Students, Learn for the Glory of God!

In India, the most important thing for a child to do in life is to study the basic sciences in school and to get a good grade. This society believes in getting good grades in schools as the highest achievement which a student can ever get. This continues till the time of college and even at work. For the past 21 years, from the time of my schooling till now, I have been studying. I was also brought up with the ultimate motive of studying for my own self-glorification. And to achieve this goal, there are many ways and tips which the secular world teaches us. Most of it is based on worldly, devilish motives and often it does more harm than good.

It is to be noted that only after protestant reformation, universities and schools were established. It is biblical idea to learn arts and sciences related to day to day life from our elders and teachers since it is a creation mandate (Gen 1:28). Yet often, we are no different than the unbelievers in our motives of studying these sciences. Let us see the biblical way to achieve this end:

1) Studying for the glory of God:

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1Co 10:31)

In the old testament times, when God showed His glory to the Israelites in the wilderness, they would tremble and fear. That fear is out of reverence and absolute purity of God that the sinfulness of them would be so clearly perceived and they tremble upon ashamed. In the new covenant, God has called us to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:2) for the glory of God. What a great privilege which we have in Christ! This should be the motive of our life in each and everything which we do.  Even while we are studying, we should study so that the name of the God be glorified in our work. Many students study just for passing in exams or getting selected in a desired vocation. Some go for special class to be motivated to study after seeing others studying. If that is our goal, then that is idolatry and we are disobeying the 1st commandment.

2) Myth of memory power:

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Pro 1:7)

There is a belief among students that some are genetically superior that they are very studious when compared to others. In order to acquire more memory, they follow man made rules and restriction to achieve the feat. It is noteworthy that some are blessed with more wisdom to remember what they study, but that does not make them inherently superior.

It has been proven that sense experience is not necessary for learning. For example, we don’t have any sense inputs in our brain while we are dreaming yet we are able to remember those dreams. How are we able to do that? If Brain is the seat of memory, then how dead people who are in heaven or in hell able to have memory while their body is in the earth? (Remember Lazarus-Rich man Parable? Read my article on Science for more info on senses)

This just proves that no one is inherently having higher memory than others but rather it is God who gives more memory to individuals by His own Sovereign Will. And we as Christians students, we should study for the glory of God rather than pleasing men. That should be the motive of our studies. Even if we can’t remember the things which we study, if we are consistently working hard and preparing, then God would bless our efforts and He would give us the reward in the right time.

3) Revision is the means by which God gives us memory:

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Jos 1:8)

Though God is the one who makes us remember the information of sciences which we learn, it is our duty to be responsible and hardworking, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. (Eph 5:16). It is God who is omniscient, who knows everything. So it would not be difficult for God to bestow us with the information directly in our minds without we reading and studying from books. But God has used books as a means through which He chose to give information so that we would be growing in our knowledge to test us whether we are obedient to His commands. If we truly love Him, we would follow His means of acquiring knowledge, which is by repetitive recollection of what we studied.

Learning is a Godly affair. Let us continue in our pursuits of knowledge with the God glorifying, Christ exalting goal and seek to bring God’s kingdom in this earth.

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Why do you Fear?

We all know about the events happening in Iraq. A terror organisation called ISIS has taken over half of Iraq and has threatened the world with their blitzkrieg attack. This is the first time, a terror organisation has taken about quarter of Iraq along with important cities and even close to the capital of Iraq. They have achieved all these in a matter of days with comparatively inferior weapons when compared to the U.S trained and equipped Iraqi army. The greatest weapon which they have is by creating terror among Iraqi army by their brutal method of killing enemy soldiers and this method has demoralised Iraqi soldiers to such an extent that they have given up their weaponry and their armory and ran away.

Even we Christians can be demoralised by Satan and his armies. Though we are more than conquerors, at times, we give in to his lies and live a life of defeat. Here are four ways Satan can tempt us to be afraid and ways to overcome that fear.

1) Fear of failure:

The greatest temptation which Satan would bring into our lives is what if we fail. Even the disciples after Christ was crucified had that fear. They thought that Christ would be victorious against the evil Roman Empire and rule their country. But Christ’s death on the cross demoralised them to such an extent that they were not willing to go out fearing Jews (John 20:19). We can also be afraid of failures which may come in our spiritual life like failure to overcome temptations, failure in our ministry, failure in our workplace etc. We may be afraid of losing our salvation too.

