Just yesterday, when I was traveling back home from work, I chanced upon this conversation between a few colleagues travelling by train in the same compartment as I was. Each was talking with a sense of accomplishment in their tone on how one was in London and the other in Hong Kong etc. I am standing there thinking these guys are blind to the primary cause of God’s blessing while holding so dearly to the secondary cause as though that was as far as they could see owing to their unbelief.
Ezek 36
25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
28 “You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.
29 “Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you.
30 “I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations.
I began to think more about what these guys were talking about while walking home from the train station and I remembered our Prime Minister’s promise of moving India’s status from a developing nation to a developed nation. I however understood that this is not going to happen simply with more business coming into the country. The country by itself need a major overhaul when it comes to morality because people here are only out for themselves with the least concern for their neighbour and their surroundings.
Mat 22
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37 And Jesus said to him, ” ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 “This is the great and foremost commandment.
39 “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Take for instance the incessant honking we have on the road or people driving with their high beam on in lanes and bylanes. Take a look at this video, everybody right from the rickshawwalas, to a person commuting by bike, to a person driving a luxury sedan are all riding/driving with their high beam on, this too in a lane which is adequately lit but with no proper pavement and just so you know, Mumbai is known to be the most disciplined in India when it comes to road etiquettes. I am not sure if I have to say this but walking on the street under these conditions can make one feel rather disoriented because of the halogen beam flashing right in your face while the vehicle moves past you.
1Tim 1
8 But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully,
9 realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers
10 and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching,
11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.
It seems the only way to get the people to do the right thing is to set laws, where the repercussion for breaking the law are most discomforting because the only thing people care about here is themselves. The reason our own politicians need to line their pockets before doing anything for the people is because this is how the general populace is by itself. Money is not we need, we need the Gospel desperately, we need Jesus desperately, we need to turn from serving nothing but ourselves to serving God and being good neighbours, just as Jesus rightfully requires from those He calls His own (Jn10:14-30).
John 4:23-24
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 14:6-7
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also…