When Resurrection is Not Enough

‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ Luke 16:31

In a recent debate between Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, and the author of “The Purpose Driven Life”, and Sam Harris, the outspoken atheist, and the author of “The End of Faith”, Sam challenged Rick to perform a simple experiment –
“Get a billion Christians to pray for a single amputee. Get them to pray that God re grow that missing limb”¹.  I suspect that if this really happened, Sam would still not believe.  I think he answered it himself when he added, “This happens to salamanders every day, presumably without prayer;” ¹.  The fundamental assumption is that God has a simple task – dramatically prove Himself by intervening in a supernatural way, and everyone would believe.  The fundamental accusation is that God has not adequately revealed Himself.  

Jesus, through the mouth of Abraham, says something very bold and insightful at the end of the sensational story of Lazarus and the rich man.  The rich man is in hell and in torment, and is asking Abraham to send a warning to his brothers in the form of a resurrected Lazarus.  The assumption of the rich man is that a dramatic and miraculous intervention would settle the question once and for all.   Abraham replies “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.”  In other words, remarkable wonder can never replace revealed Word.  What was performed and seen would be temporary; what was written and heard would be permanent.   If the brothers of the rich man were not willing to honestly engage what was already revealed; if they could write off the entire miraculous history of God’s provision for a nation, then one miracle disconnected from all of history would be easier to write off.  The problem was not that God had not provided enough evidence, but rather that they did not want any, so they discounted what they had, and kept asking for more. 

To the skeptic, I cannot say much more than what Jesus already advised – honestly consider, and grapple with what Christians consider as the revealed Word of God, the Bible, before asking for more evidence.   Consider the claims of Christ honestly before asking for the dramatic. 

But there is an equally important lesson for the believer in these words of Jesus.  Some of us have a tendency to desire the spectacular more than the Son.  We want to freeze frame those moments of glory like Peter.  But the momentarily dazzling can never replace the eternal Word.  The dramatic may illustrate and inform, but it is only truth that can transform.  

It is exhilarating to see the miraculous provision of God in our lives.  It is faith enhancing when we pray and God answers.  But we cannot spiritually subsist on the breathtaking, we must have the bread of Life.  After Jesus had healed many, and delivered the crowds, the next morning, His disciples came looking for Him to repeat this wonder.  They said, “Everyone is looking for you”.  But He said to them, “Let us go to into the next towns, that I may preach there also because for this purpose I have come forth.” (Mark 1:37)  I suggest Jesus knew that the miracle would deliver temporarily, and the glow and the excitement of that encounter would eventually fade away, but the Word would be the eternal truth imprinted, and it would inspire even in the absence of signs.

Perhaps too much of your life is ordered around the sensational.  Perhaps you have a frustrated faith this day because you are looking for a sign that has not been provided.  You could believe so easily if God would do just this or that.  If Jesus is right, ultimately even resurrection will not be adequate enough for you.  I urge you pray and expect God’s miraculous intervention, provision, and deliverance, but above all “hear Moses and the prophets”   -  and may I add – “the Son”.

Danesh Manik

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References

1.  The God Debate, Newsweek, April 9, 2007

“A Soul’s Anchor” is a daily inspirational message prepared to challenge your mind, inspire your heart, and motivate you to anchor your soul in the person of  Jesus Christ.

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Righteousness and Rightness

The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’  “But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Matthew 13:28-29

In this familiar parable, Jesus gives us a glimpse of at least one of the aspects of the Kingdom of God.  For those who may be unfamiliar, Jesus describes a man who plants good seed but in a short while as the harvest approaches, the servants find tares that were sown by the enemy, and were alike enough to the wheat to be undetectable in the beginning.  They are surprised, and naturally want to get rid of them.  The master in his wisdom advises against it for the potential harm that will be done to the good wheat and asks them to wait for harvest time.   The most obvious and direct application of this parable is the insight into the nature,  albeit temporary, of the Kingdom of God.  In the Kingdom of God there will always be dupes that will be similar in appearance, but not in substance, to the real servants of God until the appointed time.    In addition to the insight into the Kingdom of God, I think it gives us a wonderful insight in the heart of the King.  It reveals to us the very heart of our Lord.  The master cares for the wheat’s wellbeing enough to suffer the tares.  He will not suffer even little collateral damage to thwart the enemy.  The King is more concerned about individual subjects than simply the Kingdom as a whole!  He will suffer the enemy for the sake of his subjects.   Think of the implications.  On a personal level, the child of God can rest assured that he or she does not serve a King that is more interested in simply the overall rule, but cares for the individual.  The Lord will even suffer evil to ensure your care.  On a corporate level it implies that the Body of Christ is more precious to God and He will not allow it to be bruised, even for a seemingly good and a right purpose.  He will wait till the end.  In the end all things will be made perfect, but for now God will even allow a seeming victory of the enemy.   

