Take some time and think about the picture above. What is
Doraemon asking and what is Nobita responding? That has something deeper
connection with Jesus and ourselves which seems missing today.
Jesus today has become a guru, a jinn-like being, a miracle
worker, an avatar or an enlightened purusha for people of this modern world
influenced by New Age spiritualism. Even in Christendom, Jesus has been a key
used for opening gate of prosperity, healing, Christian fortunetelling,
wish-fulfilling jinn and so on. People, often with those with simple and
innocent faith[1],
come to him to address their struggle, problems, suffocation and all sort of
hurdles with a hope to achieve nirvana and make a new journey to prosperity.
This is quite similar to Eastern religious prayer:
ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु
सुखिनः
सर्वे सन्तु
निरामयाः।
सर्वे भद्राणि
पश्यन्तु मा कश्चिद्दुःखभाग्भवेत।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः
शान्तिः॥
Transliteration:
oṃ sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ
sarve santu nirāmayāḥ
sarve bhadrāṇi paśyantu mā kaścidduḥ khabhāgbhaveta।
oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ॥
Which means:
May all sentient beings be at peace,
may no one suffer from illness,
May all see what is auspicious, may no one suffer.
Om peace, peace, peace.
They embrace Jesus until they get prosperous life, healing,
powers, joy and fame. Once these things are taken away, they turn their back to
him and reverse their journey to ex-faith. So, what’s their actual need? Is it
Jesus or something else? Probably its not Jesus but prosperity of luxurious
life.
I don’t mean to convey a Cessationism flavour in regard to
healing, prophecy or whatever else but my core concern is how we have taken our
Lord and Savior into account in our life? Do we follow him just for miracles,
healing and luxurious life? Remember that, modern Covid pandemic situation has
hit Christendom as well. Is being a Christian just about healing, and
prosperity? Due to this notion, even non-Christian world has developed false
notion that to be a Christian is for money, luxurious life, illnessless life
and so on. Yes, God is capable to work in our life and most of people come to
Christ due to healing or certain works of deliverance but they miss to get a
core picture of who Christ really is and his essence in our life.
Jesus is not jinn for us, nor an enlightened guru who would
be taking us all the way to Nirvana from all struggles and sufferings of life.
He isn’t an Avatar who removes materialistic barriers and reforms the society
for our progressive and prosperous life. He might carry out transformation like
such through his people but that’s again not what He is for and why he came
for. In our eastern world, people get into touch with their gods in their
affliction. They usually shout out for help in trouble and maintain activities
to get their wishes fulfilled by their gods. This is also quite common even
with demons who wished to take blessing from gods for their personal benefits
and agendas. [2]We
Christians do not try pleasing God by giving or praying or even worshipping so
as to acquire something we do not have. We worship Him to express the
appreciation of our relationship with Him achieved by the grace of God in
Christ Jesus, and pray so as to enable us to fulfill our God given
responsibilities. We do not use God for making our life better, stronger or
successful but surrenders our will and life to Him so that He can guide and use
us to fulfill the plans and purposes He has for us.
Apart from over-focus on healing, prophecy, prosperity, etc.
our emphasis must be on who Jesus is and what is his core essence in our life. Once
we get into this dimension, we become like apostles (not to mean we become
apostles) in faith who didn’t tremble under persecution, struggle, illness and
emptiness situation of life. Healing, miracles, prophecy, etc. are God’s work
under his own will, plan, concern and dignity. What if God didn’t answer our
prayer for healing and all? Are we ought to deny him? Remember Job, Daniel and
Paul during their harsh situation. How they had responded.
Its time to know Jesus closely![3]
1.
We need to know him as the creator God who in
His grace reestablishes a God given status for the Church- His body (Eph.
1:23), to be God’s children, His possession and His Kingdom. He is reclaiming
what God has given to man and make it theirs through the process of rebirth and
abiding in Him (remember what Jesus taught in John 3 and 15)
2.
Jesus is the Life of man who is dead in sin.
Therefore, whoever accepts Jesus become alive and retake the lost status as the
rightful children of God (John 1:11,12).
3.
We do not exist independently as Christians
trying to use Jesus’ name to sanctify us and achieve things and status we do
not have. We are in Him and Him in us (Read Jesus prayer- His mission report to
His Father in John 17) through the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit, who is
not helping us to be better Christians but lives in us to make us alive. Holy
Spirit is indwelling in us to build us into the image of Christ (Rom 8:29) and
sanctify us but we are not able to enjoy the freedom of that life in Him as we
are constrained by the competition of our old human nature and our worldly
aspirations.
4.
