by Mr. Francis D'Souza
The beginning of the year is always a good time to rededicate ourselves to the Lord. It is also a good gesture to reciprocate all the goodness of the Lord all through life. Hence the thought uppermost in our minds would naturally be – how do I please the Lord? [In the past we have reflected on the following scriptures in this connection – viz Isaiah 66:2b, Job 1:8, Psalm 24:3,4, Hebrews 11:6]
This year we shall look at something new and unique. Life, they say is a struggle from the cradle to the grave, but I would like to modify this a bit which will serve to make a very crucial point of direction for 2006.
“Life is a journey from the WOMB TO THE TOMB”.
Life, as we know, begins the moment we are conceived in our mother's womb. That is why abortion (killing of the foetus) is a sin of murder. Luke 1:34, 35 talks about angel Gabriel's announcement of Mary becoming a mother and Mary is heard telling the angel “I am not even married, I know not a man, I am a virgin”. The angel's reply being “The power of the most high will overshadow you.......”
Jesus was born in a womb in which no one was born. Further, there was no human involvement – pure and holy.
Where there is a journey there is a transport. Lets look at Luke19:30 – where Jesus is asking his disciples to bring him the colt on which no one has ridden before. “If anyone asks you why are you doing so, you will answer them – The master needs it”
After He died on the cross and His body is taken down, it is laid in a tomb in which no one was laid. Luke 23:53.
A WOMB in which no one was born (pure and holy)
A COLT on which no one had ridden
A TOMB in which no one was laid
Paul calls us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice......Romans 12:1. This means we are to be without blemish, defect or guile. But the reality is that we are all sinners – Rom.3:23 and 1 John.1:9 and hence our bodies are unfit and unworthy for the sacrifice. Can the past be changed? Is there anyway I can now become the person fit enough for the sacrifice? Can the clock be turned back? Or like Nicodemus are we asking – “Do I enter my mother's womb and be born a second time? John 3:4.
There is good news for all of us dear friends because we are in the hands of the Almighty God to whom nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37); who can make a virgin to conceive (Isaiah 7:14); to whom a thousand years is like a day and a day like a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8,9); the one who is the same, yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He who knows the end from the beginning. He who can write straight on crooked lines. He who can restore the moth eaten years of our life. I cannot do anything about my past but He can do all things. He is Lord of time.
God works on certain principles, two of which I want to reveal to you today as they are relevant to the topic of today. The first is FELLOWSHIP and the second is CO-OPERATION.
God wants to Fellowship with us and we know this from the book of Genesis Chp.3 where He is searching for man in the garden of Eden while Adam is hiding behind the bushes because he is aware of his nakedness and ashamed.
The second is the case where people are hungry and there is no food and Jesus wants to feed them. The little boy who gave his 5 loaves and 2 fish when multiplied was more than enough for the multitude. The miracle took place that day because the boy co-operated with the Lord. In like manner the miracle of change “transformation” will take place only if we co-operate with the Lord.
The process of transformation is in two parts viz. God's part – and our part..
God's part is Initiative:
He says in Revelation 21:5.... “behold I make all things new”. The emphasis, focus is on him. This was foretold by God himself in the O.T. - Ezekiel 36:25,26 where God is saying “I will pour clean water on you and I will make you clean from all your filth and idols and make you new”. As is said in Romans 5:1... God has justified us which means “just as though we have never sinned”. He also goes on to say “I will change your heart”, not repair or do a patch work or a temporary job. On the contrary he says “I will take out the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh instead. The dead heart I will take out. The blocks will naturally be taken out and you will thus get a new lease of life. And I will put a new spirit within you”. ALL THIS AT NO COST – ABSOLUTELY FREE.
The good news is that we should not have any doubts because if God says He will do it, He will do it. He is God not a liar, He is a faithful God, prayer answering God, promise keeping God, loving God. What really gets the transformation complete is our part of the process, because when we allow him to carry out the “operation” we are falling in line with Revelation 3:20 - He never imposes Himself on us but knocks at our door, only if we open the door He will come in and carry out the necessary work. He waits for our co-operation.
The Pastor who visited the South Sea Island and was impressed by the impact Christianity had made on the civilisation had more in store. The little girls who sang the song “What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought since Jesus came into my heart ......”. When he was informed that these girls were descendents of savages, cannibals. It was some Pastor who had preached Jesus that had caused them to accept the Lord and be joined to him thus resulting in a total change of ways, nature, character, habits, form, confirming the truth of God's words in 2 Corinthians 5:17. “If any one is joined in Christ he is a new creation. The old has gone away and the new has taken its place”.
What God did for the people of South Sea Island He will do for us if we join ourselves to Christ through – the Sacraments / Prayer / Scripture reading / Fellowship / Service / etc.
St. Augustine did anything and everything to enjoy the evil pleasures of the world. He went to all extents to satisfy the desires of the flesh. In Italy on one of his business trips he met Ambrose under whose ministry he was gloriously saved. One day, as he returned to his business haunt a lady of disrepute with whom he had sexual relations in the past called out to him and when he ignored her she, from behind him, began shouting Augustine, Augustine, it is I. Augustine fled the scene saying “That Augustine is dead” He had put the “old man” to death. He was echoing the words of Paul in Galatians 2:20 “Its no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me”. The scripture that made an impact on his life is Romans 13:14 “Put ye on (clothe oneself) the Lord Jesus Christ...... To be clothed with a person is a Greek phrase signifying to take upon the interests of another; to enter into his views; and be wholly on his side, imitating him in all things.
Many attached themselves to Christ and become new creatures in Christ. John Newton a slave trader became a champion in abolishing slave trading and was moved to write the song “Amazing Grace”. This happened after he met Jesus by reading the Bible.
Paul, once Saul became a martyr from a murderer after he met Christ and joined himself.
If it happened to them, it will happen to us as well.
“CHANGE MY HEART OH LORD”