Glad @ Heart

“You have put gladness in my heart,
         More than in the season that their grain and wine increased.”

Psalms 4:7

                Dear reader, have you sought the gladness presented in the above verse for your life?The gladness mentioned by the Psalmist comes from Heaven. It will not get weakened or become worn out in few days. It comes from the assurance of Gods promise and is perfected with the fulfillment of heavens desire for your life.The gladness we receive from Christ is something that a believer get to renew every day,it will never go out of date. It is the gladness that keeps us merry under stormy skies ,it is the kind of joy that excels within our spirit even in days of drought.Gladness is a state of our mind wherein we are contented , joyful or very much delighted. Usually a sense of being glad comes to man on some kind of achievement or during the good times of life,it is seasonal. But for a person who have set His heart and desires on God,He have more to expect in His life beyond the material blessings.What makes you glad today? Try to list down and see with a truthful heart on what makes you to rejoice in the Lord today? If you feel like you do not have enough reasons to rejoice in Him, ask Him for that gladness which comes from the joy of salvation, which ties us to heaven through the chords of eternal love.The joy that the world gives you wont last much:when the season of grain is over, disappointment holds grip over your heart.As the season of wine and celebration wind up;there is no reason to rejoice.

              Only a child of God have a reason to rejoice even during situations that are not favorable.Are you privileged to be part of that family of glad @heart?The privilege to be loved by everlasting love,the privilege of divine protection,privilege of divine provisions, privilege to be called as sons and daughters of the Almighty God,the privilege to be comforted by the holy spirit,the privilege of having divine purpose in our life.Above all the privilege of having the fullness of Joy in Christ. Jesus wants each and every child of His to rejoice in Him, to reach this fullness of joy;the gladness that the world can never separate from our spirit.

In Christ Jesus,

Smitha Thomas.

        

The eternal life – manifested to us.

“the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us”. I John 1:2

         While I was meditating the above verse, I was uplifted by the depth of eternal life beaming from it.  Apostle John is testifying about the manifestation of eternal life on earth, which is nothing else but Jesus himself. When God created man ,He made us in His own image and gave human race life, which was through His own breath and, was  a life eternal. When we sinned and came short of His glory ,this eternal life was cut off from us and we became mere vessels of clay and lost the eternal fellowship with God. But when Christ came to earth , He was life manifested or materialized to mankind. What does it infer : Is it not that we all are demonstrations of life? Dear child of God, when the Apostle John refers to life being manifested(revealed or disclosed) through Jesus, it is nothing but eternal life.

“The upliftment for just clay beings to a glory eternal”.Clay is subjected to divinity by the phenomenon of grace.Clay is been looked upon as a cheap and worthless element,Which is easily available and of very low status in the society .When this clay is been embedded with life offered by Christ,there is  an immense upliftment in its nature. The clay is now united with something most holy,divine,prestigious and its value got replaced to a level much higher. How precious is this eternal life given to us whose worth is altogether a breath.How much thankful we should be to our father who elevated us to a level beyond which we are worthy to hold His divine manifestation of life in our human framework. How much serious attention we should give to preserve this valuable gift, whose esteem is beyond the largest treasure found on earth.

     When Jesus laid down His life for us ,we all became living manifestations of this life. Let us commit ourselves today to this beauty and value Jesus invested on us by uplifting us from the nature of flesh to His divine life. Let it be our passion to be a witness to this eternal life manifested on us.

“And this is the promise that He has promised us- eternal life.” I John 2 :25.

In Christ Jesus ,

Smitha Thomas.

I am what I am by grace.

