JESUS SAVES PEOPLE FROM COMMITTING SUICIDE

Dear Friends,

Everywhere in the world, the number of people who commit suicide everyday is going up. I am Indian and I live in Ahmedabad of Gujarat. I have noticed that everyday in my city alone minimum five people commit suicide. The number is on the rise. Therefore, I am forced to start writing for such people in order to help them in some way. My humble request to you is to share my letter with your friends and followers. We may not know but this might save someone's life.

As it is, people commit suicide for several reasons. But whatever may be the reasons, what forces people to commit suicide is the fact that they find their problems insufferable, and they find themselves in a situation where they think that life has no solution to offer for their problems.

Because they do not know anything about the reality of death except that it puts an end to this life, they think that with the end of this life, all the problems of their life will end. They simply do not know that death is part of the problem, not of the solution. So, they commit suicide.

They do not know that the problems that death throws up are infinitely worse than the problems of this life. Not only that, the problems of death are not temporary but permanent, and they certainly do not have any solution. The problems of life DO have solution. Therefore, my humble request to the people having suicidal thoughts is to pay heed to my advice.

My advice to them is simply this:

It may be that your problems are really big. It may be that your rational mind has practical basis for thinking that there remains no way out of the fix you have landed into. You may have tried out all options at your disposal but without success. Please try out the solution that I am offering you NOW.

Do not think that you are all alone in your struggle against your problems. Jesus says, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:18) But He will not come to you against your will. If you believe in Him and seek His help, then you WILL surely receive His help. And He is bigger than your problems and can solve them in a way that will literally surprise you.

Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) In another place, He tells His disciples, “Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in My name. Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (John 16:20-24)

You might have tried out too many things, but you have not done one thing. You have not asked anything from God in the name of Jesus. Yes, pray to God in the name of Jesus. That is the only way your prayer reaches God. And your prayer will be granted only if it reaches God. The point is, without Jesus, no prayer is answered. 

Therefore, Jesus said, “…whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Matthew 12:30) If you want to live and want all that makes it worth living, you need to gather them with Jesus. He has said:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in Me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.” (John 15:5-8)

What Jesus can give you nobody else can. He has said: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” (John 14:27)

Peace, joy and satisfaction – these are the things which define life. All these are yours for the asking. Jesus says if you will ask, you will receive.

Dear friends, God of the Bible says,

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast

and have no compassion on the child she has borne?

Though she may forget,

I will not forget you!” (Isaiah 49:15)

This is the extent of His love toward you. Put your trust in Him. You will not be disappointed. If you need my help in knowing how to seek His help, do not hesitate in approaching me. You have my contact numbers and email ID. I believe I can help you. Also you can do this little prayer if you want it that way:

O God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Lord of Israel,

From everlasting to everlasting You are God.

You have made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. You have made me and You sustain me. You knew me even before I was born and Your eyes are watching me now. You know what situation I am going through in my life right now. (Tell your problem to God here.)

I believe You are not happy to see me in this state. I also believe that only You can help me now – nobody else can – not even I. I have tried to help myself but have failed and now I have reached the end of all the resources I can use to solve my problem. My life has become a burden for me, so heavy that I no longer can carry it on my shoulder. (Tell God what you want Him to do for you.)

God, please help me and alter my circumstances for good so that I can live. Please glorify Yourself in my life through Your much needed intervention. You can make possible what is impossible for man. Nothing is impossible for You. If You like, You can make my life not only bearable but enjoyable. I want to live. And I want a happy life. Please grant my request. To You I give all the glory and honor. In Jesus’ mighty name I pray. Amen.

BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR:

https://www.amazon.in/Bertrand-Hatia/e/B00W7E3BEO/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

JESUS FREES YOU FROM DIFFERENT KINDS OF ADDICTION

Dear Friends,

Today I am going to write to you about the problem of addiction. It is destroying so many lives and families the world over that it becomes necessary to deal with it.

But before we talk about how addicts can get rid of their addiction, it needs to be noted why, in the first instance, they take to addiction at all.

People try to get joy and satisfaction from different kinds of addiction – joy and satisfaction which they are not able to get from anything else. In many cases, people try to find escape from their personal reality through addiction. Also, there are many and many whose life lacks substance – or content – that might lend purpose to their life. They try to remove the feeling of emptiness by filling it with liquor or cigarettes or drugs.

