WHAT MAKES LIFE MEANINGFUL?

- DUKE JEYARAJ

What gives life purpose? What makes life meaningful? What puts sense into the journey called life? Have you asked those questions? To find out the answer, I turned to the one who made life - God and His Written Word, the Bible.

I bumped into a book of the Bible where the word, "meaningless" or "vanity" is used 29 times – the book of Ecclesiastes. I discovered many things that simply will not give purpose and meaning to life. Let me share them with you.

1. WIT will not bring meaning and purpose in life!
The writer of this book "tries" different things in his search for meaning in life (Eccl 2:1 NLT). First he tries "laughter". Shall we make that "wit"?

If only I can laugh my guts out! If only I can crack a joke and my world laughs with me! Then my life will have meaning, purpose and sense! That is what he thought. But he was disappointed (Eccl 2:2).

Just like Jim Carey, the man who made a fortune with his funny face. He was not a happy man, his biographer writes. Tony Hancock, a great comedian out of the United Kingdom ended his life on his own. Yes, the Bible observes that even in laughter the heart may ache (Prov 14:13). Yes, we can be bubbly on the outside, yet empty on the inside! So the way of wit is not the way to meaning, this man discovered!

Jim Carey, the man who made a fortune with his funny face, was not a happy man.

2. WINE will not give meaning and purpose in life!
The search for meaning in Ecclesiastes continues. He tried to "cheer" himself with wine (Eccl 2:3). Again, he was disappointed. Wine can make you forget life for a while. But it can never bring it meaning and purpose!

Wine can make you forget life for a while. But it can never bring its meaning or purpose

Fourteen- year old Aarushi Talwar was found murdered on May 16, 2008 in the room of her home in Noida, near New Delhi, India. Her throat was slit. Her face had stab wounds. How could someone get so cruel to commit a murder so cold and clinical as this? The answer is given by the investigation team - the murderer was influenced by alcohol.

Famous England footballer, Paul Gascoigne's addiction to alcohol led him to mental depression. At one point he attempted to end his life by wrist-slashing. He was reportedly too drunk to even speak to the press after this event.

Paul Gascoigne's addiction to alcohol led him to mental depression

Alcohol consumption will rob your life away from you by causing immense damage to your liver, slowly but surely. At times, it can make you so senseless that you may even take another's life or your own life under its influence. When this is the case, how can alcohol give life meaning and purpose?! It surely can't. The search for meaning doesn't end with wine - it has to continue....

3. WORK will not give meaning and purpose in life!
The writer of Ecclesiastes next talks about how he got busy with work in his search for life's purpose (Eccl 2:4-6). He made houses, vineyards, gardens, parks, forests and pools yet that did not make his life, sensible or purposeful. Ahithophel made a career out of counseling kings. He was the counselor of King David, the great King of Israel (II Sam 15:12). When David's handsome son, Absalom rebelled against him and occupied the throne, Ahithophel joined his team. He gave key counsels to Absalom too. In fact, his counsel was seen as the very counsel of God, the Bible records (II Sam 16:23). But when Absalom listened to the counsel of Hushai instead of his counsel, Ahithopel could not take it and he instead took his own life (II Sam 17:23). In II Samuel 16:23, he was at the peak of his profession. In II Samuel 17:23, he was in the pit of depression because of a professional failure, so much so, he ended his life!

I found a tragic news piece on washingtonpost.com very similar to the story of Ahitophel. Let me narrate the real story about Natrajan Ramachandran, an investment advisor of Indian origin who worked in the United States:
On a heart-stopping August Day in 1998, in his 5,000-square-foot, 20-room tract mansion in Herndon, the United States, he gathered his family in the master bedroom -- his wife, Kalpara; their daughter, Reha, 11; and their son, Raj, 7 -- and ended their lives and his with a 9mm Ruger rifle. Because of an obvious failure in his profession he behaved in this bizarre manner: he had had run up to $10 million in debts, some to casinos, and was under investigation for passing $2 million in worthless checks, the same website reported. Natrajan Ramachandran also killed himself.

Both Ahithophel and Natrajan Ramachandran perhaps believed that their success in their work would give them meaning and purpose in life. But that did not happen. And they were so shattered that they killed themselves. It is true - work will not give purpose and meaning in life!

4. WEALTH will not give meaning and purpose in LIFE!
The search for life's meaning continues in Ecclesiastes 2. We read how this writer "bought" slaves, herds and flocks like no one else in all of Israel (Ecc 2:7, 8). Who is this writer? In the first verse verse of this book, he introduces himself as the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Bible Scholars tell us he was King Solomon. He was richest ever king to rule Israel. The weight of the gold that he possessed in a single year was 666 talent (I Ki 10:14). One talent weighed 34 kgs, mind you! He had 200 large gold shields. His drinking vessels were made out of gold. He sat in an ivory throne (I Ki 10:14-22). Here was a king who had seen wealth like no other king. Yet, this is his startling confession: wealth could not give him meaning and purpose in life.

If we were to resurrect Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver coins and ask him, "Judas, will money give meaning to life?" he would vigorously shake his head to say 'no'. "If money made my life, why would I have ended my life after I made money? Purpose in life is found in the One I betrayed to make money - the One who told us, One's life does not consist in the abundance of His possessions! (Luke 12:15)"

Pat Rafter, mouthed these words, after he won a huge prize money, following a US Open win, "When you don't have it, you want it. When you have it, you don't want it!" By saying this he was admitting money does not give fulfillment to life.

Pat Rafter admitted that money does not give fullfillment to life

5. WOMEN do not give meaning and purpose to life!
Scroll down to Ecclesiastes 2 and you will bump into yet another thing King Solomon tried out to get meaning and purpose in life: women. He had female slaves, female singers and female sex-partners (called concubines) in plenty (Eccl 2:7,8). Yet these women could not bring fulfillment to his life.

Women do not give meaning and purpose to life.

After an infamous tryst with a young woman who was not his wife, Oliver Kahn, Germany's legendary goalie told a very popular magazine in Germany, "I myself know how stupid and dumb this is!" Kahn, by saying that admitted, women and all the pleasures they could offer, could not help him find life's purpose and meaning! So our search for life's meaning can't stop with women. It must continue.

6.'WOWs!' will not give meaning and purpose in Life!
Solomon keeps travelling in his search for meaning and fulfillment in life. At each stop he met nothing but disappointment. His next stop in this seemingly insatiable journey is what I want to call as the stop of "Wows!" Solomon, in other words, wanted to find life's meaning through the route of appreciation from people for his commendable achievements. He says, "So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem" (Eccl 2:9). In the "Wows!' people would shower him with, he tried to find life's purpose.

Wows - Solomon received them galore. He got them by the truckloads. Solomon's wisdom and wealth made the visiting Queen of Sheba go "Wow!" (I Kings 10:1-10). The Bible records, "Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt" (I Kings 4:30). His knowledge of biology was baffling; his insight into zoology was zapping (That's how I understand I Ki 4:33).

People did not mind long walks to hear Solomon talks (I Kings 4:34). In his book Shane Warne's Century, Shane Warne says that he would pay to see Indian Opener Virender Sehwag bat. Sehwag's batting made him go "Wow!" The Sportstar titled it special issue about Steve Waugh this way: Wow Waugh! People in Solomon's time had to just say that when they saw Solomon: Wow!

Eugene Peterson translates I Kings 4:29 this way: There was nothing beyond him (Solomon), nothing he couldn't handle.

But sadly the "Wows!" he won with effortless ease did not give Solomon his life's purpose. Michael Schumacher after winning the World Championships in Formula One racing for the record seventh time said, "I'm empty and I'm exhausted!" A 'wow' performance could not give him life's purpose or give him fulfillment.

