Are you letting life pass you by in the busyness of living?

The online dictionary explains authentic as ‘Conforming to fact and therefore worthy of belief’

Authenticity or undisputed credibility has always been one of the basements that form a good character. 

But what is happening to authenticity? Over time, as man and his ambitions evolved, the desire and will to achieve at any cost overshadowed this gentle feather in character’s cap.  Time and again, history opens out, biographies of many great men and women who have sacrificed truth in order to become what is called “known”. You could say, that all religions irrespective of the way they present it, have acknowledged authenticity as a trait that marks one as living in the right. But as humans questioned the very creation of themselves, they threw back the mantles of religion to be “free” people, living a life much pleasing to them.  So in this process of maturing, the ideals of a good life were scattered in the winds of success.  The focus on the end became such a passion that the way and the walks began to matter no more.  Authenticity like many other noble traits stood on the outskirts, lost in the minds of those who really needed them.

Many of us would remember the story of two woodcutters who dropped their axe into a river only to be rewarded justly for their honesty by a river-angel.  Honesty did not bring riches initially but eventually it did.

So why should I be authentic? The reasons are many and management books talk on length about the why and the after effects.  But the important bottom line is; authentic living presents you in a picture, which you would love to see.  Mark Twain puts it across beautifully “If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.” How true is this statement!  Anything done, which we believe is wrong or which the society at large has agreed upon as wrong, causes us to deepen our memory banks; which in turn lets loose the devils of stress and its wicked companions.  Anticipation becomes an enemy as authenticity takes the back seat.

If you are able to be truthful at all times, even when pushed to cliffs and ledges of certain doom, the effect you portray on yourselves and others is that of a leader.  Gone are the days when charisma played such a significant role in leadership, for the ‘leading by example’ syndrome has invaded the citadels of leadership.  So in short, being authentic makes you happy for you enjoy the blessings of a stress free, no secrets lifestyle.

And how can I be authentic? Rudyard Kipling says this with great joy: “I keep six honest serving men, (They taught me all I knew); their names are what and Why and When, and How and Where and who.” What he tries to tell us is this: that before we do any task and give any answer, we need to ask ourselves or the person with relevant answers, questions using these six men, for that enables us to choose what we are going to do.  In reality this is more like a tracker that keeps you on the path of a good leader.

When I had presented this to a mixed audience, the one question that seemed to matter most was “Do you think you can satisfy everyone by being authentic?”  Selfish is a word that is looked down upon, for it draws the mentioned person in a poor image.  But my answer to this question is this – you need to be selfish enough to accept that being authentic may only cause you to be satisfied.  The ‘everyone’ who matters may have opinions and offers that may sharply contrast.  Quoting from Mark Twain in answer: “Always do the right thing. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”

As you can see for yourself, every person has to paint his signature on the beaches of time. What is important is not what you achieve but how you have achieved it.  I have faced many who have said a direct NO to this statement of authentic living.  My answer to them is only this: the truth will set you free.

I may evoke a mixed response from the readers, but do think.  You have to make a signature on this planet – do you want it to be authentic or in the stamped, lied, bribed, wronged, hassled colors of ambitious achievements?

You were given the freedom to choose, so choose wisely.

God Bless

Ashley J P

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

It is by those who have suffered that the world has been advanced – Leo Tolstoy

They were men who walked with their maker.  They were his closest confidants.  They ate at his table, shared in his joys, and moved to touch lives with his grace and love.  Yet even as the earth readied itself for that grandest display of pure love, they stumbled.  One because of money and the other because of fear.  Forgetfulness swept in where comforting memories reigned.   And once the deed was complete they both regretted it.  They agonized over what they had done, though in varying degrees.  The pain, the mental suffering and the fear all overtook their peaceful satisfied lives.  One chose the path of death and the other the path of life.  Both knew the Lord and yet the outcome of their suffering pushed one into the abyss of continued suffering while the other stepped into the light of eternal life.  Judas and Peter did walk the path of suffering albeit in the mind realm.

