so you thought you know love?

...... and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient,
love is kind.
It does not envy,
It does not boast,
It is not proud.
It is not rude,
It is not self-seeking,
It is not easily angered,
It keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never ends.
1 corinthins 13, Holy Bible

కొండలను పెకిలింపగల పరిపూర్ణ విశ్వాసము గలవాడనైనను, ప్రేమ లేని వాడనైతే నేను వ్యర్ధుడను.బీదలపోషణకొరకు నా అస్తి అంతయు ఇచ్చినను, కాల్చబడుటకు నా శరీరము అప్పగించినను, ప్రేమ లేనివాడనైతే నాకు ప్రయోజనమేమియు లేదు.
ప్రేమ దీర్ఘ కాలము సహించును,
దయ చూపించును.
ప్రేమ మత్సరపడదు
ప్రేమ డంబముగా ప్రవర్తించదు.
అది ఉప్పొంగదు.
అమర్యాదగా నడువదు.
స్వప్రయోజనము విచారించుకొనదు
త్వరగా కోపపడదు
అపకారము మనసులో ఉంచుకొనదు
దుర్నీతి విషయమై సంతోషపడక సత్యమునందు సంతోషించును.
అన్నిటిని తాళుకొనును. అన్నిటిని నమ్మును. అన్నిటిని నిరీక్షించును. అన్నిటిని ఓర్చును.
ప్రేమ శాశ్వతకాలముండును.

what you see, is what you get!

He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And BY HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED! Isaiah 53:5




మన అతిక్రమ క్రియలను బట్టి అతడు గాయపరచబడెను.మన దోషములను బట్టినలుగగొట్టబడెను.మన సమాదానర్ధమైన శిక్ష అతని మీద పడెను.అతడు పొందిన దెబ్బలచేత మనకు స్వస్థత కలుగుచున్నది.
యెషయా 53:5


Are you a serious Christian Joshua?asked Anil. He was running a label called Emma's dresses from USA, & I was the chief designer based in India. When he asked me this question we were travelling in his car trying to source out some fabrics in Abids. I said "I didn't get it". He said "I mean are you a regular church goer or something?" I said "yes". He said "I don't understand this. The physical manifestation of His love or divinity, on the cross, looks absolutely meaningless." similarly, my friend chakri, one night, after a long discussion about my faith, stretching his hands mockingly, said" He died like this" . I did not wanted to offend my friend by arguing. & I did not know how to show him what I'm seeing on the cross. I kept thinking.


In my childhood I used to think, my dad (who used to work as an agricultural officer in tribal areas ) owns all the trees in the forest. where ever we used to travel in his Jeep, I would ask him. "dad, we own all these trees. don't we? "& just to make me happy, he would say "yes, son." That's what I thought of my dad. BIG, TALL dad who can beat up anybody& who owns all the trees in the forest. But as I grew up I've realized being dad is more than beating up people or owning all the trees in the forest. it's about the love he showed towards me& the way he inspired me to live life with values. Similarly, most of us have these fancies about God. That he should be BIG, STRONG, TALL, somebody who can beat up anybody black & blue. Like a Telugu film hero. I'm not surprised. Even I would want my hero to flex his muscle, kill the villain(evil), save the heroin & run around the trees with her singing songs & romancing. I remember my favourite film in my adolescence, "Gulabi". The story goes something like this. Hero's best friend kidnaps the heroin & sells her to a brothel house. & the villain, after torturing her in various ways to make her surrender, fails. but realises that selling her off to a Dubai sheik would give him more profit. So he makes her say "kubool hai" at gun point & reaches the airport to send her off to Dubai where the hero finds him. & the story ends with hero thrashing the villain & saving the heroin. I got so involved in the story, I was shouting "kill him! kill him!!" with in myself. That's how we want our heroes. Look at just any film poster on those hoardings. Hero is somebody with vengeance in His eyes& a weapon in his hand or somebody who can romance with two or three heroins simultaneously. No wonder we imagine our gods to be bigger than our film heroes. More weapons! more bloodshed!! more women!!!

Thats exactly why, Jesus, hanging on the cross helplessly(?) is a big disappointment to my friend chakri & to many of us. He was beaten, mocked, spat on, stripped, whipped & nailed to the cross along with theives. There's nothing heroic about it. Not just for some of us, but also for His own people, Jews, Jesus is not a hero! forget about being the God. The Bible records what Jews thought of Jesus on the cross.


