Ramesh Richard

Is There Forgiveness?

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:08:00 +0000

Perhaps it was a wrongful relationship, premarital or extramarital, which you entered. You gave yourself without reserve to this person who violated the sanctity of your body and devastated your spiritual life. Oh! By the way, you were not only victim, you were also perpetrator; you caused the other person to sin. Now you wonder if God will ever forgive.

Perhaps, it is a wrongful habit which enslaves you. You know full well that it is wrong--spiritually, mentally, and monetarily. The habit is not beneficial to you--it could be cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, glamor, greed, shopping, acquisitiveness, sleeping around, and autoeroticism. But you are unwilling to give it up. And even if you are, you wonder, "Will God accept me? And forgive me?"

Or maybe it is an evil mind that you possess. Thoughts of anger, lust, pride, restlessness, anxiety, or hate fills your mind often. And you are wondering--our God who knows all, can He ever forgive you?

I invite you to check out my website for the answer, www.rameshrichard.com.

Seeking Forgiveness

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:03:00 +0000

The penitentiary is a dungeon, a hole, where human beings are held hostage to their own past. A spiritual penal institution envelopes you in when you don't sense forgiveness in your life.

"Forgiveness," someone said, "is man's deepest need and highest achievement." I have found this to be true all over the world. Indeed in some parts of the world, they only want to hear a word of forgiveness because forgiveness is not taught in their religion, not experienced in their life, though they are penalized by past sin and wrong doings.

We need forgiveness because no one is innocent. We all know that somehow we have not come up to God's expectations of us. We have disappointed his wishes; let him down in his desires for us; broken his prescriptions; have not met all of God's demands of human beings. We have fallen short of that which brings him glory?

Do you think you have possibly done something in your life that is beyond forgiveness?

The True Master

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:30:00 +0000

Ted Turner, of CNN, once said, "Who would want to go to heaven? Heaven will be boring; there will be nothing to improve in heaven. Hell would be better for him because he could improve things down there."

The poor man, though he is rich in this earth, doesn’t know about heaven or hell.

Hell can't be improved; and heaven will allow us to exercise all our creativity and savvy which was given to us at creation which we lost. Mr. Turner's riches are blinding him from accepting God's solution to his life.

"No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." In fact, the only way you can keep from serving wealth is by serving God. Would you like to be released from the prison of money?

Go to my website (www.rameshrichard.com) and we can continue this discussion.

Freedom from Money

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:23:00 +0000

Just like prison quenches normal life--marital life, family life, work life, business life, so does money.

How does one get out of this prison system of money?

First, take the right attitude towards money. Money is not evil; the love of money is evil. Money is not a prison; the love of money makes it a prison.

Second, treat money rightly. Money is a wonderful servant but a horrible master.

Third, remember you can't take it with you forever. When the world's richest man, John D. Rockefeller died, his accountant was asked, "how much did he leave behind?" He paused a moment and said, "everything; and all of it." You can't take it with you.

Fourth, look to God to provide for your needs. God can give you joy, peace, stability or hope; God can restore relationships to health; God can guarantee the future--your future forever. God can give you forgiveness. God can release you from money.

False Security

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:19:00 +0000

Money wants to be the focus of your life. It lays down its own rules. When your convictions conflict with it, it reminds you that you are in prison, and who the jail keeper is. Therefore, you must obey it; not the other way around. After all, prison wardens never yield to prisoners.
The human being is so resilient that he will adjust to any situation--good or bad; and even try to make the bad good. This too happens in prison. Prisoners attempt to start enjoying prison as their way of handling the difficulties of prison. That says much about the prisoner's characteristics, but not much about the prison.

It’s the same way with money, the jail keeper. Since you are willing to adjust to its rule and role, you will eventually start making peace with it and liking your prison status.

Money gives a false-sense of well-being--illusion, of self-sufficiency in prison. I can introduce you to the only one who can set you free.

The Master

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:04:00 +0000

Most prison walls have a negative connotation. Money's walls have a positive connotation on the surface, at the beginning, but have negative effect eventually.

Anything that is addictive has this kind of an effect. When we start out with an addictive entity, we think we are completely in control--we'll talk about the prison of bad habits later--but then it ends up controlling us. Money is an addictive prison master. We end up liking our own prison master. That's even more dangerous than not believing that there are no prison walls.

Now, money itself is not bad. But the pursuit of money as the answer to your situation is evil. The love of money is evil. To give money the character of god is evil.

Did you know that money asks to be "loved?" It takes on personal qualities. We ought to love people and use money. Instead, we start loving money and using people.

To give money a personality is to make it a prison master.