But if we are thinking consistently as according to what God has promised us, we would not fear. Jesus promised His disciples so many times before he was crucified that He would be risen from the dead and will be with them forever alive. But they failed to remember that and thus feared. Let’s not be afraid like that of the disciples and remember the promises of God that we will win.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Rom 8:35-37)

They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful." (Rev 17:14)

2) Fear of men:

Another fear which can drive us to despair is the fear of men. They can be tyrant rulers, persecutors from other faith, evil men, thieves, con men, evil leaders in our work place etc. We can be bogged down in our faith by these. But Bible warns us that fear of men is dangerous.

The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe. (Pro 29:25)

But if we are fearing man and not God, we are in a greater danger than the former.

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Mat 10:28)

You go to your friend’s house. There you find that he has a powerful huge dog which can tear you apart but on hearing the master’s voice, the dog obeys the master and befriends you. God is the one whom we should be revered. If we are obedient to Him, He would be like that example and be gracious and merciful. But if we are sinful and fearing man, then He would be a terror to us.

3) Fear of security:

We all want our lives to be secured. We want to get a secured job. We want our families to be safe. But safety should not make us to be afraid of dangers and thus not risking for the sake of God. I am not saying that we should not care for our loved ones. A husband ought to love his wife and has to be faithful to the vows he has promised and protect her from evil. It is his duty to show love as Christ has loved us. He has to take up all the sweat and toil for the sake of his wife’s comfort. It is his primary responsibility that he should teach his wife and children the precepts of God. That’s what Christ has done for the Church. And Christ would not divorce Church even if the church is unfaithful. That’s why divorce is wrong.

We would be afraid only if our wealth is in a vulnerable place from which it can be taken away from us. But we should remember that Christ has already bought us for a price and has called us to lay our treasures in Heaven. So even if we lose our physical belongings to any unfortunate event, even if we lose our loved ones we should not be hopeless like that of unbelievers, but hopeful of the unchanging promises of God.

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. (Mat 6:19-20)

4) Fear of future trials:

We hear of wars, famines, floods, robberies and other evils all the time. We can become afraid of our future job, promotions etc.  A student can become afraid of passing in exams. But we should not be worrying about all these rather we should be concentrating on the glory of God.

"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Mat 6:34)

I liked one scene from the movie “The Dark Knight Rises”. Batman would try many times to escape a prison but would fail. When he was dejected of his repeated failures, the inmate would suggest to escape without any support so that the fear of death would make him jump the pit. I would like to say something from this. We have to choose between two types of fear to succeed or to fail. If we fear God then we would succeed and we would not be afraid of anything. If we fear anything else other than God, we would fail for sure. If an irrational fear can make that hero to succeed failures, how much more the fear of God would make us more than conquerors?

He who kneel before God can stand before anyone – Martin Luther

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The magnificence of Scripture

Recently, a friend and me were talking about issues regarding divorce and abortion. I was telling him that God has made marriage as a covenant to be lasted till the time of death and divorce is not an option at all. And abortion for the sake of contraception is wrong and unethical. But my friend’s opinion was that divorce is okay if there is a 'valid' reason. And we can abort the child depending on the ‘situation’. We found out the reason for our disagreement is because of our attitude towards Scripture. My friend said, scriptures though is God’s word cannot answer for issues of daily living like the case above. We can see that our view on Scripture can drastically change our way of thinking and change our life dramatically.

Many of us are of the view, like my friend above, that Scripture is a good book but is irrelevant for the issues of 21st century. But if Scripture cannot answer for issues like this, how can we trust it for much more important things like our salvation?

Scripture – Sufficient for our faith:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2Ti 3:16-17)

In this context, Paul was warning Timothy about the false teachings which were prevalent among Christians during his time and told him to be steadfast in his faith. Then he exhorted him declaring that Scripture is God’s Word breathed out directly from the Holy Spirit (2Pet 1:21). Though God can speak to us through a prophecy or dream, yet that would contain a human element and thus can be fallible. But Scripture does not contain those human elements because “no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. (2Pe 1:20)”.  Thus it is free from corruption due to sinfulness of man.

If we expand 2Tim 3:16, we can find that Scripture is sufficient for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness. Let us look for each of it in detail.

1) Sufficiency of Scripture in teaching:

Scripture is sufficient for teaching about Christianity. Scripture gives first hand account of who God is, His attributes, His nature and His relationship with man.