Initially, they do derive pleasure from their addiction. But novelty wears out in nine days. This is true. Once a person gets addicted to something, it directly affects his body’s metabolism. Once that happens, the initial exoticism goes out of addiction and he is forced to do it out of sheer necessity. If he tries to get rid of it, he starts suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

It is good that an addict receives help from a rehabilitation center. But as long as he is not having strong desire to get rid of it, he is not going to respond positively to any medical and psychological treatment he is subject to. Desire to be free from addiction is indispensable.

Addiction not only harms mind, body and soul of addicts, it also drains their financial resources. They need to think conscientiously that millions of people in this world do not get sufficient food two times a day. Reason? It is simply that they do not have money enough to buy food. Millions of people go naked because they do not have money. Millions of people spend their life on roadside because they do not have money. You do have money but how you spend it? On buying liquor? Drugs? Cigarettes?

Dear Friends, God is a JUST God. He sees everything. If you are an addict, this God, who loves the poor and destitute of the world, also takes into account the bluntness of your sensitivity. Bible says,

“Why spend money on what is not bread,

And your labor on what does not satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,

And you will delight in the richest of fare.”

How true it is! Spend your money on the best of food and drink; why spend money on addiction? The amount you spend on your addiction would you spend for feeding the hungry and dressing the poor? Would you spend that amount to help people who are really needy? You need to think about it. And if you will not give your thoughts to it, God surely will. He WILL punish you for your insensitivity.

However, I am not here to threaten you with retribution that God brings on you for your addiction. I want to tell you that He values your life and wants that you too value it. He is very much willing to help you if you really want to be free from addiction. The Book of Isaiah, Chapter 55, Verse 1 says:

“Come, all you who are thirsty,

Come to the waters;

And you who have no money,

Come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

Without money and without cost.”

If you read this verse from the Bible, you may think that Bible is self-contradictory. We are talking about getting rid of addiction on one hand, on the other this biblical verse is asking the readers to buy wine and milk! How to reconcile the opposites?

Dear friends, if you read this verse carefully, you will not fail to notice that it makes an appeal to the people who do not have money to buy wine and milk! How can people who don’t have money buy these things? The same verse also contains the answer to this question. It says, “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” Does it not sound strange?

How can a person ever buy anything without money – anything that comes without a price tag attached to it? What comes free of charge does not need to be bought! It’s that simple! And you know that wine and milk do cost you something. Nobody will give you wine and milk free of charge!

Dear friends, please note that the wine in the biblical verse quoted above is the blood of Jesus. Wine is the symbol that is used for the blood of Jesus. The blood that Jesus shed on the cross for you and me is priceless! The only way we can buy it is with our faith! Faith is what we pay for receiving this wine. And drinking this wine means accepting the fact that Jesus sacrificed Himself and poured out His blood on the cross in order to redeem us from our sins.

The blood of Jesus is the wine that is completely different from the wine that can be bought with money and used for addiction. The blood of Jesus brings real peace and joy to those who thankfully accept His supreme sacrifice. What our breweries produce, and what drugs induce in people addicted to them, can never bring true peace and joy.

The reason behind this is that the liquor and drugs that we purchase with our money destroy our mind, body and spirit. The use of these is called addiction, and addiction is sin. Addiction is sin because it defiles our body which is the temple of God.

Remember this: Sin can always bring temporary joy but that joy does not last long. The moment the joy of committing sin is over, the consequence of committing sin follows. Consequence of sin brings sorrow which is not temporary but permanent. In other words, people who commit sin buy permanent sorrow for temporary joy.

On the other hand, if we drink the blood of Jesus, it means we accept the sacrifice that Jesus made of Himself for our sins. Accepting the sacrifice that Jesus made for our sins means we do not have to pay the price for the sins that we have committed. Jesus suffered the consequences of our sins on our behalf. This is what frees us from our sins, the sin of addiction included.

Freedom from sin makes us holy. Our achieving holiness through Jesus is called ‘new birth’ in Bible. All who accept Jesus are ‘born again’ in spiritual terms. From the time that we accept Jesus as our personal Savior, our spiritual life starts. In other words, we are spiritual babies in the spiritual world.

It simply means that we need to grow spiritually in order to attain to spiritual maturity. For this purpose, Jesus gives us His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and instructs us from the Bible so that we gradually increase in the knowledge of God, in the knowledge of God’s purpose for our life. This is the kind of knowledge that helps us grow spiritually towards maturity. This knowledge of God and His purpose for our life and for the world at large is called ‘spiritual’ milk that spiritual babies require.

