Psalm 119:37 “Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, And revive me in Your way.”
The bag was bulging and he came to school studiously carrying the bag; not many come to our school with such big bags, though, filled with text books and note books. The eight year old boy had come to join our school and his mother claimed that he studied in standard three in the previous school; however, as per our normal process, we check the knowledge of the student and put them in the respective classes. When I checked the boy on the first day of school, I was alarmed to find that he was not fit even for upper kinder garden; he did not know his English alphabets and knowledge of local language was also very, very poor. I wondered what he carried in that big bulging bag! I summoned to bring the bag to me and when I checked I found: tattered text books, torn note books with half of the pages filled with drawings, broken bits of biscuits, broken pencils, bits of erasers, color pencils and sketch pens without covers and much more…I had to start from the scratch for this little fellow! I explained the fact to his mother who gave me a vacant look; they had trusted that the previous school taught him something. I emptied the entire stuff in his bag into the trash can and gave him fresh note books and the first thing I told him was to keep the books clean and never tare the pages and if he does it, he was warned that he would be disciplined in this school. Some of our lives are like this bulging bag with gaping worthlessness! We need to be disciplined! Some need hard spanking and the old, rotten stuff to be emptied, if we need the goodness of God to fill our lives! Anybody listening?
Many of our bags are filled with long hours of hard work and no prayer: swanky computers, latest and trendy mobiles, iPhone, ipad, luxury homes, BMW, EMIs for all this stuff purchased, plethora of credit cards saturated to the brim with debts and what not! We are bombarded and wooed on all sides with offers for an exotic vacation, personal loans to purchase the temptations and we sure need ‘grit and determination’ to stay away. I am no exception; none can escape this! Stay rooted to God and His Word otherwise you would be drowned in this tsunami of temptations! Beware!
Coming year, make a strong decision never to get into this trap of EMI web. 1 John 2:15”Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Friend, having worked many years in the Hotel sector, Corporate sectors and also in a multinational bank, I sure know the lust for money out there; however, I have realized it is not the abundance of things that can satisfy you but the abundance of the presence of God can only fill us with delight and peace that surpasses all understanding.
Let us give up our flamboyant life style, some of our ministries also has to follow the guidelines of the Bible, rather than extravagant decorations inside the church, debt-free ministry and life, is what would delight God.
The comfy ride in life, would not last long, if you do not give the steering wheels to God!
