Last Monday, I came across a story that I read from the Deccan Herald Newspaper. I would like to share that story with you today. About 20 years go, there was this person who came to Bangalore searching for a job. He was a non vegetarian person who loved to eat chicken. As he moved to this city, he started looking for rented houses. He found many houses but they all rejected him, mainly because he was a non vegetarian. He kept looking but everything was in vain. Then he decided that the next house he will see, he will lie and say that he is a pure vegetarian. Consequently he did find a house that was owned by a brahmin family. However, since he lied about his food habit, they rented the house to him. After a couple of months, his parents came to visit him. As a gift for their son, they bought a hen with them. When they reached home, he was surprised to see the bird. However, somehow, he hid the hen in the house. For many days, the owners and the neighbours kept hearing the sound of the bird. When they asked him, he lied again and said that there was no bird in the house. One day, as he was about to leave for work, as he opened the main door, the hen ran outside the house. In shock, he ran towards it to catch it, but the hen ran away and went straight towards the owners house. He was caught. He was immediately asked to vacate. Now, dear listeners, even though this story sounds really funny, there is an important lesson to be learnt. No lie can be hidden for long. Our lies will eventually come out. Even if it is a small lie or a big lie, it will one day be exposed. Truth, dear friends is what we must focus on. You would have heard the saying, Honesty is the best policy, yes it’s true. Honesty is not only the best policy, but honesty is best life saver. Truth has power and therefore the person who speaks the truth is powerful. Before Jesus Christ was sentenced to be crucified, He is bought before Pilate. The chief priests, the Sanhedrin, the elders and the teachers of the law had accused Jesus of preaching blasphemy. They wanted him dead. Pilate understood this plan. Just to confirm, he asked Jesus, in Mark 15:2, are you the king of Jews, and Jesus answers, You have said so. Do notice that, Jesus spoke the truth here. Even in a situation where his life was in danger, even in the situation where he was held as a prisoner, looked at as a criminal and disrespected as a thief, Jesus still chose to say the truth. He could have said, No and the whole scenario would have changed, who knows, Jesus could have escaped crucifixion. However, Jesus decided to say the truth. This is because, Jesus knew that there is power in truth and the people who speak the truth are powerful. Dear friends, as you begin this day, I request you understand this important lesson for life. Everybody can tell lies but only few can tell the truth. You don’t be like everybody, be like Jesus. Speak the truth and see how your life will change. In any situation, In any circumstance, choose to speak the truth because there is power in truth and when you speak the truth, you become powerful.

DON’T BE DISTRACTED Psa 101: 3, “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless” I want to start this episode with one question. Have you ever noticed that you have never completed all the games that is available in an amusement park. How many ever times you go to the same amusement park again and again, you still don’t seem to complete all the games available there. I’ve been to Wonderla so many times and I know for a fact that I have not completed all the games there. You know why? There’s a secret: The amusement park creates a route wherein the people are subjected to maximum distractions before they play the games. This means that, in between two games, there is always going to be shops, restaurants and other things that will distract us from playing all the games. So what’s the advantage you ask? Since you could not play all the games, you will come back another time to complete the games, which means you will buy ticket again, which means the amusement park is making money. In marketing we call this, a brilliant strategy. Dear Listeners, let me remind you today about being distracted. Distraction can loosely be defined as looking away or losing focus from our goal for a short period of time. Imagine you are driving your bike and you see this big advertisement board and you suddenly are focused on it and not driving. This is when you tell, you were distracted. So is being distracted wrong? You may ask. Being distracted is not wrong. However, distraction can cause severe consequences and facing those consequences is going to be almost always difficult. The Bible has a lot of instances of people getting distracted. Because of their distraction, the Bible also tells how tough it was for them to face the consequences. We have Eve, the first women who was distracted by the evil one and therefore disobeyed God’s command. We also have David who I believe was distracted too, because of which a Nobel king like him, became a murderer. And finally there is Martha. Martha, let’s talk about her. In the book of John chapter 10:38-42, we read about Jesus being invited over to Martha’s house. Jesus accepted the invitation and came over to her place. Martha became so busy in the preparation process that she had forgotten that it was Jesus who was in her place. Jesus was right there. Instead of focusing on Jesus, she was distracted with the preparations. Dear people of God, today as we being this day, I want to encourage you with one thought. Keep Christ as your goal. Jesus Christ is your target. Keep your eyes on this goal. Remember, Distractions are like potholes. In the journey of life, you will encounter them, for sure, however, never stop, but keep moving, only then will you reach your destination. As the Bible says, everything in the world is worthless and lets not set our eyes towards them but towards one worthy God, Jesus Christ.