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Provide a 2 pages analysis while answering the following question: In the Service of My Lord. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide. An abstract is required.
Provide a 2 pages analysis while answering the following question: In the Service of My Lord. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide. An abstract is required. In the Service of My Lord What does it mean to be a true Christian This was the question I posed myself when recently my friend was brutally injuredin mob attack, requiring hospitalization. Being a child of devout, church-going parents, I was torn between rightful anger, and the inner voice that beseeched forgiveness. I was devoured by doubts seething within me, at the utter injustice of what had happened to my friend. It depressed me so much that for a brief period I found myself unable to concentrate on my studies. My doubts were answered the following Sunday in the Church wherein the sermon was on ‘Christ as your Guiding Spirit’. There, it flashed in me what it was to be a true follower of Jesus Christ who pleaded to the Heavenly Father when crucified on the Cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Forgiveness doe not come easily to even ordinary human beings like me. So then, how was it that He, the Holy Spirit, who had within Him the power to speak to the Father who was in Heaven directly, could pray for their forgiveness If He, Son of God, could pray to His Father for forgiveness of those who have been so cruel to Him, was it because He was weak I knew even such a thought was preposterous. To the contrary, it was because He wanted to teach us mortals, the power of forgiveness, the power of prayer. He showed us by His own example, how to forgive, how to pray! I was moved when I realized this, and a strange calm settled in me after this episode.
I resolved to take Christ as my ‘Guiding Spirit’ ever since and truly believe that “His word” has been “a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105). I devoted myself to my studies then on, and have successfully completed my schooling, to the best of my ability. However, the above experience has never left my memory and has made me believe that I can progress in my spiritual as well as social life, by following the path of the Holy Gospel. Education has always been important to our family. Equally important has been the simultaneous development of the inner-self in spiritual matters and faith in the Gospel. In present day world where globalization and modernism have come to symbolize fancy religious beliefs and cult practices influenced by non-Christian faiths, there are few institutions that impart education based on a strong foundation of true Christian values. Since according to me scientific education is useless without moral education, I wish to enroll myself only with such exemplary Christian institutions that offer an opportunity to progress in both academic education and spiritual development.
Service is an important part of any Christian life. As an active church-going person, I have always volunteered my services at the local African-American community church, contributing my mite to the fund-rising activities of the community. Recently, I organized a fund-rising campaign in support of two accident victims who lost the use of their limbs, and had to be rehabilitated by means of procuring special equipment that would help them overcome their incapacities. It is a boon that Afro-American communities “often exhibit a strong commitment to instrumental activities, such as supporting mass actions, social uplift programs, and church-related colleges” (Swatos 1998), and I am grateful to have the opportunity to participate in such programs. Mother Theresa, who is the epitome of service and dedicated her entire life for the welfare of orphaned children and neglected lepers in India, has said “The important thing is to be ready for anything, at all times, to be convinced that when serving the poor, we really serve God.” (Escape from Watchtower, undated). Hence, here I am, at the verge of beginning my college education, and preparing to be led into a life-long spiritual journey, a life in the service of my Lord.
Lead, Savior, lead me home in childlike faith, home to my God.
To rest forever after earthly strife/ In the calm light of everlasting life. (Newman 1833)
Bibliography
Escape from Watchtower.com (undated). “What Is Sacred Service” Retrieved on November
25, 2006. <. http://www.escapefromwatchtower.com/thanksray.html>. Newman, Henry John (1833). “Lead Kindly Light”. Retrieved on November 25, 2006.
Swatos, H.William (1998). “African American Religious Experience” in
EncyclopediaofReligion and Society. Hartford Institute for Religion Research.
Altamira Press. Hartford. Retrieved Retrieved on November 25, 2006.
<. http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/african.htm>. http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/african.