A 'wow' performance could not give Michael Schumacher his life's purpose

What about you? You thought "Once I have a Beyonce Knowles figure and once I hear a 'Wow'from my male admirers, my life is made!" You do have Beyonce Knowles's figure now. You have heard that 'Wow!' you were waiting for. But, guess what? Your life is still far from being made. You still are searching for meaning in life.

7. THE WHOLE WORLD cannot give meaning and purpose in your life!
After his great disappointment of trying out the first six Ws - wit, wisdom, wine, work, wealth, women and 'wows' - Solomon makes a summary statement. And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure (Eccl 2:10). Notice the word "whatever" here. And that word is an all-sweeping, all-encompassing word he used to imply that he tried everything "under the sun" (a frequently appearing word in this Bible book) to find meaning and purpose in life. Whatever his eyes set sights on, whatever his heart felt could give meaning and purpose to life, and he tried that out. What was the end result: the same.

Jesus said, "What good is it if someone gains the whole world but loses his soul?"

The whole world and all of its pleasures cannot give one's life meaning. That is the message of this Bible book. The gambling which Las Vegas can offer, the girls which Paris can parade, the gold which Johannesburg can brag about cannot give your life meaning and purpose! The porn site about which your pals say, "You have not lived, until you have seen it, bloke!" cannot give your life meaning. Solomon kept nothing from his eyes (To put that in modern terms, "There was no porn site which Solomon did not surf..."). Yet, fulfillment of life was kept from him!

When Jesus said, "What good is it if someone gains the whole world but loses his soul?" (Math 16:26, NIV) this was what He was getting at: You can search the whole planet for meaning and purpose in life, but you will not find it!

The destination of these wrong roads....
Solomon openly confessed "everything is meaningless" at least six times in his book (Eccl 1:2,14; 2:17; 3:19; 11:8; 12:8). The seven routes he took to get meaning and purpose in life led to only disillusionment and disappointment.

Not only that. Writing elsewhere in the Bible, Solomon says these routes he took led to danger as well. I am referring to his words in the Bible book of Proverbs. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death," so writes Solomon (Prov 14:12). It is so important that he repeated it in Proverbs 16:25. When he was in the way of wit, the way of wine, the way of work, the way of wealth, the way of Wows, the way of Women, the way of the whole world, he felt he was on the right track. As he journeyed further, after the initial elation, he felt miserable because deep down he knew he doing wrong. And not just wrong, he knew he was heading straight into danger - death. Another version of the Bible translates the very same words of Solomon this way: There's a way that looks harmless enough; look again—it leads straight to hell. The ultimate destination of life-purpose routes such as wine, women, work, "Wows!", wit, etc is hell! Eugene Peterson, swapped the word, "hell" for the word, "death", because we do have places in the Bible where hell punishment is figuratively called "second death" (in Rev 21:8 for example) though no one actually gets to die in hell!

Why and How Jesus can give us purpose in life
Hell?! In the Bible, God's Words in Human words, no one spoke about this place more than the person who actually came to save us all from going there. His name is Jesus! Jesus compared hell to "a lake of fire" in which worms will forever feast on the eternally alive human body. He preached that He, God in Human Flesh, came to this world to give each one of us, life, and "life to the full" (John 10:10). Without a living relationship with Jesus, our life will never be fulfilled. Without a daily relationship with Jesus, our life will be a living hell, even as we head to the literal hell. This is the message of John 3:36 - a verse in the Bible. When we come to Jesus who claimed to be "The Bread of Life", we will no longer be hungry - our hunger to find life's meaning can be only quenched by Jesus (John 6:35)!

The reason for this is very simple. Since Jesus had purpose and meaning to His life, He could offer the same to others. He explicitly says He came for the purpose of dying for the human race (John 12:27). Through His death, every human, could discover life's purpose. Jesus not only had purpose for His own life - He gave purpose to the life of those who made Him Lord and Savior of their lives. A man called Paul, repented from his sins and trusted in Jesus as His only Lord, God and Savior. And this is what he testifies after having walked the road of life with Jesus: "I run with purpose in every step!" (I Cor 9:26, NLT). The same Jesus who filled Paul's life with purpose all over can give your life purpose, meaning fulfillment as well, for He is impartial and unchanging. All you have to do is repent from sin like Paul and trust in Jesus alone for your salvation.

The person who made life, can make it meaningful!
This message is what even the guy we were talking about, King Solomon, all along was getting at. After having observed the whole world and what it had to offer, Solomon makes a very important statement. It is this: "God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? (Eccl 2:24-25). While he openly confessed "everything is meaningless" at least six times in his book, Solomon, offers some hope in some sections of his book (Eccl 1:2,14; 2:17; 3:19; 11:8; 12:8). His message is simple: the person who made life can make it meaningful! His message is direct: life 'under the sun' (a phrase he uses in his book 20 times) will be meaningless, until we have a living relationship with the one above the Sun – with God!

To underline that he wrote, Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, "I have no pleasure in them" (Eccl 12:1). Here is what he is saying, "Remember and relate with God, who came to this Earth in the person of Jesus, if you want to make all the days of your life full of eternal pleasure and meaning!" (to put that verse in the context of the message of the whole Bible).

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth- (Eccl 12:1)

So why are you waiting? Would you bow your head, right now, and ask the resurrected and returning Jesus to come into your repentant heart, to begin your eternity-long relationship with Him - a relationship that will fill every second of your life with purpose and meaning and fulfillment? Don't delay this decision!

As Solomon pointed out, let us do this in "the days of our youth"! As Solomon penned, let us do this before the door to life's opportunities is closed (Eccl 12:4, NLT). As Solomon scripted, let us do it, before you near the grave, before the silver cord of life snaps - which technically is 'any time' in this world full of heart-stopping terror (Eccl 12:5,6 NLT)!

WHAT'S SO UNIQUE ABOUT JESUS?

- DUKE JEYARAJ

What's so unique about Jesus that people in well-earning jobs throw them aside, to dedicate their entire life and all their waking time just to tell others about Him? What's the big deal about Jesus that you get to hear about Him Christmas after Christmas? As a teenager, I once wrote a letter to a movie starlet. What did I write? "I love you and can't live without you?" Nah. I wrote to her about a person who had made such a difference in my life – Jesus. Jesus? What's so unique about him that I had to write to a movie actress about him? Hang on.

All roads lead to Rome?
Popular music troupe, Colonial Cousins sang a song that went on to become a big hit: Come back as Jesus, come back and save the world/We need a teacher and you are the only one/Come back as Rama and forgive us for what we have done/Come back as Allah, come back as anyone…Colonial cousins were only eloquently putting into music a popular philosophy called pluralism which you will bump into time and again. A pluralist would say, "All religions lead to the same destination; you have your religion and I'll have mine; let's not fight or argue over religion!" Whenever I have witnessed about Christ while traveling, 99% of my fellow passengers would bounce back at me with this stereotype response. Stumped by this response I started thinking hard and also reading on this controversial subject. You see, if Jesus wasn't unique it did not matter who I followed. It did not count what way of life I chose. This article is the baby of my reflections on this crucial subject.

DOES THE BIBLE REALLY SAY THAT JESUS IS UNIQUE?
Absolutely! To a man who would go as the first ever missionary to a country worshipping 330 million deities (India), to Thomas, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Incredible! Thomas took Jesus at his word and came to India in A.D. 52, preaching Jesus as the only way to salvation and gave his life for this very message by dying as a martyr in Chennai.

