SIN & SALVATION

When I posted a note on Facebook about Rajkumar Ramachandran Iyer’s faith in Christianity and how it created in me a thirst to understand my religion at a deeper level, I faced a severe backlash from many people who misinterpreted it as an outcry against other religions. I hope the following Biblical point of view of life which was reinstated to me at the Haggai Institute during Meghala Ratnaiya’s sessions throws light on my claim to faith.

 http://www.logos-ministries.com/

God’s purpose in creating Man 

Man was created to have fellowship with God. He was given the responsibility to take care of God’s world. Human beings were made in God’s image so they lived exercising their freewill.

The Fall of Mankind and the Need for Redemption

Man used the freewill given by God to disobey God himself. Temptation was brought by Satan to cause man to disobey God. Satan first caused human beings to doubt God’s word. He had their imagination and he painted a false picture which was directly contrary to what God had warned. Man disobeyed and the result was what they became – not like God – but disobedient like the devil. They experienced fear and guilt, shifted blame and finally inherited punishment, pain and sorrow. Hence, the need for the redemption of mankind...

“Sin is fancy in imagination but flat in reality.” – Dr. Ravi Zacharias

What is Sin? Why do we Sin?

“Whatever weakens your reasoning, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes away your relish for spiritual things, in short, if anything increases the authority of the flesh over the spirit, that to you becomes sin, however good it is in itself.” – Susannah Wesley

We sin because we are born sinful (Romans 7:18-20) -> this has caused mankind to be separated from a holy God (Colossians 1:21) -> the condition of sinful mankind is spiritual deadness (Romans 3:23 & 5:21 Ephesians 2:1).

Thus an unredeemed man remains a slave to sin.

The Person and work of Christ

 “Man was born free but everywhere is in chains whereas Jesus teaches us that man is born in chains but everywhere can be free.” – Rousseau

Freedom is possible if the Son of God sets us free (John 8:36)

The Solution to man’s predicament is not a technique but a Person – Jesus. Many people claim to have a solution but what make Jesus’ claims unique?

Unique Birth

No one has control over where she or he is to be born. Jesus was an exception. Hundreds of years before he came down, holy prophets glimpsed several aspects of his birth. He was to be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14). He was to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).

In the fullness of time, an angel clarified this with Mary and told her how the baby to be born to her was to be created through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Unique sinless life

The Bible is unique in that it portrays people as they are. Their sins are also chronicled.

However, the life of Jesus reads differently. He could stand in front of a hostile crowd and ask them if anyone could point out any sin in him. No one could (John 8:46; Hebrews 4:15)

Unique power and authority

In passages like John 5:8, Luke 7:12, Mathew 5:27, 28, Mark 4:39, Luke 7:48 etc., we see various aspects of the power that belonged to Jesus. He could heal the sick, raise the dead, calm a storm, and walk on water. What caused the Jews extreme discomfort was that Jesus forgave sins- a clear prerogative of God.

Further all the prophets spoke saying, “thus says the Lord” referring to a power higher than themselves i.e. God as the source of their pronouncements. Jesus said, “but I say unto you…” He referred to himself as the source of authority – again a prerogative of God.

He claimed preexistence “before Abraham was I am…” (John 8:58).

No wonder the Jews stoned him because no human being could claim all that!

Unique work on the Cross

The most touching aspect of the uniqueness of Jesus has to do with his achievement on the cross. Given below are a few significant points.

            •           The substitution on the cross

Just was substituted in the place of unjust. (1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:1; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; Ephesians 2:14-16.)

            •           The suffering Person on the cross

The pathway for the Savior was ridden with pain on several fronts.

            •           Emotional suffering (Mathew 24:26-46)

            •           Physical suffering (Mathew 26:67, 68; Mathew 27:26-30)

            •           Spiritual suffering (Mathew 27:46)

He who knew no sin, who hated sin, who never sinned, upon Him was laid the penalty of sins of all humanity. His very being abhorred it yet He accepted it because He loved us.

            •           The satisfying provision of the cross

When Jesus cried out “Tetelestai”, it was a cry of completion and not of defeat (John 19:30).

The fruit of it was that our sins have been paid for in full (Romans 5:10; Ephesians 2:14-16; 1 Peter 3:18)

Heaven is for redeemed sinners. “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me…” is a song redeemed mankind will sing and angels cannot.

Unique Resurrection

The work on the cross has significance because of the fact of the resurrection. If Christ had not risen from the grave, our hope would be in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:17; 1 Peter 1:3, 4).  Because of resurrection, we have victory over death (1 Corinthians 15:55). From a state of hopelessness, we have now new hope (1 Corinthians 15: 32, 58). 

We now have His abiding presence

            •           He is always with us (Matthew 28:20)

            •           We are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16)

            •           We can joyfully await His second coming (John 14:3; Titus 2:11-14)

People, Process & Success!!

