FEBRUARY 2 - Stand Firm, Ladies

FEBRUARY 2 - Stand Firm, Ladies

 

Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends! I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and

I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. — PHILIPPIANS 4:1 – 3

 

Oh, to have labored alongside Paul! To listen to his preaching, share his passion, pray beside him, and follow him high and low, always contending for the faith. In this rare celestial air of apostolic fellowship, surely the esprit de corps was strong, unswerving, and sweet. Euodia and Syntyche were in that exceptional circle of intimate Chris tian friends. These two women were dear companions of Paul, and they fought valiantly beside him for the cause of the gospel. They faced the same opposition and risks to their lives, the same hardships and struggles. Like Paul, they spread the gospel everywhere they went.

 

Somehow they lost their focus. Things degenerated between them, and these two sisters in Christ started knocking heads. News of their haranguing and berating of each other even reached the ears of Paul who was in prison. They forgot their purpose. They didn’t consider how their shenanigans would wound not only those around them, but the apostle. Their disagreement terribly deflated others. Most of all, the gospel took a backseat — their dispute was more important to them!

 

Paul first addresses these two women with the command, “Stand firm.” Recapture your passion, reclaim the vision, recall your focus! No one is above becoming disagreeable and argumentative — not even Euodia and Syntyche. Today, remember Philippians 2:14 says, “Do everything without complaining or arguing.”

 

Thank you, Father, that you included the story of these two women in Scripture. I take it as a warning to me today. Help me to agree with others “in the Lord.”

 

FEBRUARY 1 - When Life's Not Fair

FEBRUARY 1 - When Life’s Not Fair

 

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them all. — 2 CO RIN THI ANS 4:17

 

When Vicky’s husband abandoned her and her two-year-old son, she needed to find work. On one fateful day of job hunting, she was brutally attacked — and shot through the neck — by a man pretending to hire her. Later that day, lying in an emergency room, she knew she would live . . . but as a quadriplegic in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

 

In the years that followed, Vicky’s anguish and bitterness finally began to melt under her friends’ prayers, warming to the Word of God and its promises. “But sometimes I wonder,” she once told me, “about the fairness of it all.” I explained to her that it took the most unfair act in history, the execution of Jesus, to satisfy divine justice in a world full of injustice. That event made it possible for the least deserving of all — a convicted thief on a cross next to his — to gain an eternity of undeserved happiness. One day the scales of justice will not only balance, but they will be weighted in our favor, all for our good and God’s glory.

 

Vicky now understands that, even in her wheelchair, she is no better than that thief on the cross. By all that’s “fair,” she knows she should be on her way to hell and that there was nothing “fair” about Christ paying the penalty for her sins. She doesn’t deserve such mercy. And neither do we.

 

This present life of ours is infinitely shorter than the blink of an eye compared with the eternal beauty, purpose, and joy we will experience in the Father’s house. Let your thoughts linger on heaven for a while, and then give thanks to the One who made it possible — by the great injustice of dying on a cross to pay the penalty for our sins.

 

Lord Jesus, I praise you for enduring the humiliation, the injustice, and the unspeakable agony of your crucifixion to win an eternity of light and hope for me.

 

யாருக்கு ஞானம்...

யாருக்கு ஞானம்...

இதோ ஒன்று ஞானப்பாடல் ....

கோயிலாவது ஏதுடா? குளங்களாவது ஏதுடா?
கோயிலும் குளங்களும் கும்பிடும் குலாமரே
கோயிலும் மனத்துளே, குளங்களும் மனத்துளே
ஆவதும் அழிவதும் இல்லை, இல்லை இல்லையே !

-சிவவாக்கியார்.

இந்தப் பாடலின் கருத்தை கூற வேண்டியதில்லை .....

எவ்வளவு தெளிவும், துணிவும் இருந்தால் இந்த வரிகள் பாடலாக வரும். இந்த அளவிற்கு ஞானத்துணிவு அனைத்து சித்தர்களிடமும் இருக்கிறது. காரணம் என்ன?

சமயங்களையும், அதற்காக அடித்துக் கொண்டு சாகும் சாமானியர்களையும் காக்கும் பொருட்டு மட்டும் இதை அவர்கள் குறிப்பிடவில்லை. உண்மையின் உச்சத்தை தன் வரிகளில் தெளிவு படுத்தி இருக்கிறார்கள்.

