternally last.

I realized how she has always been a good friend,
a sacrificial, caring and loving wife
and an excellent mother with whom I intend
to spend my remaining life.

Now as we go from this year to next,
I pray that we both together
can vow as per the Holy text
To always love one another

And that we may both grow
loving one another; for in doing so
we demonstrate (show) that we know
Jesus Christ, from whom rivers of living water flow.

For Jesus is Love personified
and the only God bonafide
And everyone that loves is born of God from above
and knows God for God is love.

1 John 4:7-8 (KJV)
7
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

Eternal life – defined

In the movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the storyline is built around the pursuit of what is referred to as the Holy Grail, the chalice from the last supper of Christ and supposedly anyone who drinks of the cup shall live eternally. A true adventurer kind of entertainment, no doubt. It is important for us to recognize that it is not the chalice of Christ, but Christ the source of living water and all who drink of him are the ones who attain eternal life.

In fact, Jesus explicitly defines the meaning of eternal life.  He defines eternal life as follows. “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3). 1 John 5:20 reads “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

Point(s) to ponder:
Do you have eternal life? a.k.a., do you know Jesus Christ and the only true God who sent him?

As the deer panteth

Psalm 42 begins with the words, “As the deer panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God“. This Sunday at Church, as we sang the familiar song “As the deer panteth for the waters, so my soul longeth after thee, you alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship thee”, I wondered as to the reasons as to why a deer would pant.

One of the definitions in the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary for the word pant is to long eagerly or yearn. It is often in the context of a feeling that results from some form of physical exertion, usually running. This made me realize that a deer would pant for water when it runs (just as other animals and humans do), either from a predator or due to a need for satisfaction of its thirst.

With this realization, I learn from the scripture that our souls must pant after God as well. This means that we must also be running in order to pant. We must first run from evil, the devil who is like a predatory roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8) and we must run to God as we long to be satisfied. There is no other one, other than Jesus who can satisfy. He said come unto me all ye that are weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28). In other words, He was expressing that in Him and only in Him is total satisfaction and until we are satisfied, we must be panting after Him, the source of Living Water (John 4:10-15).

Point(s) to ponder:
Are you/Am I panting after God, the living God?

Psalm 42:1-2 (KJV)
1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
2
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

My Personal Lord

When our beloved Reuben (4 year old) is taught to memorize Bible verses, he often questions us (Sangeetha and me) on the meaning of certain words, but recently instead of asking for the meaning of a word, he asked for clarification. We were teaching him Psalm 34 and verse 11 reads “Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.” Reuben paused and questioned, is it the Lord or is it my Lord? I did not pay that much attention to it at that moment, but answered that it could be “the” Lord or “my” Lord. Then when meditating from the book of Philippians, I noticed that the apostle Paul, refers to Jesus Christ as “my” Lord (Philippians 3:8). This lead to the revelation of the hidden treasure – Paul personalizes Jesus as His own. Reuben, in a sense was asking for the same and we ought to as well. Jesus is the Lord over all, and many believe in him being the Lord, but what matters truly is if one can answer the question, “Is Jesus ‘my’ Lord or not?”  We ought to make Jesus our personal Lord which in other words mean that we must be willing to submit to His personal Lordship.

Now with this revelation, I went and re-read Psalm 34 and was thrilled to learn on what it assures when I substituted the word, “the” with the word “my”. You will understand what I mean when you read below.

1 I will bless my the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2
My soul shall make her boast in my the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
3
O magnify my the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.
4
I sought my the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
5
They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
6
This poor man cried, and my the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
7
The angel of my the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
8
O taste and see that my the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
9
O fear my the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.
10
The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek my the LORD shall not want any good thing.
11
Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of my the LORD.
12
What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?
13
Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
14
Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
15
The eyes of my the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.
16
The face of my the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17
The righteous cry, and my the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
18
My The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
19
Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but my the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
20
He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.
21
Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.
22
My The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.

Has God stopped working?

Sometimes it feels like God is not as real as He used to be in times past. Miracles are written off as coincidences and healing as the result of man’s medical accomplishments.

The Gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John records and tells us what Jesus began to do and teach with his physical body. In fact Luke records in Acts 1:1-2 reads, “The former treatise have I made O The-oph-i-lus, of ALL that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen. The book of Acts (of the apostles) records what Jesus continued to do and teach with his Spiritual body, the Church.

We who believe in the Name of Jesus, who love Him (Theophilus means a lover of God) are sent out (an apostle means being sent out) as lambs among wolves (a world that does not necessarily accept the Lordship of Jesus Christ). Just as the apostles in the time of Jesus on earth were empowered, commanded and chosen, God has empowered us by breathing into us His Holy Spirit (John 20:22), commissioned us (Matthew 28:19) and chosen us (John 15:19) to be his witnesses. This implies that the account that began in the book of Acts is not over yet. We are the empowered; we are the commanded; we are the chosen; we are His apostles; and we are His church; His Spiritual body.  The question then remains, “Is the work of God (Jesus) continuing through us?” Just as Jesus began to do and teach the work and will of God, are we doing and teaching the same? In other words, can it still be said, that Jesus continues to do and teach (with us his Spiritual body) or are we living in such a manner, where the world looks at us (His apostles) and asks “Has God stopped working?”

Acts 1:1-2 (KJV)
1
The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
2
Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

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