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”I Corinthians 15:10 

         Apostle Paul is writing in this teaching to the church Of Corinth,about the grace of God he received. There are many beautiful things that we as a believer need to recognize from this.Even after knowing that the new testament is the chapter of grace added to mankind; how often do we acknowledge our personal position with respect to Gods grace.Here Paul says ‘but by the grace of God I am what I am’. Today are we able to say with our whole being ,I am what I am by the grace of God. The sweet relationship we enjoy with Jesus,our hope of eternity,forgiveness of sin, our material and spiritual blessings,protection offered to us through the blood of Jesus; Can we give the total glory of all this to that abundance of grace showered over us on Calvary? If we see the above verses of the context verse we can see that Paul is referring Himself as the least of Apostles, and also says maybe not even an apostle as He was persecuting the church of Jesus.But even in His position big or small , the essence is recognizing His position as something appointed through grace.Precious child of God many times Satan will try to take our focus away from grace  and will make  us rely on our own strength. Do not be deceived because in our life with Christ there is no “self” and thereby we are all entitled to called the children of God only through grace. Many times we love to think in flesh that may be the love of God came in search of us because of our righteous deeds or because of our pleasing character.If we are doing so then we are binding ourselves to the law again and casting out the beauty of grace in our life.If we are still trying to gain salvation through our righteous deeds or being proud of our self created imaginations instead of identifying ourselves living by the grace of God,then the grace that was offered to us will become vain. Jesus paid a big price,His own life to offer this glorious grace onto us ,just vessels of clay . When we go ignoring this enormous grace to live in our imaginations we are re-crucifying our Lord . In the last part of the verse Paul says He have labored more than the other apostles, which may sound to us as boasting. But Paul adds to that carefully that it was not Him ,who was capable of doing that but; the grace within Him. How beautiful! The more we are able to identify the grace God added in our life,the more He equips us for His ministry. The more we are able to humble ourselves,genuinely ;there will be more grace added to us. Yes! the grace of God will help us become conquerors in the middle of our weakness.

     Dear child of God, try to exercise by faith to recognize the grace of God in all areas of your life; acknowledge and Thank God for his grace in your life and He will add more grace enabling you to say I am what I am by His grace. May God bless you.

In Christ Jesus,

Smitha Thomas.

God’s predestined purpose for us.

EPHESIANS 2:10(NIV)

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”

               Our God is the creator and the Master behind all the universe,and His same hands made you and me in his very own image.We all acknowledge to the fact that God created us,but the above verse leads us to another level,that makes us all very special. We are all the creation of God ,but our design is altered greatly when we are in Christ Jesus. When we accept Jesus, our old man who is bound to do sin is altered to the nature of Christ by the holy spirit.Now there is  a new life and new spirit that works within us.2 Corinthians 5:17“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”Now our dysfunctional old system and design is created anew and the purpose of this new design is to do good works in Christ. The good work that God expects from each of us would be different but definitely all of them would bring glory to God and bind us to the assurance of an eternal life.The last part of Ephesians 2:10 reminds us that  God has prepared a pre-destined plan of good works that we have to walk through and this particular design is unique in each one of us.I would like to explain this last part based on the understanding God gave me on this subject.

             Sometimes to learn lessons from God, we really do have to go through small disappointments.This incident happened recently; we gave our house back in India, to do the interior work.We found a trusted interior designing firm and told them exactly what we wanted.I had such a passion towards the kitchen of this house,so I designed it custom,having in mind every concept I have known so far to have an efficient and purposeful kitchen. I spent my time and put my thoughts into it.I had so many specifications with the cabinetry,the drawers,the pantry area and every part in this kitchen was designed with one goal,a functional kitchen which suits my way of cooking, and also 100% based on my likes and dislikes . We were personally not present to look how the work was coming up. The work got over and we got reports from all who visited the house that the kitchen looked beautiful.Based on my design we were thrilled to see how the finished product would look like.One morning,I received the pictures of the finished product;to my disbelief I found the builder did not follow any of my instructions and he did a different design for my kitchen.I became very upset because the kitchen will not now function in the way I imagined and even though its beautiful, I know it would have been better if they followed the exact design I had in my mind. Few days after this incident, God bought this to my mind and asked me to think it on the basis of Gods purposeful artistic design for our life and how trueful are we to follow His instructions? When we are not following Him 100%,how much variation will be there to the Master plan He has custom designed for us. Jesus reminded me the pain He has when we  won’t follow His plan for our life, based on our time limits,our priorities in life and our convenience. When we come out of the pre ordained experiences ,God has some expectations about our quality as a  believer. He wants us more like Christ,He wants us to have an end result of good works that brings glory to His name.By going through certain tough situations God wants to bring out certain beautiful talents in us; sometimes it is to build our character to  a level God desires in us.For some others it could be to build a relationship with God like they have never experienced before. Some situations God wants us to learn humility and to honor others.Some situations would be to overcome certain weaknesses in our body or spirit. For some others it could be to produce some impartations to others; sometimes God brings situations to bring certain people closer to us and the result He intends would be  a joint ministry;at times it would be  to excel in some spiritual gifts. Yes,never limit God’s plan in our life. When God brings our attention on certain matters to be prayed or to do certain things promptly, never ignore it or delay it. Because there is a certain beautiful outcome that God expects from that. When we delay the things God asks us to do the beauty of His plan for us is ruined. This brings pain to the Father’s heart. We may feel happy that God used us to a certain level but the intended plan God had for us gets aborted. So dear child of God when God puts us in a position for his purpose be 100% true to His plan.

