Are we ready to be made whole ?

"And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." Matthew 15: 21-31

We may think for a moment whether we are grievously vexed with any devil. In the first instance, we are very confident that we are not. Let's evaluate ourselves to see whether we are vexed with devil.

We were taught to love each other and live in harmoney. Are we practicing it even at our own homes. Do we quarell with our spouse, do we quarell with our parents, do we quarell with our children ? Do we sometimes hate them ? If that's the case with in our house itself, then it may be the same outside also. We don't love our enemies eventhough the teaching was that. Even we create enemies for no reason. Sometimes our 'genuine' actions will result in a loss to our friends. Don't these means that we are also vexed with some form of devil ?

Do we have the strong binding with our spouses. The teaching was to love our spouse same as we love our own body. Is it the real practice ? It's written not to breakup the relation which God blessed through wedding. But when the storm of divorce passing through our neighbourhood, are we going to breath it to breakup the blessed relation ? If these are the cases, don't you think we may be vexed with some form of devil ?

God has created us in his own image. Are we looking the same as He created. Due to our own acts, it has changed a lot. We don't care to keep up that image. Is it the devil telling us to forget about the image created by God, and adapt our own ?

Eventhough we know 'truth will set us free', we may not care to tell the truth always. Means, we may be in some sort of bondage with devil.

If we analyse ourselves, we can figure out that we are grievously vexed with some sort of devil. If we request for mercy with faith to be out of this bondage with devil, Jesus promises and showed that we will be made whole from that hour. If we don't request for that mercy, then we may not be in whole, something major and important will be missing from us.

Fourth Week of Great Lent: Come out of the bondage with devil to be made whole.

Are we ready to arise and walk ?

"When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven..., Arise and Walk..” Mark 2:1-12

All of us know that paralysis is a pysical condition where there is no sensation to one or more of our body part. It may be cerebral palsy, brachial palsy, bell's palsy etc which can be cured only through strong medical treatment. We will be bed riden in these conditions sometimes as a burden to others.

Jesus 'healed' the paralysed man. Rather than telling his disease is healed, Jesus told that his sins are foregiven, so arise and walk. Wasn't this physically paralysed man symbolizes a mentally paralysed person in the present life?

How can one become mentally paralysed ? When we see a person who need our help, are we unable to extent a helping hand ? If yes, we may be affected by brachial palsy or paralysis of arm. When some one need our valuable advice and if we can't provide it or are providing it in such a way to create trouble for him, then we may be affected by cerebral palsy or paralysis of the brain. This type of palsy may also can occur when our brains won't stand against the evils of the society. Are we getting angry when some one requests for help ? Are our facial nerves become tight in these situations ? Then we may affected by Bell's palsy or paralysis of the face. Remember, as a paralysed, we may be a burden to others. If we are paralysed in these ways, the remedy is to go and hear the word of God and live accordingly. If we won't go, some one else who believe in the word of God will take us there, because we became a burden for them or they are fed up with our actions.

I think we are affected by most of the above type of palsys. When we can't practice what is expected of us as per the words of God, then those becomes sins. Don't we need a way out of the 'palsy due to our sins'. Are we ready to arise and walk ? Then we have to adhere to His words with faith by overcoming the toughest hindrances on our way. He will see our faith and forgive our sins. We can arise out of our sins and walk in a new life and won't be a burden to the needy anymore.

Third Week of Great Lent: Arise out of our sins and walk in a new life.

Are we ready to implore Him to be cleansed ?

"a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” [Luke 5: 12-16]

When we read the caption, the first thought comes to mind may be that why should I be cleansed anyway. We are sure that we don't have any problems at all, then what or why to be cleansed. Or why should be compared with a leper. Are we sure that we don't have leprosy of any kind ? I strongly doubt. We may be looking fair from outside, but what about our inside.

Are we pure in our mind: when we meet others; when we talk with others; when we see the needy; when we see the sick; when we see a stranger etc. If not, we may be affected by leprosy in our mind. All of us are happy if we can clean any dirt on our body which will be seen by others. But we don't care to clean the inside as we think it's not seen by anyone. But remember, God is seeing us inside out. We don't usually touch or even go near a leper due to the fear of the contagious disease. Are people around us fear to approach us. Do others think we are not the right person to contact. Do they fear our 'good' nature will put them in trouble. If we are not approachable or touchable by the needy, then  we are also affected by some sort of leprosy.

Don't we wish to be cleansed from this 'leprosy' ? If yes, implore Him and believe He can make us clean. No need for us to doubt whether He is willing to clean us. He said 'I am willing'. He will put out His hand and touch us and say 'be cleansed'. If leprosy can be cleansed in just a moment, can't we assume that we will be also cleansed from all our drawbacks in the same moment as we implore Him.


Second Week of Great Lent: Implore Him to be cleansed.

Are we ready to invite Him also in to our Lives ?

Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. (John:2 1-11)

Everyone may wish that our life should be like a feast. It should be full of happines. There should not be any sufferings. There should not be scarcity for anything. But in reality we are not fully happy; we are having many sufferings; we have scarcity of many things. Is it possible to overcome these  on our own ? Or with the help of the people whom we have invited or contacted to solve our issues ? I strongly doubt.

Along with many people invited to the wedding of Cana, Jesus also was invited. When ever there is a celebration in our life, we invite many people, sometimes the celebrities,  sometimes the political leaders etc. We wish to give a majestic look to the function. We wish others to say that the function was great as many dignitories were present. But did we invited Jesus also to the feast even though He don’t mind to attend the function as one among the invitees ?

Let’s take our life itself as a feast. Have we ever invited Him also into our lives ? If He is present in the feast of our lives, don’t you think He can convert the ‘water’ of our lives into sweet ‘wine’. Don’t you wish to convert your ‘water’ into sweet ‘wine’ ? Then why hesitate to invite Him also into our lives ?

It's not just a matter of inviting Him also into the feast of our lives. But we should "do what ever He tells us". Then we can make sure that He will bless our 'water of scarcities and sufferings' to be converted into 'wine of abundance and happiness'. Won't that is what we need ? I think yes ! If you also think the same, invite Him into your life and do what ever He tells you.

First Week of Great Lent: Invite Him into our lives.