The spiritual wine (the blood of Jesus) and spiritual milk (the Bible) supply all the needs of our spirit. Therefore, we experience perfect peace and joy. God’s Holy Spirit fills our life to the extent that we find nothing wanting in our life.

Dear friends, as you can see, liquor and drugs destroy us; whereas spiritual wine and spiritual milk give us abundant life. Spiritual wine and spiritual milk also make our physical life reflect the changes that take place in our spiritual life. That’s how all aspects of our life are equally blessed.

Through Jesus you will be able to live a fruitful and meaningful life. And, through Jesus you will receive such blessings that you will be literally surprised by ever-increasing grace of God towards you. You took to addiction because you wanted to find joy and peace through it. But once you were confirmed in your addiction, you came to find that addiction deceived you. It no longer sustains what you expect from it. But, rest assured, Jesus will never disappoint you once you accept Him. Give Him chance in your life. And, of course, do the following prayer:

O God Almighty and Gracious, Creator and Sustainer of the creation, I come before Your throne of grace, in Your presence to request You to save my life from getting destroyed by my addiction. Please help me achieve freedom from my addiction to (liquor, drugs or whatever it is). It is not only destroying my life but also hurting the life of my family. I try to be free from addiction but I have become a slave to it.

O God, please strengthen me. Give me strong will power. Help me overcome the withdrawal symptoms which force me to revert to addiction. Please remove the withdrawal symptoms. Please free me from my addiction. I commit my life to You this day. I shall live it in Your service if You free me from my addiction.

I believe You alone can help me. Therefore, please help me. Please bring me under the protection of Your blood which You shed for such as me on the cross. Please receive me in Your presence and give me Your peace and joy that I am striving for. In Jesus’ mighty name I pray, Amen.

BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR:

https://www.amazon.in/Bertrand-Hatia/e/B00W7E3BEO/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

JESUS REMOVES POVERTY AND A LIFE OF DEARTH

Dear Friends,

In this letter to you, I intend to convey some information about how Jesus removes poverty and a life of dearth. Many of you will surely find this useful. Or, at least, I think so.😃

Some people mistakenly think that God wants His people to deny themselves all pleasures of the body. The fact is that God wants us to live an abundant life.

The writer of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible says, “I know that nothing is better for them (people) than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.” (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13)

Again, he writes elsewhere in the same book, “As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart.” (Ecclesiastes 5:19-20)

What the passages quoted above mean is that God wants us to live abundant life, not a sinful life. If we seek after abundance of sinful pleasures for our body, it is certain that even if we are able to have them, ultimately we are going to experience the futility of sinful pleasures. They are bound to impoverish our mind, body and spirit. This is because we lose God’s blessing. It is God’s blessing that is important.

With God’s blessing, even the little that we may have with righteousness is worth more than immeasurable ill-gotten riches amassed by rich but unprincipled people. Jesus practically proved this on more than one occasion. Let us consider one of these instances.

As it is, Jesus was all the time surrounded by people to such an extent that in order to communicate with God or spend time by himself along with His twelve disciples, He had to withdraw Himself to wilderness. And when people would somehow find out that He had withdrawn to wilderness, they would come in large numbers to Him even in wilderness. So, even in wilderness very often He could not choose to be by Himself.

On one such occasion a large crowd gathered around Him. The number of men alone was 5000. But there were women and children too. How many women and children were there, we do not know. As the day was coming to an end, His disciples asked Jesus to send the crowd away so that they could go to the villages nearby to get food for themselves. In reply Jesus asked them to give them food there and then instead of sending them away.

As it is, in such a remote place neither Jesus nor His disciples had planned a religious gathering. So, naturally, there was absolutely no provision for such a large crowd. Amid this crowd, there was only one boy who had five loaves of bread and two fish with him for lunch.

This little boy gave his lunch to Jesus and Jesus looked up to Heaven, prayed and thanked God for five loaves of bread and two fish, and distributed them to this crowd. That day thousands of people were fed on just five loaves of bread and two fish! Not only all of them ate till they were filled, when the disciples of Jesus gathered the leftover food, they picked up as many as 12 baskets!