Peter denied Jesus before a servant girl saying, "Woman, I don't even know him!" (Lk 22:57). Months later this very same Peter, after receiving baptism of the Holy Spirit said, "Salvation comes no other way; no other name has been given or will be given us by which we can be saved, only this one!" (Acts 4:12). Think! Previously he said that he hadn't even heard "that name". Now, he says, he knows no other name that will save humanity but the name of Jesus!

The way of Jesus was sometimes also dubbed 'the Way' during the time of the early church (see Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23). That implies that all other ways are dead ends - paths that will neither lead to heaven nor will give real purpose and peace. Logically speaking, no one can really believe that"All ways lead to the same destination!" Wondering why? How will a person who makes the 'all-religions-are-cool claim' respond to Christ's claim that He alone is the Way? He might then argue - "When Christ said that He was the only way, He was wrong!" But the moment he says that he no longer believes that "all" ways are equally valid when it comes to the salvation of the soul which is what he claims to actually believe! Pluralism – as you just saw – is logically inconsistent.

What Jesus tells us is very similar to what a boy told a girl in a popular song: "Don't love me for fun girl. Let me be the ONE, girl!" He demands that we serve him and preach him as the ONLY Savior. Did not the God of the Bible say, "I, even I, am the LORD and apart from me there is no Savior!" (Isa 43:11).

Put your thinking caps as I present a few arguments for the uniqueness of Jesus, that sets him apart from the Buddas, Mahaviras, Mohammeds, Sai Babas and anybody else anyone would care to name!

1. HIS SUPERNATURAL BIRTH
The High Priest before whom Jesus stood after his arrest at Gethsemane garden shot a solemn question to Jesus: "I demand in the name of the living God that you tell us whether you are the Messiah, the Son of God?" (Math 27:63). Here was a golden chance for Jesus to escape the crucifixion. All He had to do to escape death was to say that He was indeed born to Mary and a human father. But He stubbornly refused and broke His silence (notice that he did not answer the previous question of the High Priest) to say, "Yes, it is as you say!" (Math 27:64).

Why did Jesus say that? Simple. That was the truth – while He was born to a biological mother He had no biological father. He was living since eternity (in the pass tense) before He decided that He was going to give up His divine glory to become a baby floating in the amniotic fluids of Mary who was a virgin on Christmas. You see – it is not an easy job at all for a mother to watch her son die, right before her own eyes, to know pretty well she can save him. But Mary preferred to watch Christ die. All she had to do to prevent her Son from the savage death awaiting him was to have gone and told the executors of Jesus: "Listen! Don't believe my Son and his ridiculous claim that he is the Son of God and all that rubbish. He was born because of an immoral relationship I had with a person I do not wish to name. I am his mom and if anybody knows how he was born, it is I! Please release him, I beg you!" But Mary did not do that. Asking why? You are right – Mary pretty well knew that she became pregnant when the Holy Spirit came upon her when she hadn't even allowed a man to even peep into her bed (so to speak)! And what was more – a medical doctor – records for us in the Bible, the most detailed record of the conception of Jesus (Lk 1:27-37).

What is it about the virgin birth of Christ that sets him apart from the rest of pantheons of self-made gods? Simple. All other citizens of planet Earth had a beginning. But Jesus had none. He has been existing eternally – something that no other so-called 'god' or 'guru' can truthfully claim! In fact he claimed to have existed long before Abraham, someone who existed thousands of years before he did (Jn 8:58). Not only that, He claimed that famous prophet Isaiah – again a chap who lived hundreds of years before Jesus came into this planet as a baby – 'saw Him and spoke about His glory' (Jn 12:41)!

Not only that. While we are unsure if the many of the founders of religions even existed. But that is not the case about Jesus. The supernatural birth account of Jesus pins him to both history (he was the one who divided the time line of the planet into two – A.D and B.C) and geography (he was born in Bethlehem, a small village near Jerusalem). We have more solid proof that Jesus historically lived than for Alexander. The two earliest biographers of Alexander, Arrian and Plutarch wrote more than 400 years after his death in 323 B.C. The first three Gospels – which tell us a historical narrative of the life and times of Jesus – were written within 30 years of Christ's death!

2. HIS STAGGERING FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY
Jesus fulfilled no less than 110 prophecies made about Him in the Old Testament that was written hundreds of years before His birth.

The Bible predicted that Jesus would be born of a woman (Gen 3:15). That was an easy one to fulfill. He was (Gal 4:4). Again the Bible predicted that Jesus would be born of a virgin woman (from among the millions of women who would come to exist in this planet) (Isa 7:14). Again it happened (Math 1:21). The Bible further narrowed its prophecy span to say that He would be born of virgin woman in the line of the Abraham, the father of the Jewish race – to simplify the prophecy (Gen. 12:1-3/22:18). Jesus was (Math 1:1; Gal 3:16). Then the Bible incredibly further narrowed its prediction spread to say that Jesus would be born to a virgin Jewish woman from one of the twelve tribes of the Jewish race – the tribe of Judah (Gen 49:10). He indeed was (Luke 3:23, 33). The Bible further foretold that the Messiah, Jesus would be born to a virgin Jewish woman from the family of David who belonged to the thousands of families of the tribe of Judah (II Sam 7: 12). Though it was asking for too much Jesus fulfilled that prophecy too (Math 1:1). And this is just to talk about his birth – leaving out the rest of his life on the earth in which he fulfilled at least 100 more prophecies.

Daniel predicted the exact date Jesus would enter Jerusalem to be crucified – die for the sins of others (Dan (Dan 9:24). Stunning!

Some have suggested that Jesus himself arranged His life so that he could fulfill prophecies made about him. Come on! Can anyone - the family, time and place of birth? Do you think Jesus whispered to the Roman soldiers who beat him black and blue, "Beat me softly guy – none of my bones must be broken as per the Old Testament prophecy which I have got to somehow fulfill" (Ex 12:46; Psa 34:20; Jn 19:36)? Ha Ha! Mathematicians have calculated that the probability of 16 predictions being fulfilled in one man is 1 in 10 to power of 45! If we stretched it to 48 predictions, the probability will swell to 1 in 10 to the power of 157! Set mathematics and the probability calculations aside. Let's try to figure out what one is saying if he just brushed aside the fact Jesus fulfilled so many prophecies purely 'by chance'. It would be tantamount to that Actor Shah Rukh could have batted for India, left-handed, and made a triple hundred to take India past to the near-impossible World Cup final target Australia set for India – 360 in March 2003!

By fulfilling prophecy at will Jesus was just proving that He could control the history and happenings before the time He entered the world as a human and after He did – a feat no one can even ever dream of doing!

3. HIS SPOTLESS CHARACTER –
Only a sinless person qualifies to save a sinner!

Speaking to his worst enemies – the Jewish leaders of his time – Jesus challenged, "Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin?" (Jn. 8:46)? They were dumbfounded.

Jesus had a cousin brother in John the Baptist. They were born just six months apart. I can imagine Jesus and John playing many kids games with each other. Hide and seek? You bet! This very same John who had literally seen Jesus grow up before his eyes testified to the absolute sinlessness of Jesus by refusing to baptize Jesus at first. "You need not be joining the sinners' string, Jesus – no never! I never seen you commit a sin that you need to repent of," he said in-effect (Math 3:6)? Will any childhood buddy of any great figure in history ever testify that he/she was sinless? Never! But Jesus' childhood friend did just that!

The man who was Jesus' bosom friend could testify this of Jesus: "There is no sin in him and sin is not part of his program" (I Jn 3:5 MGE). Would any close pal of any top notch 'guru' testify the same about his friend?

