“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (NIV) Colossians 3:13

Everybody under the sun has been hurt at different degrees and different times before. It may be a betrayal from spouse, back biting from people you trusted, false accusations, unfair treatment at work place or at home or a problem caused from church members. It takes more effort and a longer time to forgive if the offence against us is so huge. But sometimes we simply are not ready or don’t want to forgive others who cause us pain. When we harbour grudges or problems, resentment builds in our hearts. We nurse offences; we remain prisoner to our pain and the offender, harm our brain and endanger the whole body.

When someone hurts us, it’s natural and normal to feel pain. God created our brains to help us survive when we feel threatened and offended. Unforgiveness stimulates the sympathetic nervous system also called the fight-flight-freeze response in our emotional centers in the brain. When this system is activated, among other things, our attention gets highly focused on survival, our digestive system stops, our pupils dilate, our saliva glands slow down, our blood pressure and heart rate increases, and our muscles are readied for action. Our body prepares itself to fight, flee or freeze.

This process can happen whether or not we are in real danger or whether or not someone really hurts us or we simply perceive that they did. Unforgiveness can keep our bodies and brains in this state of high alertness which leads to these unhealthy results:

Rumination: We nurse and rehearse the hurt, which reinforces our negative emotions and burns the event and pain even deeper.

Diminished memory: When we remain stressed for long periods of time (when we refuse to forgive), stress actually causes our brain to become smaller, especially our memory center.

Amplified negative emotions: Prolonged stress also amplifies our sensitivity making us even more susceptible to further hurt and pain.

Mostly, it feels good to see bad things happen to those who offend us. It’s the opposite of praying for your enemies, which Jesus commanded us to do. So, unforgiveness not only keeps us chained to our offender but it profoundly affects our bodies and brains physically. Spiritually, God will not forgive us our sins if we are not ready to forgive others.

Why keep all this negative and dangerous effects to yourself when you can forgive and enjoy great emotions spiritually and physically. Forgive and be free. Amen!

Going the extra mile || More

“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (NIV) Romans 12:17-18

Satan always tries to blind the heart of men to believe that people should be aggressive and “hard” to succeed and achieve their purpose. Many people are not ready to help those in need because of the offense of others. Before one can commit an extra mile, you need to forgive people who offend and not to execute vengeance on innocent people.

The religion of Christianity demands a second mile in all our endeavours. There should be performance beyond the call of normal duty by doing more than one’s routine duty. If you treat people the same way they treat you, where lies your Christianity? Those in the world are better in that “you do me I do you mentality”. God’s people must go beyond the minimum requirements.

If Christians should accept and practice the principle of second mile, we can bring out the best in others because people will win the trust of Christians. Forgiving people and providing them another opportunity will provide others the chance to remedy their shortcomings.

Going the second mile makes the home life better and lightens life’s burdens. There will be peace among the husband, wife and children. There will be tranquility and increased productivity at work if we can give people the chance and go an extra mile with them.

Don’t retaliate by getting down to the level of offenders. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Rm. 12:21). Legally, everyone has rights and that insisting on yours always as Christian means seeking personal interest. Go an extra mile without complaining.

Imagine if the whole church is going an extra mile in forgiveness, worship, evangelism etc., the world would see the true nature of Christianity. Let us do more than is expected of us today. Forgive others when they are expecting revenge from you and show love. Demonstrate love and care to those who do not deserve it in your estimation. Let us change the world by surprising them with an extra mile of Christian love. Amen!

The problem of pleasure – part 5 || More

“Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labours. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all meaningless – like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere” (NLT) Ecclesiastes 2:9-11

Review: The problem of pleasure - part 1; The problem of pleasure - part 2; The problem of pleasure - part 3 ; The problem of pleasure – part 4

Armed with these three godly principles on pleasure, I would wrap up with these last two conclusions.

Conclusion # 3: The closer you draw to pure pleasures, the closer you will draw to the heart of God. The closer you draw to impure pleasures, the further you move from the heart of God.

David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). Probably, no body loved God in the nation of Israel than David. And indeed God loved him too, choosing him as the future king. However, after fulfilling his impure pleasure with Bathsheba, David felt shattered in his bone. He could feel God had abandoned him (Read Psalm 51). David, the giant slayer, a feat which was unprecedented in the history of Israel, was chased away from the palace by his own son, Absalom (2 Samuel 15:14-16). “Listen! The LORD’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is His ears too deaf to hear you call. It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, He has turned away and will not listen anymore (Isaiah 59:1-2, NLT).

Conclusion # 4: The greatest pleasure of all is to find beauty (truth) and integrity (spirit) in worship.

The truest, purest and greatest form of pleasure is worship to God. God is an All Sufficient Being but if there is one thing He can't do for Himself then it is worship. What is worship? William Temple provides us with an indepth explanation:

Worship is the submission of our nature to God.

It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness,

Nourishment of mind by His truth,

Purifying of imagination by His beauty,

Opening of the heart to His love,

And submission of will to His purpose.

And all this gathered up in adoration is the greatest of human expression of which we are capable.

Yes, we are capable of fulfilling this greatest form of pleasure and it is only when we have reached this height that we can realise the meaningfulness of life.

THE END

The problem of pleasure – part 4 || More

“Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labours. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all meaningless – like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere” (NLT) Ecclesiastes 2:9-11

Review: The problem of pleasure - part 1; The problem of pleasure - part 2; The problem of pleasure - part 3

Armed with these three godly principles on pleasure, I would wrap up with these four conclusions: two for day and the other two the following day.

Conclusion # 1: All pleasure must be bought at the price of pain.

The difference between true pleasure and false pleasure is this: For true pleasure you pay the price before you enjoy it. For false pleasure you pay the price after you enjoy it

Just think about this for a moment. Supposing a young pretty lady who comes from a not so well to do family, succumbs to the overtures of men who want to seek carnal knowledge of her. If she gives in to their demands, she will be showered with all kinds of material things. Momentarily, she will live in the fool’s paradise of happiness. But very soon, she will start paying the monstrous price for prostituting her body – venereal diseases, guilt, childlessness, and a host of others. The worst thing is if she doesn't repent, she perishes (1 Corinthians 6:9).

On the flip, if the lady decides to maintain her integrity and trust in the Lord, she will need to endure the hardship just for a moment and very soon she will enjoy the fruit of godliness (1 Timothy 4:8).

Conclusion # 2: “Meaninglessness does not come from being weary of pain; meaninglessness comes from being weary of pleasure” (G.K. Chesterton)

God can use pain to achieve His purpose in our lives. However, indulging in pleasurable living, without recourse to the standards of God can ruin it all. Nobody is as fed-up in life as someone who has exhausted pleasure. Some of the loneliest people in the world are some of the people who have over indulged in pleasure and have been emotionally and physically driven to the point of meaninglessness.

Pleasure for the mere sake of pleasure will leave you empty. It has to have a God-driven purpose than just mere enjoyment (1 Corinthians 10:31).

God’s forgiving nature is overwhelming || More