God would be right to destroy the tares, but God cares more to be righteous than simply right.   If I may draw out a principle from the very heart of the King, it would be this: Anything we do or say, even if it is right, if it bruises the body of Christ, the Church, it cannot be the will of God.  If it damages and uproots a brother or sister in Christ, even if it is right, it will not be a righteous thing to do.  And God cares more about our righteousness than our being right.  Because being right is for the moment, righteousness is for eternity.  At the end of it all righteousness will make everything right.  I suspect that it is not the obvious onslaught on Christ, or His followers by those who vehemently disagree with Christianity or Christ that bothers our Lord, it is our tendency of not caring what happens to our brothers and sisters in our pursuit of being right.  We have all heard of church splits, scandals, and venomous words that have often destroyed the precious wheat while the tares were being pulled out.   

Friend, I pray that we will recognize this great responsibility on those who have responded to the sacrificial death of Christ, to those who have repented, and been born again in the  Kingdom of God, that we will be pursuer of righteousness above rightness.   Danesh Manik 
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“A Soul’s Anchor” is a daily inspirational message prepared to challenge your mind, inspire your heart, and motivate you to anchor your soul in the person of  Jesus Christ. If you know a friend who would enjoy receiving “A Soul’s Anchor” in their email box each day, tell them they can sign up by emailing us at subscribe@asoulsanchor.org .  The messages may also be read at our website, http://www.asoulsanchor.org.  To unsubscribe, please email, unsubscribe@asoulsanchor.org with your email in the subject line. To change to a weekly instead of a daily subscription, email weekly@asoulsanchor.org  with your email in the subject line. For receiving messages by mail, please write to us at A Soul’s Anchor, India International Church, 3654 Okemos Rd., Okemos, MI 48864

The Divine Invitation

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28-30 

The distinctive characteristic of the Bible is its emphasis on invitation.  All of the Bible is primarily an invitation.  The highlights are less its comprehensive commands, and more its incredible invitations.  It is an invitation to be counted as the redeemed, an invitation from heaven to earthly beings, of glory to the corruptible flesh.  Of the invitations, here is the one that is universally appealing – “Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened”  - an invitation to rest for the weary soul.   A weary soul is a miserable thing.  It is an experience all know of but none can quite describe it.  It is an invitation that at once shines in its simplicity as it astounds us with its audacity.    

“Come to Me!”  It shines in its simplicity.  Jesus does not demand hardworking toil, intellectual gymnastics or our unending contemplation.  All Jesus yearns for is our attention.  It does not list qualifications to be achieved, attitudes to be attained, or works to be accomplished.  It is liberating.  It is a simple invitation to come.  It simply requires a willingness to answer the invitation.  A little child understands what it means to come.    

It also stuns us with its audacity.  Who can claim to give rest to our souls?  Who can understand the depth of our hearts?  It would be quite bold and unbelievable if it was not for the Person doing the inviting.  With a confidence that can be only possessed by the One who has created the soul is this invitation to assuage it.  It is only a Sovereign God who can promise to have a cure for weary souls.   

Are you soul weary?  Slumber can revitalize the weariness of your body, but soul weariness can be only be relieved by the One who knows you and knows your thoughts, your successes, your failings.  And the answer is a simple invitation. 

“Come to Me” is the echo of divine desire.  Ever since the beginning God’s call has been Come to Me!  To those who thirst, he says “Come to me and drink from the living waters.”  To a bunch of fishermen He says, “Come follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.”   To sinners he pleads “Come, Now let us reason together Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”  To the hungry he cries out “I am the Bread of Life.  He who comes to me will never go hungry.” To the faithful he says “Come and share the Master’s happiness.”   To the rich man looking for eternal life, he says “Sell your possessions and Come follow me!”  To the dying he says “Give ear and come to me so that your soul may live”.  To those rejected he says “Come, Whoever comes to me I will not cast away.” To the redeemed He says “Come to the wedding banquet.  Enter into my rest.”   The Bible ends with this call to come.  And at the end of history, we are told “The Spirit says come! The Bride says Come!  Let him who athirst come.  Whosoever will let him come.”   And no one who has come to Christ has been sorry.   Friend, if you are you weary and burdened, will you come to Christ? 

