Dearly beloved in Christ
We have come to the second last month of the year 2022, the month just before the advent season begins. Last month was eventful with our Diocesan Bishop’s Parish Visit, the First Holy Communion, and the Diocesan Sevika Sangham Conference at Dallas followed by the Church Convention. In all of these events, we had the opportunity to hear the Word of God. I was reflecting back on the passion of our grandparents and parents to listen to the Word of God and their passion for Church fellowship. As years go by, this has become a boring experience for many of us. We don’t see the relevance of understanding the true purpose for which God created each one of us and are carried away by worldly responsibilities. We prefer messages that make us feel comfortable. Any sermons that might shake us from our comfort zones prompting us to follow the doctrines of Holiness and of Christian living is not something we desire. We prefer prosperity, we prefer healing in sickness and we prefer deliverance from all troubles and sins and there is no dearth of shouts of praises for them. The sermons or Bible study that prompts us to submit ourselves to the Will of God are considered old and outdated with no value in the present advanced society. The number of "spiritual patients" are increasing day by day in all churches. The scarcity of 'doctors' and a surplus of "infected doctors" worsen the situation. Spiritual patients live according to the flesh, ignore spiritual fellowship, neglect worship meetings and fulfill the secret agenda of Satan. We do not see the doom we are walking toward until it’s too late. This situation has to change. We need to encourage and empower each other to study and understand the Word of God and live accordingly. For a world that is distorted by the greed of the flesh, Bible is the manual that can help us lead a fruitful life in which there won’t be regrets and incompleteness. Often, we become self-righteous finding fault in everyone around us but are blind to our own sins. The real journey of a Christian begins when he starts correcting himself before being critical of others. Even correcting others is to be done as an act of love and not anger or frustration. Do we really apply the Word of God in our simplest life situations? If not then we too are in a spiritual degeneration and lack understanding of the Word of God. We need to use the Word of God to penetrate our innermost being and allow God to guide our thoughts, words, and actions. May all our efforts in the Church help us all empower each other to live according to the Will of God. Let me express my sincere gratitude to everyone who supported us in every way possible to make our Church Convention a blessed experience. This month we have the church General Body and Thanksgiving Sunday. Let us uphold both these in our prayers and each and every family of our church.
Yours in prayer
Johnson Achen
917-932-4575