Words
There is a struggle to speak words truthfully. When we speak we reveal ourselves to another. We open an area of ourselves to another – we allow them to come in. We give away something of ourselves to them. In other words we make ourselves vulnerable. And now they have something of ours with them. Something very dear and personal is precariously in hands of another person. Jesus is one example of the word becoming life and making himself vulnerable; that vulnerability was indeed exploited (Luke 20:20-26 & 23:2-5). I wonder if pilot and Herod ever realized who their victim was. It was the classic case, C.S. Lewis wrote about, of the ant wondering what it was to make of the elephant, standing in front of it, not realizing that its very existence is in jeopardy. Sometimes, not very uncommonly, we end up getting exploited.
While at the same time there are moments when we ought to have spoken up and we chose not to. We become something other than what we are because we don’t speak when we ought to have (or we didn’t verbalise our thoughts at the right moment). We choose to live in denial. We are living in times when the difference between compromise and sacrifice / submissiveness has been blurred. To sacrifice and to be submissive is a virtue but to compromise is a value. A value can exist without a centre so its possibilities are limited: very individualistic and selfish. But virtue, stems from a centre (God) and the possibilities are many – other centered and selfless. In compromise there is no point of reference – compromise serves well for convenience – it is not a lasting principle. We can compromise on things that are of great importance when it appears to be convenient. For instance some lover can compromise on his/her Christian beliefs and principles for the sake of the relationship. But the virtue of sacrifice will not permit that. S/he will not (cannot) sacrifice his/her principle for the sake of the relationship. Someone can misguidedly compromise on the Truth and hold onto goodness and beauty. But you cannot sacrifice Truth for the sake of goodness and beauty. You can wrongly compromise on justice and hold onto equality and liberty. But you cannot sacrifice justice for the sake of equality and liberty. All for one, one for all!
The psalmist in Psalm 32:1-5 was in a very vulnerable situation. David had done something and he realized that it was eating him up from the inside. He realized that his God desired truth in his innermost beings (Psalm 51:6). So he decided to make himself vulnerable to God. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said “You can have power over people as long as you don’t take everything away from them. But when you’ve robbed a man of everything, he’s no longer in your power.” I guess that’s why they call God powerful. He has the power to exploit our vulnerability yet through Him it becomes our strength (2 Corinthians 12:9). When we make ourselves vulnerable to Christ the result is very productive. Peter made himself vulnerable ( John 13: 36-38 ) and yet he was not forgotten (Mark 16: 7; Mat 16:16-19; John 21:15-19).
Bobby Thejus
Who Am I?
Who am I?
Who are we? Here today gone tomorrow! Frail! Fragile! Insignificant in the cosmic scale of things!
The roles today have shifted. We question God with questions He ought to have asked us. C.S. Lewis wrote about an ant wondering what it was to make of the elephant, standing in front of it, not realizing that its very existence is in jeopardy.
The Israelites were one people who had seen so much of God’s power manifested on a daily basis for forty years and yet on many occasions they chose to do as they pleased. And every time they would face the consequences of their sin they would call on God and he would graciously bail them out. We are no better today. who are we that we can call on this God who flung the universe into space and created us from the dust? Who are we that he yet chooses to call us his friends & his family?
The cross is a symbol that shows us who we are and what God did for us. In this great act of kindness I have come to believe how significant we are. And this should determine how I treat others. For what is dignity when we look at the cross? What is arrogance? What is success? What is position? What is pride? What is self? What is image? Of what use is all of this when compared to the cross? And yet we run after and crave for these!
So who are we that he would recognize our names? Who are we that he would choose to have conversations with us; speaking to us in our devotions and encouraging us gently ? Who are we that he is willing to share his plans with us? Who are we that he would love us in spite of our arrogant faults? Who are we?
Who am I?