The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation." (Exo 34:6-7)

Scripture is sufficient to know about the teachings regarding our salvation of our sins and the good works which we are expected to do when we are saved.

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Jos 1:8)

He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction. (Psa 107:20)

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. (Heb 1:1-2)

If we want to know what God wants to teach us, we can go back to Scriptures and meditate on His words. We have to test each and every teaching to be true from Scripture. This exercise should not be considered as a sign of not trusting the messenger but faith in the unchanging Word of God.

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. (Act 17:10-11)

Paul here tells us that, Bereans when compared to the Thessalonians, were more noble because they were testing Paul’s preaching from God’s word. Paul did not consider this as lack of trust upon his word, but as a sign of respect and reverence for Scripture. Thus we should also be like Bereans testing all the teachings of Christianity from Scripture. That is a noble affair in the sight of Lord.

2) Sufficiency of Scripture for reproof and correction:

There are plenty of verses in which God talks about the different types of sins, and the call for repentance. We can read the old testament prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah rebuking Israelites for their sins. They are recorded in Scripture for us so that we would not do the same sins which they have committed.

It is because you made offerings and because you sinned against the LORD and did not obey the voice of the LORD or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his testimonies that this disaster has happened to you, as at this day." (Jer 44:23)

1Co 10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

(ESV)

3) Sufficiency of Scripture for training in righteousness:

Scriptures are sufficient for our guidance in holiness. Only through Scriptures, we can know about how to please God. The Ten Commandments show the holiness of God and His expectation from us.

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (Psa 119:11)

The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; (Psa 19:8)

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. (Psa 1:1-2)

After resurrection, when Jesus showed Thomas His physical hands to touch and see to prove that He is resurrected, He said the following words to exhort us who believe Him through His words revealed in Scripture:

Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (Joh 20:29)

Let us therefore meditate on Scriptures to know what God wants us to do for Him in this life. Scripture is sufficient for us for everything God wants us to know in this world.

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Are you afraid of persecution?

It is the command of our savior to preach the gospel to all nations. And we are supposed to preach the gospel in season and out of season. Yet, we Christians fail to do so most of the time. One of the way in which we justify that is, the fear of persecution. I have had this temptation most of the time when I wanted to preach the gospel. To make this temptation even worse for me, my natural personality is to be like an introvert, and I always think twice before I talk. Yet that does not give an excuse for me to not to preach the gospel. So how can we proclaim the gospel without the fear of persecution? Let us look at the promises of God for it:

Don’t be afraid of men:

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Mat 10:28)  

The main reason why we don’t preach the gospel is not because of fear of persecution. It is actually a symptom of a greater disease. It is the lack of fear of God and the reverence for His holiness and righteousness. When we are not afraid of God, then we would form another idol, which in this case is fear of men. We want to please men thus we remain passive. But Bible here clearly says that it is wiser to be afraid of someone who is greater than man, who can send us to hell, i.e. God.

A Case study of Peter:

Before our Lord was crucified, Peter was warned that he would deny Christ. But instead of asking for strength from God, he trusted in his own strength and boasted about his own performance.

Peter answered him, "Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away." (Mat 26:33)  

Peter said to him, "Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you (Mat 26:35)

Here Peter is, not only trusting in his own strength but also is proud that he is better than the rest in loving God. But we all know that he failed and Christ was right. But here is the good news. Even as he realised that he was a failure and tried to run away from Christ, after He rose from the dead, Jesus specifically went in search of Peter in John 21, and reassured His love for him though he did not deserve it.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs"(Joh 21:15)

And not just that, He gave a promise to Peter that He would glorify God in his martyrdom.

Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go." (Joh 21:18)  

Peter was broke. He realised that he is not worthy of the love of Christ. Yet Christ again proved his election and showed his special love for Peter because He is elect. Thus Christ used Peter’s apparent loss for his own gain and history proves that God used Peter mightily for the advancement of His kingdom. The same Peter, who denied Christ in gethsemane out of fear of men, volunteered to be crucified upside down, not because of his own strength but because of the unchanging promise of God. This reminds me of the following verse:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Rom 8:28)

We may lose a battle to the enemy, but even that loss has been predestined by God for our good so that we would come even more close to God. And God has promised us that we will ultimately win this spiritual war.

Likewise, we should also repent of our past sins and trust only in God’s promises. We cannot preach the gospel by our own strength but by the power of God alone. Let us trust in His faithful promises and be a watchman proclaiming the good news to the poor.

And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."
(Luk 12:11-12)

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