And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, ........... If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.
Jesus said nothing. He was quite. why?

He was the same one who did so many miracles in front of their eyes.This is what He testified about Himself when the disciples of John asked Him."are You the one ? He said...

"Go tell John that The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.

But this time Jesus the miracle worker, the Messiah, chose to be humbled. chose to be meek (not weak). chose to be whipped. chose to die on the cross helplessly. why? Had he showed one more miracle by coming down from the cross & crushed His enemies under His feet & thrown them in everlasting fire, His image would've been something different . Immediately everybody would've accepted Him as God. No more some of us would look at Him as a weakling. He would've been a hero. Big Big idols of his would've been established in every village in this country. Jesus ...would've been a super hero!

But once again, He chooses not to fit into our Imagination of a hero, of God. Why? coz He's way too BIG to fit into your fanciful imaginations. HE'S GOD. your maker. He made you. You don't make Him. No wonder He disappoints you by not meeting your "expectations". No wonder He's way beyond your/ my understanding about god. HE'S GOD. He's not here to entertain you by dancing around the trees with women or to thrill you by doing some action. HE'S GOD. HE ALONE IS GOD.

“ For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
“ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8,9

But really, if He IS God, why did He allow Himself to die like that ?

coz, other than being the GOD, beginning(Alpha) & the end(omega) of this creation, He also is your maker. Your Father. He created you in His own image(Genesis 1:26). He created you to fellowship with you. But by disobeying Him in the Garden of Eden, we lost our inheritance& invited curse came on our lives. Curse of death. The sinning nature took control of us. The Bible says ..


for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23


We all may look perfect from outside. we try real hard to keep ourselves away from sin. We clean ourselves in the holiest of the rivers & try to discipline our bodies by fasting, by sleeping on the floor without any blanket in the cold winter nights, We climb holy hills bare feet. But we fail to win our bodies. We fail to control our heart from thinking evil & filthy things. God created us in His likeness. But our faces resemble beasts & wild animals if only they can reflect our thoughts. We fell. We lost our inheritance. We succumbed to the temptation.

So.... what's the punishment?

the Bible says

"The wages of sin is death.Romans 6:23

all have sinned & the result of sin is death. Which means hell. Any religion would tell you this. If God is only a judge, He would definitely enjoy punishing us for our sins. Throw you/me in a pot of hot, boiling oil or something like that. But fortunately(for us) in this case, God is not just a judge. He is also your father. A loving father who can not see you die. The Bible says. God so loved the world.....John 3:16. God, the father loves us. He's longing for us. But our sins separate us from His love. God, the righteous Judge needs to punish us for our unholiness for He can not bear sin. But His fatherhood is stopping Him from punishing us. so what's the way?

JESUS IS THE WAY.
not one way. but two way.
through Jesus, God the Father paid a ransom for our sins & redeemed us from the wages of sin, which is death.
By punishing Jesus on behalf of us, God the righteous judge nailed the sin & made us sin free.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Romans 3: 16

He died . so that you & I can live. He became a curse, to redeem us from the curse. He paid a price & bought us with His very blood. So that you & I can have this freedom. Freedom from guilt. Freedom from the yoke of sin. Freedom from death. Now, nobody can point finger at you. Not even your conscience. your sins are washed & You've passed from death to everlasting life.
“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord.
“Though your sins are red like blood, I will make them as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool. Isaiah 1:18
He's offering you the greatest ever exchange. He's ready to take your place & become a curse. Are you ready to believe in His blood & be the son of the living God?
Does it look too simple? Unbelievable? But things need not be complicated to be profound. To be true. Salvation is simple if you have the right picture of Jesus on the cross.
friend...
what are you seeing on that cross?
A naked man hanging helplessly?
or the lamb of God slain as a sacrifice for your sins?
What are you seeing on the cross?
Make sure you see something today.& Make sure you see the right thing. For too long you've been trying to avoid looking at the cross. Or for too long you are trying to see what YOU wanted to see on the cross & getting disappointed when you don't see it.
Many have missed it.
&
Many have misunderstood it.
But some have found it. & their lives got transformed for ever .
Make sure your eye doesn't deceive you today.
Make sure you see the right thing.
& remember...
" WHAT YOU SEE, IS WHAT YOU GET!"
Amen!

love, beyond the knowledge of the world! any takers?