Now suppose that little boy had not given his lunch to Jesus? Jesus could still have fed that crowd but that little boy would have missed the opportunity to receive God’s blessing. But since that boy gave to Jesus what he had, it shows how noble he was by nature. That’s why not only he himself got bellyful to eat but also thousands of men and women and children had had more than enough to eat. The disciples of Jesus estimated the cost of feeding this crowd at half a year’s salary, that is, approximately 200 denarii. It gives us fair idea about how greatly God blessed the little that that boy had.

There are people in this world whose confidence heavily relies on their bank balance. Therefore, their constant effort is to increase it to the extent that they are rid of worries concerning financial stability in life. Bible records incidents which radically redefine the meaning of sound economy. At least one such incident needs to be described here.

The one I am going to narrate here is about the prophet Elijah and a widow who lived in a place called Zarephath in Israel. There was a wicked king named Ahab who was ruling over the nation of Israel. Prophet Elijah told Ahab that as long as he (Elijah) would not command rain to fall, rain would not fall in Israel. That, exactly, did happen.

Elijah stopped rain which resulted in a nation-wide famine. That famine was so hard on entire land that water resources were all gone. Elijah knew the king alright; therefore, he ran away and hid himself in a poor widow’s house for several years.

The circumstances under which Elijah met that widow for the first time were quite remarkable. Bible describes the whole sequence of events in the following terms:

“So he (Elijah) went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, ‘Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?’ As she was going to get it, he called, ‘And bring me, please, a piece of bread.’

‘As surely as the Lord your God lives,’ she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.’

Elijah said to her, ‘Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’

She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.”

Now my simple question to my reader is this: Which situation is better? A handsome bank balance that is bound to get used up or a jar of flour and a jug of oil that would only increase everyday with use for years on end? People belonging to all classes were hard hit by the famine that prevailed in Israel during that period of time, but a poor widow’s family and Elijah had enough to eat all the time that famine was in the land. When God blesses a person, that person will always have enough of all that he needs, and he will not have to worry about future.

Of course, these instances should not make you think that God gives you little and blesses it so that the little you have will suffice for you. Bible also is full of instances in which God blessed individuals by making them king of a great nation from a humble situation in life. Men of God such as Abraham, Job, King David, King Solomon, etc were the wealthiest persons of their time.

The point I am making here is that we cannot measure God’s blessing quantitatively. God’s blessing remains blessing no matter from whichever angle you look at it. At the present time, we receive it in the name of Jesus. As stated before, whatever you ask from God in the name of Jesus, God will give you.

BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR:

https://www.amazon.in/Bertrand-Hatia/e/B00W7E3BEO/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

JESUS TAKES AWAY YOUR SORROWS AND GIVES YOU REAL PEACE AND JOY

Dear Friends,

We see so much in this world nowadays! What we do not see too often is real peace and joy. Hence, I think it quite relevant to briefly write to you about it. 

What I want to tell you is simply this: Jesus wants to take away your sorrows from you and give you real peace and joy. All you need to do is to come to Jesus with your grievance. If you are ready to give your burden to Jesus, He is ready to make your burden light by taking it off from your back.

The reason for your sorrows could be anything; what’s important is that Jesus offers you the assurance that He can remove all the causes responsible for your sorrow. Trust Him and learn it through your own experience that Jesus is true to all who trust Him.

Before the time came for Jesus to leave this world, He said this to His disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

He also said: “Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask Me anything. Very truly I tell you, My Father will give you whatever you ask in My name. Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”

Our joy comes from getting what we want. What Jesus tells us here is to ask God anything that we want in the name of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God; God loves His Son. Therefore, if we ask anything from God in Jesus’ name, He will surely give us whatever it is that we want. For instance, if you want a job, ask God for it in Jesus’ name and He will give it to you. If you are suffering from some illness, ask God for healing in Jesus’ name and He will heal you. That’s the promise that Jesus has given us.

And if you have everything you need and yet do not have peace and joy, then here is a prayer you can do for it:

O heavenly Father, the Lord of my life, I am coming to you now to seek forgiveness for all the sins that I have committed up till now. Please forgive me and bless me with Your peace and joy. I cannot find them in things; I cannot find them anywhere in the world; and I cannot have them from man. You have them, Lord. You are the source of all that is good. True peace and joy You have, and only You can give them to me. Therefore, I pray to you, God, please fill my life with abundant peace and joy that are in You and comfort me. In Jesus' name I pray, please grant my request, God. Amen. 

BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR:

https://www.amazon.in/Bertrand-Hatia/e/B00W7E3BEO/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

JESUS GIVES YOU ALL THAT IS NECESSARY FOR YOUR BODY

Dear Friends,

Today I intend to draw your attention toward something about the dichotomy between body and soul, and I believe it will prove very useful to you.

There are people in this world who consider their body as their enemy due to the weaknesses attached to it – weaknesses which come in the way of achieving spiritual perfection. They are quite ignorant about God’s purpose behind giving us our body.

Whatever we have to do for our spirit, we have to do while living in the body. Bible does not teach that looking after and fulfilling the requirements of our body is sin. Bible is against fulfilling the sinful desires of our body, not against fulfilling its basic needs which are necessary for staying alive. Bible compares our body with a seed which we have to sow in the ground in order to harvest a spiritual body. Therefore, we have to do all that we can for our body in order to stay alive.

Jesus has something very important to say in this respect:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can anyone of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Jesus wants you to make it a priority of your life to attain to the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven and the righteousness of God. So far as you are driven by these goals, God has committed Himself to fulfill all your physical needs without fail.

One day when one of Jesus’ disciples asked Him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”

Jesus’ reply was: “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man (Jesus) sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for My sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”

Dear friends, this little book does not afford scope for explaining in detail what Jesus meant when He talked about ‘the renewal of all things’. However, it suffices for now to say that anyone who sacrifices anything for Jesus, Jesus is going to repay a hundred times as much when the appointed time comes. Not only He will give hundred fold for anything that you forsake for His sake, He will give you eternal life.

In other words, you have reward both in this life and the life that is to come after death. And the reward that we shall get from Jesus will be infinitely greater than anything that we might ever sacrifice for Him. He is God and will repay us like God. We are human beings and, therefore, are bound to give like humans.

BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR:

https://www.amazon.in/Bertrand-Hatia/e/B00W7E3BEO/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

JESUS FREES YOU FROM DEATH AND LEADS YOU TO ETERNAL LIFE

Dear Friends,

Today we are going to rise above life and death! Strange as it may sound but this is absolutely necessary! Let's see how...

The most important thing for a person in this world is that he remains alive. All that we say, all that we do, and all that we gain are meant for the sake of life. It is life that lends meaning and value to all things. Without life, everything is meaningless.

That is the reason why people have been thinking, talking and writing about death. Not until the time Jesus died that humanity really got the first real breakthrough in solving the problem called death. In this brief chapter we are going to discuss how this breakthrough has changed the destiny of entire mankind. It affects both you and me.

The best point to start from is the First Book of John, Chapter 3 from Bible, where it is written that Jesus appeared into this world in order to destroy the works of the devil. Here’s the question: What works of the devil Jesus came to destroy? According to Bible, the works of the devil include, sin, curse, diseases, sorrows and death.

In 1 Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verse 26 from Bible, it is written, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” For us mortals, the destruction of death is a gateway to life – eternal life. This future event is foretold to us as a promise from God. God has founded this promise on a firm ground. What provides firm ground for God’s promise is the resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus during His brief stay in this world brought to life many people who had died. This He did in order to show to the world that He held power over life and death. It was one of the proofs of His being God.

Therefore, when Jesus Himself was hung on the cross, His enemies taunted Him by saying that He saved others but He could not save Himself. Jesus wanted to show them that He could save Himself from something that was worse than the suffering of the cross, and that something was death.

In order to prove this, He had to die first. So He did. As He had told His disciples, on the third day He conquered death and came to life again. Not only He came alive on the third day, He spent as many as 40 days with His disciples. And after 40 days, He ascended to Heaven right in front of sizable number of His disciples.

The purpose of His resurrection is to prove to us that if He is capable of conquering death and come to life again, He also has the power to bring us to life again. Not only that; He also showed that what He promised to His followers was also true. What He promised to His followers was exactly this:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3)

Dear friends, Jesus has returned to Heaven to prepare a place for us. And when He is done with it, He will surely return to the earth. Just as the world saw Him going to Heaven, it will also see Him coming down to earth with the glory of God. There is time appointed for His return. All the Christians are now waiting for this Mega-Event. It will be such an event that the human history has never seen anything like that before.

This, then, is the reason why Jesus constantly instructed people to think about spiritual life, not about things which are meant for our body alone. Things which are meant for body tend to perish by use. Our money, food, cloths, etc perish by use. They do not increase by use.

