Reflections

Noah walked with God Genesis 6:1-13 Vs 8 - But Noah found favor in the eyes of God  I have heard the story of a disobedient boy who used to do the opposite of what he was asked for. Once the family went for an outing. They reached the top of a hill and the boy started running towards the edge of the hill which was dangerously steep. The parents panicked at first. Then his dad called out to him. ‘Son! Run!’ The boy suddenly stopped. The dad caught up with him and held him safely. Can the boy’s behavior be compared to that of the people of Noah’s time or our own time?

 When God created the world, He saw that it was good. Of course God can create nothing but good, for God is good. The free will that God gave man caused him the Fall. But God foresaw this and promised Redemption of man through the offspring of a woman who would crush Satan’s head. To prevent this Satan has been messing with the offspring of man ever since. In the passage given today we see a method Satan used to pollute the ge…

Fall: Violation of purpose of Creation Matthew 7:15-23 Vs 21 - “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."  The purpose of creation is to bare good fruits. The reference to the tree and its fruit is meant to be applied to the teachers and their works. Here Jesus warns against the dangerous influence of bad teachers. The words and deeds must be complimentary in a person of integrity. In this portion Jesus explains about the people who are going to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

1. It is not the external appearance, but the inner attitude that is to be discerned. Jesus gives an indication that there are people wearing the garments of prophets and teachers without any merits. If the genuine prophets had left everything for the glory of God, these people were wearing the cloaks of the prophet for selfish ends and livelihood. In the New Testament times, there were people keeping away from the v…

Love is the greatest 1 Corinthians 13 Vs 13 "...But the greatest of these is love". Love is one of the most important topics discussed in the Bible as well as religious literature. In fact, our passage today reminds us that it is in fact, the greatest of all. When we think of love, we may immediately think of our spouses, children, parents, family, close friends, or the personal belongings we own. However, this is not what Paul was referring to in this passage commonly known as the “Chapter of Love.” This chapter intentionally looks at love as a verb and then describes all the things love does rather than how love makes us feel.

These verses remind us that while it may look and feel good to accomplish many great things, if we do not accomplish these with love, we simply fall short. Where once love was considered selfless and intimate, we are now consumed with public love of self. Despite having more power in the palm of our hands than ever before, we are infatuated with the “per…

Sabbath: Leading to perfection of creation Psalms 8:1-9 Vs 5-6“Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet”   Psalm 8 brings to mind the creation account given in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. The account starts with the phrase “In the beginning God” followed by the creation of heavenly bodies, earth, and everything in it. At the completion of each day's creation God looks back and finds that what He has done is good. On the last day, after the creation of mankind, God appreciates His entire creation as “very good”. What is “very good” in the eyes of perfect God is perfect. Then on the seventh day: Sabbath, God rests in celebration to His perfect creation work. God's original creation was perfect until sin entered through humans. The psalmist, David, opens and closes Psalm 8 marveling at the majesty of God's name. He is overwhelme…

Wisdom that leads to perfection of Creation Proverbs 8:22-33 Vs 22 - "The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old..."
 Proverbs 8 is the best-known chapter in Proverbs and has profoundly influenced Jewish and Christian thought. It develops the wisdom’s intimacy with God and desire to be with human beings. The Gospel of John portrays Jesus in the language of wisdom in Proverbs: Jesus, like Wisdom, calls out to people to listen to Him, promises to tell them the truth, seeks disciples, invites them to a banquet, and gives them life.
God created the earth and humans to fulfill His mission in this world, but human beings disobeyed God and were thrown out of the Garden of Eden. God was concerned about the rebelliousness of His people and the rightness of His judgment was upon them. Since there was a cause-and-effect relationship between the sins of the people and their suffering, the implication is that God, having forgotten those sins, is ready to res…

Sabbath: leading to perfection of creation Colossians 1:15-25 Vs 15, 20 - He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation...And through him to reconcile to himself all things whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross In today’s passage we can see Paul’s assertion of the supremacy of Christ in two parts – Christ’s supremacy in creation (vv. 15-17) and Christ’s supremacy in redemption (vv. 18-20) Christ’s supremacy in creation:   Here Paul exalts Christ as the very the image of God, as the creator and the pre-existent sustainer of all things. Also we read Christ as image of God in 2Corinthians 4:4. God is invisible, no one has seen God. Christ, who is the eternal Son of God and who became the God-man, reflects and reveals God to us. (John 1: 18; 14:9). The Son is the only person of the Trinity that is manifest to man. In our worship services we use the Nicene Creed to say “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the …