Nurturing to the Image of Christ

It was 29 AD in Jerusalem city, 120 "believers gathered together in one place. Suddenly there was a noise from the sky which sounded like a strong wind blowing, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire which spread out and touched each person there. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:verses 1-4). These were the blessed few who were anointed with the Holy Spirit and who had witnessed the resurrection of Jesus few days earlier. They praised and worshiped God, healed the sick, sold their property and possessions and distributed the money among all. This 120 consisted of former fishermen, tax collectors and prostitutes among others. There were no discrimination, Jews, Gentiles, Masters, Slaves, Rich, Poor, Women... all were equal in Christ. The pagans around them were amazed by this extra-ordinary group that came together. What the world saw as misfits were the first true Christians! Christ had entrusted this few with the task of spreading his ministry and God used them. These believers laid the foundation stone for Christianity by following what Jesus taught and they loved Jesus with all their heart. Their life mirrored the Image of Christ.

Two thousand years later the 120 has now become 2 billion strong, but as Christians we need to ask ourselves if we are living like the first 120 or have we completely lost the Image of Christ? A deep probe into our souls will reveal that we have lost it by being selfish and loving the pleasures in this mortal life. Jesus teaches us to work towards an eternal life so that we can reap our riches in heaven. But an eternal life asks for a spiritual life and a spiritual life needs spiritual nourishment. As food is to nourish our body, reading the Bible is essential for the nourishment of our soul. To reflect the image of Christ we have to reflect his attributes, therefore it’s crucial to learn the life of Christ.

Some Christians seem to be concerned with only evangelism and all they want to do is preach the gospel to souls. Other Christians only seem concerned with changing society and making the world a just and fair place. But Jesus wasn't one sided in those ways. Jesus preached and healed. He helped the sick and the poor. In helping others, we act the way Jesus would. We learn by experience that service gives us more life satisfaction than selfishness does. Being involved in the work of God is the most satisfying feeling of all, for it will be of eternal value.

Many people throughout history have been moved by the life of Jesus Christ, moved by his Humility, Compassion, Grace, Holiness and his Divine Authority. Jesus was a complete man, a role model for Humankind. He is not just an example of how we ought to live our life – he is also an example of what salvation means. What astonishes everyone is his Humility and Meekness. The Son of God being born in a manger, the King who rode a donkey and the Teacher who washed his disciple’s feet, it’s a life that taught us that the greatest must become the least.

God created man in his own image, but Adam lost his Grace when he sinned against God. Christ gave us the possibility to reacquire that lost Grace. Christianity as a religion teaches us that Grace is vital as we cannot be good no matter how much we try. With Grace come Love, Forgiveness, Righteousness, Faith and Obedience. A single capsule to become a complete person.

“If you say you have everything, but if you don't have God's Grace

Then you have nothing.

If you say you have nothing, but if you have God's Grace

Then you have everything.”

The next step is to transform our lives into new beings. But we ourselves are not capable of changing our lives but God gives us the power to change it. Salvation comes from Christ. To transform ourselves into the image of Christ we need to have the Holy Spirit living in us. It is the Holy Spirit that gives us the power to change our behavior. It will be arrogance to think that we can change ourselves. This transformation into a new being will kindle within us a Love for God. It is then that God works in us as we submit to him. God does not force us to Love him, Love has to be willingly given. It’s a choice we humans are left with to make.

Everyone will agree that Jesus Love for us is the most beautiful thing to happen to this world. Once a small girl asked her Sunday school teacher, "How much does Jesus love me?" The teacher told her to stretch out her hands to both sides, "This is how much he loves you". Take a look at Christ on the Cross with his arms stretched out wide, and the enormity of his Love for you and me. Even if you were the only single soul to ever live on the earth, Jesus would have still come to earth and died for you on the cross. Yes, he would come back for that one lost sheep. How can we even comprehend the magnitude of such a Love? How heavenly it would be, if we humans could emulate a fraction of his love to our fellow human beings and if only a small percentage of the 2 billion Christians could bring out that Love, the world would be a different place to live in.

Mother Teresa was one such person who was successful in practicing this Love. She once said, "We can't do great things in life.... We can only do little things with great love". What a difference a small action of Love can make! Christianity is all about this trickling drops of love and kindness to the people around us. It’s these drops that make an ocean of Love. To Love you have to learn to give. What better way for Christ to show his love, than giving his Life for us on the Cross. Every cross is made of two parts, the horizontal part represents the love between God and mankind and the vertical part represents the love between our brethren. It makes much sense why Jesus gave us the new commandment to Love one another. As I have loved you (John 13: verse 34) because no cross is complete without both the parts. We learn more about love when we love people who are hard to love; we learn more about forgiveness when people sin against us. Our character is shaped more like Jesus not so much in good times, but in difficult times. The Love teaches us to be grateful to God. If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you", that would suffice.

