When Jesus calls the Christians as salt and light, he was pointing to the fact that the Christians were to act as an agent to bring the Kingdom’s perspective in the realm of this world. The social problems and issues faced by the Christians and the world today have innumerably shot up to its zenith. Although counsellors, educators, social activists, experts in various fields plagued our society, the onslaught of all the social evils seems to evade and erode every aspect of our lives. With regret, one can only philosophise what has gone wrong with us and the world and ponder on those propositions. Living in one of the most Christian populated regions, the society ought to have an ambiance of peaceful atmosphere. But sadly, this small society is infected with the poison of social evils as that of killing, rapes, murder, hatred, bigotry, isms, divisions, corruptions, greed, sexual perversion and immorality which has pervasively disturb the hilly people for decades. The voices of the weak, poor, underprivileged, disabled and less fortunate in towns and villages is no longer heeded as the rich pompously overrides every spheres of our society. The wicked person thrives and the city is weeping.
With the advent of Christianity, modernity, in terms of food habits and lifestyles have washed away our old traditional way of life. Yes, our looks and outfits stand at par with the world but not in any other sense. The absenceof morality is becoming more apparent with the changing times. We have adopted westernization but not real Christianization. The Christians are well polished and refined and does not care to get hands dirty by involving outside of the Church premises. O! I love the Church choir and well-neat 45 minutes sermon on Sundays while the rest of the other days, I’m off to my own world. Now, the worthlessness of religion without mercy is clearly painted in the Bible. There are too many seeker-friendly Churches that crave for wealth in building their kingdom. It’s “my Church, my denomination,” but not Jesus.
Too many legalistic opinions are expressed in saying that the church and the state are two different entities. What a blunder to have such a view! I’m not preaching a social gospel here. But the Church is supreme over the society and has a voice to say in matters of societal concerns. It should rebuke and reform the society with its godly and unchanging biblical principles. But no! The Church has lost its authority. Where is she now? She has turned to harlotry for her survival. Never will her husband be glad about such a forlorn pitiful state of his once-beloved bride. Her voice is too weak to speak out against corruption for she is equally corrupted. She cannot stand with the same strength of her younger days. She is afraid to lose the favour of her companions and so remains callous to the rebuke of her husband. Who is responsible for the mess we are in? Should we blame the Church leaders, politicians, administrators or publics? I pathetically confess with Chesterton, “I am.” Of course, we cannot change others, but we can change ourselves.As the well-known quote sounds, “What we need is not better government, but better men and women in government,” so also changes cannot be expected in our society unless the Christians are totally transformed by God’s power.
Charles Colson is so right in making this comment, “If Christianity is true, then it bears on every aspect of life- and we must seek to examine all things temporal in light of the eternal. If we confine our faith to just “spiritual” topics, we begin to think inwardly, talk only to ourselves, and make little impact in the world.” One reason, says he, “that the Christians have separated the “Christian” part of their lives from the everyday, “secular part.” Christian morality and ethics are only played in the Church but not in the world. God is not omniscientfor many Christians, we need eyes of the law to be the watchdogs but sadly, they’re blind too. No wonder, daylight corrupt practices, bribery and other abominable forms has taken over this Christ-bought land. Until Christians realise that the reason for failure is not the government but themselves, will there be a cleansing in any forms!
Dr. Nancy Pearcey hit the nail with these words, “The best way to drive out a bad worldview is by offering a good one, and Christians need to move beyond criticizing culture to creating culture. That is the task God originally created humans to do, and in the process of sanctification we are meant to recover that task. Whether we work with our brains or with our hands, whether we are analytical or artistic, whether we work with people or with things, in every calling we are culture-creators, offering up our work as a service to God…” She drove to this one simple thought, “All service is to God.” It is not the Church thing that is required of being sanctified but all that we do for one’s livelihood. Christians are accountable for every task in hand, not a single one is devoid of God’s future verdict. In that light, Christians have to carry out their God-given responsibilities with pure motive and clear conscience.
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Ephesians 3:17).
Vebu Khamo Kohima Bible College.