Long, long ago Adam and Eve chose, for they were given the freedom to choose by the maker himself.  Today we continue to choose, standing on this little planet of God’s magnificent creation and making it groan with our choices.  Adam and Eve opened the Pandora’s box of suffering but we have by our continued independence taken it into heights of destructive capability.  A loving God, who could create the whole universe with a wave of his hand, gave his very hands to be torn and pierced with the nail of our wickedness.  He showed what it was meant to suffer.  Why should God, the one who makes us and cares for us, suffer?  A great question, but our God is a God of love and his love for us was so much that he let the Holy Trinity be broken for a time and let His very son be torn apart in body, mind and spirit so you and I could love him with all our heart, mind and soul.  And He gives us this promise: Lo, I am with you always.

When we go through suffering, when fear gnaws at our very beliefs and pain causes us to refocus on our virtues, our character is tested.  Job the character meant to reveal suffering and love and show us answers to the huge question of “where is God when it hurts?” beautifully says with love through pain “What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” Job 2:10.  Even in the height of loss and pain, Job was loyal to God. 

The best people to ask about suffering are those who have undergone it.  The bible opens out so many to us but in closeness to years I have this quote from a man who went through so much suffering in concentration camps.  Alexander Solzhenitsyn says, “It was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good.  Gradually, it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either – but right through every human heart – and through every human heart…I nourished my soul there, and I say without hesitation: Bless you prison, for having been in my life”

We all know how silver is purified.  The silver smith takes the silver, full of impurities and holds it in the hottest part of the fire, patiently watching it, ensuring that the impurities melt away while the silver becomes purer and purer. During the whole process, the smith has to be watching the silver very closely; he cannot take away his eyes even for a moment, for that will destroy the silver and once the silver is pure the smith molds it into the figure he has chosen it for.  So it is with our maker.  He lets us go through the corridors of suffering so we can be melted and molded to do His purpose for us.  Suffering causes our independent, rebellious hearts to learn to depend, depend only on our God, depend fully on our God.  And yet as the smith, he keeps a close watch over us, so that we will not be tempted beyond what we can bear.  The refining process is the only one that makes us pure and holy, as He wants us to be.

As Philip Yancy talks about suffering, he identifies 2 main factors – 1) Cause – why am I suffering?  Who did it?  Why me? How can you do this to me?  The questions are numerous and so is the pain.  2) Response – how do we react? Do we accept it and rejoice for we know God is with us surely and will lead us through or do we curse Him and take the path of darkness?

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.”

1 Peter 4: 12 – 13 KJV

Paul talks of “His strength is made perfect in weakness” and his life is an example to this beautiful truth.  How many times have our gratitude been to God when we are at our heights of comfort and self-satisfaction?  And how many times have we called upon God and prayed to Him earnestly when we are at the depths of pain and despair?

I recollect a story of a man who walked this earth with a cross of suffering.  Even as he trudged the paths of each day the weight of the cross grew more and finally when he felt he could not bear it anymore he called out to the Lord.  “God, you who sit in the highest heavens, hear my cry and take this suffering from me”.  And then, God who had all along walked with him, touched him gently and said, “My, son what ails you?”.  And the man glad at heart, requests God to take away the cross for it is too heavy and God tells him that he has to take it for that is the only way he can receive the beautiful life Christ has kept ready for him in eternity but, He Christ would be with him and bear the pain along with him.  Then the man requests God, “ can you at least give me another cross?”  So God takes him to a huge storehouse filled with crosses and asks him to choose.  The man spends hours trying to choose, a small cross proved too heavy for its make was of iron, a glass one cut his palms, a lean one made him fall always and as the day drew to a close, the man desperate and tired walked back to the exit and then he saw a small cross, kind of cute and he rushed to pick it up and found it also light.  Satisfied he has found the perfect one, he walked out and even as the doors closed behind him, God touched him and said, “dear son, this cross that you have walked out with, is the very one that you took in with you”.

