06/07/12

Having God in us

Luke 10: 35 - "On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.'


In the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus shows us that a Samarian (Samaritan) was passing by a man who was robbed and beaten, he did not ignore him like the priest and the Levite did before him but helped him. His helping was not just to do something for the man and overcome the gilt of having done something.

We all mostly give alms to the poor not because we want to really help them but because there is guilt in us that we cannot ignore them and we call it pity, therefore we give something so as to cover that guilt then walk away and continue our lives being satisfied we did something.

When the Israelites came into the land beyond the river Jordan after Joshua, they spit into 2 groups one which lived in Judah and the remainder became another group. The ones living in Judah were known as Jews and the others were called according to the place they dwelled in. Many Samarians were Israelites, they believed in Jehovah but were called hated by the Jews because the Jews believed themselves to be only true followers of Jehovah and considered other Israelites as corrupted.

In today's message Jesus through the parable tells us religion is like what the Jews did. By their traditions and heritage they called themselves people of God but were far from Him. On the other hand the Samarian whom the Jews thought as corrupt showed the Nature of God in him.

We see the Samarian did not just show pity but true compassion. He was in a hurry to reach someplace for some important work but yet he took time to help the victim. He gave him first aid, putting him up in an inn left for his important work. While leaving he gave the inn keeper sufficient money to take care of the victim until he finishes his work and returns. By this he shows us the means of having God in us.

In today's message the Lord is telling us not to give charity just to satisfy and overcome our guilt, or duty. We need to truly help as much as we can. It is not that Christians need to become social worker, which is a wrong understanding. We Christians are first called to witness Jesus Christ and that calls us to give the Gospel, baptize people in the Lord's Name and while doing this we need to also show the Nature of God in us by helping those in need both natural and spiritual.

My daughter sometimes askes me 'why God does not provide for the poor, does He not love them?'

We need to understand God made us in the flesh so as to overcome it and to have victory over darkness by His Light. The greatest evil of the flesh is greed (people think pride is the greatest but before pride Lucifer was hit by greed). To overcome greed God teaches us to give. As a statute God instructed us to Tithe. Tithe or giving 10 percent are just baby steps towards overcoming greed. There is no place where God has challenged man to test Him other than concerning tithing.

The Church misleads people by telling them tithing means giving 10 percent on one's income to the Church. On the other hand the Bible says it is about giving 10 percent unto the Lord and it also specifies part of this needs to be given to the needy like widows, orphans etc. If one sees in the New Testament the way the Apostles used the money given by the people and also the instructions given by people like James they insist on giving more towards the needy. If we read most of Jesus' parables had some connection to finance.

Let us understand by giving we are doing more a favour to ourselves than that person, for we are exercising our spirit-man to become stronger and overcome our flesh. By this we are growing in the image of the Lord in us.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord, if there were no needy we would not have been able to come to You. We do not thank You for the needy but thank You for the opportunity that by serving them we can grow more in You and thus, by becoming overcomers come to You. Lord, You specified if we do not show loyalty in small things then we would not be trusted for greater things. Lord we prayer we realize the things of this world are nothing to the things set for us in Heaven with You. Let our eyes be focus on those precious things and not on these valueless things...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scriptures ]
Genesis 14:19-24
19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.
22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
23 That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:
24 Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.

James 1:23-27
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless.
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

1 Corinthians 13:3 - And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.


The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others.
(All rights are with God)