When we contrast the sinlessness of Jesus with sensuousness of other religious biggies His character becomes dazzling white! The Quran itself records that Prophet Mohammed praying for forgiveness of sins. But the very same book declared that Jesus was sinless (Surah 19:19). Rock group, Beatles found out that the Hindu guru they were going bonkers over – Maharishi Mahesh Yogi – was more interested in the bodies of one of the female singers than in spiritual stuff he was supposed to teach them! The communist 'god' Karl Marx died because of syphilis – a disease that he got because of his immoral life style.

Man's universal problem is sin. The Bible teaches, "There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins" (Eccl 7:20). Only a sinless person qualifies to save a sinner. Isn't that plain cool logic? Max Lucado smartly put it: "Two kids in a mud puddle cannot clean each other. They need someone clean. Someone spotless. We need someone clean too. That is why we need a savior." Not just "a savior". But a sinless savior. Therefore only Jesus – and no one else – qualifies to bring salvation from sins to humans who are all sinners. In fact Jesus was named so because "He will save His people from their sins?" (Math 1:21). The world neatly divides into two groups: in one group are people who have never experienced a vacuum in their heart. Only Jesus is there in this group. Only Jesus and no one else. Because Jesus never sinned he never had any vacuum in his heart! In the other group there are the Aishwarya Rais and rest of her species – the entire Homo sapiens! Indian actress Aishwarya Rai talked about it – this emptiness phenomenon. She once said, "You know as Ms. World, I was exposed to so much that after the year was over there was a suddenly a vacuum!" And every human would talk about the empty feeling he or she had without exception, not just Ashwariya, if he were honest. Jesus explained the reason why He – though being God – took human flesh. It was so that "you" – whoever you may be – "may have life and have it to the full!" (Jn 10:10). Expressed in another way what He was communicating was this: apart from having a living daily relationship with him, all mortals would languish with a vacuum in their heart – an emptiness – which is caused by sin (Lam 1:18).

4. HIS STUPEFYING MIRACLES AND WONDERS
The ONLY sinless miracle-worker!

Three funeral services Jesus attended had to be stopped midway. You may give Jesus a nickname: "Funeral Spoiler!" Why? In all the three cases he raised the dead (Mk 5:35; Luk 7:11-15; Jn 11:43-44). Jesus' miracles beat time and space. When He changed water to wine, His miracles were beating time, for water does ferment as wine in a natural process that takes lots of time – many months. His miracles beat space. When He spoke a word of healing from one location an official's son was instantly healed at another location (Jn 4:43-54)! What was more, even His opponent accepted the fact that He worked irrefutable miracles (Mt 28:11-15; Mk 5:40-42; Jn 11:47-48). Even the Koran conceded that Jesus did miracles. Several miracles and medically documented healings take place even today when people are prayed for in the name of Jesus!

Why did Jesus go around working miracles? Easy. He did them so that people would believe that He was the way and came from the Father. He rapped the unbelieving Jews saying, "The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for Me but you do not believe" (Jn 10:25, 26). When the apostles preached Jesus, they kept re-hammering the same point: "Jesus the Nazarene, a man thoroughly accredited by God to you – the miracles and signs God did through Him are common knowledge" (Acts 2:22).

Miracles, a person does, would count for nothing if it is not backed by a pure life that is lived in obedience to God's will – Jesus himself taught this truth (Math 7:21-23). In other words, miracles don't mean a thing, unless the person who does it is immaculate. True, there are many claims from modern gurus that they perform miracles. Though many of their claims have been shown to be duplicitous – one cannot deny some miracles may be genuine. But even those genuine miracles don't substantiate any claim to divinity. Why would I say that? Only Jesus has got the one-of-a-kind combination of a pure life and powerful life, a never-been-seen joining of an innocent life and incredible life! You can be sure of this – Jesus is the ONLY sinless miracle-worker, there is or there will be!

5. HIS SUBSTITUTIONARY DEATH
By definition God is eternal. So God cannot die actually! But God can die – if He chooses to. Jesus chose to die. "No man can take away my life from me. I lay down my life voluntarily. For I have the right to lay it down when I want to and also the power to take it up again" (John 10:18). And that is what exactly happened at Calvary's cross: Jesus willingly gave up His life. The nails did not hold Him on the cross but it was love, as someone said. No one died the way the way Jesus did: others would die and then bow down their head. But Jesus bowed His head and then died – He could pick and choose the exact moment He would give up his spirit without resorting to a suicide (Jn 19:30)!

Jesus said that He was dying as a "ransom" for the sins of the world – a purpose for which no one has died or will die (Math 20:28). He explicitly said that the blood He would shed would bring "forgiveness of sins" – again a unique reason to die (Math 26:28). The rest of humanity - when it dies - does so for their sins. The wages of sin is death, we are told in the Scriptures (Rom 3:23). Put in another way, we all die because we are all sinners. But Christ wasn't. He need not have died at all. But nevertheless He did – as a substitute for sin (Isa 53:5). A one-of-kind death! Because He was one hundred percent human – He could die as a valid substitute for the human race. And because He was one hundred percent God as well He could die for all people of all time. God is beyond time, you see! "A just-God Jesus could make us, but not understand us."A just-man Jesus could love us, but never save us. But God cum equally man Jesus could understand, love and save us, if only we surrender our lives to Him alone!" – this is how someone put this whole thing irrefutably!

6. HIS SURE-FIRE RESURRECTION!
The Greatest F-E-A-T in the world!

Jesus' resurrection is the greatest proof that He is unique (I Cor 15:14, 17, 20/Rom 1:14). Jesus proved beyond a whiff of doubt that He stands alone in history as God – thanks to His resurrection. In fact, the resurrection was a necessary event in Jesus' life. Do you know why?

Having died at by own will, He chose the time to become alive as well – a feat that proves that He is God and there is none else. All other so-called Gods are all dead and gone. But not Jesus.

"Not so fast," some say. "Can you prove the resurrection of Jesus?" Here follows a brilliant chain of arguments for the resurrection of Jesus developed by Hank Hannegraaf. This chain of evidence is based on the acronym FEAT – isn't the Jesus' Resurrection, the greatest feat in the world? F stands for Fact. Yes, the resurrection of Jesus isn't a story but a certainty! A smart American student named Josh vowed to disprove the resurrection of Jesus. He piled up 700-hours of library research on the subject. And after that research he concluded that Jesus was actually alive. And today McDowell – well that is second name! – travels around the world speaking to sharp students in the campuses of the world about the change in one's life a resurrected Jesus can bring about! Yup – the resurrection is a solid fact! The next letter in the acronym FEAT is "E". It stands for the Empty Tomb. All the Jewish leaders had to do to convincingly prove to the world that Jesus never rose from the dead was to showcase his dead body. But they couldn't. The next letter in this chain of proofs for the resurrection is "A" – the Appearances of Jesus. On one occasion Jesus appeared to 500 people and repeatedly to His disciples. Some suggest that the disciples were hallucinating. You've got to be kidding. You can never hallucinate about an event you never expected to happen – you hallucinate about an event you long for to happen. The disciples were done with Jesus. They did not expect Him to rise from the dead at all (Luke 21:24). That is why some of them got back to their old way of life – fishing. But then, since they really saw Jesus! The final word of the acronym FEAT is "T" which stands for the Transformed lives of the disciples. From cowardly no-hopers to courageous non-stop witnesses they became! The message they kept pounding was that "Jesus is Alive! We are witnesses of this fact!" wherever they went. In fact, in the book of Acts alone, I counted 14 times when it is specifically recorded that the disciples were witnesses in particular of the "resurrection" of Jesus (Acts 2:24; 3:15 are just samples – you can find the rest of the references!). Eleven of the disciples of Jesus died a martyr's death: they died for their message that Jesus was alive! "Can 11 people die for a lie knowing it is a lie?" asks Josh McDowell. Impossible we all agree!

