By Dr Jose Paul M.D.
This is the real story of a doctor. You can call it a story of metamorphosis or transformation.
The only son of a patriarch of Catholic faith, he was religious and God fearing from a very young age onwards --- a son who was well loved, both at home and in his community. A topper in school, his teachers labelled him as a model student. His childhood, teenage years and early adult life passed that way. His name and reputation as a doctor grew each day. He found interest and joy in reading scriptures and in prayers. He specifically found time to attend religious convocations and charismatic prayers.
For an outlander, he was a completely fulfilled person, with nothing more to gain. He had money and reputation and was God fearing and religious. If anything, he had more of everything, not less. What else could he need? But he was not happy. In spite of having everything, why wasn’t he happy? A fear lurked in his mind. No matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t able to tide over this fear psychosis -- fear of death, and the life afterwards. This made him sad.
Wasn’t God a judge who noticed and marked down all mistakes and gave out punishments accordingly? How couldn’t but one fear that God? The more he feared God, the harder he tried to follow the rules of the church and he focused on doing only what was right. But no matter how hard he tried, everything seemed incomplete. He felt he must have made an error somewhere. It was like he was trying to pour water into a vessel with a hole. What could he do now?
But today he is at peace and a changed person, and there is no fear of death. There is a reason for this. The reason is the truth that God is not a judge who looks for and punishes a person’s mistakes. The realization of this truth set him free. There is no condemnation for a person who is in union with Jesus Christ, (Romans 8:1). He is always free.
The doctor’s thoughts underwent a sea change. He began to trust fully in Jesus Christ and surrendered himself completely to Him. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour. He completely gave up his efforts to obtain salvation through his deeds. He changed his concept from that of a punishing God to that of a loving Holy Father. He was freed forever from fear and from the laws of sin and death. He surrendered to the love of the Holy Spirit and accepted Him as his Lord and God. He gave up all other trappings and developed a personal relationship with his Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Today he is not under any trappings. He is completely free and always happy. He is not being ruled by fear. Instead he is ruled by God’s love. He sees God in everyone who comes before him. What he does today is God’s will. Truly, this is God’s will.
Who's this doctor? It's me. Don’t you want to experience this happiness? Don’t you want peace and happiness through Jesus Christ? Don’t you want to be free from fear? Don’t you want to know what real freedom is? Don’t you want to live in Jesus forever?
I understood that, all my efforts to please God through any worldly trappings, good deeds and strict adherence to rules were not of any use. “For it is God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of our efforts but God’s gift”. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
You can achieve this by complete faith and surrender and true union with Jesus Christ, thereby becoming a ‘born again’ child of God. But to those who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12).
(The writer is the Director and Senior Consultant in internal medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, Thodupuzha)
This is the real story of a doctor. You can call it a story of metamorphosis or transformation.
The only son of a patriarch of Catholic faith, he was religious and God fearing from a very young age onwards --- a son who was well loved, both at home and in his community. A topper in school, his teachers labelled him as a model student. His childhood, teenage years and early adult life passed that way. His name and reputation as a doctor grew each day. He found interest and joy in reading scriptures and in prayers. He specifically found time to attend religious convocations and charismatic prayers.
For an outlander, he was a completely fulfilled person, with nothing more to gain. He had money and reputation and was God fearing and religious. If anything, he had more of everything, not less. What else could he need? But he was not happy. In spite of having everything, why wasn’t he happy? A fear lurked in his mind. No matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t able to tide over this fear psychosis -- fear of death, and the life afterwards. This made him sad.
Wasn’t God a judge who noticed and marked down all mistakes and gave out punishments accordingly? How couldn’t but one fear that God? The more he feared God, the harder he tried to follow the rules of the church and he focused on doing only what was right. But no matter how hard he tried, everything seemed incomplete. He felt he must have made an error somewhere. It was like he was trying to pour water into a vessel with a hole. What could he do now?
But today he is at peace and a changed person, and there is no fear of death. There is a reason for this. The reason is the truth that God is not a judge who looks for and punishes a person’s mistakes. The realization of this truth set him free. There is no condemnation for a person who is in union with Jesus Christ, (Romans 8:1). He is always free.
The doctor’s thoughts underwent a sea change. He began to trust fully in Jesus Christ and surrendered himself completely to Him. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour. He completely gave up his efforts to obtain salvation through his deeds. He changed his concept from that of a punishing God to that of a loving Holy Father. He was freed forever from fear and from the laws of sin and death. He surrendered to the love of the Holy Spirit and accepted Him as his Lord and God. He gave up all other trappings and developed a personal relationship with his Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Today he is not under any trappings. He is completely free and always happy. He is not being ruled by fear. Instead he is ruled by God’s love. He sees God in everyone who comes before him. What he does today is God’s will. Truly, this is God’s will.
Who's this doctor? It's me. Don’t you want to experience this happiness? Don’t you want peace and happiness through Jesus Christ? Don’t you want to be free from fear? Don’t you want to know what real freedom is? Don’t you want to live in Jesus forever?
I understood that, all my efforts to please God through any worldly trappings, good deeds and strict adherence to rules were not of any use. “For it is God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of our efforts but God’s gift”. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
You can achieve this by complete faith and surrender and true union with Jesus Christ, thereby becoming a ‘born again’ child of God. But to those who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12).
(The writer is the Director and Senior Consultant in internal medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, Thodupuzha)
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