Danesh Manik
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“A Soul’s Anchor” is a daily inspirational message prepared to challenge your mind, inspire your heart, and motivate you to anchor your soul in the person of  Jesus Christ.

If you know a friend who would enjoy receiving “A Soul’s Anchor” in their email box each day, tell them they can sign up by emailing us at subscribe@asoulsanchor.org .  The messages may also be read at our website, http://www.asoulsanchor.org.  To unsubscribe, please email, unsubscribe@asoulsanchor.org with your email in the subject line. To change to a weekly instead of a daily subscription, email weekly@asoulsanchor.org  with your email in the subject line. For receiving messages by mail, please write to us at A Soul’s Anchor, India International Church,

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The Value of Imperfection

“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Romans 5:6-8 Just this week someone paid $405 for a $1 coin.  Apparently the US Mint released an unknown number of new U.S. $1 coins bearing the image of George Washington which were missing the words “In God We Trust” and other lettering along the edges.  Those who understand numismatics nod in appreciation, but many of us would not assign that value to a dollar.  

One of the resonating reminders of our humanity is the assigning of value to a thing.  We sell imperfect clothes at a discount, but we pay 400 times more for an imperfection in a coin.  Economists tell us that the intrinsic value of a thing is proportional to the scarcity and the usefulness of a thing.  But we know that it is not always so.  Often it is the intangible emotion or an association to a memory of that item.  How many of us know of things around the house we would never sell, or bear to see it damaged because of the loving memories it contains?  It has a value beyond usability, it has an imputed value.   And imputed value is a precious thing because it has acquired a value it could have never achieved on its own.  It was given to it by the giver.  It is a reflection of the one owning it.  And one of the most consistent thoughts all across the Bible is the value imputed to man by God.  Paul, the persecutor who ruthlessly executed those he saw as dangers to his faith, now with passion reverberates this value God put on mankind – “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”    

Paul is astounded, and deeply grateful.  Twice he repeats this in a short three verses. First, Christ died for the ungodly.  There was not a natural worth that we had that Christ undertook such a mission.  And as if that was not enough, he reminds again that while we were yet sinners, that is, it was not because we showed any signs of becoming worthy.  There would seem to be no reason to salvage this fallen mankind, yet God saw that humanity was worth redeeming.  Like that imperfect coin, our value was not diminished in God’s eyes due to imperfection, but rather the cross is the evidence that God put a very high value on even in our imperfection.   In our modern age much has been written about self-worth, and trying to motivate people to believe in themselves.  But self-worth will always fall short because it is based on “self”, and the great yearning of the human heart is to be found worthy by a standard outside of oneself.  But here is a wonderfully liberating thought – our value is not in simply our usefulness or even our uniqueness, the great value that we have is the value that is imputed to us by God.  It is the value we carry because of the reflection of the One who values us.   

Friend, God valued you as worth the pain, shame and isolation of the cross.  In those moments of honest reflection, are you haunted by guilt?  Are you disappointed in yourself?  Are all your actions, your passions and desires directed by wanting to be worth something to someone?  God has put a value on your life, and it was His life for yours.  May I point you to the cross where “Christ died for us while were yet sinners”.  The cross is, and forever will be an eternal symbol of the imputed value of an imperfect humanity!   Danesh Manik

The Primacy of the Cross of Christ

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures”  1 Corinthians 15:3-4

In the middle ages one of the legends that grew around Saint Martin , the Bishop of Tours was that of Satan appearing to him in the guise of the Savior Himself.  St. Martin was ready to fall to his feet and worship this magnificent being, when he gazed into the palms of his hands and noticed something missing.  He immediately asked, “Where are the nail prints?” Upon which the apparition vanished.  It may be simply a legend but the veracity of all of Christianity revolves around the nail prints. 

Have you ever wondered that the Lord who could touch the leper and the leprosy disappeared, put clay in eyes of a blind man to make him see, put his fingers in the ears of the deaf to restore hearing, take a sliced ear and restore it without any surgery, could not wipe out the scars of nail prints from the hands of a victorious, glorified risen body? 

