stephen-on-bible

How we live as Christians is quite essential. We are called to holy living. We are exhorted to be the light of the world. We ought to live good and do good to others. Yes, our life speaks far more than our words.  And the statement, “Preach the gospel at all times, if necessary, use words,” supposedly said by Francis of Assisi, is a good challenge to Christians to focus on living an exemplary lifestyle. Having said that, here is a caution: Although the significance of practical Christian living cannot be undermined, I have seen there are those who have gone to such an extreme that they just focus on living an exemplary life without verbal communication of the gospel. They say, “Your life itself is the gospel. You don’t have to necessarily speak the gospel. Whether in neighborhood or in workplace, simply live a good life and that declares the gospel. People should witness the gospel of Christ Jesus by seeing your life, not by hearing your words.” Now, there is an element of tr

After having church fellowship, my wife and I were returning back home along with our children. As we were waiting at the crossroad to take the right turn, the vehicles before me started to go ahead. I began to follow them, but when I saw the red signal still on, I immediately stopped. There were honks behind me, signaling me to keep going, but I didn’t move. My eldest son, Joy, began telling me, “Papa, let’s go. Vehicles are going. Why did you stop?” I replied, “The red signal is still on.” He said, “So what? No problem. Others are going. Go.” I was trying to explain to him how as Christians it is not the right thing to follow the crowd in doing wrong. Then he said, “This is just signal; it is not Jesus. This has nothing to do with obeying God.” I find many of us are like my seven year old kid who assumes how we live our daily life and what daily choices we make has nothing to do with God and spirituality. How many of us act (we may not admit) according to the following myths

Last Friday, on March 30th, 2012, we conducted a gospel meeting in our training center. It was a joy to witness the presence of unbelievers who came to listen to the message apprehensively. The one who ministered to the participants, brother Vimal, came from Gujarat, which is one of the challenging states in India for gospel work. For the entire time, he shared his wonderful testimony—how he came to Christ from a strong Hindu background and how his life and family were radically transformed by the power of the gospel of Christ.  What struck me in his testimony was his marriage life which went through severe crisis and crumbled. He and his wife came to such a point of bitter experience towards each other that they eventually got divorced. Then came a time in his life, when he was in utter despair, he heard the gospel of Christ Jesus from a pastor, who was a former Muslim, and was convicted of its truth. He put his trust in Christ and witnessed amazing change in his heart. Wha