The 2004 Hollywood movie, The Passion of the Christ directed by Mel Gibson which depicted the final moments of Jesus before his crucifixion, was an eye-opener to many Christians. Made one wonder how did he undergo so much sufferings for me? How did he endure all these sufferings so silently? One thing Jesus taught us silently on that fateful day was that, without suffering there is no cross and without cross there is no Crown. Let it be our prayer to God to give us lot of crosses to bear, but to strengthen our shoulders so that we can carry all of them. God often uses suffering to drive us deeper into our faith. Christian life is not exactly a bed of roses; sufferings are part and parcel of human life. Christ's message gives us the courage not to falter as we walk the path of life and we learn to walk with the Lord, one day at a time. When God leads you to the edge of the cliff, Trust him fully. Only one of the two things will happen; either he will catch you when you fall or he will teach you how to fly. We can be confident, even in our trials, that God has something wonderful planned for us. Our trials are only temporary, but the glory will last forever!

It is crucial to understand the value of our life. Our life is equal to the life of Jesus Christ because he sacrificed his life so that ours can be saved. We need to value the eternal life that Jesus offers us—and we need to act like it is more valuable than the temporary rewards of this mortal life. We should love God more than we love money, physical pleasures, or the success that this world offers. Those things are temporary, so we need to keep our eyes on the goal of eternal life, with eternal pleasures and eternal significance. We have a choice. If we want a meaningful life, a satisfying life, an enjoyable life, then we need to look to Jesus as our model, and as the power that can change our life.

Follow in the path of Jesus, becoming beacons of Love, Compassion, Obedience, Faith and Hope to others around you. This beautiful transformation into Genuine Christians will send ripples of everlasting joy to our inner and outer being as we become one with Christ.

“All of us, then, reflect the glory of the Lord with uncovered faces; and that same glory, coming from the Lord, who is the Spirit, transforms us into his likeness in an even greater degree of glory” (2 Corinthians 3: verse 18).

Paul says here that once we have become Genuine Christians we reflect the glory of Jesus as though reflected from a mirror. And day by day we are in the process of being changed, becoming more and more like him, i.e., the Image of Christ.

- written for 15th Gulf Marthoma Youth Conference 2009

Product Review: Panasonic KX-TG7331BX

Panasonic KX-TG7331BX is a sleek and sophisticated digital cordless phone, probably one of the best of its kind in the market. It comes in two colors: black and silver. It has a bigger brother, the Panasonic KX-TG7341BX which has an answering machine but with the same features. Both these models come with a hands-free Speakerphone on both the Handset and the Base Unit. You can expand your phone system by registering upto a maximum of 6 KX-TGA731BX handsets to the base unit (which is optional). What I like about this unit is that it lets you do an intercom between the base unit to the desired handset and between handsets, which is ideal for a big home.

The base unit is well-designed and looks much like a mother-ship awaiting its capsule to lock onto it. Inspite being a charging point for the handset, the base unit comes with a num-pad and lets you call outside without you even reaching for your handset. In case if you have a bigger home and you want to expand the range of your base unit, you are advised to buy a DECT repeater (KX-A272) unit and register it to the base unit. One might find it very odd that this phone plays only 5 polyphonic ringer melodies, all of which were not upto my liking. It would have been nice if they had incorporated an option to add your own ringer tones to the phone. The base unit can also be wall-mounted, if you are planning to put it in a hallway.

The handset with it LCD screen and lit-buttons make it look more like an elongated mobile phone of the 90's. Even though the LCD screen may throw you few years back, its smooth design, glossy curves and light weight does make you want to hold on to it even after a tense phone call. It can store upto 100 contact details in its phone book. Other features include Call transfering, Conferencing, Intercom apart from the basic call features.

The box includes a AC adaptor for the base unit, a telephone line cord and 2 rechargeable batteries for the handset. This unit is ideal to use in an office PBX-system as it lets you to include a pause when you make outside or long distance calls. You can also enable the Call Privacy feature so that other users do not join your conversation. Most of all, for guys like me who have a habit of misplacing their handset, the base unit is equipped with a button (Intercom button) to locate the handset and the unit is also equipped with an alarm feature to wake me up in the morning if the numerous other alarms fail to do so.

My Tooth Fairy

I am sharing my write-up which happened to me in January of 2005. It took me like ever to relocate this old write-up:

How I met my Tooth Fairy!