The Sportstar's tribute to the Legendary Batsmen Don Bradman went this way: "In an era when 50-plus is still the true yard stick of greatness for batsmen, Bradmen's average of 99.94 must give us an idea of where the Don stands – alone and apart from every other cricketer!" Jesus stands "alone and apart" from every human on earth in every sense of the word!
Yes – just anyone can take the place of Jesus. That is right – just anyone. All that he/she has to do is this: die and be raise from the dead after three days! It is that simple! Jokes apart – the resurrection sets Jesus alone and apart from the rest of the gods-gang!

7. HIS STUNNING CLAIMS
No one in all of history has claimed to be and do the things Jesus did. What's more – the points mentioned above qualify Jesus to make these stunning claims!

Judge of all – Mandelas to Manishas

Jesus demanded that all must follow Him (Math 4:18-22). While other leaders pointed to a way (Budda – Ahimsa or Non-Violence; Rajneesh – Sexual Freedom) Jesus claimed to be the way Himself (Jn 14:6). There is a big difference you see! While most others taught that salvations is earned by good behavior Jesus taught that salvation is earned by repentance and belief on Him and what He has already done on the Cross (Jn 3:14,15,16). He categorically taught that salvation – eternal life – can never be earned by following a set of rules – which is in direct contradiction to what other religious big heads have taught (Math 19:26). Jesus claimed that if anyone did not confess Him before other – that is, own up an allegiance to Him and Him alone – this meant that they could not be accepted by God (Math 10:32-33). Jesus made a claim that would make one drop his jaw in amazement – He said that he would judge every human being (that would mean that all from the Mandelas to the Manishas would have to give account to him) (Jn 5:27; Math 25:31-33). He presented a seemingly outrageous proposition to each member of the human race: to either come to Him in repentance and faith and accept him as Savior or face Him as a Judge. Jesus forgave sins – not just the sins people committed against Him in person, but also, every sin, every person may have committed against anyone – clearly something which God alone could do (Mk 2:5)! The Jewish onlookers without a whiff of doubt understood that Jesus was making him "equal to God" (Jn 5:18). Perhaps the most stunning claim ever made by Jesus was this: "For unless you believe that I am who I am, you will die in your sins" (Jn 8:24). In the very same chapter, in verse 54, Jesus claimed to be God (The word "I am" was the name for God in the Old Testament – Ex 3:14). The ultimate Bible meaning for the word "death" is to experience eternal conscious punishment in a lake of fire called Hell (Rev 21:7, 8). So what Jesus was saying in John 8:24 is quite shocking: if anyone did not believe that He was God – the unique God – they would land up in eternal hell to be tormented forever! Not only John records this. Even the other three Gospel writers record that Jesus made the astounding claim that believing in Him and not believing in Him would make the difference between eternal life in heaven and eternal languishing in hell (Mk 8:28; Lk 12:8-12; Mt 12:41; 25:46). Only Jesus has made such astounding assertions – no one else. And given us evidence to take those claims seriously. Budda never claimed to be God – did you know? Yes – some modern godmen have made some crazy claims but they haven't given us enough proofs to take their claims seriously like Christ!

Jesus did not mince with word when he stated, "I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them" (Jn 10:7, 8). In effect here Jesus calls all the leaders of other so-called faiths as "thieves and robbers"! Clear, strong words!

Lunatic, Liar or Lord!
Every human being has to answer this question which the Roman Governor of Jerusalem asked the frenzied crowd which was rooting for Jesus' death: "What do I do with Jesus…?" (Mt 27:22). You know what – that is a question every person who has set foot in this planet must answer: "What do I do with Jesus?" Jesus made it clear that He can be accepted or rejected but none can remain neutral towards Him (Jn 12:30).

As C.S. Lewis categorized it captivatingly you've got call Jesus by one of these three titles: Liar, Lunatic or The Only Lord! No one would have any qualms about calling Jesus a "good teacher of morals" but He has not given us that options. That as a matter of fact would amount to calling him a liar!

Gardener, Ghost or God!
Mary Magdalene saw Jesus and mistakenly thought of Him as a gardener (Jn 20:15). For many today, Jesus is just like a gardener. Just like there are many gardeners in the world, Jesus is yet another good guru – one more addition in a pantheon of gods! The disciples wrongly identified Jesus for a ghost once (Mt 14:27). For many even today Jesus is a ghost. They are scared to come to close to Him. They by their life attitude (if not by their actual words) tell Him, "Jesus do not come too close to me. You will not like the things I think about, the things I enjoy seeing and the things I secretly do!" But Thomas worshipped Jesus as God (Jn 20:28). When we go about witnessing the uniqueness of Jesus – during the Christmas time or any other time – we sure must present the uniqueness of Christ. "If you try and fail you may be disappointed. But if you don't try at all you will be doomed!" someone said. That is particularly true when it comes to the matter of witnessing about Christ's uniqueness. Without believing in the unique Christ people are "without hope" – doomed (Eph 2:12). But we must not leave it at that. We must graciously call for a response from the people we've talked to Christ about: either He is a gardener, ghost or God who alone will save them from their sins!

Mohammed Ali in a live TV program after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on America said that the firemen, police and the rescue workers are the true heroes of New York. I agree with him so would any follower of Christ. Mohammed Ali went on: "A river, lake and stream are different words, but they all contain water; Christianity, Islam and Judaism are different words but they all contain truth!" I don't agree with him. Neither would you if you have read this article with an open mind!

What do I do now?
What should you do right now if it was true that Jesus is really unique (as this article has powerfully pointed out). Two things. First you need to LEAVE. That is you need to leave your life of sin. Jesus preached, "Unless you repent, you too will perish (in everlasting hell)!" Second you need to BELIEVE. You need believe that Jesus, God in Human Flesh, died instead of you on the Cross, as the Bible says He did. "Yet to all those who received Him, to those who believed in His name He gave them the right to become the children of God," we read in the Bible. When you do that – believe in Jesus with all your heart and confess your sins to Him – the sinless spotless blood of Jesus will forgive you of every sin and give you a peace which the world cannot give you ever!

Why not then pray this prayer right away: "Dear Lord Jesus. I am sorry for my sins. Please forgive me. I am LEAVING my terrible sins and BELIEVING in your as my Savior. Wash me with you blood and make me a new person completely. I will serve you with all my heart hereafter. So be it!"

Do not forget the following things: Get yourself a copy of the Bible and read it daily. Talk to the Lord Jesus daily in prayer. Join a fellowship where the Bible is taught. Share with as many people as possible with your life and lip about the Lord Jesus.

THE SAME ARTICLE IN DVD FORMAT. INTERESTED?
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A SENTENCE FROM POKIRI...A SENTENCE THAT AWAITS YOU, UNLESS...