We need to learn to live controlled by the
indwelling Holy Spirit, who prompts, corrects, enables and empowers us to live
a God-pleasing life (2 Corinthians 15:9). It is a Spirit directed, Spirit
guided, Spirit enabled life, and that is life in Christ. In Romans 12:1-2, Paul
advises us to be dead unto sin and live unto God, and for that to be living
sacrifices surrendering our body and mind (soul) unconditionally to the active
operation and activation of the Indwelling Holy Spirit.
5.
He has bought us with His life blood. As we are
born of God by instilling new life from Jesus, our life; He owns us as He
bought us from the old owner/s- Satan, the World and the Sin. So, we do not
belong anymore to the kingdom of Satan where he rules, the world to which we
had been attached by bodily birth and the nature of sin we had inherited from
the fallen Adam. We are made righteous, holy and the people of God’s Kingdom (1
Peter 2:9).
6.
Jesus is our Creator God who came down to seek us
and save us. He is our life who enlivens us out of death and alienation, to be
reconciled to God (2 Cor 5:18,19).
7.
Jesus has redeemed us from the lost state of a
living soul (Gen 2:7) being dead before God, now back into life. He has saved
us from alienation and eternal death into reconciliation with God and an
inheritance in eternal life.
8.
He is the initiator and perfecter of our faith
(Heb 12:2), and hence the only role model for a child of God here and now. In
John 15 and 17 He has invited us to be the part of that heavenly family, one
with the Father.
9.
Jesus owns us as He has bought us, gave us His
life and lives in us through His Spirit. This is why Paul declares in 2 Cor
5:15 that we do not have any right to live on our own.
10. He
is the shepherd who has committed Himself to take care of us, feed us, heal us,
protect us, teach us and guide us. Peter reminds us to humble ourselves and to
take our anxieties and cares to Him (1 Pet 5:6,7) as He is committed to care
for us.
11. In
Christ, as He owns us, we are bound to live a life pleasing to Him. Romans 12:2
exhorts us to seek and find His perfect will for our lives as we are recreated
in Christ for works God has foreordained for us (Eph 2;10). So, Paul says that
we have to make it our life goal to please Him (2 Cor 5:9).
12. We
are also bound to present our life accounts before Him as Jesus will Judge us
to confer awards and crowns when He comes according to how we have lived here
(2 Cor 5:10-12; 2 Tim 4:1,8; Heb 10:30) and now.
13. Jesus
demands His Kingdom rule over our daily lives, by experiencing His presence,
sticking to His pattern and modes of life and being made available to
accomplish His purposes in and through our lives.
14. We,
the Church, is the chosen bride- the body of Christ, being prepared in
righteousness and holiness to be a fitting Bride for the heavenly Bridegroom.
15. We
need to allow the Holy Spirit to mold and make us worthy by correcting,
refining, teaching, guiding and training us. For this the Word is entrusted to
the coaches in the churches (2 Tim 3:16,17). We need to discipline us in this
process of listening, obeying and submitting so as to complete the process of
salvation- remaking of our lives (Phil 2:12).
16. When
our bridegroom comes, He will take us with Him into eternal glory and we will
live with Him for ever and ever. That is the hope that motivates us to leap
forward in the life of faith (Phil 3:12-14).
So, what a great privilege to be God’s children, Jesus’
bride and member of His kingdom? It is crystal clear from the scripture who
Jesus is and what he did for us. This understanding and conviction should be
taught, experienced, and practiced in our daily life rather seeing him as some
sort of jinn or a guru.
My point is not to protest the supernatural aspects such as
healing, prophecy, etc. Usually, conscious churches practice them in proper
direction and discipline while there are some hyper who runs business with
these things as well. The only damage is: nil and hyper mindset. It’s up to God
how he works in our individual life and not our duty to put him on some sort of
framework, pattern, mathematical expression or specific laws. We also believe
in practice directed and verifiable by the scripture but at the same time we don’t
keep our expectation and dependency over such aspects. We rather trust God and
his sovereignty, his timing, his calling, and his plans. We use the gifts not
for our own personal purpose but to accomplish His plans, edify church and
reach gentiles.
All in all, Jesus must be our core concern rather than
extreme tangential focus on miracles, healing, etc. We must be faithful to him
and live in him, live for him and live with him. Our faith is about walking
with Christ, to rely upon him, to surrender one’s life to him and to grow in
his image.
[1] https://youtu.be/iIz_xN6v8gw, watch
from 13.28
[2] https://apologeticsimpact.blogspot.com/2021/04/gospel-to-hindu-world-episode-8.html,
10/31/2021, 12:23 pm
[3]
35% major points taken from https://nepalchurch.com/19345/who-is-jesus/
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2 Comments
yeah, our core intention must be pleasing God.
ReplyDeleteIt is really wonderful writings. Keep it up. God bless you.
Thanks a lot!
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