Monk Habits for Everyday People

Last week I completed reading my first book this year. I didn't buy it but picked it up from Public Library. When I saw the title i.e. - Monk Habits for Everyday People: Benedictine Spirituality for Protestants by Dennis Okholm, I was curious. I started reading it and I can tell you that after a long time I found a book which was so interesting to me that I finished reading it in a few days. I am not a bibliophile or bookworm. I can't read all books and can see it to completion only if its awakens my interest.

I just thought of writing few things about it here. Firstly, if you are a person who gets scared or maybe you feel old fashioned with the word "Monk" then this book is definitely for you! The book is very good in making a person understand what Benedictine Spirituality is and other things which is practiced in monasteries. You will get a very good idea about why monks do certain things. The intent and the reason behind many things can be understood easily.

Evangelical theologian and educator Dennis Okholm offers this spiritual memoir of his pilgrimage into monastic culture in an era when a chorus of evangelical voices are crying out for changes in their branch of the church. Various evangelical writers are arguing: The movement's become stale. It's been hijacked by political operatives. It's turned Christianity into an easy-bake recipe for prosperity. And, where many of these writers wind up trying to take us is back into centuries-old Christian traditions that once were considered exclusively "Catholic." And, when evangelicals said that word in the past, they often sneered.

Don't mistake Okholm's book for one of those angry evangelical books trying to shake up the movement from its foundations, but not offering much of a pathway through the resulting rubble. No, this is a thoughtful, careful, mature memoir. He admits that, at that time, he suspected monastic life was a tired old "relic of the Middle Ages."

He suggests how Benedictine spirituality can overcome the star-power trend he sees in many Protestant churches. He suggests that if more pastors held obedience, balance, and listening at the heart of their ministries, the dissent that strikes many congregations could be kept at bay, and the Gospel of Christ better served in our mission fields.

He has chapters on listening, poverty, obedience, humility, hospitality, stability, and balance; he gives Protestant readers a perspective on the values of Catholic spirituality. I especially liked and appreciate a final chapter on why the Protestant reformers, made a break from monasticism, as it can help to set Protestant perspectives on monasticism in historical perspective.

Who was Benedict? Born around 480 C.E, he was first a hermit (A hermit is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society) who later gathered a community of followers. He apparently didn’t intend to establish a community but when he did, he developed his Rule.

If you ask me if I learned anything from it then YES! It helped me to evaluate my life with many teachings of the Bible and if I am it following in the right sense.

If you are a person who comes from a protestant or evangelical or Pentecostal background then you should read it. I don't think it will encourage you to become a monk but it will definitely help you to evaluate and understand many things in your own lives which you are supposed to do but don’t. It will help you in looking at your own life if you don't read it from a critical view.

As humans we can always learn from different people and culture. Monk habits have lot of things for a Christian to learn from. You may think I am impressed by Monk habits. Yes I am by the intention behind many things they do as they correspond to what Jesus taught us. I don't want to mention more here. I want to conclude this post by saying that if you get a copy of this book or get a Chance to read it then go for it. You will learn a lot.

After writing about it I found this link which has a presentation about this book. If you don't read the book then at least read this Monk Habit Presentation .

God Bless You!

Happy New Year 2011 and Message

Happy New Year 2011!

I wish you all a blessed new year. Another year has gone by and we are in a new year.

Whenever a New Year starts, people take decisions and we see fresh energy as people hope to do things in a new way. Sometimes it is the decision to read the Bible or pray regularly. Sometimes it is about giving more to charity or going to church regularly. It could also be things like exercising regularly. But if we are not disciplined then the enthusiasm dies in 2-3 weeks and we get back to our previous lifestyle. But the New Year always presents us with an opportunity to start or plan things in a new way. It

encourages us to take some new decisions.

At our church (Minnesota Pentecostal Assembly), on New Year eve, I spoke about getting genuine or real in this New Year. Getting real is important to have a consistent relationship with God. Many times people are either thinking or acting below what God has given to them or where God has placed them; sometimes they are thinking above what God has given to them. Either way it prevents us from fully realizing God’s primary call and purpose in our life. Few important points I shared during the message was -

1. Phil 3:16: “Let us live up to what we have already attained.” – Know the purpose of your life, forget the past, and live in reality

2. Acting below what one is could be in the form of underestimating God’s primary purpose and call in one’s life, pride in the form of false humility, making excuses about having to learn more, to name a few.

3. Acting above what one is or where God has placed them could be in the form of fake spirituality, not realizing the reality, acting out when one is actually struggling, to name

some.

You can listen to this message at MPA Website http://www.mnpassembly.org/Resources.aspx

May God Bless You!

Settle you Eternity

The world view Christianity as another Religion. When we read the message of the Bible, we can understand that Jesus didn't come to make a religion but to establish the relationship between God and man.

