Phuveyi Dozo
[dropcap]P[/dropcap]eace and joy, and power filled the earth when the Lord rose again from the death. The message of victory united distant world together and brought nations closer to each other. People began to live without fear when the persisting challenger, Paul, met Jesus Christ.
The face of the world was changing with the movement of the Gospel. The world became a different place to live in.
Forces of darkness and satanic movement could not stand the Super Power of the risen Jesus Christ. Satan is a defeated foe. Darkness and light cannot live together. Liar and truth cannot go together. Honesty and dishonesty cannot be friends. Truth will prevail and the truth will set us free from the bondage and clutches of evils. The power of resurrection affects our total personality and inner heart including our secret intention and motive. Faith, heart, living and hope are a package of Christian life. It is a totality and not a dichotomy.A New Perspective
A resurrected life will see things in a new perception. Our attitude towards our fellow people, work and profession become different. We view our world, people and humanity in a positive angle. Old things spin off and behold everything becomes new.
Standing on the Holy Ground
A holy ground refers to consciousness of the presence of God. Living a resurrected life, some pertaining issues we are concerned of will be like:
1. Can you live a renewed life as a better person bearing Christian values?
2. Can you manage the public affairs and budget with honesty and a cleaner hand?
3. What will be your attitude towards Total Liquor Prohibition which Nagaland enacted some 25 years ago with still an impasse?
4. Can you make Nagaland the cleanest government in India being a government with Christians in authority and leadership?
5. Can we make a special effort to deliver the youth of our generation from the hands of schemes of sinister and reversed movement?
6. Will our national groups consolidate our political vision as a resurrected body?
7. Will our churches pray sincerely and work selflessly that God may revive us in our contemporary relevance?
Giving What Others Cannot Offer
Calamities hit some parts of India some years back. Some Naga Christians remarked “It is divine judgment because you do not believe the true God.” The reply is simple in response:
(1) Have you prayed enough for India?
(2) Have you gone and preached out there?
(3) Have you sent missionaries?
(4) Have you supported missionaries?
We failed doing the above. We conjecturally judge the world without a passion and burden. Without God we are repulsive and indignant. But if we obey Jesus, we will cast our fishing net into the deeper culture of India and we will have a huge catch. What can we give to this nation for what we receive from them? We can give them what their multiple religions cannot offer them. The millions and billion will rise when Jesus return. But the message needs people to communicate to them in their context. Should the Nagas brush off our responsibility?
It is Relationship, Not a Religion
Jesus did not bring Christianity as a religion. He did not introduce a religion either. He brought relationship between God and man. Our faith in God is a matter of personal and living relationship with the Creator, God. A religion has to do with mechanical rituals and systems of practices. Based on his contrite heart, Jesus momentarily welcomed the man on the cross without formality. He knows you personally, no matter how well you know Him. Christianity is a relationship with God. And this relationship involves your total life, inner heart, your work and motive. It is timeless and space-less.
