CHILDREN BE FILLED!
Mar 7:27 But
Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to
take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.
The story of creation in the Book of Genesis does not begin
with a big bang but with the creator making this earth and its expanse come
into existence by his Word! He told and
so it was. We humans, however, were not
created by a command or a word. We were
conceived, designed and shaped by the hands of God. The first man Adam became a living soul when
God breathed into his nostrils. The
original creator, then delegated the task of procreation to humans and other
living beings. Every living kind was
given the ability to reproduce its young ones. By design Adam and Eve came together
to procreate and became mankind’s first parents. God was not only the maker, creator or
designer of Adam, he is also called the Father of Adam. Yes, Adam was the first human son of
God! God is a father, not just to Adam,
he is a father to all those who were born in Adam. Our God is a heavenly father!
This paternal relationship that God enjoyed with Adam and Eve
in creation was mutilated when Sin entered their lives. God continued to remain
their provider, but the fatherly bond was lost!
SON RESTORES
Even though man lost the loving relationship with his father,
the father always longed to restore the same.
The option before the just, righteous and holy father was to send his only begotten son
– Lord Jesus Christ - to the world to
die as a blameless, spotless sacrificial lamb to take away the sins of the mankind
and thus restore fellowship.
BORN OF GOD
The person who receives Lord Jesus Christ as his personal
savior not only receives forgiveness from sins but is also redeemed from the
penalty of sin. In Salvation, in Baptism
he takes birth as a new child, a new creation IN CHRIST. In flesh, he or she may have been born into
this world with the help of physical parents. Spiritually, when a person
receives Jesus, he becomes the son or daughter of God. Hallelujah! How
marvelous is that? Our original relation with God is reclaimed! God becomes our
father and we, HIS privileged children.
PRIVILEGED LOT
If we are accepted as the children of the Most High God who
holds the entire universe in His hands, how blessed, privileged our standing,
our status in life would be! An
illustration to explain this. A millionaire who has no child decides to adopt a
poor boy. He makes his adoption legal by executing a will that the boy will be
an heir to all his wealth. The boy, who
would no longer live in the streets, will get to enjoy best food, clothes and a
posh house. To realize this, he should trust the millionaire who signed the
deed and move into His house to live a new life. Even the millionaire, who is
now the father, will ensure that the child enjoys the best, atleast now. Similarly, a child of God is promised the
best in everything when he/she gets into the Kingdom God. In God’s family, however, what matters the
most is not wealth and riches. He
promises to us greatest treasure of all: Eternal
Life. He gives to us what the world
cannot give: _Peace that passeth all understanding and Joy unspeakable_.
Hallelujah! Our Heavenly Father is able
and willing to do, give and perform exceedingly abundantly more than what we
could think or ask!
WRONG EXAMPLES, RIGHT
LESSONS
The story of Israelite’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage
and their sojourn into the Promised Land is the fore-shadow of what takes place
in our lives when we receive Jesus. The
people followed their leader Moses to a land flowing with milk and honey. They had to travel through a wilderness to
reach the place. Their God had made
sufficient arrangements to meet their needs even during the wilderness
journey. The people, however, became
weary and murmured against God. They were indeed an unsatisfied lot, not
happy with the provision of God. In the
end they all perished without seeing the promised land. God wanted to fill them, but they chose to
remain unfulfilled!
BANQUET IN THE DESERT
Thousands of years later, Jesus hosted a banquet to more than
5000. He multiplied few loaves of bread
and fishes to feed the multitude. The visitors
were not given some meals to satiate their hunger, they were given unlimited
meals. They were filled! On a different occasion, a woman came to
fetch water from the well. Jesus
promised to give her water – living water – which will not make her thirsty
again! She was filled! Jesus told his disciples, if any man thirsts, let him
come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath
said, out of his belly shall flow of living water. Filled and overflowing life!
ARE YOU A CHILD?!
When the Canaanite woman pleaded with Jesus to deliver her
demon possessed daughter, Jesus categorically stated that he came only to meet
the needs of Israelites, whom he referred to as children. In other words, Jesus was saying, I have
come to satisfy my children, I have come to fill their life with all the
goodness. Was Jesus refusing to help? No. The
Bible says that “He is the true Light which makes any man to shine”. Jesus said, “I will in no wise cast out the one
who comes to me”. He was inviting her to
become a child, through faith. And
through her words of faith, when she did so, her daughter was healed
instantly. A troubled mother received
‘divine fulfilment’ when she became the daughter by faith. Hallelujah!
