A Note from Deepak
Hello, I’m Deepak! Guess you’re here because my story is similar to yours.
We know that the way we look is our ticket to popularity and success. We work so hard to have a perfect physique, so many hours spent researching ways to look our best! It’s so tough to stay on top of the game at all times, isn’t it?
One small slip and we could lose it all. The anxiety never leaves us, this fear of never measuring up, of falling short.
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The Bible tells us the tale of two kings: Saul was a young man who was not the most promising son in his family, but was chosen to be King.
Instead of enjoying his good fortune, he was constantly anxious about losing it all because he didn’t fully believe that he could depend on God for his security.
He became very jealous and insecure when a young warrior named David showed up, and spent all of his energy trying to destroy him. He once hired David to sing for him and then threw a spear at him to kill him. Fear drove Saul to hunt down his enemies and worry about his possible downfall, instead of enjoying what he had in life.
David, on the other hand, did not worry about status or success – and this was because he enjoyed a very real friendship with God. He writes in his book of poems called the Psalms:
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” David knew that the key to not fearing anyone- either their opinion or their attacks- was to be sure that God was his guiding light and his salvation.
David know that he could depend on the friendship of God more than on anyone else.
He enjoyed God’s salvation- or saving grace. The Christian word for this undeserved friendship extended by God is Grace.
How is Grace different from Kindness?
Kindness can be given in a patronizing, paternalistic way. We can be kind to a homeless person, or even an animal, as an act of charity.
Grace is different. It elevates the one you are showing grace toward. God’s grace toward us puts us on a whole new level: God now judges us as if we had never sinned, because his son Jesus took the blame for our sins. That’s quite different from God deciding to be kind toward us. This is God claiming that we are his equals, it’s a scandal because it’s God making friends with man who is not in his league at all. And he says- look you’re my friend, I’m always crazy about you, always ready to meet you wherever you’re at. You never have to earn my favor before we meet up.
“While we were sinners”, the Bible says, “God showed his love for us” in the most extreme form “by dying for us.”
Someone had to take the punishment for our sins, and God volunteered to do that, by sending his own son to take the blame, to die instead of us, so that we could have eternal life instead of the death that we deserved.
The first thing God did was to prove his own love, before he asked anything of us. He decided that the most irrefutable proof – was to offer the thing that cost him the most, that tore his heart in two- his only son as a sacrifice so that our slate was wiped clean and he could extend the grace of friendship to us.
This was the greatest act of generosity. So what does God require from us in response?
You and I have to be willing to say- “Ok, I have to put this generosity, this offer of friendship to the test”. This can only be done by looking at it from the inside, ‘in a relationship’ as some Facebook updates helpfully tell us.
He wants us to accept his friendship, and help us navigate life. So put aside those masks, and with his friendship you can enjoy being yourself!
WE WOULD LOVE TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND THIS UNIQUE FRIENDSHIP & PRAY WITH YOU.
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