Philippians 2:13 (NIV)

“for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”

May God bless you to become a purpose fulfilling person bringing glory to HIs name.

In Christ Jesus,

Smitha Thomas.

A Wedding Invitation.

^“ And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, ³ and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. ¹⁴ “For many are called, but few are chosen.” Mathew 22:1-14

[Wish you all a blessed new year! ]The parable of the wedding feast is a very common scripture but, I am repeatedly inspired to bring out few things from this portion. If we read Mathew-22:1-14 we will get the idea of the story wherein; a King is arranging a big wedding banquet for his prince .He has already send the invitation to many honored people with the anticipation they will be there to give honor to his son. As there was no response he sends out his servants for a second time to remind them about the feast, but they all simply ignored the invitation for silly day to day matters and were not ready to attend the wedding feast. Again the King sends a second group of servants to all the specially invited guests to let them know every preparation is done for the wedding and invited them again, but they took it lightly .They neither paid attention nor set their time apart for the wedding feast. They dishonored the King as well as the Prince. Hearing this the King gets angry and He destroys them and their cities. Now the King tells his servants; those who were invited were unworthy so, go into the highways and find as many as they could gather, both good and bad as the feast is all ready. The servants did as the King said and the wedding hall was full. The King came in to see the guests and saw one person without His wedding garment and the King became angry and He was punished for ignoring to give honor to the King.

 

Jesus mentions in the beginning that this parable resembles the Kingdom of God. Here God Almighty is the King, Jesus is the son of this honored King and the wedding banquet symbolizes the entry to the kingdom of God. In this parable we can see two groups of people, who are invited for this wedding banquet. The first group is a highly qualified group of guests; they all are highly entitled to be the guests of this honored and mighty king. They all have a special place in the invited list. This symbolizes the people of Israel-the apple of God’s eye. But when Jesus came into this world to save them, they could not recognize His call or accept Him as Messiah, they simply did not believe in Him. When the highly favored nation of Israel, failed to receive the saving grace of Jesus Christ, the invitation was extended through grace to the second group. Here the invitation is open to anyone who hears the gospel of Jesus, anyone who believes in Jesus and accepts Him as one’s own Savior and chooses to obey Him is gathered to attend the big banquet, the Kingdom of God. It is by grace that the second selection is made, there was nothing to make you and me, pre-qualify for this selection. When the grace of God shined over the outcast, a Savior was born to the whole world. Here God have not kept any set boundaries to limit anyone to come into the Kingdom Of God. In the parable Jesus says both good and bad were invited, not our righteousness, good deeds, education, family, values, wealth, wisdom none of them makes us eligible to enter the kingdom of God. It is purely the grace of God, 1 Corinthians 1:27“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” Today if you feel the need of a Savior, a need to be out from your bondage, the need to be redeemed from sin, you simply have to accept his invitation-Jesus came in search of all the outcast and unprivileged to make them righteous not by law but by faith.