Of course, He could! But the nail prints are not just physical marks, they are the very brand.  Of course He could.  But the nail prints are not just physical marks of an execution, they are the very essence of our salvation! The Cross is the touchstone of the Christian faith.  All of Christian experience and theology can be tested by the nail prints. 
Paul, writing to the Corinthians says, “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins”.  Paul is essentially declaring the primacy of the cross of Christ.    If we exclude the cross, no matter how eloquent the style, and how deep the theology – it is nothing.  Christianity is not essentially a system of   morality, or even just the hope of immortality, it is essentially a religion of salvation – first of all … Christ died for our sins.

This is exceptionally important for it grounds the faith, not simply in an experience, or in some acceptance of a creed, but most importantly in that day in history when Jesus was nailed to the cross as a vicarious sacrifice for our sins, and subsequently the day in history when He rose again.  I am convinced that unless we understand the atonement, we will never be able to seriously answer any questions that are leveled against the Christian faith. 

Let me illustrate.  In a recent article, “Selfless Consciousness Without Faith” by Sam Harris, the avowed atheist and author of, “A Letter to a Christian Nation,” writing of his experience of “a blissful stillness” and a “feeling of peace” on the shore of Galilee , argues, “ If I were a Christian I would undoubtedly interpret this experience in Christian terms.  I might believe that I had glimpsed the oneness of God, or the descent of the Holy Spirit, but I am not a Christian.”  He goes on to explain how   he would interpret this experience as if he were a Hindu or a Buddhist, but then writes of how he as an atheist interprets this experience.  In his own words, “ As someone who is simply making his best effort to be a rational human being, I am very slow to draw metaphysical conclusions from experiences of this sort. The truth is, I experience what I would call the “selflessness of consciousness” rather often, wherever I happen to meditate—be it in a Buddhist monastery, a Hindu temple, or while having my teeth cleaned. Consequently, the fact that I also had this experience at a Christian holy site does not lend an ounce of credibility to the doctrine of Christianity.” 

Apart from the very obvious problem that on the same grounds Mr. Harris rejects the interpretation of the Christian or a Hindu or a Buddhist (namely, that they are biased in their interpretations), he essentially destroys his own argument.  For his atheism is also a bias that he brings to the experience he calls “selfless consciousness without faith”.  He is right in saying that his experience does not lend an ounce of credulity to the Christian faith.  But neither does it lend any credulity to atheism!  And it only disproves faith if faith were based on this sort of experience.  But Christian faith is not an accumulation of experience of “feelings of peace” or “blissful stillness”.   Experience does occur, but the Gospel call is that “first of all Christ died for our sins”.   

I pray that as we approach this season of Easter, let this thought cheer our hearts and provide an anchor for our faith – that first of all Christ died for our sins!

Danesh Manik

Bruising That Was Pleasing to God

“Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him…”  Isaiah 53:10 It is perhaps one of the most startling statements in the Bible.  God taking pleasure in pain of His Servant!  It is even more startling if you consider the previous verses.  The Servant, the One being bruised, is described as one without any deceit (Isaiah 53:9).  The ones He is getting bruised for are God’s people who have abandoned God.  They are described as those “who have sold themselves for their iniquities” (Isaiah 50:1).  If this was not enough, the reason for this bruising of this Perfect Servant is the transgressions of the ungrateful people who have forsaken their God!  In these heart gripping words it is described – “Surely He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.. He was bruised for our iniquities…the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”   

It would be hard to understand it had it not been revealed to us in the Cross.  Isaiah, 700 years before Jesus, is prophetically talking about the suffering Messiah, Jesus.  “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him” was simply saying that Jesus was to be the substitute for people estranged from God, and it pleased God, not to see the pain, but the ultimate achievement, of this bruising, for the verse ends, “When You make His soul an offering for sin.. the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.”   In that sacrifice, Christ resolved the conflict between God’s infinite love and God’s ultimate justice.   It is this pleasure that God foresaw, and it pleased Him to bruise Jesus.  It is what the theologians call the “atonement”.  It is not a doctrine that was created to explain away the cross, it was anticipated 700 years before it happened as the only way to reconciliation of man and God.  It is this paradox of “just for the unjust”, this substitutionary death that is central to the core of Christianity, is perhaps directly or indirectly challenged most often, and even confounds many Christians.    