Let’s look at the earth in which we are living. We see a creation. This creation demands a Creator. We see everything around us designed perfectly. Now this requires a designer. We follow some moral laws as we live in society. This requires a moral law giver. We have a life. This life demands a life giver. Have you ever thought about it? There is a God who is the Creator of this earth. He gave us this life. Bible says that God created man in His own image. But sin separated man from God. God is a holy God and cannot tolerate sin. The wages of sin is death.

But God provided a way so that the relationship between God and Man can be restored. He sent his Son Jesus Christ in to this world. Jesus Christ died on the cross but rose again on the third day. He has promised eternal life for those who believe in Him and accept Him as their personal savior. There is a life after death. Jesus Christ gives hope and peace not only for this life, but also for life after death. We all will have to go from this world one day. Some people think death is the end of everything. It is only the end of our life in this world. There is eternal life after death and where we spend our eternity depends on the choice we make today. Jesus Christ promises you to give an eternal life in heaven if you accept Him. This is the good news.

What I wrote till now is plain Gospel. It's simple but difficult for people to understand or accept. People think accepting and following Jesus is an option. Let me tell you it’s not an option. It is a matter of our eternity. It will decide where you will spend your eternity. It is written in the Bible that every man has to die once and then stand in front of God’s judgment throne. If you are reading this and have not accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, then I request you to look at your own life and find the truth.

Settle your eternity before you leave this world. After you die you won’t have any option!

Do we obey Out of Love or Out of Duty?

The question asked by a person goes like this :-

I came across this post which quotes John MacArthur.

http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2010/06/do-we-obey-out-of-love-or-out-of-duty.html

God Bless You!

Final Instruction to Christians in Rome

Romans is a letter written by Apostle Paul to the church in Rome. Paul writes about basic gospel and God's plan of salvation for all people. Salvation is available to all, regardless of a person's identity, sin or heritage. We are saved by grace through faith. Paul also talks about freedom from power of sin, freedom from the domination of the law, freedom to become like Christ and discover God's limitless love. Paul also gives some practical advice as to how a Christian should behave. Paul almost concludes this letter by letting the church know about his plan to visit them and by giving his personal greetings to many people.

But just before the end he gives a final instruction to the church, Paul says that he is making one more appeal. I want to bring out few things out of that here.

Romans 16:17-18
And now I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them. Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people. (NLT)

In these verses Paul is making an appeal. In NIV version it says "I urge you". He is making this appeal to everyone. What is Paul’s appeal? His appeal is that watch out for people who cause divisions and teach things contrary to what you have learned. These types of teachings not only upset people but also put obstacles in the faith of people. We are living in times when Christianity has been highly commercialized by people who claim to be teachers of Bible and in reality they are not. They earn millions by selling their books and other things which they claim to be biblical in nature but they are not. Lot of books and sermons comes on our way which looks too good to be avoided in the first place. But we should check what the content is and make sure it goes in line with what is taught by Jesus Christ.

Now we see lot of people like this. What should we do? Paul’s instruction is simple- Stay away from them. They are not serving Christ our Lord; but they are serving their own personal interests. Paul gives identification about such people. By Smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people. In NIV version it says that they deceive the minds of naïve people. How true it is. Mind manipulation has always been a strategy which Satan has used from beginning to deceive people. He will try to manipulate the minds by bringing ideas and thoughts which are completely contrary to the command of God. They will sound good. They use smooth talk, flattery or glowing words to make people think that it’s true. In the Garden of Eden also similar thing happened. We have to careful to avoid any resources which can corrupt or manipulate our minds.

Acts 17 talks about the church in Berea. It says that they searched the scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth (Acts17:11). We should be people who search the scriptures on a day to day basis and make sure that we are following the truth as it is revealed in the word of God. When it comes to the truth of word of God remember that Ignorance is not bliss.

May God Bless You!

Forgive- Any upper limit? To what extend?

A group of Christian missionaries met in Delhi, India, with representatives of other religions to discuss their beliefs. In the course of their talks a member of a major non-Christian religion said to a missionary, "Tell me one thing your religion can offer the Indians that mine can't." The missionary thought for a moment and replied, "Forgiveness! Forgiveness!"

Forgiveness is an important teaching of the Bible. Jesus in his teaching stressed the need of forgiveness very much. During the sermon on mount, Jesus taught about forgiveness. At one point of time Peter came to Jesus and asked an important question. Peter wanted to have a numerical number as to how many times he should forgive someone. Peter also had a suggestion for Jesus. Is it seven times? You can find this in Matthew 18:21-35. I guess that since Jesus stressed on forgiveness many times during his teaching and since forgiving someone is not an easy thing, Peter wanted to know the upper limit. How many times? Till what extend should I tolerate. Till what point should I wait before I give up? Rabbis taught that people should forgive those who offend them three times. Peter was trying to be more generous and suggested the perfect number seven.

