One heart and/or a pair of hands??!!

As I write this post I have one more post in store that I started but yet to finish so I have not posted it. I am just coming back from a camp refreshed and encouraged may be I should use the corporate term motivated! However there has been something that I have been thinking even before I started the camp and that is a pair of hands.

I have been in a suction pump for the last one month completely withered out because of my work and was almost on the verge of completing my tasks.(lots to write about.. the post in store will have it :) ) It was during that time someone (I am not sure if I can mention the name!) said "I don't think we need a pair of hands..." I would not go into the context of the conversation and in fact I still do not know what was the intention behind that statement but somehow that was going around in my mind. A pair of hands!What does a pair of hands mean? What is it worthy of having a pair of hands? Why do we need a pair of hands? Does the heart have to do anything with a pair of hands? Is it the heart or the mind that controls the pair of hands? All these were questions that kept popping up in my mind. 

I am a kind of girl who primarily goes by what my heart says. I hardly care about what others think (which I still don't know if its a strength or a weakness!) as long as I am convinced by my knowledge that I am aligned to the Word of God. In other words if I am sure  it is God's will (which I am not always sure of!?). I believe God builds each one of us uniquely and uses us to mold us into His image. When we submit ourselves to his power, He takes control. So I was thinking of these hands of mine that I have used thus far. Do I actually think each time I use my pair of hands? Do you actually think each time you use your pair of hands?

Thinking about this helped me realize that the context in which we use them has a greater significance attached. When it comes to helping others may be a stranger on the road, it is just a pair of hospitable hands. When it is about our friends in need of some assistance, may be some help with finances or a course explanation or a drive, it is a pair of amicable hands. When it is about our family which needs us specially in times of desperation or emergency then it is a pair of loving hands. What about it when it is about God?Who knows what pair of hands we are using?

I was thinking if God actually needs a pair of hands? The next question I asked myself is does God need my pair of hands? Well do I need God's pair of hands? Slightly going off track you know I always had a doubt when I read this verse "When You said, "Seek My face," my heart said to You, "Your face, O LORD, I shall seek."" - Psalm 27:8. There are other verses as well which talk about seeking His face. Why would God ask me to seek His face when well truly speaking everything comes from His hands? And why would David's heart reply when he has a mouth? Since when did heart start speaking and not pumping blood? Anyways probably and possibly if God said "Seek My hands",it would have made more sense to me because that is what I am looking for. Atleast that is what I thought until I stopped looking at God as Giver whose hands are too oily and fully greased to grip any kind of blessings from me. But now God is God- the Lord of my life. Period.

Coming back to the question does God require a pair of hands? As fellow workers with God in the vineyard, we do need a pair of hands to sow and we do need a pair of hands to reap! Paul did work with his own hands both for himself and that others might be blessed as well. What does God require from us? "Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the LORD's commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good" - Deut 10:12 
I am tempted yo dissect the above verse into a mathematical functional equation..
God's requirement = Fear the Lord + Walk in all His ways + Love Him + Serve the Lord + Keep His commandments
                                =  f(H*h) + f(H*h)+ f(H*h)+ f(H*h) + f(H*h) 
                                = 4f(H*h) 
                                = f(H*h)

where "f" stands for a function, "H" stands for our Heart and "h"stands for our soul which I think to break it down to my level of understanding is our will and action (can signify pair of hands!)

Do you know who will abide in the tent of God ? Do you know who will dwell in God's holy hill? Well the good news is we have some pointers with regard to this in Psalm 15. Here it goes...
1    O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill?
2    He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, And speaks truth in his heart.
3    He does not slander with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
4    In whose eyes a reprobate is despised, But who honors those who fear the LORD; He swears to his own hurt and does not change;
5    He does not put out his money at interest, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.

Falling away...

Though there are days of high and low

And there are pains so deep and hard

Yet the beauty of my Lord never fades

His unfailing love never lets me go astray

I cannot resist but throw myself into His hands

Wondering forever about His gift of life!

I'm moving away from this world of pleasure

I'm running away from the snare of temptation

I'm keeping away from the life of care and worry  
I'm falling away into His arms of love.....

Closer to God

Shit!, Bull shit! (BS),Holy Shit, Damn!, Fish!, What the...!, and more….

I know it feels pretty awkward when you read this in print! But these are probably the most common words people use today. As youth in Christ it is a challenge to continue living in the world but not of the world. There are people who think it does not matter what we speak and on the other hand there are people who know it matters but still use these words just to be identified along with the group. But do we really want to be friends of the world and enemies of God? Or do we want it to be the vice versa?

One place I have miserably failed and I still struggle is my words. Words good or bad have wings and fly very far. They can never be taken back. If one can control one's words, then I think one has climbed up a step towards Christ likeness. After our heart I think it is our tongue that is not easy to control. It is amazing to read in the Bible the power God has bestowed upon us as His children and so will our words be too. So how much more prudent do we need to be with our words?

The first book that comes to mind when we talk about taming our tongues is James. I am sure each of us would have read it atleast once. If not I would encourage you all to read the book of James, Chapter 3. That chapter throws a challenge saying the tongue can be tamed by no man, it is an unruly evil and a deadly poison – James 3:8. How can blessing and curse flow from the same mouth? James 3:10. If we sit back and think, we will know how much we need to improve on our words. Our words can be a blessing to many and it can also be a curse as well. What will it eventually be is in our hands and our control. One of the fruit of the Spirit is self control and controlling our tongues is one attribute of self control. One of my colleagues was sharing the other day, “Do you know that if man can control his anger, he is almost equivalent to God?” Well I would not agree completely but certainly there is an element of truth in it. When we swear or curse someone it usually stems from anger. And anger is originated in the heart. Eventually what is in the heart comes out of our mouth.

A.W Tozer says "Dispositional sins are fully injurious to the Christian cause as the most overt acts of wickedness.Lets us list a few of them: sensitiveness, irritability,churlishness,faultfinding, peevishness, temper, resentfulness, cruelty, uncharitable attitudes, and of course there are many more. Many persons who had been secretly longing to find Christ have been turned away and embittered by manifestations of ugly dispositional flaws in the lives of the very persons who were trying to win them. Unsaintly saints are the tragedy of Christianity.

I am afraid we modern Christians are long on talk and short on conduct. We use the language of power but our deeds are the deeds of weakness. We settle for words in religion because deeds are too costly. It is easier to pray,"Lord, help me to carry my cross daily" than to pick up the cross and carry it; but since the mere request for help to do something we do not actually intend to do has a certain degree of religious comfort, we are content with repetition of the words"

I will stop here and will leave you with this thought of coming closer to God by purifying ourselves from the sin that besets us.

" For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”  - Matt 12: 34b-37

"Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips." - Prov 4:24

"and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us." - Tit 2:8

"If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless." - Jam 1:26

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him”- I Jn 2:15