Man is finite and one-dimensional in existence, thinking, perception, understanding, attitude and action. He is ego centric or me-centered in every aspect of his life and activities. He thinks, perceives, understands and acts humanly and can only aspire to be a better human being. He is also limited in the boundaries of time, space and imagination even though he has a God-ward calling to enjoy eternal life.
God is infinite and multidimensional in His existence, thinking, perception, understanding, attributes and actions. He is not human and hence transcends human perception and understanding. Hence He is all absolute in His character and attributes and unlimited in time, space and plan of actions. He has revealed Himself to be concerned of his creation even though He Himself is independent of creation. For Him, humanity is something special and He wants His presence, knowledge and power being expressed fully in humans and being in fellowship with them.
Humans by themselves are neither able to achieve this experience nor enjoy the fellowship, as their spiritual dimension has been marred and inactivated by their willful sin. This spiritual dimension, along with the ability and its nature are the distinctive feature God gave Man to differentiate him from other animals in Gen 2:7. Only God can recreate, revamp and reactivate this dimension in humans so as to enable them to relate, communicate and live in fellowship with God. All human efforts to achieve this status through karma, bhakti, yoga and tyaga or tapasya fails because the reactivation of the spiritual dimension in man is only possible by God and in that also in His own way. That is why Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life”, the life giving Spirit who came from God to be a man and to redeem humanity from its perversion as well as death due to sin.
He humbled Himself to be equal with sinful humanity in His baptism and faced God’s justice of allowing Satan to test Him in the desert representing fallen humanity. He proved Himself to be the complete man in God’s own image and accomplished fully God’s will and purposes in His physical life. He took the death penalty of sin on Himself on behalf of the mankind and came back to life pleasing God through His perfect life and obedience. So He was lifted up, extolled and a name given above all other names to be the Savior, the Redeemer, the Lord and the King of Kings (Phil 2:5-11).
So the only truthful way to real life is Jesus Himself. He is the living way as written in Heb 10:20 and those who connect themselves to Him in faith enter that way thereby starting a race (Heb 12:1,2) into eternity – the eternal life. So how does a man connect with God? The Bible states that the connection is established by the process of being born again (Jn 3:3-5, 1 Pet 1:23), thereby becoming a new creation (2 Cor 5:17), receiving Him and believing in His Holy name (Jn 1:12) or professing personal faith (Rom 10:9,10) in Him and in His salvific work. However God does not impose this on humans who are created with a free will to chose but expects man to make a choice to align with God and His purposes. He has facilitated the right choice by revealing His love and providing for a new life (Jn 3:16) and enabling them to experience it in the power of the Holy Spirit, the one that has come to live with and continue the process of recreation in those who believe. Ephesians 2:1-11 and Phil 1:7 provide the basis and the implementation of this great facilitation. But man needs to continuously cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit within himself and with the effect of the Word and its revelation towards the transformation of the human mind (Rom 12:1,2).
A man is defined by his character and its expression in his daily life and activities. Character is the combination of all his behavior patterns which he has developed through his actions, attitudes and decisions. His actions, attitudes and decisions are usually based on the habits he has nurtured in dealing with himself, his environment and fellow human beings. These habits are often cultivated by the mindset, likes and dislikes and aspirations which have come out of his thoughts and feelings in response to the world around him. It is also very much dependant on how he perceives, choose to relate and express himself in the world. His inborn temperaments and upbringing will also definitely influence his habits unless an external influence succeeds to deter the innate sin nature in him. Here comes the power of witnessing, the power of the Word and the gracious work of the Holy Spirit into one’s life.
The apostles Paul, Peter, John and James were very much aware of the need for this transformatory process which needs enlightenment, education, reinforcement, encouragement and even constant monitoring, hence the need for fellowship and community. No Christian grows independently on his own; he is in the body of Christ and mutually related to all as an organism. We experience the truth, way and life of Christ in the community and the communion table is a great expression of this challenging reality. Therefore the teaching of the apostles as explained in their letters is very much key to personal and communal Christian growth. It is unfortunate that we hear less of these letters and its exposition from the pulpits today as compared to the preaching of the Gospel stories, miracles, lessons from the OT patriarchs and the history of Israel. These have immense theological value into our faith and conduct but Christian character and its expression is something which apostles taught after the Pentecost. Psalms and other OT books are of great value to encourage and guide us but we need to cultivate a post Pentecost life style and character.
There are too many church structures, hierarchies, traditions and catechisms with various forms of liturgy (and clergy) which have made Christianity into one of the other organized religions of the world even though we continue to articulate that it is not a religion but a way of life and the true expression of faith in the one and only one God. But do our life and life styles as well as the teaching from the pulpits substantiate that? With all our activities and programs are we really helping to pave a way for our fellow humans to know God and receive His life or are we rather confusing them and deterring them?
We are essentially called to be witnesses- to what we have become living with Jesus (Jn 15:27, Lk 24:48), and to what we have learned and heard from Him (Jn 15:15,16). We are witnesses to what we continue to hear and see (Acts 4:20) living with Jesus and as commissioned by Him – called, chosen and appointed (Mark 3:13-15) as well as empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). We are called to be witnesses declaring and expressing the reality and presence of the invisible God, exemplifying the reality of human creation in God’s image by putting on more of His image expressed humanly in Christ Jesus. This new life is made available to us by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, renewing the old man into the new man and accomplishing the will and purposes of God, ‘His will be done as it is in heaven’ in and through our lives, thereby ushering in His Kingdom where He is the King now and here.
The whole world is on the lookout for God, to search and to know God and we are the authorized, authentic and empowered witnesses. Then what has really gone wrong? Why is man satisfied with man-made illusions, human philosophies and blind traditions? Have we lost our cutting edge somehow to challenge the status co and lead on the world around us to God? There is an unprecedented revival in search for spirituality and religious activities in all continents and everyone is searching for something in everything they come across. The bottom line is that we need to wake up and stand up to the challenge sincerely and truthfully. God is waiting for us to act on His behalf and in His power to bring His creation to Himself in Christ.
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