Insight is a monthly contribution on remarkable topics dedicated for thoughts, reflection and prayers. Please feel free to contribute to this page what you would like to share with others.

In his writing to the Corinthians, Paul emphasises that we should not give up, that our physical body is becoming older and weaker, but our spirit is made new everyday, that we have troubles for a while now, but they are helping us to gain an eternal glory that is much greater than the troubles.

Our place in the creation is very remarkable. The Psalmist says, "For you have made him a little lower than angels, and have crowned him with glory and honour. You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the path of the seas ...."

What a man will become we can scarcely tell when he is made in the image of God, and made like unto our divine Lord who is the firstborn among many brothers.

Our bodies are to be developed into something infinitely brighter and better than the bodies of men here below: and as for the soul, we cannot guess to what an elevation it shall be raised in Christ Jesus. There is room for the largest elevation here, as we conjecture what will be the full accomplishment of the vast intent of external love, an intent that has involved the sacrifice of the only begotten Son of God. That can be no mean design, which has been carried on at the expense of the best that heaven itself possessed.

It is important to live a pure life, a life touched by or that touches God at all times. We do not want anyone to find fault with our work, so that nothing we do will be a problem for anyone. We have to see ourselves in every way servants of God, serving him and accepting many hard things, which demands a belief and conviction.

Sometimes we think that a belief is what we hold and a conviction is what holds us together. A conviction is not truly a conviction unless it includes a commitment to live by what we claim to believe. A commitment is not a vow but a resolution, a determined purpose to live by God's word as he applies it to our lives. First we need a commitment to holiness, a touch by God, as a total way of life. We must decide that holiness is so important to God that it deserves priority attention in our lives. We must commit ourselves to obeying God in all his commands. We cannot pick and choose according to our own values. A little bit of fudging on our income tax return is sin just as much as outright theft, an unforgiving spirit toward someone else is sin just as much as murder. We can only be made whole when God touches us.

I am not suggesting that all sin is equally offensive to God; I am saying that all sin is offensive to God. The measure of sin is not just in its effect upon our neighbours, but also in its affront to the majesty and holiness of a sovereign God.

Sin is serious to God, and it becomes serious business to us when we reflect upon it, regardless of how seemingly insignificant it appears toward the sovereign authority of God.

The Psalmist recognised the seriousness of any and all sin when he said, "You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed" (Psalm 119:4). He recognised that partial obedience for example, refraining from outright theft of a neighbour's property while allowing our heart to covet it, is actually disobedience. God's precepts are to be fully obeyed.

Reflection.

Why is purity so important? Why must God's people seek purity? What is the way to live a pure life? Is your desire for purity a belief or a conviction?

Joseph Odongkara

Giving gifts is a common phenomenon in our society. We give gifts to mark different occasions in our lives: birthdays, Christmas, weddings, engagements, you name it. We often see people bringing flowers to hospitals when someone is sick or to their homes when they return from hospital and even when people pass away especially mysteriously, all to indicate how much we love them.

Normally accompanied with the gifts are harmony and sanctity as a thank you to God for what has transpired. Equally, God who is our father, gives us gifts of numerous kinds and in many different aspects.

It is better to trust God than to accumulate riches. Trust in God gives clearness of vision. When we are thinking partly of doing God's work in the world, and partly of lining our own nest, we are in the condition of the man whose eyes do not look in the same direction.

We are endeavouring to serve two masters, and our judgment is therefore distorted. Who has not often experienced this? You have tried to ascertain God's will, or to form a right judgment about your life, but constantly your perception of duty has been obscured by the thought that, if you decided in a certain direction, you would interfere with your interests in another. Your eye has not been single, and you have walked in darkness. When, however, you feel so absorbed in God's interests that you are indifferent to your own, all becomes clear, and you leave Him to care for the results.

Let us not think that God is niggardly and stinting in his gifts. He gives fish as well as bread when he feeds the crowds; colours as well as leaves when he clothes the flowers. You have been adopted into his family, and may call him 'Abba Father'.

Surely, this act of grace shows a special love on his part. Would he have taken such care of the spiritual, and have none for the physical? The ungodly may worry about the maintenance; but a child of God may be sure that his needs are supplied.

What is the difference between Jesus' perspective on feeding the crowd and his disciples' perspective? Do you face similar conflict between feeling a need to provide for yourself and trusting God to provide? Let Psalm 107:8-9 be your prayer of trust and thanks for God's provision.

Joseph Odongkara