Jesus gave an interesting answer and continued with the parable of unforgiving debtor. Jesus said seventy times seven. It means four hundred and ninety (490) times. It’s not easy to count or keep tract of 490 times. Jesus was meaning that we shouldn’t even keep track of how many times we forgive. To say that I forgive is easy but to forget, it’s very difficult. That’s why we keep history and remember exactly the number of times someone has offended us. One story which I read recently was interesting and it clearly exposes our problem.

Eunice, a former missionary to Liberia, told a story about forgiveness. An African man worked for her, and one day she caught him stealing clothes from her house. "Please forgive me," he pleaded. “I did wrong. I promise not to do it again." She forgave him and allowed him to continue working for her. But less than a month passed before she caught him stealing again, "Look at you!" she said. "You've stolen again!" The bright fellow stared at her and yelled back, "What kind of a Christian are you?" Eunice, dumbfounded, had no idea how to respond. "If you forgave me, you do not remember it." the man said. "If you did not remember it, such a thing did not happen."

How true it is. I have seen people bring all the old historical events and problems when they discuss some issues. They have already asked forgiveness and said that they have forgiven. But our human nature tends to keep old things and its shows lack of genuine forgiveness from our side. Now in the parable, this man couldn’t forgive his servant who owed him much less compared to what he had to pay to the king. In the end the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. Jesus concludes the subject by saying that “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”(Matthew 18:35) It’s a strong warning for us. It’s very important that we forgive people from our heart. It’s also important that we forget what we have forgiven. It’s difficult. At least make a conscious effort not to speak about or argue about the matters you have already forgiven. Don’t dwell on the issues you have already forgiven. Just imagine if God brings back all our sins and put it in front of us every time we ask him forgiveness. We were sinners and we are saved by the grace of God and when we asked forgiveness he accepted us and forgave all our sins. Remember that our king has cancelled all the big debts when we asked him. Can’t we forgive the small things which other people may do against us? Let’s be genuine disciples and develop the habit of forgiving and forgetting.

Augustine once said - "if you are suffering from a bad man's injustice, forgive him lest there be two bad men.”

Joy at being forgiven!

“Guilty!” everyone guilty? Guilty of what? Guilty of over-parking? Guilty of lying? Guilty of arrogance and hubris toward the one God? Guilty of “borrowing” not to say embezzling? Guilty of unfaithfulness to a faithful wife? Guilty only of evil thoughts – or evil plans? Guilty before whom? Is a police officer following? Did anyone see? Will they be likely to notice it? Does he know about it? But that isn’t technically illegal, is it? I can make it up. I will give it back. I’ll apologize. I wasn’t myself when I did that. No one knows about it. But I’m going to quit. It’s a dangerous habit. I wouldn’t want the children to see me. How can I ever straighten it out? What’s done can’t be undone.” - Karl Menninger

Many times believers go around carrying the guilt of their sins or wrong doings. In many cases people don’t confess their sin. Sometimes people get used to some sinful actions in their life to such an extent that they no longer feel like confessing it or asking God’s forgiveness. It becomes a habit in their life. But deep inside of their heart they will know that it’s wrong and that will make them feel guilty. There are also people who confess their sin but still carry the guilt in their life. They don’t trust God to forgive them

The result of such life style is that you will never be able to serve the Lord or worship the Lord with freedom. The guilty feeling will always pull you back. It will always be there as a hindrance in your relationship with God.

The theme of psalms 32 is the true joy which comes with forgiveness. We have to ask God to forgive our sins and then only He will give us real happiness and relief from guilt. David says that what a joy for those whose disobedience or transgressions are forgiven and whose sin is covered. Again David says about the joy of those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt and whose lives are lived in complete honesty.

But there was a time when David refused to confess his sin. He was silent about it. During those times his body wasted away and he groaned all day long. Day and night the hand of God’s discipline was heavy upon him and his strength evaporated like water evaporates in summer heat. Many times we can also have such times in our lives. We know it’s all going wrong but still we try to keep silent or refuse to confess our sin. When we read psalms 32:5, David says that finally he confessed all sins to God and stopped trying to hide his guilt. He took a decision or said to himself that he will confess his rebellion to the Lord. When he did this the result was that God forgave his sins and all his guilt was gone.

The key to receive forgiveness and lead a guilt free life is to confess your sins to God and stop trying to hide your guilt. There are people who say that you don’t have to worry about your sin and there is no need to confess it as Jesus has already died for you. There is no need to worry about the guilt as Jesus has already forgiven your future sins also. You just have to change your thinking. But it’s not a biblical teaching but a lie from the hell to destroy people’s relationship with God. Proverbs 28:13 says that “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” 1 John 1:8-10 says that “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”

Let’s not deceive ourselves but rather experience the Joy which we receive at being forgiven.


Yours in Christ,
Tinku Thompson