A Story in a Train

 

Once a grandfather, a young mother and a child, all of 8 years-fresh from a life threatening surgery were traveling by train from Coimbatore to Chennai…

The child had survived the surgery and was looking forward to a new beginning-her eyes full of dreams.

They met another young family who had a boy of the same age. Now, this family had a copy of Reader’s Digest in their hand.

It carried the story of organ donation of a little boy who was declared brain dead in a road accident. His parents agreed to cut off his life support system and donate his organs so that he would continue to live.

This well meaning self-righteous family inspired by the story started to advise the girl’s family to kill her and donate her organs to the public!

Why?

Each one of you would have definitely interacted with 8 year olds. Theirs is a world of dolls, school, music, dance, friends, games and dreams. Now I request you to put yourself in their shoes and imagine the questions she would’ve asked herself… that innocent 8-year-old’s active brain raised a million questions. In fact, innocence was lost.

• What is life and death to an 8 year old?
• Why do people want to kill me?
• Am I useless?
• What did I do?
• Fear of the unknown grips the child-Will my parents agree to this suggestion?
• Would I become a ghost and live through others?
• I feel so jealous of their son who can laugh and run along the train. I hate him. Why should that boy have everything?
• Don’t I have the same emotions as their son? How could they suggest such a thing?
• Didn’t God give me a better brain than that boy? Why should I die and he live?
• How dare they speak like that and hurt me with their words?
• Who gave them the right to break my spirit?
• Why is nobody stopping them?

And the biggest question of it all…

• Why did you create me like this God? Why me?

Life

Yes, maybe you guessed it right…the young girl in the story is Me!

The questions I asked don’t apply to me alone. Life throws challenges at each one of us. Each one of you would have experienced a situation or are probably experiencing a difficult situation that is beyond your control today.

Fear. Anger. Denial. Hopelessness and a hundred other negative emotions grip us. We blame ourselves, people who matter to us and God. 

People

God has given me the opportunity to closely interact with people as a HR Professional. I’ve made some interesting observations over a period of time.

Like war, physical handicap seems to bring out the worst and best in people.

As a specially-abled person (I’m a survivor of Atlanto Axial Instability), I’ve encountered three sets of attitude towards me: 

1. People who think I’m a great inspiration to them. They feel they can overcome anything after meeting me.

2. People who think I’m better off than them because the world is generally kind to me and life is seemingly easy. They feel my handicap is an advantage which they don’t have!

3. People assist me if I need help but they just cannot handle it if I outperform them and they try to demoralize me with their harsh words!

 Process

As a trainer, I’ve used the following lessons of life I learnt that night in the train to make a change in the lives of the some of the people who belong to the second category:

Spirituality

Belief in God helps foremost. It helps you accept reality.

As a Christian, I believe in a very encouraging verse in the Bible.

“I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)”

If not for the hurdles I’ve crossed, I would not be what I am today.

Family & Friends

Inner circle-surround yourself with people who are not jealous of you-be nice to them. How many times are we polite to complete strangers but rude to our own family? Over a period of time I learnt to put my family in front of me as much as possible. Trust me, it requires practice.

Passion

Passion is a goal. A motive. A dream. A vision to live your life. That night in the train I vowed to myself that I would prove myself and make this story public to touch others and here I am.

Persistence

Failure. Emotional lows are normal. No one is superman or superwoman but the trick is to keep picking yourself up. Never, never, never, ever give up till you realize your dream.

Attitude

Only two ways to look at life – half full and half empty. My mother always taught me to look at the cup overflowing. I could have easily become a bitter person and blamed everyone for my physical handicap that night but I chose the other way.

Humor 

Learn to laugh at yourself. My dad would introduce my medical condition to others & I would think “What am I? Not a person…I guess I’m AtlantoAxial instability itself”

Success

Today, people call me a success, my classmates in MBA look up to me! I’m no longer useless. These tips can definitely help achieve success. Success means different things to different people but deep down everyone wants to be successful in life.

Reminds me of the story of the two brothers: 

 

  One boy was an optimist and the other was a pessimist.

  The parents decided to put the pessimist in a room full of the latest toys and video games and he optimist in a room full of horse manure. This would make the one more optimistic and the other more pessimistic.

  After several hours had passed they went into the room full of toys and found the pessimistic boy in tears. When asked what the problem was the boy said “I don’t know what to play with first, and I’m afraid I’ll break something”.

  They then went into the room full of manure. There the optimistic child singing and dancing with joy in the manure. When questioned by the therapist why he was so happy about being in horse manure, the boy said, “With all this manure, there must be a pony here somewhere.”

SO If you find yourself in a roomful of shit, go chase your horse. Just remember, it IS close by!!