Money Prison

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:57:00 +0000

Benjamin Franklin was known to have said, "He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money."

Think through that statement. It is the fundamentalist belief of money religion. I would like to make that statement stronger. "He who thinks money can do anything, will do anything for money!" If you are willing to do anything for money, you are in the prison of money.

This is one prison we like. Because it is the only prison, in which we think we have power inside the prison.

The prison walls of money are not a sham. They are invisible, but they really are there. We start believing there are no such walls, and behaving like there are no such walls, only to find ourselves so deeply entrenched in the money-prison. The rest of your life is simply spent, generating and spending money. You wake up one morning to justify the day, having won the whole world but having lost your own soul.

Tempted by Success

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:48:00 +0000

Success; it’s a temptation, it’s an intoxicant, it is a trap. It is a sedative, it is a palliative, it is addictive. It is seductive, it is confusing, it is appealing.

Success is the all pervasive assumption and ability of contemporary modern men and women. We believe we have a right to it, whatever it is, at whatever cost. We never question its validity, because it gives us vitality. Success equals life. What is a life without success?

If you ask a man on the street to define success. He would define it in terms of prestige, power, and possessions or in some combination of them. You would notice that prestige; power and possessions connect to each other coherently, consistently. Those who carry prestige, also own power and possessions. Those who hold power hold prestige and possessions. And those who have access to possessions gain power and prestige from them.

But can success bring you salvation?

Rescued

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:40:00 +0000

A British sailor became trapped in the mud of the Thames Estuary in London. He suddenly remembered that he had a mobile phone to overcome his immobility. He dialed for help and summoned a rescuer. He was rescued just as the high tide was lapping around his neck.

Trying to live by good laws is like trying to swim in high tide with the water lapping around your neck.

You try every maneuver they teach you in the swimming classes that you ought to use, but you are about to be drowned. All you need to do is call for help to the one who has beaten the law problem, the tide problem.

You too have become immobile and imprisoned by the law. You can't get out of this entrapment. You want out. But you can dial God’s Son for help. He is known as the rescuer, the redeemer, the releaser. Just as high tide is lapping around your neck, you can be rescued.

In Need of Mercy

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 19:18:00 +0000

A lady, after receiving the proofs of her portrait, became very angry with the photographer. She walked back to he photographer, threw his picture on his table and said: "This picture does not do me justice!" The photographer replied, "Madam, with a face like yours, you don't need justice, you need mercy!"

The point is clear. With a record like yours against a perfect law, you don't need justice. You need mercy. The law is merciless. It will only dispense justice. But God’s Son has intervened on your behalf. Because he has met the criteria of the law, he has redeemed you.

"A fish is free in the water, but leave him on the sand, and he perishes."

You were made to live in spiritual water, not stay on the desert sand. God places you in the spiritual environments that were made for your spirit, so you can please Him rather than be imprisoned by law. He can release you from the law.

Honor Code

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:12:00 +0000

At one of the world's finest military academies, which graduated several leading military generals of the world, the Honor Code reads, "A cadet does not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate anyone who does."

This Honor Code is so stringent that even one violation at any time during the four years of study, requires the automatic expulsion of the guilty party.”

Laws don't have the power to make you perform; they only have the power to show your failure, to show how needy and sick you are.

Where can you find freedom from the laws which you cannot meet, often break, which oppress you? Perhaps, you are saying, "I want out." I am in the wrong environment.

If you have been reading these blogs, you know that I have a single comprehensive answer to the feelings and facts of spiritual imprisonment that you face and feel.

It is God’s Son.

The Law and Bondage

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:01:00 +0000

Let us take the world famous, Ten Commandments. They ask you to love the true God with all your heart, soul and strength. Not to make images of the true God; not to take his name in vain; not to steal, or covet or commit adultery etc. Like in other religions, these laws have certain characteristics about them.

One, religious laws are a Unit. "If you attempt to keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, you become guilty of all.”

Two, religious laws could sustain you together, but not individually. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

So, if you break one of the commandments, you are just as bad off, as having broken all of them.

Third, laws constrict you as long as you are in their jurisdiction. Unless you get out of their jurisdiction you have no hope but to stay under them.

There is a key to getting out of bondage.

Freedom and Responsibility

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:54:00 +0000

Freedom is not the license to do whatever you want to do, it is the always the ability to have chosen otherwise. So, if you chose to do right, you could have chosen to do wrong. Of course, if you have chosen to do wrong, you could have chosen to do right. Entire justice systems are built upon the principle that you are a responsible, moral creature.