- Duke Jeyaraj

Yes, Telugu movie Pokiri will be first movie ever in Tollywood history to run for 500 days with four shows and with a minimum of one shift. Screened for four shows a day, the film completed 100 days in as many as 200 centres in the state and neighbouring states, including 17 in Hyderabad alone and silver jubilee in a record 63 centres. In 15 centres, it completed 200 days. Pokiri completed 365 days with four shows and created new records and even more interesting is that it's confirmed that Pokiri will finish 500 days run mark in Kurnool Bhageeratha theatre. The records set at 365 days will be extended. Even after DVD/VCD release and 365 days of Pokiri, the movie is managing to collect the theatres rent per show in Bhageeratha theatre. The Mahesh Babu-Illeana starrer raked in a staggering Rs 40 crores, a task not even Telugu cinema's biggest star Chiranjeevi could accomplish in his illustrious career, and in the process toppled several existing records. The last time a Telugu film ran for 365 full days all over the state was almost two-and-a-half decades ago when NTR and ANR, despite passing their prime, still lorded over the Telugu box office. "If films in the earlier days ran for so long, it was mostly due to hero worship which was at its peak. Television too did not make inroads. But that is not the case now. Pokiri's success story is mind-boggling!" says a senior film journalist. This movie was remade in Tamil with Vijay. Prabhu Deva wielded the megaphone. Producer Boney Kapoor is now making the Hindi version with Salman Khan (Courtesy: Lines from http://www.hindu.com/, http://www.superstarmaheshbabu.com/ , 19 June 2007).

Ileana's line

I happened to bump into a scene from this famous movie once. The scene had the actress Ileana and the hero Mahesh Babu, traveling in the metro train. When Mahesh Babu goes to answer nature's call, the seat next to Ileana falls vacant. A young woman who walks-in takes that seat. This irritates Illeana. She asks her to occupy another seat, but the young woman isn't pleased with Illeana's suggestion. At this point, Illeana uses a sentence which is very commonly used by youth of Hyderabad and I should say many youth in general, to shoo away the young woman who sat beside her in the Metro train. It is this sentence: "Get the hell out of here!"

One line by Illeana in the movie Pokiri made me think and the word, "Hell"!

Jesus, the greatest hell preacher!

What Ileana said was a stark reminder to me that the usage of the word "hell" has become so common place that young people do not realize for a moment how horrible and terrible that place is. Max Lucado writes, "Of the twelve times that the word 'gehenna' - the strongest Biblical word for hell - appears in Scripture, there is only one time in which Jesus was not the speaker. No one spoke of hell more than Christ did" (When Christ Comes, Page 118). But Jesus did not speak of hell in casual terms like today's youth. If anyone knew how hell looked like (or would look like) it was Jesus - the all-knowing, ever-existing God in flesh and bone.

Hideousness of hell

Jesus painted the hideousness of hell by pointing out we must do whatever it takes to escape going there. For example, he said, "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell" (Math 5:29). He repeated this almost verbatim in Mathew 18:9. If Jesus had not repeated this, his saying on hell, Mathew would not have recorded it twice in his Gospel, would he? By saying what he did, Jesus was not advocating plucking of one's eye to beat the temptation to lust. He was simply telling us, that hell is so terrible and horrible, that if one can escape it by plucking his eyes out, it would be a cheap price to pay. A place to make you wish that you were never born!

Jesus also depicted the gruesome nature of Gehenna (Hell) by the way he talked about Judas Iscariot - the one person we know for sure would go to hell. He categorically said this about Judas whom he referred to as "the son of destruction": "It would have been better for that man if he had not been born" (Math 26:24; John 17:12). In other words, this was Jesus' message here: If you are not born-again or if you turn away from the born-again experience, like Judas did, you will go to a place which will make you wish that you were not born at all! Hell is so painful! Hell is so agonizing!

Children of hell - that is what we are

Jesus gave us humans a new name: children of hell. That is what he called the religious big shots of his time (Mathew 23:15). They were hypocrites. We are all hypocrites. And we too deserve such a title - the title of "children of hell". What God originally prepared as a destination for the Devil and his angels - the terrible place called "hell" - becomes our destination as well (II Pet 2:4). It is only right that the devil's ultimate destination becomes ours as well because we choose to follow the devil and his sinful urgings in our day to day lives. I refer to his urgings like "Use abusive language to get even with those who abuse you!", "Watch pornography - it will not harm you!" etc, etc! Calling someone a "fool" may be quite cool with this google generation. But doing that can take you to hell, Jesus taught (Math 5:22). Undressing the person of the opposite gender who is not your married partner, in one's mind, may be the favorite pastime of the Youtube Youth of today. But when such sins are persisted upon, hell is where we land up in, Jesus warned (Math 5:28, 29). The human race, by and large, is on the broad road that leads to destruction (hell), Jesus pointed out (Math 7:13). The way to hell is sleazy and "easy" (Math 7:13).

A name for God which worship leaders hardly use

Jesus also gave a new name for God, a name you will hear worship leaders use rarely: him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Math 10:28). It was only re-coining an Old Testament title for God: Consuming Fire (Duet 4:24). Yes, it is true. God is not only a Compassionate Father. He is also a Consuming Fire. He is love. But he is not only love. He is just and righteous as well. That is why all sin must be punished. God cannot wink at sin and pretend that it did not exist. If he did, he no longer can be called just and holy. That is why, Jesus taught about the existence of hell which serves as the ultimate punishment for "rebels" against God - a place of unquenchable fire in which both the worms feasting on the human body, and humans themselves "will not die" forever (Isa 66:24; Mark 9:43-48). The human race is in a hopeless situation. Jesus asks us the same question he asked the Religion Biggies of his time: You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? (Math 23:33). We have no answers to Jesus' question. And guess what - Jesus decided to answer that question himself. He said in-effect: "I will open a way - in fact it will be the only way - for you to escape being sentenced to hell! I will experience hell instead of you. You need to trust in me - the One who experienced hell for you - to be saved from going to hell!" Stumped? Read the next paragraph for more details....

The hedge on the broad road to hell

Jesus not only preached about hell, he did what it takes to prevent you from going to hell. This is what he did: he voluntarily endured hell instead of you. While he hung on the cross he cried out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" (Math 27:46). Hell is the one place which is truly God-forsaken. Jesus experienced hell even as he hung from the cross. That is why he cried out that way. Because your sins and my sins were laid upon Jesus on that day - two thousand years ago - the holy God whose eyes are too pure to even look upon sin, had to turn his face from his Only Son, Jesus, and forsake Him, for our sake (Hab 1:13). This happened at the "ninth hour" - the Gospel-writers tell us (Math 27:46; Mk 15:34). Every year, exactly at that very hour, Jewish families would chop the neck of a lamb that would take away their sin - symbolic of what Jesus, the sinless Lamb of God would do on the cross, years later. The God who stopped Abraham between the neck and the knife as he was about to chop his son Isaac, did not stop the knife of the cross falling on the neck of his son. The reason? Jesus died for our sins.

How Jesus endured hell for you

Jesus also cried out, "I thirst" from the cross, remember? (John 19:28). He was echoing the words of the rich man who went to hell, he once talked about. That rich man too cried out in thirst saying, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame' - do you recall? (Luke 16:24). What that rich man underwent in hell, Jesus underwent even as he hung on the cross, Bible Scholars tell us. That is why he uses almost the very same words as that of that rich man. Why did Jesus have to endure all of this? To prevent you and me from living a life of hell and going to actual hell. He was taking the"punishment", which is ultimately hell punishment, instead of us, the Bible declares (Isa 53:5, Rev 21:7, 8). Jesus died so that we may not have to experience "second death" - another Bible word for hell (Rev 21:7, 8). And we will only go to hell, if we reject Jesus, who claimed to be only way of salvation from our destruction in hell. If we jump over the cross of Jesus in pride, the cross which acts as a hedge to prevent people from going to hell, this is where we will land in: hell!