Visiting the Dentist is a nightmare for everyone and I am no exception. Even an apple a day won't keep these guys away.

Today morning I was left with no other option but to visit my dentist. At around 10am I went to the dental clinic which is near to my house and runned by a married couple in their early 40's. All along the way to the clinic I was grumbling to myself, how much awkward and agonisingly painful will it be today? As usual I left my sandals at the door and entered the clinic.

I was startled to find a beautiful young lady in the doctor's room. I was so stunned that the moment I saw her my mouth automatically went ajar and she had the loveliest of all smiles on her face when she saw the expression on my face. Then it struck me that she was my dentist today and the whole clinic was empty except for the both of us. I felt as though God has brought me to CANDY LAND where there were no ANTS!! I never did believe in fairy's, but now I really do believe in tooth fairy's!!

She came forward and asked me for my OP Card, I could see that she was stammering with her words. She asked what my problem was. Strangely, I was also struggling with my words. Surely there was some chemistry boiling........ I was really hoping for the best. Moments later I was lying on my back on the chair and she was staring into my mouth. She took a step back and intellectually told me that I needed a filling in my tooth, as if I didn't know. Truly, I needed a filling in my heart more than my tooth. Then she confessed that she was new to this clinic and that I will have to come later in the evening for the filling as she didn't know where the temporary filling base was kept in the clinic.

I knew it was either now or never. I lied to her that there was no possibility that I would be able to come this evening as I have lot of work today and won't be able to leave work early. She smiled as though she understood what I REALLY meant! She took her time in finding the filler base and minutes later she was fixing my tooth. Her hands were all over my face. Who needs anesthesia when she is around? She did the filling for free, like she wanted me to come back again. I started shooting some doubt 's about my tooth as if I was really curious. Finally I asked her when I was supposed to come back, to which she replied "whenever you feel the ache". We smiled at each other. I thanked her and exited.

If only she knew that the real ache is in my heart, I am already feeling an aching feeling on all my tooth. I am eating my apples and praying for the next ache :))

OWWW! I feel it already, I think I need to visit my tooth fairy soon, can't wait.

2012: The End

Lately, its spreading across the globe like wild fire that 21st December 2012 is going to be the dooms day for whole of mankind. I am not sure as to how true this is, but lot of uncertainity does loom around the year 2012. Why 21st December 2012? Because the Mayan Calander ends on that day. The Mayan Civilization lived from 2000BC to 250AD and their calendar was based on the Sun. According to them the Sun will be hidden by the dark rift of our galaxy (The Milky Way) on this fateful day as the Earth, Sun and Galactic equator align. The Mayan's believed this could result in unknown consequences, maybe even spiritual transformation of mankind into new beings. How the Mayans understood all this is beyond my comprehension, but the earth without the sun for even a single day can be a catastrophe.

If that is not bad enough for 2012, there are astronomers who claim that a large planet called Nibiru may collide with Earth in the year 2012. Also the Earth's magnetic field has been weakening in the recent years, which has convinced some scientists that there is a likelihood for geomagnetic reversal to take place during the next 3 years. If the magnetic pole reversal takes place, all electronic communications will stop since they all use EM waves and the human race could be condemned back to the Stone age. The worse that is said to occur during this time are solar flares from the sun that could hit earth which has a destruction force of 100 billion atomic bombs, making one wonder if even bacteria would be able to survive on what is left of Earth.

Even though no human wants the world to end, but deep within everyone realizes that it is inevitable. The world is currently changing at a rapid pace, which makes one wonder if its the last raging fire before its ultimate demise. Every religion says about the end of days and the day of judgement. Jesus Christ said in the book of Matthew that "Soon after the trouble of those days, the sun will grow dark, the moon will no longer shine, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers in space will be driven from their courses. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky;" (Matthew 24:29-30). How true!! and how agonising it is to realize that this is all happening during our lifetime.

In November of 2009 Hollywood is releasing a movie titled "2012", which will bring out the ghastly horrors that will happen during the final moments of our planet. No hollywood special effects can depict the actual horrors that the world is going to see to a magnitude as the Bible says "For the trouble at that time will be far more terrible than any there has ever been, from the beginning of the world to this very day." (Matthew 24:21).

The Bible also says, "No one knows, however, when that day and hour will come - neither the angels in heaven nor the Son; the Father alone knows." (Matthew 24:36), so I think 21st December 2012 being the end of days is only a reasoning from mere human minds. But what we can draw from all these is that, its a whistleblower to the what is yet to come. The Judgement Day and to be prepared for it. It is here, very near than we think and we are running out of time!