The problem however, is that we have taken what is moral responsibility, and assumed a moral responsibility for our own happiness and salvation. We want to be our own saviors. So, we begin to dictate ways in which we or other humans can achieve satisfaction in life and eternal salvation.

The whole religion enterprise of human beings is an attempt to find salvation on human terms. And since you can never achieve true perfection, this kind of self imposed salvation can only lead to eternal bondage.

But there is Someone who can set you free.

I Want Freedom

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:25:00 +0000

At a nearby University, they have been teaching a 15 year-old female chimpanzee named Washoe to talk using sign language with simple recognition. Since 1966, this chimpanzee has learned 140 signs. Recently, the project directors decided that Washoe was prepared now to "conceptualize." In plain language, instead of imitating some human's words, the chimp would express thoughts of her own.

Now, understand, Washoe is a pampered animal in the University's laboratory--well fed, physically comfortable, safe from harm. She had security. And yet when she was able to put words together on her own into a phrase, these were the first three. She has said them again and again repeatedly--mimicking us humans. "I want out!" "I want out." "I want out."

The human spirit longs for freedom. It doesn't like constraint and restriction. Only it feels constrained by obligation--obligation to others, to God, to ourselves, to our religions, cultures, and morals. When you feel obligated you will never be free.

The Penalty and the Payment

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:05:00 +0000

The parable is told of a just and benevolent king who noticed that money was missing from his treasury. He called for the culprit to confess and receive his punishment of 50 lashes with a whip.

The person caught was the king's mother. He was a just king, so he wouldn't change the sentence. His men brought his mother before him. She was guilty. He announced the sentence. The crowd gasped--because a woman, the king's mother would be lashed.

It was just then that the king did the unmentionable thing. He disrobed, took of his royal clothes, stepped to the punishment chamber and took the 50 lashes as the crowd moaned.

The standards could not be changed. Because he was loving, he took the punishment on himself.

The Bible says that God’s Son was the One who took what you deserved. You need to accept his provision for your penalty. And then you shall be set free from the law prison.

Trying to be Good

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:28:00 +0000

Living by good laws is like living in an internal prison--sentenced for life. When you are sentenced for life without chance for a parole, your sentence cannot be revoked. You can't even be released for good behavior. All your good behavior can't make up to pay for your sentence.

A prisoner simply has to keep the regiment and rules of the prison. He just has to obey. In desperation on occasion, he breaks the law. But keeping the law or breaking the law is not going to help his sentence or hurt his sentence any. It will hurt the quality of his life inside the prison. But the ultimate question of release is not on the table. You are sentenced to life.

In the same way, all your good behavior is not going to make up for the life sentence. The only way you can get out of the sentence is if someone meets the sentence for you.

Wrong Motivation

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:24:00 +0000

KEEPLAWS are as bad as SCOFFLAWS because both views are externally oriented. KEEPLAWS are convinced that they can keep the external laws. They work through their list. They go to enormous lengths to prove their ability.

--They go to their temple, church, or mosque regularly

--They say their prayers at home and in public
--They give to charity. They never turn away the poor
--They tolerate those who do evil against them

All these laws are external and are put into practice externally. Those of us who watch these near-perfect creatures are simply aghast at what they are able to do. But their inner motivation is not evident.

Inner motivation of Keeplaws could be pride based or manipulative.

Keeping external laws are checkmated and canceled by your internal position as one inclined to do evil, as one who has done wrong, as one facing a death sentence. You see laws not only relate to external actions, but to internal motivations.

Keeplaws

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:20:00 +0000

KEEPLAWS are just as bad as SCOFFLAWS because they are not mindful of the same standard in different ways. At least scofflaws recognize that they are breaking the standard of perfection and keep on breaking laws.

The one who thinks he keeps the law is really using the wrong standard by which he measures himself. He uses the standard of his neighbor rather than the law itself. If I only break the speed limit 50% of the time, I am better than the person who breaks the speed limit 90% of the time.

But the law does not want me to break the law ever! Only the perfect are worthy. And I am a law breaker when measured against perfection? Who made your neighbor your standard?

KEEPLAWS are as bad as SCOFFLAWS because of their focus--themselves as the source and sustainer. Instead, when it comes to God's salvation, the focus must be on God to make salvation happen.

Scofflaws

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:16:00 +0000

The best way to become worthy before God is to follow His laws -- or so we think.
Now this is much better than people who don't care at all for God's laws or any one else's laws. They are called SCOFFLAWS.

Recently, the police caught up with such a man in New York City--he had several hundred parking tickets and traffic citations that he had not paid. They stopped him for using a card-board license plate.

He said the car belonged to a friend and that he had borrowed it. Asked for his name, he gave them his real name. Took him to the police station and they printed out all his faults and it took almost two hours of printing!