You could remember this essay - from hell

Jesus warned - six stunning times - that hell is a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Math 8:12; 13:42; 13:50 ; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30). He repeated this depiction of hell, because it was mighty important. Who weeps? Those who are sad. Who gnashes teeth? Those who are angry and frustrated. You have guessed it right - Jesus wants us to understand that hell will be a place where our memories would be intact by using this phrase to talk about hell. Should we go to hell, we will remember and recall, every opportunity we ever had on planet Earth to escape coming to hell, and we will feel sad and shattered, angry and frustrated, that we did not make the most of it! My prayer is that you will not land up in hell, but if you do, you will remember reading this article, that explained to you, in black and white, the only way to escape hell!

A line from I Know What You Did Last Summer....

Don't get me wrong - Jesus did not come to this planet to condemn you to hell. Far from it. The Bible says, " For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him" (John 3:17). But hell is where we will go, if we ignore Jesus' repeated warnings about hell. "There was a murderer in the balcony. I saw him from the stage in the beauty contest. And you will fry in hell, if you ignore my words!" - those are the words in-effect that Sarah Michelle Gellar screamed at a Police Officer who doubted the veracity of her claims in the 1997 Hollywood horror movie, I Know What You Did Last Summer. The skeptical police officer, who made fun of Sarah for making such a claim was promptly and shockingly "hooked" by a sickle to a gruesome death, by the very murderer whose existence he doubted, shortly after he heard Sarah's warning. If you and I doubt Jesus' claims on hell, I am afraid, on the day of Judgment, or the day of your death (which can be any day), you and I will be in for a similar shock, like that police officer was in for, in the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer.

"There was a murderer in the balcony. You will fry in hell if you ignore my words!" those words were heard in the movie, I Know What You Did Last Summer. Jesus says, "I am who I claim to be. If you do not believe I am who I am (God in flesh who is the only way to true peace and joy) you will die in your sins (which is to fry in hell forever!)

Jesus said, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10 ). Why do you want to experience hell in this life and go on to experience hell in the next life to come, forever and forever, when Jesus can you give you "abundant life" - a life which nothing or no one can give you?

How to escape hell - here's how

Maybe you are asking the question after reading this essay, "What must I do to escape hell and experience the heaven Jesus alone can offer me?" What you must do was put in plain words by Jesus. You must first leave. I mean, leave your life of sin. I mean repent. I say this because, Jesus preached, "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3). When he used the word "perish" there, he meant "perish in eternal hell". So repentance from sin is the first step to escape this horrible hell.

Second, you must believe. We read in the Bible that "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him" (John 3:36). Yes, that is right. You must believe that Jesus died on the cross to save you from going to hell with all your heart. You must believe, that He is alive right now, having risen from the dead on the third day, to be able to walk with you daily in the narrow road that leads to heaven.

If you have decided to repent from sin and believe on Jesus, why don't you join me in saying this prayer, which will help you begin a relationship with Jesus - the only one who can save you from eternal Hell: Dear Jesus, I am sorry for my sins that took you to the cruel cross, where you experienced hell for me. Please forgive me. Please wash my manifold sins with your precious, pure blood that was shed for me on the Cross. I pledge to join you on that narrow road that leads to heaven from now on! Thank you for saving me! I am grateful! I am glad! So be it!"

If you have any questions about this article please call Duke at +91-9441352433 or e-mail him using emailduke@aol.in . If you have made a decision to follow Jesus for the first time, after having read this article, join a local church where Bible is taught faithfully, for if you are in an active fellowship with fellow believers in a local church, "the gates of hell will not prevail" against you (Math 16:18).

The text in brackets refers to Bible Verse References. And they are taken from the English Standard Version of the Bible available online at http://www.esv.org/ .

Bubbly Outside, Yet Empty Inside?!

-Duke Jeyaraj


THE SEARCH
Aishwariya Rai (Indian actress) talked about it – a vacuum in her heart. She told the press once, “You know as Ms World, I was suddenly exposed to so much that after the year was over, there was suddenly a vacuum!” (The Times of India, 20 October 1999). The Backstreet Boys (Irish Boy Band) put music to the gnawing empty feeling on the inside. They sang, I was lost and alone, trying to grope, making my way down the long winding road. And no reason, no rhyme, like a song out of time… (lyrics as found on http://www.lyrics007.com/ on 12 March 2007). Australian youth icon, Pat Rafter expressed the void in his inner self this way after winning his second US Open (after pocketing a huge pay cheque before an adoring worldwide audience): “When you haven’t got it, you really want it; when you have it, you really don’t want it!” (Quote read from The Sportstar). John McEnroe depicted the barrenness in the bosom of Chilean Tennis Star, Marcelo Rios this way: “Here’s a guy who makes millions and millions of dollars a year and has been ranked as high as No. 1 in the world, and he looks miserable most of the time” (The Sportstar, 23 October 1999, page 67).

Life means more….
Hello. Hi! Do those real stories – from representative parts of the globe (Asia, Europe, North and South America and Oceania) from both the genders in a wide range of fields – strike a chord in your bosom? Think of the nights you hit the bed and stared into the ceiling and asked the question, “Is that all there is to life?” You walk with a spring in your step. Always flash a beaming smile. Your eyes sparkle. But the sadness and pain behind those eyes almost shows. Mankind – Kapil to Kajol – is on a search for meaning, for fulfillment in life. There is a universal feeling that “life means more” (as the debunked Hometrade.com ad goes). Life surely means more than growing up, studying, finding a job, getting married, having kids, becoming a grandpa and dying.

A promise
If you are searching for the meaning and purpose in your life here is a promise for you from the God of the Bible: Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed (Jer 29:11, The Message)!

THE SURPRISE

In our quest to find what is missing in our life we try out different things: Drugs and discos, pornography and perversion; shopping sprees; boozing binges; fondling friends; long work hours. But when these are tried they leave us emptier than when we started. We can try to fill that vacuum with loads of wit or wisdom or work or women or wine yet that vacuum will surprisingly stay, the Bible points out (Ecclesiastes 2).

Why this emptiness?

The Bible explains why we have such emptiness in our hearts in the first place. It is because we try to fill that emptiness without God, who alone can give us real enjoyment (Eccl 2:25). “Life under the sun, will be meaningless and futile until we make a living relationship with the one above the sun – God!” (This is how Selwyn Hughes summarized the message of Ecclesiastes – one of the 66 books of the Bible). Only God can satisfy our search for true meaning in life. “Show us the Father (Father was the word Jesus used for God) and we will be satisfied” That is how Philip, one of the disciples of Jesus expressed this truth (Jn 14:8 NLT). Pascal put it precisely: “There is a God-shaped vacuum in our heart and only God can fill it!” That God-shaped vacuum entered our souls because of sin, the Bible explains (Isa 57:20,21). “Emptiness is their only reward,” the Bible says, when it speaks about people who make sin their life-style (Job 15:17, 31 NLT).

From Mother Teresa to Lady Diana

We are all sinners – from Gandhi to Godse, from Mother Teresa to Lady Diana - without exception, the Bible says (Rom 3:23). We are sinners by nature. By nature, Ethiopians have dark skin. By nature, leopards have spots. By nature, the human race sins. You and I, sin. This is the teaching of the Bible (Jer 13:23). That emptiness entered our system because we chose to sin – every passing day of our lives (Jer 6:16). Just as Anna Kournikova pouts, “Omega, my choice” we by our life say, “Sin my choice!” Hollywood interestingly titled a movie, Six Degrees of Separation. The Bible teaching is that sin has separated us from God who made us in his pattern and hence this empty feeling in our soul. The Bible also warns that sin will make us its slave and ultimately take us to the lake of burning sulfur – hell – where one will have to live forever and ever in great agony or pain (Jn 8:34: Rev 21:8).