 

In this parable verse 11, speaks about a wedding garment. When the King comes in to see His guests, He saw a man without his wedding garment, and the King asks him, Friend, where is your wedding garment? And he became speechless out of shame and guilt. The above parable talks to us about the wedding invitation which is the call, our readiness to respond being the selection and now comes the need of the wedding garment. What is this garment? Revelation 19:7, 8 “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” The wedding garment is the righteousness that we need to wear within our heart. Righteousness is an attribute of the holiness of God. Being in the selected list of the Kings wedding Banquet does not make you and me exempted from judgment, here comes the need of righteousness as our garment. Jesus says “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Mathew 5:20. If so we need to stop pointing out on the righteousness of others and should deal with ourselves; are we assuming spiritual hypocrisy? How far are we righteous in spiritual matters? Righteousness according to the eyes of God is our holiness, our resemblance to the character of Christ, our obedience to the word of God, our submissiveness to the Holy Spirit. Today you and me are invited to attend the wedding feast with the King, are you ready to accept Him and honor Him as your King and Savior? If you have accepted the invitation please make sure you have the wedding garment, for many are selected but few are chosen. May God bless you abundantly.

In Christ Jesus,

SMITHA SUSAN THOMAS.

Abraham-From promise to an oath.

Hebrews 6:13-15

“When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one
greaterfor him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, “I will
surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after
waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.”

In Hebrews chapter 6, Apostle Paul is emphasizing the need to persist in faith
and hope to reach the inheritance God has in store for his children who
obey him.In the above verse we see Abraham, the father of faith as a vivid
example so that we are encouraged not to limit the certainty of Gods promises.
A promise is a word of assurance or a guarantee that someone will do a certain
thing in future: it is a reason to hope for. I personally cherish the promises God
gave me and I believe all of us will be happy to acknowledge the fact that the
Almighty God has time and patience to talk to us personally and has some
blessings kept aside for each of us. I was so inclined to the above verse where
God is swearing on himself to double confirm a promise given to Abraham.
Let’s go to the book of Genesis where God is giving promises to Abraham and
see how the above promise where he swears on God himself is so distinct
from the rest of the promises given to Abraham.

In Genesis 12:1-3 we see God’s call on Abraham’s life where he was asked to
leave his homeland, relatives and fathers home to a land God is yet to show.
The first set of promises were given at that time and those blessings were
manifold (Personal,to all his generations, all nations). From this point
Abraham trusts the promises of God and he is moving according to the
desire of God. The second promise is given after Abraham separates from
Lot and lives in the land of Canaan (regarding the inheritance of land,
generations) Genesis13:14-17.The third promise is given after Abraham
rescues Lot from the King of Sodom and here God talks to Abraham about
his concerns and we see Abraham is doubting whetherhis own son will be
his heir?And God shows him the stars in the sky and reconfirmsthe
promise and that is where it is recorded Abraham believed in God
(Genesis 15:1-6).We also need this kind of reconfirmations from God at
times to reconcile to the promises of God. The fourth time God gives his
promise to Abraham and Sarah together, but this is after an interval of
more than ten years, and in the course of time Abraham became the father
of Ishmael through Sarah’s maidservant Hagar.But God strengthens them
again in due season, God talks to Abraham specifically, your own wife Sarah
is going to give birth to a son, he should be called Isaac andthere is going
to be an everlasting covenant with his descendants. (Genesis 17:1-8).
The fifth promise was given at the oaks of Mamre where the three visitors
specify the time of fulfillment of the promise (Genesis18:1-15). The sixth
promise to Abraham is given after the birth of Isaac right after the test of
Abraham’s faih Genesis 22:17, 18.

The test of Abraham’s faith was not an easy one. God is asking for something
really precious in the life of Abraham. Isaac was not just an answer to Abraham’s
prayer; but was the result of God’s promise, result of almost twenty-five years of
wait, and the descendant on whom God has set all the promises given to
Abraham, a person who should be a channel of blessing to many nations. God
is asking Abraham a sacrifice of his hope. A covenant blessing was also laid
between God and Abraham that is an everlasting covenant and Abraham had
total trust in the nature of His God, that he will never break His covenant.
Abraham did not argue with God for a compromise but trusted His God and
obeyed him. God was pleased by Abraham’s act of obedience and moved the
promise he had for Abraham to a next level an oath.While overcoming a
test of faith our promises would be turned into oaths,they would
be of extreme importance in the sight of God because the security of our
faith matters to our Father. Here God had sworn on Himself so that his
words for Abraham were final and whatever maybe the circumstances God did
not want to rethink about the manifold blessings he gave to Abraham. The oath
confirmed the covenant or the promise given so that we, the heirs of this
blessing from Abraham should recognize the unchangeable nature of God’s
counsel.

