The Journey 23: Transformation in My Life

Read: Luke 19:1-10

Key Verse: You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. [ 2 Corinthians 3:3]

             Mother Teresa is one of the most well known figures in the history of the Christian church. One of the most wonderful aspect of the life of this frail lady was that though she was famous and well known and a popular icon, she could go to any  places without any threats to her life. People could meet her at any time, and she was a person who was accessible to anyone. She always had people on her side, enjoying the warmth and friendship of people. On the contrary today you have so many public figures the rich and the famous, who cannot get into a public sphere, without adequate security. When she was asked what makes her to mingle with people with so much warmth and why does people adore her, her  reply was that all that she does was for the Lord and that she had nothing to hide and that her life was an open book. Anyone could intrude into her life, since  her faith understanding was that every person reflects in him/her God’s image. How “open” and how “closed” we are reflects the type of transformation that could place in our life.

             On Monday’s we meditate on how we can have transformation in our personal life. For our meditation on personal transformation this  month, we are focusing on the life of Zacheus on every Monday. One of the things that may have attracted Zacheus to go and meet Jesus was the way He attracted crowds. Here we can see a  contrast. Jesus and Zacheus both public figures. One attracts crowds, the crowds love to be with him while on the contrary Zacheus who is also a public figure is detested by people, does not enjoy the warmth of the people and hence leads lonely life devoid of meaningful relationship. Jesus came to give and he had nothing to claim as His own and hence he had nothing to hide nor be discreet while Zacheus lived only to get something more from the people even if it means to cheat and hence all that he had was by ill-gotten means and hence every thing that was ill-gotten had to be hidden. If one needs to hide all that is ill-gotten or things that others don't want to see, we build up walls of pretense,  walls of defense and walls of unfriendliness. Our life as a Christian should be an open book. In 2 Corinthians 3:3, Paul states that “ We are the letters of Christ”. What a powerful word to describe the life of a transformed Christian. Hence I believe that others  should be able to read us and I believe even though it can bring us discomfort my  presumption is that we as Christians should be people who are willing to relate to others more openly so that through us others are able to enter into meaningful relationships with us and through us into a relationship with the Lord we love. The more we become closed and expresses disinterest  in relating to others, the more we reveal to others that we have lots to hide and that all  that we do may be done in pretense.

              Are you always a guarded person taking precautions as to whom to relate or not relate or the one who spreads warmth even to people whom you come in contact for no reason whatsoever. Transformation is all about letting our guard down sometimes so that others could read us and see Christ in us.

 

For Further Study:   2 Corinthians 6: 1-11, Psalms 139

Let us Pray: Lord you gave us relationship though we are not worthy of that. Help us also to spread your love and warmth to others through the conscious building of relationship that we give to others. Amen.

One Year Bible Reading Plan

Genesis 48-50, Mark 14-16, Psalms 48-50, Ecclesiastes 1-3