“Christ Is All, And Is In All!”

“Christ Is All, And Is In All!”
A video went viral on social media where some security men were beating detainees with machetes. The public seethed with anget. Then we learned that the officers were apprehended for justice to take its course. In our rejection of such action we forgot that in some cultures in Cameroon using a machete to beat is normal. This is not to say we condoned with the act!
We decry humanrights violation because there is a universal declaration of humanrights. Otherwise, cultural practices differ from one culture to the other.
The high rate of crimes in big townships is due in part to its heterogeneous and cosmopolitan nature. When people of different cultures meet together it becomes difficult to control behaviour. Social behaviour is in part determined by culture. To build a social norm in heterogeneous communities people must be ready to put aside what they use to do which was normal in their previous homogenous cultural social contexts.
Jesus Christ is a melting pot of cultures and all social contexts and behaviours. In him there is no Greek (civilized people), no Jew (people of the law), no circumcised or uncircumcised, no babarian (uncivilized because they could not speak Greek), Scythian (noted for brutality and considered as little better than beasts), and there is no slave or free.
Jesus Christ has pulled down the wall of cultural and social divisions. He blends all cultures and offers to us that which provides humanness and dignity to every person.
In Christ whatever any culture and social context sanctioned; whatever immoral behaviour that was seen as normal should be done away with! When we come to Christ we must “put to death…whatever belonged to our earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed which is idolatory.” We should rid ourselves of: “anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from our lips. “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self and its evil practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”
“Being renewed…” is to say our transformation is not an event that instantly happens. Old habits die hard. Being renewed is a process. And since we are coming from different pasts, and coming at different times, we need the help of each other to leave our pasts behind us so as to live our present in Christ with hope for the future.
God is holy and he is surrounded by holiness. For us to be in his presence we should strive for holiness. In his compassion, he will complete it by grace so that we become renewed in knowledge in his image.
Weekend prayer: Holy Spirit guide me in the process of renewal so that complemented by grace I should live as a new creation. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!