How much value have you given to the promises of God? Bible says because
of two things there is reason for us to trust in God’s promises; it is impossible for
God to lie and also because we should have a strong hope to rely upon; His
promises will come to pass. If you are having an unfulfilled promise from God
in your life, trust in God as it is certain that he is faithful to make you see your
promises come alive with your own eyes .All you need is to have the patience
to wait because while you are in the valley there is a molding going on so that
you can stand strong in the mountain top to proclaim God’s love and mercy.
I believe a valid reason prevails for every second your blessing is delayed and
it shows the concern, love and perfect will of our father in your life. Like
Abraham let’s be able to endure the test of obedience in Christ so that our
promises shall find a deeper meaning in the sight of God.

In Christ Jesus,
Smitha Thomas.

Jesus will never forsake you.

Hebrews 13:5-6

“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”

     This particular verse lit my spirit today,I understood this verse can really uplift us, not just in the beginning days of Christian walk but its a promise to be held close to our heart each day as we walk with our Saviour. The relationship (or connection)  of the first part of the  verse with the second part was something I missed all these days.  The word covetous is some kind of an extreme desire to own something that belongs to someone else and Bible teaches us it is wrong to desire the things that belongs to others.We may be covetous about someone’s life and dream to be in their shoes,someone’s job, someone’s attitudes and stands,dressing sense ,personality,spiritual life and the list can go on and on ;but this particular situation can shake our trust in God,we will loss our state of contentment and start ignoring all the blessings God gave in our life. The reason is our attention will shift from God and we involuntarily choose to take His divine provisions  granted and we just plead to God for more blessings without thinking, does that suit me?Here our relationship with God is becoming single sided without trying to listen what he wants to say. Here it is said “Let your conversation be without covetousness” that says when we become unthankful and loss our contented state our conversations start reflecting that.Negative thoughts and unfair opinions flow out of us and we become one depressed soul in the hands of Satan. When our mind is filled with jealousy and envy our thoughts starts to divert away from Grace of God and our thoughts and words become selfish ,greedy and demanding.

          Out  of a believer God does not want this kind of covetous nature, but He wants us to stay clear of all that and have a heart that is filled with content and love.If we look unto heaven counting our blessings Jesus is saying “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee”. By being a  child of God ,Jesus gives us this everlasting promise- he wont leave us. Today, do you believe that Jesus wont leave you alone to face the deserted  situation you are going through?There are many who pass by us when we are in this world, but only one person is there by us through out this journey called life and He is Jesus,today hold onto this promise –He will never forsake you. If you trust in this promise, apply it in faith- let your spirit see in faith the intangible presence of Jesus over all areas of your life. Now there is no more chance for fear which comes from outside through the words and deeds of man, and also the fear that is ignited in our own heart sensing the world outside or the result of our thought process from our covetous thoughts  because, Jesus is there by your side and  He will not desert  you.If you feel that no one is understanding your circumstances and if you are left alone just tell Him in faith ,Father its your promise you will never leave me, nor forsake me.I need your presence in my life.I need to feel it. Reach out in faith,definitely the doors of heaven will open for you and all your fear ,emptiness and agony will be replaced and replenished by the heavenly peace which passes your understanding.

In Christ Jesus,

Smitha Thomas.

The name that protects.

JOHN 17:11

“I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one”.

    I would like to briefly explain the context for the  above verse.  John  chapter 17 is a chapter of prayer ,where Jesus  intercedes to the Father in heaven ,for  his disciples.Jesus knew that His time to be betrayed was near and He knew that His Father would give Him strength to fulfill his purpose in earth but here Jesus is deeply concerned about his disciples, who were with him throughout his ministry .They believed him and  followed him trusting he is Messiah,but Jesus knew once they will be left alone they will go weak in their faith.If the world did not believe the Son of God how could they appreciate His disciples? Jesus knew the trials they are going to face in the  days  ahead  will be great and out of his deep concern,love and anguish ,Jesus   is asking God to  provide protection to His disciples.This protection comes to anyone who believes in the name of Jesus,for he knows that anyone who believes in Him will be hated by the world .Today do you understand that there is a power in the name of Jesus, a power that unites us with spirit of Christ , a power  that instills within us to be conquerors of the world, a power that protects us from all the bindings of flesh- this power is nothing but the power of holy spirit that works within us  to help us  unify  with the nature of Christ.If you are reading this post with a fear that makes you feel lonely,inadequate or being hated by all  just understand if you hold upon the saving grace of Jesus, he will offer protection in all areas of your life.              The protection Jesus offers to you and me is out of his deep love towards us knowing our nature of flesh.Only the name of Jesus can protect you from the power of death and provide you with eternal life.

