Walking with a purpose
There are so many things in life that we do unconsciously. We never question the reasoning behind doing them, or the rationale behind doing them. It’s like we are programmed to do them, and we never really ask “why” we are doing them!
A story is told in Africa of a woman who loved to cook fish. Each time she prepared fish, her husband would observe her. He noticed that after she scaled and cleaned the fish, she would cut the fish into two before putting it into the hot oil to cook. One day, after curiosity took the best of him, he asked his wife why she always split the fish in half before cooking it. His wife said she did not really know the reason why, but that is how her mother always did it.
Still curious, he called his mother-in-law, and asked her why she cut her fish in half before frying. She replied that she always used to cut the fish in half because the frying pans back in the day were too small to cook a fish whole. This rationale, obviously, did not apply to his wife who had a huge cooking pan, but that was how she was raised. That was how she had seen things in her mother’s home her entire life.
Going to church in Zambia is something that no child really has a say over. The rules in almost every household are the same for most Saturdays and Sundays, depending on one’s denomination. There is no excuse that children can come up with to stop them from going to church. As kids, we came up with so many tricks and excuses not to go to church, but it never seemed to convince our parents. Hence, going to church became more of a chore and an obligation. This trend can be noticed in most homes, and thus people grow up being church goers and miss out on the importance of accepting Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
However, the time comes when we have to make the decision of accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. It so happened that time came to CURE Zambia for Timothy Chizunga, 29, and Mary Kasaka, 23.
Mary and Timothy had being going to church for as long as they could remember. The married couple thought that because they were both baptized a long time ago, it meant they were automatically born again. After we explained to them the difference between baptism and being born again, Mary exclaimed that she did not know there was an actual decision she had to make. She thought going to church was enough! She asked us to talk her through the decision and help her make it. The same thing happened to Timothy. He was finally able to understand the reason behind going to church, and the important step of proclaiming that Christ was his personal Lord and Saviour willingly.
We all make decisions in life that cost us both physically and spiritually. They have an impact in our life whether negative or positive. What a great joy it is when someone makes a decision of accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour of their lives! The Bible states in Luke 15: 7, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
For Mary and Timothy, we are maximizing the time we have together with them. We are giving them Christian material to help them grow spiritually. We are helping define the big picture of Christ’s love, and why it is important to have a reason to go to church.
We thank God that we had an opportunity to meet them and lead them to accept Christ as Lord and Saviour. We pray that the next time we meet them on their way to church, they will be walking with purpose!