How can Jesus pay for our sins as a substitute?  How could one man represent all of us?  Is it not the height of injustice?  In these questions, what we are really questioning is the veracity of substitution.  Actually, substitution happens all the time.   In our own lives we are constantly applauding substitution.  When a soldier dies fighting for the country, he dies a substitutionary death.  He dies as a substitute for many others who are then free to live.  When our brave firefighters, policemen, and medical personnel died trying to save others on 9/11, we, very justifiably, build memorials to them. Who has not felt the surge of nobility in purpose and deed reading the stories of men such as Father Damien who died of leprosy while serving lepers?   I contend that it is not the death of Jesus in our stead that causes us to recoil, it is that that the cross of Jesus reminds us vividly the ugliness of our own sin, and the seriousness of that sin in God’s eyes.  The atonement will never make sense, the cross will never become more than a symbol, the  love of God will never be more than a fuzzy feeling to anyone who does not first see clearly the seriousness of their own sin.  It is in the light of that sin that alienated us, the love of God that longed for reconciliation, we understand why “it pleased the Lord to bruise Him.”   

Friend, it pleased God, not that He rejoiced in the pain of Jesus, but He rejoiced in the pleasure of those whom Jesus came to save, and that is you and me.  Will, what pleased God, displease you?  Will, what God came to save, you reject because it does not suit your fancy?  Will you dishonor the one who came to be your substitute sacrifice?   I pray that you will look upon Him and be saved!   Danesh Manik

Called By Name

“I have called you by your name; You are Mine.” Isaiah 43:1 

In the terrifying record of his memories of a time that testifies to the depths of depravity  of mankind, Elie Wiesel in his book, Night, writes of the time when he arrived at the Auschwitz camp.  “In the afternoon they made us line up.  Three prisoners brought a table and some medical instruments.  We were told to roll up our left sleeves and file past the table.  The three “veteran” prisoners, needles in hand, tattooed numbers on our left arms.  I became A-7713.  From then on, I had no other name. At dusk, a roll call.  The work commandos had returned.”    I imagine the roll call now consisted of numbers instead of names.  What, at one time was a name, signifying a person, a relationship, a part of a social order, had now become merely a number – easy to exterminate.  There is something about our names.  It encompasses a personal history, and establishes a personal identity.  It hides in it all that I am, and hope to be.  It may be the closest way to reference my essence outside of me. And therefore the words of God through Isaiah, “I have called you by name” must have sounded like a cordial to the Israelites in the midst of an uncertain future and Babylonian captivity.   When someone calls you by name, they are declaring they recognize you, and they are validating your identity.  When God calls you by name, He is not only declaring recognition, and validating identity, He is also assuring protection and securing destiny.  Look at the words that follow God’s declaration. He promises safety from flood and fire, and ultimately a destiny – a gathering of His people.  “I have called you by name, you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you, when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned… Fear not, for I am with you, I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west, I will say to the north ‘give them up”, and to the south, ‘do not keep them back, bring my sons from afar (Isaiah 43:2-7)   As the Israelites “wept by the rivers in Babylon”, and perhaps wrestled with their alienation from God because of their sin, the words, “I have called you by name, you are mine” were most cheering.  In this God was saying that though through sin you have been alienated, you have not been voided personally. You have not simply become a number.  If this was true then, it is more true after the cross. John reminds us that “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” 

Friend, may I remind you today that if you have repented of your sin, and surrendered your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, then God promises that you are His child, and he calls you by your name – recognition, identity, safety and destiny!   

Danesh Manik

Why are you fearful?