ఆమె విస్తారము గా ప్రేమించెను గనుక ఆమె విస్తార పాపములు క్షమించబడెనని నీతో చెప్పుచున్నాను. లూకా 7: 47

Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven- for she loved much. For he who has been forgiven little loves little. Luke 7: 47

Long time back, when I was still in NIFT, one of my seniors, Niloy chatterji, who knows that I'm a church goer& little senti about Jesus, asked me this question.

"tell me about christianity?"

"believing that Jesus is christ(redeemer/saviour) & accepting Him as my personal saviour makes me saved. that's christianity."

"what about the sins you do?"

"because He died for my sins on the cross in my place, all my sins are forgiven."

"So? that's all? you do whatever you want to do& get away with it? your Jesus will still love you? what kind of a religion is this? "

I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to explain. logic can be explained. "crime & punishment" can be explained. If somebody says " Your sins will be forgiven if you torture yourself by not eating for a month " that sounds reasonable. There are some churches in AP that say "visit our church for seven weeks then all your needs will be met". thousands & thousands throng those places. That looks logical. But not what Jesus offers! salvation free of cost? can't be. In the coming few posts I'll try to convey what I thought about this. right now let's look into the above verses .

The story goes like this. Jesus is sitting with a pharisee ( a very religious guy, somebody who follows the "law" very strictly), who invited Him for a dinner. A woman, who was a sinner( probably a prostitute), came to know that Jesus is at the pharisee's place. So she came to see Him. She was standing there with a alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears. then she wiped with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. The room was filled with fragrance.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner."

Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said.

"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"

Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said.

Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little- loves little."

Let's do some character study of this woman.

she is The sinful woman: who's calling her sinful? definitely not Jesus. coz He knows that " all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"(romans 3: 23). Not just that lady. But she IS called sinner. Most probably a prostitute. what business does she got with Jesus?

Jesus, was the most happening at that time. It's like, you love Him or you hate Him, but you can't ignore Him types. Some people out of fascination, some people out of need (like healing, casting the demons etc.), some people out of sheer interest, to know whether He's the much awaited Messiah or not, some people out of wonder, just to see a man without sin( ex: mathew the tax collector), followed Him. where ever he went, multitudes followed . To hear Him, to see Him. That reason is good enough to explain why she wanted to see Him.

But to understad what she has done, like, wet His feet with tears, wipe them out with her hair, kiss his feet & to pour out a very precious alabaster oil on His feet, there must be more to the story.

A sinful lady. desired by some, hated by many. everybody, including her concience, points finger at her. She knows her sins. She's guilty from within. She's carrying a heavy burden on her shoulders. The burden of sin. She's tired of carrying it. every day the burden got heavier. She was looking for somebody who can take it away, somebody who can lighten it. But people added more& more to it everyday, By insulting, by mocking, by looking at her with lustful eyes. She was looking for a redeemer. Somebody who can take that weight off. She heard about Jesus. She longed to see Him. Jesus saw her. But He didn't speak to her. nor did she speak to Him. Before anybody could tell Him about her, He knows everything about her. With a heart filled with compassion& mercy He looked into her eyes. & that was enough. A miracle took place without even a single word spoken. She was broken. His love tranformed her in that very moment. She realized she's in the pressence of the Redeemer. tears started rolling. she's completely overwhelmed with repentence. with grattitude. with thankfulness. with love. A feeling which can not be explained in all these words. something beyond expalination. She didn't know what to say. She fell at His feet. washed them with her tears. wiped them with her hair. kissed them like the most beautiful thing she ever saw. Poured that precious oil on his feet & worshipped Him. The transforamtion that took place in that very moment, nobody who is around her knows. except Jesus& the woman. Some are still thinking about the past of the women, some are thinking about the cost of the oil. But the woman is filled with "inexpressible and glorious joy"( 1 peter 1:8). she lost herself in the state of tehillah. The destiny of her life changed in that very moment.

What a story! Every saved sinner, lost in the world, wandering without a direction ,not having a single person who loves with a true& unconditional love, carrying the burden of the yoke of sin, being rejected by moral police, being rejected by religious laws, knows this story. They'll tell you how one glorious day they bumped into this God called Jesus& how instead of turning His face away , He smiled at them. Instead of pushing them away, He hugged them. kissed them. Instead of judging& punishing ,he loved them. & transformed their lives forever. I'm one of them. Just like that woman.

The question my friend asked me keeps coming back to my thought. I wonder, why it's difficult for the world to understand the love of Jesus?

Because it's indeed, illogical.

But why do you think God, creator of this universe would fit into your logic?

don't you think your logic, is illogical?