MARK OF A CHILD
On that day, though being a Gentile, she received God’s
blessing when she demonstrated her faith in Jesus. Before redemption, a
relationship was established.
In your life, is there
a want, a shortcoming? You may be a
Christian, and yet struggling with deficit, dearth, scarcity both in physical
and psychological sense. Are you
carrying on an unsatisfied, ungrateful, unfulfilled life? Then it is time to do some soul-searching and
find out what is wrong? If you are a child, then you should be made full!
Did’nt Jesus say so?
From Scriptures, we look at some steps, few principles that
affirm to us the status of a child of God.
Our lives will be a fulfilled life if we have all these qualities in us.
Joh 1:12, 13 But as many as received him, to them gave he
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God
This is the beginning point of our faith journey in Christ.
It is not coming to Christ, it is not worshipping Christ, it is not giving some
offering, it is not even sending prayer
request. It is receiving him. The Greek word for received here is lambano,
which means to “get hold of”. In other
words, when we receive Christ we come into a bonding, a relationship. We are called to hold onto him. We regain the status of son-ship when we
receive Christ! If you have received Christ that way, then, your life will be a
filled one.
(2) ASPIRE PEACE
Mat 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall
be called the children of God.
Being in peace is one thing, making peace is quite another
thing. When there is conflict in a
family, in a relationship, in church or in any other setting, as Christians
what we do? Do we remain careless saying
it is none of our business. Jesus,
though Son of God, never remained aloof when he saw the conflict between God
and Man. He offered himself as a
sacrifice to reconcile man to God, to restore peace. The Bible says that the condemnation of our
peace came upon him. Setting aside our
egos and self-preferences, when we strive for peace in our families, then you
shall be called children of God. The
child of God will be filled by God. Jesus made peace with God and man. God
satisfied him with souls (Isaiah 53).
(3) AMPLIFY LOVE
Luke 6:35 But
love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your
reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is
kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
The Bible says that the love of God is poured into our hearts
when we receive Jesus. What it actually
means is that when we receive the DNA of God who is called LOVE our very nature
also should become LOVE. God is not
loving, God is love. God’s love is selfless and sacred. We all know to love our own self, our family
members and even those whom we like. .
That does not qualify or assert our offspring status of God. We should love our enemies and do good. So long as we breed enmity, hatred, bitterness
against people, we may never enjoy a fulfilling. satisfactory and complete life
of God. The key to being God’s children,
the key to fulfilment lies in amplifying love, goodness, mercy to even those
who hate you, who despitefully use you.
Are you able to love your enemies unconditionally? Then you are His
Child. Then you will be filled.
(4)ASSERT RIGHTEOUSNESS
1 John 3:10 In this the
children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth
not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
The term righteousness, in this context, means ‘being equitable, just and right’. Just as our God is just in all His ways, His
children are expected to be so in their dealings, transactions and conduct with
others. Writing to the Church at Romans Apostle Paul says, Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due;
custom to whom custom; A Godly person who deals mercifully with his
servants should display the same attitude to his family as well. Portraying many faces, one to the world, one
to the family, one to the church is not only being hypocritical, but inequitable
in the sight of God . A person who fails to practice what he preaches cannot be
counted as a child of God. Lack of
fulfillment, insecure feeiing would mar their lives. An equitable person is a filled person.
(5)ADORN GOD
Eph 5:1 Be ye
therefore followers of God, as dear children;
Contemporary English Translation says, “Do as God does. after
all you are his dear children”. Very
true. The word followers in Greek does not just mean doing, obeying, keeping up
some commandments, it means imitating him.
Literally, we should mimic or behave like Christ in every way. Jesus said to his disciples, one who has seen
me has seen God. Disciples of Jesus
should be able to say, “One who sees me, sees Christ”. Our walk, our talk, our gestures, our words,
our emotions, our expressions, our expositions should reflect Christ. Our life, simply put, should be hidden in Christ.
I WILL SATISFY HIM!
The much read, much loved, much claimed Psalm 91 ends with a
greatest promise of God to his devotee, to his disciple, to his child that he
will satisfy him/her with long life. The
life here focusses not much on longevity but on the quality of life. It is God’s promise and God’s desire to give
fulfilling life to his children.
LET CHILDREN FIRST BE
FILLED!
A Child of God who has received Christ, who labours to make
peace, who loves at all times, who always does what is just and finally one who
imitates Christ shall surely lead a satisfying life.
Let the prayer of Man of God Moses become our Prayer for this
day:
O Satisfy us early with
thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad in all our days
Amen.
God bless you!
Your brother in Christ!
Vinod Kumar
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