But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  Matthew 8:26

The question may have struck the disciples as a little unfair.  We are told that a tempest arose and the boat was covered with waves.  Who would not be fearful in the midst of the danger of sinking?     The situation was not of their making.  To add to their feeling of helplessness Jesus was fast asleep in the boat.  Mark, in his gospel, captures their frustration, as they wake Him asking, “Do you not care that we are perishing?”  Jesus chides them for being fearful, pins their fear as lack of faith, and rising up, He calms the winds and the sea, and they marvel and ask, “who can this be that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”    By calming the winds and the sea Jesus demonstrated that He was sovereign, and He did care.  The lack of faith of the disciples was precisely their inability to fully grasp the sovereignty of the Son of God on one hand, and His love on the other.  In the first question “Do you not care we are perishing?” they showed that they had not quite grasped the love of God.  In the later, they showed that they had not understood His sovereignty.   The sovereignty of God and the love of God is the basis of all genuine confidence in God, and the sure antidote to all fear.  I am convinced that real faith is directly proportional to how much we grasp this doctrine of sovereignty, and how much we understand God’s love for us.  Of all the prophets, I believe, Isaiah, uses the term, “fear not” more times than any other, and most times what forms the backdrop for these comforting words is the ultimate sovereignty of God, and His love for His people.  For instance in Isaiah 43,  God establishes the comforting thought, “Fear not”, in the first verse, and then follows it with the reason why.  “I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name” – this is His testimony to His love.  Then He adds, “rivers shall not overflow you, fire shall not burn you” – a promise that cannot be true unless He was sovereign.   God is saying, fear not because I love you, and I am sovereign. Faith is often misconstrued as believing in the “promises” that God makes.  I think that is a consequence of faith.  Real faith is simply believing in the ultimate sovereignty of God, and the infinite love of God.   Friend, are you fearful?  Are you dismayed at the turn of events?  Circumstances that were not your doing?  Then may I urge you to meditate on this wonderful doctrine of the sovereignty of God, and deliberate on the love of God.  And if these words are not enough, may I point you to two days in history.  On the first day, Good Friday, with Jesus on the cross, God displayed His love for all who would believe.  On that other day, Easter Sunday, with an empty tomb, God displayed His sovereignty.  The One who could love a rebellious humanity to die for it, and the One whom the grave could not hold is the sovereign God who loves you! Why are you fearful? O ye of little faith! Danesh Manik 

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“A Soul’s Anchor” is a daily inspirational message prepared to challenge your mind, inspire your heart, and motivate you to anchor your soul in the person of  Jesus Christ.

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Hating Love

“Love never fails..” 1 Corinthians 13:8

Kelli Congelli, writing in MSN music column gives this tongue-in-cheek advice in an aptly titled article, “Anti-Valentine”, just in time for those to whom Valentine’s Day is a nothing but a painful reminder of the failure of love. She writes, “You can simply choose to hate love. I mean, really despise the sucker. Wear black. Spit on flowers. Fill your ears not with the sweet nothings of others but with the wails, moans and cries of musicians who have the decency to remind us of love’s disastrous qualities.”  Though it is probably a humorous attempt to introduce the top “I hate love” songs of all times that follow, I suspect that the idea resonates with a universal appeal, for love is a universal quest, and in one way or another, at one time or another, we all find solidarity in a failure of this ideal. 
 
In the midst of this, St. Paul’s unequivocal declaration, “Love never fails”, sounds like an outlandish claim for this “many-splendored thing”.  Either Paul was being sappy, and using sentimental exaggeration as a pep-talk to the Corinthians, or he was talking of a different kind of love.  I think Paul was the last person you would expect to get maudlin.  I suggest Paul is talking about a different kind of love, a love that really never fails.  
 
Incidentally Paul was writing to the Corinthians who boasted of that infamous temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love.   And to a culture to which love was some sort of euphoric sensation, Paul writes about a love that was a deliberate decision,  even in times when that decision seemed burdensome.   Just listen to how he begins by extolling the virtues of this love that never fails: “Love is patient, love is kind”.  He is immediately implying that there are times when all of natural inclinations justify being impatient, and unkind, but love chooses to be patient and kind.  And all of the rest of the virtues of love that follow imply the same – a decision to love against natural inclinations.  And this decisive love, Paul says, never fails. 
 
Yet what does it mean that “love never fails”.  In an age where at least in a certain sense failed love is as common as the evening news, in what way exactly does this decisive love never fail?  I suggest that there are at least three senses in which this love never fails. 
 
First, it does not fail as in “love is changeless.”  That is, this love is timeless, and eternal.  It will never fade.  The rest of the virtues and gifts have a limited usefulness, but love transcends time. 
 
Second it does not fail as in “love is consistent.”  This decisive sort of love is reliable – you can count on it.  Circumstances do not alter its motivations.  It does not fail to come through. 

