First things first. What is the chief and highest end of man? Let the revered Christian Book namely the Westminster catechism give the answer. Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify (worship) God, and fully to enjoy Him forever. When it comes to glorifying Him and fully enjoying Him, let it be said that the entire exercise ought to be “absolutely genuine emanating right from the innermost core of one’s being (read spirit)”. This would lead to the next question, how could the process of glorifying Him originate right from the depths of one’s heart? It is only possible when a person is truly fascinated by His unique traits. Remember, worshipping God for What He is, is the highest form of worship, standing head and shoulders above other forms of worship, which come with strings attached, such as worshipping Him for the blessings He showers upon us.
While on the subject, at this stage it would serve us well to look at the synonym of the word “Glorify”, which is “Magnify”. When, one magnifies Him, that is to say, when one keenly observes His Divine nature with a magnifying glass, as it were, the “spiritual explorer” (if you permit me to use this expression) in you is bound to come across several unique attributes of the Almighty, which would at once evoke awe, and in turn lead to spontaneous, heart-felt worship and praise.
In this New Year’s message series of five parts, containing five sub-headings punctuated with…what else… “Hallelujahs” (incidentally Hallel in Hebrew language means To praise and Yah means God), I would like to bring before my Nugget readership, one definite attribute in the Almighty, which at once fills me with a spirit of adoration: He is not only a Master of Creation, He is equally adept in the work of regeneration. Scripture stands as a testimony to the fact that He regenerates His people, Nation and even His Creation.
Financial
Down in the dumps financially as you stand at the threshold of a New Year? Gone broke in the Stock broking business? Now no one would have known better about financial upheavals than one Mr. Job, the resident of Uz (Job 1:13-22) who did not go broke gradually but lost it all in a the space of a few hours of a dreadful day. Worse was to follow. In this message I would stick to the collapse of “Job Corp”, as it existed thousands of years back. What was its C.E.O’s response? Let the Scripture take over…light shines through his spiritual maturity…
“…Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:’Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.'” (Job 1:20-21 NLT)
Well, how did the Job story end? For the one who reposed his faith on the Almighty’s goodness even at the time of severe provocation (Job 2:9 )…
“…the LORD restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.” (Job 42:10). Talk of Biblical boom-doom-boom trade cycle…
Surely for those of us, caught in financial troubles, the moral of Job’s troubles comes booming: “cast all your burdens on Him”. A breakthrough is just around the corner (1 Peter 5:7/10). God can breathe life into any “dead and buried” financial situation and quicken it up.
Prayer: Father, we pray for all those undergoing severe financial difficulties. We pray that you breathe life into those “dead financial situations” and quicken them up. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Suresh Manoharan
(To access the other parts of the mini-series, “God of Regeneration, please click here.)