சரி ஒரு நிகழ்வு ....

ஒரு முறை ஒரு ஞானியிடம் ஒரு பக்தர் ஒருவர்..

"சுவாமி ஞானம் பெறுவதற்கு நான் தகுதி உடையவனா? " என்று வினவினார்..

" நீ உயிரோடு இருக்கிறாயா?" என்றார் ஞானி.

அந்த பக்தர் அதிர்ந்து போய்...

"சுவாமி நான் உயிரோடு தான் இருக்கிறேன். அதில் என்ன சந்தேகம்?" என்றார்.

"அப்படியானால், ஞானம் பெறுவதற்கு தேவையான தகுதி அதுதான்" என்றார் ஞானி.

அந்த ஞானி வேறு யாருமல்ல திருவண்ணாமலையில் வாழ்ந்த பகவான் ரமண மகரிஷி அவர்களே..

சந்திப்போம் நல்லோர்களை சிந்திப்போம்...

நல்லோர் தாள் போற்றி! நாயகன் தாள் போற்றி !!

 

 

SEEK ADVANTAGE ON ADVERSITY

SEEK ADVANTAGE ON ADVERSITY

"We are tested as it were. If we only hold on steadily to Baba with full faith and continue our endeavours, our efforts will be ultimately crowned with success." – Sri Sai Satcharitra, Ch. XXIX.

An old matured, seasoned farmer, one day, was very angry with God, though he was a great devotee. He said to God in his morning prayer, "I have to tell it as it is – enough is enough! You don't understand even the ABC of agriculture! When the rains are needed, there are no rains; when the rains are not needed, You go on pouring them. What nonsense is this? If you don't understand agriculture, You can ask me – I have devoted my whole life to it. Give me one chance; the coming season, let me decide and see what happens."

It is an ancient story. In those days people had such trust that they could talk directly to God, and their trust was such that the answer was bound to happen. God said, "Okay, this season you decide!" So the
farmer decided, and he was very happy because whenever he wanted sun there was sun, whenever he wanted rain there was rain, whenever he wanted clouds there was clouds.

And he avoided all dangers, all the dangers that could be destructive for his crops; he simply rejected them – no strong winds, no possibility of any destruction to his crops. And his wheat started growing higher than anybody had ever seen; it was going above man's height. And he was very happy.

He thought, "Now I will show Him!" And then the crop was cut and he was very puzzled. There were no wheat at all – just empty husks. What happened? Such big plants – plants big enough to have given wheat four times bigger than ordinary wheat – but there was no wheat at all. And suddenly he heard laugher from clouds.

God laughed and He said, "Now what do you say?" The farmer puzzled, because there was no possibility of destruction and all that was helpful provided. And the plants were growing so well, and the crop was so green and so beautiful! What happened to my wheat?" God said, "Because there was no danger – you avoided all danger – it was impossible for the wheat to grow. It needs challenges."

There are times in everyone's life when something constructive is born out of adversity… when things seem so bad that you've got to grab your fate by the shoulders and shake it.

 

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A LESSON A DAY

A LESSON A DAY

 

“All people learnt the lesson, that those who disobeyed Baba's instruction met with accidents in one way or the other, and those who obeyed them were safe and happy.” – Sri Sai Satcharitra, Ch. IX.

 

 

A merchant, an old man and his little daughter met by the side of a fountain of clear, sparkling waters. On the fountain was an inscription which read, “Learn of me!”

 

The merchant said, he learnt a great lesson from the fountain. It started as a trickle of water but as it wended its way to the sea, it was joined by streams and brooks and creeks and, in due course, became a roaring river. We should do our work likewise – start with little beginnings and soon develop big business houses.

 

The old man said that the lesson he learnt, from the fountain, was to serve silently – friends and strangers alike.

 

The little girl said that the lesson she learnt was, water is useless unless it is pure. Even animals reject turbid water. Therefore, we should live a clean and chaste life.

 

The teacher is one. Everyone learns according to his aptitude and capacity. In this school of life, the day on which we have not learnt something new is a lost day indeed.

 

 

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