But there is another way in which love never fails and it is the crowning glory of this love.   Love never fails as in “love is triumphant”.  It never fails to bring about its desired effect.  Elsewhere, Paul uses the same Greek word for “fail”, and it is translated, “has no effect”.  In other words, this love that Paul is talking about never fails to take effect.  It is always victorious.  Where strength and might fail, this decisive, unconditional love comes back victorious.  It is guaranteed to accomplish its purpose.  Is there a barrier to a relationship?  You have tried everything, and it has only alienated you more?  This sort of love is guaranteed to triumph in overcoming that barrier.  Is there a heart that you simply cannot seem to reach?  You have tried threats, emotion, manipulation?  This love is guaranteed to reach that unresponsive heart.  It is a love that never fails.
 
Yes, there is indeed a love that is selfish.  It is indulged in because of how it makes one feel, and sometime or another that love fails, and as one of the popular songs of the day says  “It’ll make you hear a symphony, And you’ll just want the world to see, But like a drunk that makes you blind, It’ll fool you every time”.  It is a love that when done, it makes you hate love.
 
But there is a love, a love that God displays, and allows us to emulate.  It is the love that allowed God to love a humanity in sinful rebellion, that allowed the very Son of God to suffer on the Cross, and the love that is extended to each one of us.  It is the love of God, and God never fails.  Therefore, this love never fails!
 
Danesh Manik

Do Not Pray!

“Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you.”  Jeremiah 7:16

It is a shocking request to the prophet to refrain from intercession, especially from the One who had said to another prophet, “I sought for a man to stand in the gap”.  God was instructing Jeremiah to not pray.  God was not only not going to hear the prayers of a spiritually destitute, and flagrantly disobedient people, but he was preventing even the weeping prophet to pray for them.  And this command is repeated three times in later chapters. 

When I read this I have to ask myself, is it possible for me, to so vex God that He not only cannot hear my prayers, but it becomes impossible for another to make intercession for me.  If the hope of turning to God is taken away, if His longsuffering is squandered, His mercy exhausted, what can a man do?  If I have bankrupted myself of money or fame or even health, I may have hope, but what does one do when God bids farewell?  More specifically, what is this posture of a heart that can makes God say goodbye, and make prayer ineffective? 

It is interesting to note the times and the general culture of the people when these words were spoken. 
Judah was in midst of peace and prosperity under the reformer King Josiah.  The Book of the Law had been found, and the favorite book of the people was Deuteronomy.  The people had an eclectic worship experience combining much of the ceremonial law and ignoring its moral aspect, added with other forms of worship influenced by the nations around them.  Assyria was a power that was waning in significance as Babylon grew as a vigorous rival, and they saw in that the first steps to the fulfillment of Nahum’s prophecy of the destruction of
Assyria.   The preachers preached “Peace!”  and smugly they attributed all of this to the blessings of God promised in Deuteronomy.  What could be more evident of God’s blessing than unprecedented prosperity?  And in the midst of this, Jeremiah stood as a lone voice with a gloomy outlook.  Literally the words, “Do not pray”, stand in the midst of God asking Jeremiah to go stand outside their worship place and as people go in, to say these gloomy words to them.  And reading the complete context of the passage, one sees a people who believed in God’s promises without evaluating their own actions.  They were a people who rejoiced in God’s promises of blessings, but glossed over the warnings. 

I think the most dangerous place for a person is when they seem to easily believe in God’s promises, but hardly consider His warnings.  When one is convinced of their own righteousness, even God cannot convince them otherwise.  It is this posture where prayer becomes powerless, and intercession is ineffective.  We live in comparative peace and prosperity.  We have many blessings, and have seen God’s provision.  Is it possible that we can become so smug about our righteousness, delight over His promises, and forget to evaluate our actions?  Are our thoughts and actions in obedience to God’s word?  As we rejoice over His blessings, are we also fully cognizant of His warnings.  I suspect a good test of genuine trust in God’s Word is if we believe the judgments of the Lord with the same intensity as the promises.   I have often found more genuine piety trembling over the judgments of the Lord rather than smugly claiming the blessing of the Lord. 

Perhaps someday someone will compile a “Warnings of the Bible” as a companion volume to the “Promises of the Bible” to keep us of a balanced mind. 

It is interesting that even in God’s instruction to Jeremiah not to pray, God is working to bring the people to Himself.  In a later chapter (14), He says not to pray for their own good, and then after the captivity, we hear these words that have been a keystone of hope for God’s people through the ages.  “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.”  God told Jeremiah not to pray, so that he could get them in a place where they could genuinely pray and be drawn back to Him. 

Danesh Manik