Jesus underlined this point when a gentleman came to Him and requested Him to ask his brother to divide their property equally among them. Jesus told him that He did not come into the world to stand as an arbitrator between different parties to settle disputes over such issues. Jesus, then, went on to say one parable to make this gentleman understand the futility of earthly possessions. Here is the parable:

“The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’

“So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Please note that Jesus is not against having treasure on earth; He is against the condition in which a person is not rich toward God. It is absolutely necessary that we are rich toward God.

The parable quoted instructs us about what happens if we are not rich toward God. But the matter does not stand there. It goes beyond death. Jesus informs us about the same with another parable which is quoted below:

“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom (to Heaven).

The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades (Hell), he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

“Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’” (Luke 16:19-26)

As you can see, Jesus in the parable quoted above is talking about the life that is awaiting us once we finish the present life (our flesh-and-blood existence) that we are living in this world. Yes, after this life is over, we are going to enter into another life which is endless. It will be a spiritual life.

Another thing, Jesus is talking about the two states of life meant for two sets of people after they die. There are two sets of people in this world: one is good; another is bad. When both sets of people die, both sets of people enter into a spiritual life that is endless or lasting for eternity.

However, what marks the difference between the spiritual lives of these two sets of people is that the good people will spend eternity in Heaven; whereas the bad people will spend eternity in Hell. According to Bible, the eternity that will be enjoyed by good people in Heaven is called eternal life; and the eternity that will be spent in indescribable torment and pain in Hell is called the Second Death. The Second Death is the spiritual life that sinners are going to live endlessly in Hell. This is extremely important to understand.

Many people commit suicide in order to escape the troubles and sorrows of the present life in this world. If we cannot endure the problems of this life, how can we ever endure infinitely great problems of the life that is lived in Hell for eternity? It is beyond the power of man to escape life in Hell. Once a person enters Hell, he must live there for eternity. There is no other way out. It is utterly hopeless condition.

Therefore, Bible describes the soul of a person who goes to Hell as a lost soul. Jesus, with His characteristic economy of expression, warned people who were too occupied with concerns which were limited to this earthly life and were totally unmindful of the eternal life that was to come after death. This is what He said: “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”

There is no want of people who set all their stores on what they achieve or gather in this world. Money, properties, big mansions, cars, beautiful life partner, smart kids….The list of what people desire under the sun goes on and on. There is no end to desire. All these things can be enjoyed as long as we are alive. But a day comes in everyone’s life when he will die. All are mortal; nobody is immortal.

Therefore, all the pleasures of this life are going to end with the end of this physical life. There is wisdom in thinking and caring for things which are meant for the life that lies beyond death. Jesus has taught us how we can ensure happiness in the life after death. He did this by the acts which are directed by the Spirit, not by the body. Acts of the Spirit are aimed at achieving spiritual growth, and denying our body the pleasures which are sinful. Acts of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Unlike our earthly possessions, these acts of the Spirit will accompany us beyond our grave and provide us access to the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is something that we can never lose once we have it.

It is exactly in this respect that Jesus once said to people around Him that those who gather with Him gather; but those who do not gather with Him scatter.

This brings us to the question what it means to scatter. The person who does not gather with Jesus is exactly the person who tries to gather with the world. According to Bible, gathering with the world means committing the acts of the flesh or body in order to satisfy our body.

The acts of the flesh include sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

It is necessary, here, to know what is meant by the word ‘idolatry’. Idolatry is the worship of idols. Bible considers it as a sin because it sees idolatry as worship of something that replaces God. To put it plainly, if money is more important for us than God, then money becomes an idol. If a person is an egoist and does not like to give more importance to God than to his own self, then his ‘self’ becomes an idol that he worships.

Those who commit these sins will not inherit the Kingdom of God, that is, the Kingdom of Heaven. This, then, is what they scatter, or lose, who do not gather with Jesus. And not having the Kingdom of Heaven simply means having Hell. If a person will not have one, then he will surely have the other. Therefore, he will render himself great service if he makes a choice between 1. the spiritual and the physical 2. Heaven and Hell.

THERE IS A CHOICE THAT CAN PUT YOU ON THE SIDE OF GOD…ON THE SIDE OF LIFE AND LIGHT FOR ETERNITY.

BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR:

https://www.amazon.in/Bertrand-Hatia/e/B00W7E3BEO/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0