The Bible portrays love as patient and kind. It does not envy, nor does it boast. Love is not proud; does not dishonor others, nor is it self-seeking.  It is not easily angered, or keep records of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres.

We all have a tendency to move around and say love is blind because we have been given a wrong impression about love. My dear followers of Christ, Love is not blind, lust is blind.  Sometimes, by looking at lust we say, “They are so much in love.” If we entertain lust in our lives, we will be blinded.

As human beings, especially during our youthful days, it is quite natural to get attracted to the opposite sex. That doesn’t mean that we are experiencing pure love. It is just attraction.

Pure Love

There are many definitions for pure love. The love which Jesus showed towards the whole of humanity is pure love- the love that is ready to die, and to protect. He loved us by taking our sins into His body and dying for us. 

If a boy loves a girl with pure love, he will never touch her body unless they are married. Because he doesn’t want to get her body defiled. If a girl loves a boy, she will make sure, not to allow him to fall into any unholiness even with her, or with anyone else. That is pure love. Pure love has a tendency to nurture and protect the other person.

If a boy proclaims to love a girl and is always interested only in being physically close to her, and the girl is submissive towards him, it is definitely not pure love. Because you are not married and still want to enjoy the desires of the flesh. It is not love, but lust.

Lust blinds us

Lust blinds us. When the prodigal son had the lust for the enjoyments of the world, he wanted to get his property and go to a distant country and enjoy his life. He had a wonderful life with his father; but lust of this world started controlling him. When lust entered him, he found that the world is more attractive than the presence of his father. When lust enters our being, we tend to spend more time with the world than God. Everything connected to spirituality will become boring for us. We will start limiting our prayer life.

The hours for prayer and spirituality, will slowly reduce, and spirituality becomes nominal, just sufficient enough to get rid of prick of conscience.

Sirach 25:3-5- If you gathered nothing in your youth, how can you find anything in your old age?

Repentance does not come at the last moment

Many people believe that if you repent of your sins, confess and go for a retreat during old age, your sins will be forgiven, and you are ready for heaven. This is only a dream. Remember, that a tree which is always leaning towards the left will never fall towards the right. 

We may think that in the last moment we can repent, just like the good thief did. When you look at the good thief who repented at the last moment, we must also think about the other one who did not repent. Remember, that there could be an impossibility of repentance at the last moment, just as there is a possibility of repentance. We cannot repent at any time we want. We may also not get a last moment to repent, as death comes unsung, and without any notice. 

Blessed are those who get a chance to repent at the last moment. It could be that the good thief had always led a good life and fell into sin once or twice at the last moment, and was punished for it. People who live in sin all throughout their lives cannot see God or receive the grace for mercy, even at the last moment of their lives. Just like the bad thief who could not see the son of God right next to him, and seek mercy which was so readily available to him, we too could be so blinded by the lure of sin, that we do not see or hear our father in heaven standing right next to us with open arms.

Many youngsters these days seem to be serving God and get greatly involved in the ministry. But, for many this is a kind of mask, so that their sins can be hidden from the world. They post religious videos on their social media platform, along with other things that are worldly and sinful. 

Some of them are so deeply involved in the ministry that it is at times shocking to see them like and encourage their friends who are involved in evil things. This is a hidden sin that comes out unknowingly. We need to examine our conscience to see if we have surrendered completely to God or not. Many of us have chosen a yes-no approach where we vacillate between yes and no as per our convenience. There is no middle ground for God. He needs only a ‘Yes’ from us.

If you decide continue with the desires of worldly pleasures, we must not make a mockery out of spirituality. In today’s world, we see the young engaging in all kinds of sexual immorality. They commit fleshly sins, engage in extra marital relations, have physical relations outside of marriage, and prefer live-in relationships as compared to a legal bond. For them, these are all accepted in today’s world. Who are we to decide what is right and wrong? God is our creator, and He is our measuring rod, our morality. We have to change our lives by looking at Jesus, our savior.

Original Sin

Let’s look at what God calls as ‘Original Sin’. In the Garden of Eden, God gave Adam and Eve the freedom to do whatever they want. But he refrained from giving them the freedom to decide what is right and wrong. They were forbidden to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and bad. God is the source of our morality. 

The world is deciding what morality is. Everything is ok as per the judicial system of the country. All the so called evils are lawfully justified and supported. Family setups are destroyed. Sanctity of marriage is destroyed, and families cease to exist. Mother’s love will be nonexistent in future. We are destroying this beautiful world that God has created as a paradise. We are accountable to God for supporting the violation of the divine law. We are distorting the image of God through all these actions.

Ephesians 4:17-Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds.

When we are Christians, we should behave and live like a Christian, and follow what Jesus Christ has taught us. We must not make a 5^th gospel. Bible asks us to stop living like how the gentiles lived. We are new creations and should not follow the gentiles. Even if you are intelligent, if we don’t trust in the faith of Jesus Christ, our mind will be darkened. Pride should not enter our minds lest it leads to failure. We are slowly alienated from the life of God because of hardness of heart and ignorance.

For the priests and the religious people who are in the presence of holiness all the time, familiarity breeds contempt and it can lead to dangerous consequences. The sense of reverence, holiness and sin will be lost. We have to remind ourselves that we are dealing with holy things, in every undertaking, in every relationship with people. 

Ephesians 4:19-They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 

Initially, even a small lie would lead us to a prick of conscience, and gazing at a wrong picture would make us feel guilty. But small  things will finally lead us to bigger sins and we will lose the sensitivity to understand what is right and wrong.

If you violate the sacrament of marriage in small things, ultimately you will have no prick of conscience in having extra marital affairs, and you justify even in front of God. Even after doing all these things, you will be calm and receive communion without any remorse. This is a serious violation of the command of God.

Have we ever encouraged and supported evil and wrong, knowingly and unknowingly?

If you see that someone is doing wrong, it is your duty to remind them what is right and wrong as per the Bible. It is not judging. The world may not judge you. The world has forgotten the law of the Lord. 

My dear brothers and sisters, the world will tell many lies and make us believe that they are truths. There is only one truth in this world, i.e. Jesus Christ. Everything else that has nothing to do with Jesus is false, and comes from the evil one, a father of all lies.

Therefore, before you do anything in this world, you must ask, “Jesus, do you like it”?, “ Are you happy with me”?Then you will never make any mistake. We must never lead anyone to wrongdoing.

Many of us believe that we are mature enough to take our own decisions once we are 18 years of age.  But, remember, Jesus was obedient to his parents until 30 years of age. Once we are out of the protective wings of our parents, we are under the guidance of Jesus Christ. Then our life will be saved.

Once we are Christians, we must put away our former self which is corrupt and deluded by lust. Even though we call ourselves Christians, we are still grounded in Pagan culture, leading an immoral life. Truly speaking, none of us have the right to receive communion. We are desecrating the Eucharist by doing so.

Jesus died for the ungodliness of our mind, body and spirit. Once you are affected by the lust of the world, the desire of flesh will consume us. We are surrounded by the thorns of the world. Attachment with this world is an enemy of God. When Adam and Even committed sin, God asked Adam, “Adam, where are you”?, “Are you with me or against me?” Instead of Adam, Jesus came and answered in another garden, “Father, not my will, but let thy will be done”? My dear brothers and sisters, Jesus answered on behalf of you and me. Let us examine our conscience and proclaim, “Let your will be done”.

Amen

Transcribed by Jancy James