Dear friends,
Hope you are all well. We are oscillating between colder and warmer weather. We need to take what we get. Hope at least we get a warmer time every now and then.
Once there was a holy man whom people believed talked to God every time he prayed to God. He was considered a pious and devout man of God. He lived like one. At the same time there were some people who thought that he was a cheat. One such man was the pastor of that town. He wanted to embarrass that holy man.
Planning to execute his plan, the pastor told the man, “I hear that you are a holy man and God appears to you to talk with you. So next time when you meet God ask him what is the biggest sin that I committed”. The man said to the pastor that he would ask so. Then he left. The pastor could not see him after that for a while. So, the pastor thought that he was a cheat.
One day he happened to run into the holy man. The pastor wanting to make him feel for his hypocrisy asked the holy man, “Oh holy man, what did God tell you when you asked about the biggest sin I committed?”. The holy man smiled at the pastor and told the pastor, “God does not remember any of your sins. Because He forgot everything the very moment He forgave your sins. That is what he told me”. The pastor felt bad at this answer of the holy man.
God is not an account keeper to keep track of all the sins we commit. He is a loving father who is always willing to forgive us always and our sins. If God were to keep all our sins, we cannot survive at all. We need to keep in mind that God’s primary job is not to take revenge for the sins we commit. But on the other hand, his preoccupation is to love us at any cost, even at the cost of sending His son to die for us. Somehow, we took into our mind an impaired image of God as if He is someone who is waiting for a chance to take revenge. That is not so. Because if God keeps track of our sins, He can not perform His primary duty of being God, which is to love. Because, as the psalmist says, “If you, LORD, keep account of sins, Lord, who can stand? “. (Ps: 130:3). Also in the letter to the Hebrews we read as God saying, “For I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sins no more” (Heb:8:12.)
So, knowing that God loves us and is a loving Being, we need to start loving Him. We need to get rid of that distorted image of God that we have as the person trying to take revenge for our shortcomings. Our feeling sorry for the sins should come from the love we have for God, not from fear we hoard in our minds. Love Him.
Yours sincerely in Christ Jesus,
Fr. A. Antony
Hope you are all well. We are oscillating between colder and warmer weather. We need to take what we get. Hope at least we get a warmer time every now and then.
Once there was a holy man whom people believed talked to God every time he prayed to God. He was considered a pious and devout man of God. He lived like one. At the same time there were some people who thought that he was a cheat. One such man was the pastor of that town. He wanted to embarrass that holy man.
Planning to execute his plan, the pastor told the man, “I hear that you are a holy man and God appears to you to talk with you. So next time when you meet God ask him what is the biggest sin that I committed”. The man said to the pastor that he would ask so. Then he left. The pastor could not see him after that for a while. So, the pastor thought that he was a cheat.
One day he happened to run into the holy man. The pastor wanting to make him feel for his hypocrisy asked the holy man, “Oh holy man, what did God tell you when you asked about the biggest sin I committed?”. The holy man smiled at the pastor and told the pastor, “God does not remember any of your sins. Because He forgot everything the very moment He forgave your sins. That is what he told me”. The pastor felt bad at this answer of the holy man.
God is not an account keeper to keep track of all the sins we commit. He is a loving father who is always willing to forgive us always and our sins. If God were to keep all our sins, we cannot survive at all. We need to keep in mind that God’s primary job is not to take revenge for the sins we commit. But on the other hand, his preoccupation is to love us at any cost, even at the cost of sending His son to die for us. Somehow, we took into our mind an impaired image of God as if He is someone who is waiting for a chance to take revenge. That is not so. Because if God keeps track of our sins, He can not perform His primary duty of being God, which is to love. Because, as the psalmist says, “If you, LORD, keep account of sins, Lord, who can stand? “. (Ps: 130:3). Also in the letter to the Hebrews we read as God saying, “For I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sins no more” (Heb:8:12.)
So, knowing that God loves us and is a loving Being, we need to start loving Him. We need to get rid of that distorted image of God that we have as the person trying to take revenge for our shortcomings. Our feeling sorry for the sins should come from the love we have for God, not from fear we hoard in our minds. Love Him.
Yours sincerely in Christ Jesus,
Fr. A. Antony
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