SCOFFLAWS break the law many times--they scoff at the law--that's why they are called scoff laws. They believe they are in authority. They have pushed the self-destruct button.

They’ve said a farewell to God and God simply lets them be, to be themselves.

Self Made Salvation

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:13:00 +0000

Whenever man gropes at and for salvation, he attempts to do it on his own terms. Salvation, we think, is best gotten when it is earned. Now, how can we earn salvation?

Some views of salvation ask us to be good to ourselves--usually the self-focused salvation theories present this thesis. Be nice to your Self and your Self will be nice to you. Materialism is the classic case of this. Nowadays, people are wondering how else to be nice to themselves. They have bought all the things money can buy--the best clothes, the best cars, the best computers, the best conquests. They think they are being saved by their possessions

Some salvation theories ask us to treat people like they treat us --good to neighbors, and friends. Be nice to others and others will be nice to you. And if they are evil to you, return the favor. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Someone said that an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth has left the world without sight and without teeth, sightless and toothless!

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:11:00 +0000

Three men were talking about how each of them gives money to charity, and therefore to God. The first said, when he gets paid, he draws a line, throws his money up, and whatever falls on the far side is for God and charity, and whatever falls near him is for himself.

The second man said, "when I get paid, I draw a circle. I throw my money up. Whatever falls inside the circle is for God and charity; whatever falls outside is for myself. I can also vary the size of the circle as necessary.”

The third man said, "when I get paid. I simply throw my money up. Whatever stays up, God keeps as my donation to charity; whatever falls down comes for me."

Doing everything on our own terms is so convenient isn't it? The real problem is that even when it comes to salvation, that which God must give to us, we still want to do it on our own terms.

Freedom From the Law

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:05:00 +0000

Let's say you are swimming in a lake late at night and are drowning. You come up for air and shout for help.

The person on the shore reads the law to you, "Code B, Section 1, says, "Swimming is prohibited in this area after 6:00p.m." He might make you feel guilty, but that is all. The law cannot save you from drowning.

When we don't have the power to meet the laws of God that are written on our hearts, we only feel guilty. Any religion, person, society and culture can make laws. The question is how those who are living under the law can meet the law.

They can't, unless they die! i.e., when they are no longer under its jurisdiction.

What does it mean to die? Well, you have to die to your own ways of meeting the expectations of God. You have to give up any ambition that you can please God by meeting His law with your own power.

Then He will give you the power to follow His laws.

Accountability and the Law

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:01:00 +0000

There is a major problem when we can't know the laws we are living under and are held responsible for it. There is a difference between "don't know the law," and "can’t know the law."

God says you do know his laws. You can't use the excuse that you didn't know his laws, any more than you can use that excuse with the tax authorities in your country. They will say, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse," because it was your responsibility to find out what the law was and keep it!

How do you know God's law? Even if you have not heard his commandments you have God's law written in your hearts. Intuitively and innately, your heart and conscience already carry the basics of God's expectations of you. That is why when you do wrong, your heart accuses you. When you do right, it defends you. It is the law written in your heart. You already know God's laws in broad outline.

But you also need to know the God of the laws to find the power to keep them, and His forgiveness when you fail.

Laws Reveal

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:39:00 +0000

Laws are good, especially when made by good law-givers rather than arbitrary ones. Laws help any society to function more smoothly.

Laws also reveal authority and power. The entity which writes the laws carries authority and power. The legislator has power over the subject.

And while laws demonstrate authority and power, "laws" don't have the power to make you obey them.

More importantly, "Laws reveal the presence of a good law rather than the presence of a good in you."

Most importantly, "laws accent your failure even though they are not bad and don't cause failure." They are like an X-ray machine which tells you that you are diseased. The machine is good, it didn't cause your disease, but it shows your disease clearly. Laws show how weak you are to meet the laws. That is, while laws are good they also accent failure.

But there is One who can who can free you from your failures.

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Richard) — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:38:00 +0000

Most laws in most countries, are good. They were created and legislated so that they will be of maximum good or of best use to the people in a place.

Take traffic laws for instance. In England, you must drive on the left side of the road; in America, you must drive on the right side of the road. In India, of course, you may drive on any side of the road--as long as there is room.

Culture has laws. In the Far East, you eat with chop sticks. In other countries, they eat with forks and knifes. Of course, in yet other cultures they eat the original way--with hands!

Religions too have laws. "Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt no covet; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal."--these are laws that are found in every major religion of the world.

However, the same laws that are meant to protect you can also imprison you. I have good news; you don’t have to stay in prison.