Let us not be selfish by asking for God’s blessings, rather be a channel of blessing to many individuals and families. God has a clear purpose for each Christian family
Long back, I had seen a newspaper ad, with the caption, “Quietly building the best”. It struck in my mind very forcefully. All the three words are very powerful ones: Quietly, Building and Best.
Quietly – In these days of glamour and self projection, God wants us to be quiet! It is not in a ‘passive’ sense, rather in a very ‘active’ sense. Jesus Christ has brought the Kingdom of God into this world. And, He was meek and gentle! (Matt. 11: 29). He was not a performer or a programmer! He was not doing things for self glory. In fact, He was quietly building the best by developing disciples, and not devotees for Him!
Building – God’s desire is to build but ‘destruction’ is devil’s greatest desire. The devil is very active in destructing families, the systems and nations! But, God wants to build people using us!! The call and commission to Jeremiah was quite clear: “See, today, I appoint you over nations, and kingdoms to uproot, and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” (Jer.1: 10). It is easy to destroy, but it is very difficult to build!
The Best – Somebody has said it very rightly, “Good is the enemy of the Best”. We as Christians are very well settled down with ‘good things’. The complacency is the biggest problem in a believer’s life. Our commitment to the Lord is very shallow, because we are not ready to give our best to Him. In building His Kingdom, God expects us to give our best in terms of our time, talents and money. Joseph was a blessing to build nation in a crucial time, because he has given his best to the Lord.
In building the nation, I believe, we need to focus on three important areas:
1. Building Individuals with Character:
The Christ like character should be seen in every Christian. Father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I know only one Christian, and he was crucified on the Cross!” People are not interested in our preaching or our simple words, rather they want to see our lives and our deeds. The people with integrity are a rare commodity in these days!
Nobody can imagine what the Lord can do through one individual, who loves God fully and hates evil in his / her life! So, at any cost, don’t put people down by looking at their outward qualities. Remember, Dr. Abdul Kalam says that when he was 10, his teacher gave him the vision for life!
God has raised UESI to develop individuals with a great spiritual calibre and with character. We believe, today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders for the Church and Society. Are we interested in building individual lives? Are we role models for others to follow? Are we passionate about developing people towards nation building?
2. Building Families with Values:
We know, the family is the first institution, God has instituted. If the family values are broken, naturally the Church and the Nation has gone! The devil is not at all happy to see joyful Christian Families! We need to pray for God’s protection of families. We need to pray that the Lord would raise Christian families.
Christian homes are needed for emotional healing of people, for deliverance of people from evil bondage, and for experiencing the true Christian love. Ministries were started, supported and revived because of Christian homes. The neighborhood should be blessed by the presence of Christian families around.
We need to work hard in having right priorities in our families. We need to educate our young ones to have proper perspective in choosing their life partners. Your home should be your power house, where you are charged to be a witness in the world.
Let us not be selfish by asking for God’s blessings, rather be a channel of blessing to many individuals and families. God has a clear purpose for each Christian family. Do you have a purpose driven family life? Are you excited to hear that India needs you and your family?
3. Building Communities with True Love:
As an evangelical student and as an evangelical graduate, we are called to raise communities of God’s people. Our cell groups are such communities to be a blessing in the campuses and in the society. May the grace of God, love of Christ and the sweet fellowship of the Holy Spirit be abundant in our fellowship groups, so that many will be attracted towards our Lord Jesus Christ.
These days, we see many social hang outs and gatherings around us. Hai-Bye friendships are growing. People want to be part of the social network through various means. But, our EU and EGF fellowship should not be one like that! We have a high calling as God’s people! There should not be any divisions among us. If so, there is no true Christ love among us.
The New Testament church is the model for us. In God’s sovereign plan, the nation is blessed because of the Christian communities! Communities with pure love, communities with prayer and communities with power are the need of the hour. The corrupt nation, perverted generation and fun loving communities need us. Are we making an impact as groups of God’s people?
Finally, let me close with two role models for us from the Old Testament – Moses and Daniel, great people, who were used by God in a mighty way to build the nations. The Scripture says, Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth. (Num. 12:3). Regarding, Daniel, we read that though he worked under four different kings he maintained consistency in his life to bring glory to God in a hostile nation. The king wrote: ‘I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. (Dan. 6: 26). Let us quietly build the best for the glory of God.
– R. Billy