Martin Luther King Jr says” Christianity has always insisted that the cross we bear precedes the crown we wear”

We cannot escape from suffering if that is what we have in mind for that is the only process that refines us.  To be stars we need to be polished hard and often and only then can we shine brightly.  Suffering causes us to be humble and patient.  It enables us to depend completely on God and also have interdependence with people, who have begun to matter more than the vain things we hold so closely.  Suffering as it pushes us to a corner where there is nothing much to lose, causes us to realize the urgent need for redemption and presents the gospel in the real light – the light of hope, comfort and life.

I know you would have been, or is going through some kind of suffering.  Or if the future suddenly caves in under you, causing you to suffer, fear not.  God is with us and He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear.  He will give us the strength to come through with glory and will walk with you, to receive you safely in His arms.

Safe in the arms of Jesus

Ashley J P

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

Don’t think so much about who is for or against you, rather give all your care that God be with you in everything you do.  Thomas Kempis, 1379-1471, German Monk

The awakening starts with questions, a waking mind demands answers and the stride of time continues on the quest of finding solutions day after day.Yes, we pack quite a lot into our daily routines, not necessarily with commitment but with the eager desire to complete and achieve. As we spearhead duties and work on challenges, thoughts focused on creating happiness for ourselves, we forget the simple truth that we cannot find happiness; it is happiness that finds us.

In this secular lifestyle of power, pleasure, fun and belonging, much is geared to do what makes us feel good. In this secular society, happiness becomes the aim of life. But the question raised is “ At what cost?” Jesus said in Matt 5:8 “ Blessed are the pure in heart”. The word blessed means happy, so in life happiness is found in holiness. It is the longing to live a life of purity, rightly related to God, self and others.

As we draw focus on the day, on our responsibilities, on our achievements, on our goals, we realize much is at stake – too much in fact to let the concept of holiness and righteousness question our every action.  We forget we are passing through a mock exercise called earthly life in order to reach the reality of heavenly living.  But the world, it does not have time for all this, as one says life is a journey and continue we must striving consistently to achieve.  Much is veiled in this statement of purpose, but we as Christians are drawn not to the riches of achieving but to the savior on the cross. 

In a corporate world of power, three men were chosen to head divisions of importance. Even as they walked the path of success, they failed not to be governed by the virtue of godly living.  Time was a crowning event in their lives, until the shadow of peer jealousy loomed large enough to bring them to the corridors of ruin itself.  They have led and lived a life committed to the holy God, but now it conflicted with the brand image of the corporate culture.  Facing the wrath of the top man himself, they still chose the life of condemnation rather than be one more of the walkers of a secular life of wrongs.  The anger burned hot in flames and these three who strived to live a life of truth and holiness were bound and thrown into the fires of death.  Daniel 3 opens out to us the love of a holy God who rewards all those who continue to walk in His ways daily, even in the face of destruction, disappointment and failure.

We are called to a life of truth, a life of faithful commitment to a God of providence.  To be honest, the life we live is definitely one, buffeted by the rewards of temptation.  But the questions we need to ask ourselves, as we take upon task after task,” is this right?, would it be correct in the eyes of God?, am I pleasing God or hurting him by doing this?”.  We are put in a secular world, a place that looks at us for examples, yet is ready to find faults and cause us grief.  So though many a time we may have to sacrifice easy riches and pleasant dreams come true, we end up being blessed.

So let us look upon the sinless one, who lived very much in a corrupt, pleasure-seeking world, charting out a course of righteous living, deeply bonded with the Father and taking on all the forces of worldly conjure with pure holiness.   We have a choice every waking moment to choose, so lets choose wisely.  Psalms 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.”

May His blessings be on you.

Firmly in His grip

Ashley J P

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.