THE SURRENDER

Can’t lift yourself with your bootlace, can you?

The Bible also makes it clear that we cannot fill this emptiness in our hearts on our own (Isa 57:12). You can’t lift yourself with your bootlace, can you? Our good deeds are like a woman’s menstrual cloth in God’s sight, according to the Bible (Ezek 36:17). As Max Lucado wrote, “Two kids in a mud puddle can’t clean each other. They need someone clean. Someone spotless. We need someone clean too. That’s why we need a Savior.” That was the reason, Jesus – God cloaked in human flesh and bone – came to this earth two millennia back.

Never “full” without Jesus

Jesus preached, “I have come that they might have Life and have it to the full!” (Jn 10:10 NIV). Without a relationship with Jesus, no matter what you do or what you have, your life will never be “full” – it will always be empty and void. He came to plug that vacuum in the soul of every human and save every person from his sins! He is qualified to do so because he never ever sinned in all his life – something no one else has done in all of the world’s history – and therefore did not experience a vacuum in His heart. He wagged his bony finger at his worst enemies of his time – the religious head of the Jewish religion – saying, “Which of you can truthfully convict me of sin?” They were mum (Jn 8:46 NLT)! He is the Living Water we must drink (believe in) in order to never thirst again (or experience the empty feeling in our soul).

Salman Khan-Like muscular soldiers

As a sinner, I should have lived a life of dissatisfaction on the earth, then died and gone to burn in never-ending hell. But sinless Jesus took my place when he was executed as a crass criminal at a hill in Israel, two thousand years back. He took your place too. He shed his blood so that our sins – each of our sins – may be forgiven and the emptiness in our souls may be gone (Jn 3:16/ Rom 5:8). A moving poem dedicated to the Indian soldiers who lost their lives for the country at Kargil, goes this way: He loves Ol’ Hindi songs just like you/He hates injections, just like you/ He cried each time Amitabh died, just like you/He has been in love, once or twice, just like you/ He’ll bleed if you cut him, just like you….He’s gone to die for a stranger and that stranger is you! (Bangalore Times, June 29, 1999, page 2). That’s what Jesus did for us. He died a cruel death for each one of us when we were still sinners and far away from him enjoying the pleasures of sin. Jesus shed every drop of his sinless blood, got beaten so badly that his back looked like a plowed field by Salman Khan-like muscular Roman soldiers, to become the sin-bearer for every person who has ever lived, is living, and will live on this world. He loves us so very madly. Because he is God who is beyond the dimension of time - he could die for all humans of all times. Because he is human he could be your substitute and mine.

Ronaldo Vs Jesus

It’s the World Cup Football Final. The year – 1994. Brazil makes a substitution. The watch says it is just 8 minutes to the finish. In walks a teenager. His name? Ronaldo! In those 8 minutes he dazzled the world. It was a great substitution. I will tell you of the greatest substitution of all time. It happened six hours one Friday. It happened when Jesus took your sins and my sins upon himself on the cross. Because he was 100 percent human he could be every human’s substitute. Because he was 100% God (who by definition is infinite) he could die for all humans of all times – past, present and future. I am a sinner. I should die and go to hell. But Jesus said, “No! No! I will die instead of Duke. I will endure the horrors of hell instead of Duke!” He did. He also did for you. He did for every one of us. “He (Jesus) was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace!” That’s what the Bible tells us (Isa 53:5).

Bradman Vs Jesus

He came back to life – a feat that proves he is God and he is alone and above everyone in the long-line of self-proclaimed gods. When cricket’s legend Don Bradman died, The Sportstar paid tribute to him this way: “In an era when 50-plus is still a true yard-stick of greatness for batsmen, Bradman’s average of 99.94 must give us an idea where the Don stands – alone and apart from every cricketer” (Quoted from The Sportstar). That’s only an imperfect picture of how infinitely Jesus stands in comparison to all others who claimed to be gods – alone and apart! Jesus claimed to be the only way to fill-in the vacuum in your heart and the only way to God.

Come now to Jesus!

His offer to you today is straight: “Are you tired? Worn out? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover with me!” (Math 9:37,38 The Message). This isn’t a call to join a religion. No religion can plug that vacuum in your soul. Not Christianity! Not any other religion! Only Christ can. He also said, “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (Jn 6:37 NIV). The Multi National Companies may drive you away, but my Master won’t. Your boyfriend may drive you away, but my Jesus will not.

Ask Lady Diana if you could!

The only cure for ache in your heart is to leave your life of sin and believe in Jesus. First, you must decide to leave your sin. The Bible calls this as “repentance”. Jesus preached to those who narrowly escaped death when a tower in the country he preached in – Israel – crashed down: “Unless you repent you too will all perish!” (Luke 13:5 NIV). His message is the same to those of us who are still alive and kicking after mishaps such as the crash of the 115-storey tall World Trade Centre in New York on September 11, 2001: “Repent! Turn from your sin!” Who knows when our next brush with death will be?! Life is short. Ask Lady Diana if you could! It is never too early to come to Christ. But at any moment it can be too late! The best and the most sensible time to surrender your life to Jesus is “now” (II Cor 6:4)! Over 300 times the Bible declares in various ways that Jesus will return to planet Earth. He would do that to judge the world, we are told. He will do that in a sudden and unexpected way, as a thief in the night would break into a house! And to think the Bible – God’s Word in human words – has never ever gone wrong in over 600 historical events it has predicted (Source: Encylopedia of Biblical Prophecy by J. Barton Payne, Hodder and Stoughton, 1973)! To ignore the words of the Bible would be like shooting yourself on the foot!

Hrithik’s song…

You have to make a choice about Jesus. He claimed to be the only way to fill the vacuum of your heart when he said he came to this world to make our lives “full” (Jn 10:10). Take him at his word. Believe him. You can call Jesus the biggest liar who ever lived. Or you can call him a nut-loose. Or you can call him the only Saviour of your soul and invite him into your heart and life. But you have no way of getting around his claims to say, “Jesus was one of the good men who lived in the earth.” In fact if you call Jesus as one of the many good men or god men of this world you are in-effect calling him a liar. He did not give you that option in the first place. So he is a liar, lunatic or Lord (as C. S. Lewis put it). He can’t be a liar. He was sinless. Even his worst enemies could not find a single fault in him. He couldn’t be a madman. He did not giggle in glee when he was hammered on the Cross. He felt pain and cried out in agony. That leaves us with just one option: he is the only Way to Heaven; the only Way to fulfillment and purpose in life. He categorically stated, “For unless you believe that I am who I say I am, you will die (which ultimately means to be cast in the lake of burning sulfur to be tormented forever) in your sins!” Don’t say, “I will wait till I understand everything about Jesus and then only come to him!” We perhaps would sing with Hrithik Roshan, Kyon hotta hai pyaar? Naa thum jaano...naa hum (meaning Why do people fall in love? Neither of us knows!) (Words of this song were penned by Ibrahim Ashq and lyrics quoted from www.ukindia.com/zip2 on 12 March 2007). Likewise, it is very important that you come to Christ, with a simple faith – even if we may never fully understand all about him – that he died and rose to take away the blankness in your bosom, right now without any delay!

By praying this prayer with all your heart you can invite Jesus into your heart and life and see the vacuum in your heart go:

Dear Jesus, I am a sinner. The vacuum in my heart is because I have sinned against you. Please forgive me. I repent of my sin. Thank you for dying for me on that hill and rising up again. Cleanse me with your blood, which you shed for me! I promise to live for you – with you helping me out. So be it!”

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Duke, the author of this piece works for an international bank, and loves to write. Email him at emailduke@gmail.com.