In Christ Jesus,

Smitha    Thomas

A good Soldier.

  ^{II TIMOTHY 2:3,4}

“You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.  No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.”

      The above portion is part of a letter from Apostle Paul to Timothy,his son in Christ.In Christian life we are enrolled in a war which could be seen only with eyes that perceive beyond our sense of physical vision,its about a spiritual warfare between truth and lie,life and death,eternity and hell,light and darkness.When Christ has set us free through His blood ,from the powers of darkness ,when we accept Him as our Lord and Savior,and when He reveals to us the depth of eternity and the price of a soul – we are enrolled to be a soldier in His army.Being in the army of Christ,we have to fight against the powers of darkness,our own body that’s carnal,against  everything that builds lie against the truth in the gospel and also against sin. But being in this army does not make us victorious-for sure this army will succeed ,but the battle is of individual meaning for each soldier.Like any battle,the attitude of the soldier have a  definite role in the outcome of his result,we can either fight the enemy till death or can let go at some point due to a weakness or a wrong move. Likewise in spiritual warfare,we should be able to endure the attacks from Satan through unforeseen angles,but this battle could be won only through the grace of God.Here all our own power or wisdom goes tarnished and success comes only through the word of God .Also in a spiritual warfare we are commissioned by our Heavenly Father, and each of us have  a different mission to complete.To be a successful soldier we should be able to complete the work assigned to us,but its very challenging ;as we live in this world there could be many scenarios that pull us back from  what we are entitled to do.But if we are unable to prioritize the work God has entitled on us ,we would never be able to please our God – to some it is the responsibility of a shepherd,to some it is to break the word of God,some are assigned to support the weak,for some it is to be on their knees and  do intercession or to edify one another.What ever be the part God has set aside for us,do it with the attitude of that good soldier who sees victory as being able to accomplish his entitled mission by  toiling hard to overcome the flesh as per the word of God.

In Christ Jesus,

Smitha Thomas.

The embodiment of love-Christ.

I Corinthians 13:1-8

  ^“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
  Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;  does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 
  Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.”

       I quoted almost the whole chapter as it was difficult for me to extract a single verse to explain the love mentioned in the word of God. The passage is quite self explanatory and I don’t think, I have to add much to it. The first three verses tells us the importance of love or the highest rank love is having over many other blessings or gifts that we  boast about.In the bottom line if love is not the foundation on which: we speak,we prophesize ,we gain understanding ,we do charity,we do sacrifices or we invest our  faith in, the end result is null in the eyes of God.Today identify the truth – what is the foundation on which all our good works are build upon.? If its something other than love,the end result will be like a man who have build his house upon the sand,when the time came to test its real strength, his house collapsed and all his hard work went wasted. Today the word of God advices us to be wise and please do not attempt to belittle the love, God wants to implant in our heart. Verses 4-7 talks to us about the characters of love. Here,I would like to imagine about love as a person ,and if so ; love would be  a perfect gentleman who is kind,patient,who will never envy on others,won’t boast on anything,won’t be rude or proud or self seeking,won’t get angered easily or keep any record of wrong.He will not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.Also this person called love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.Can you compare or find  anyone with this nature,for me it  quickly took me to the cross, where I saw the very nature of my Savior, as the embodiment of love. Lets take the character of Christ expressed as true love and apply it  in our life today.On areas we are not able to yield ask for the work of holy spirit. I would like to conclude ,in places where all wisdom and spiritual gifts fail – only one thing can sustain,the love of Christ.

In Christ Jesus,

Smitha Thomas.