The Journey 222
Read: Mathew 19: 16-22
Conferences are always a joy and also an enriching experience to attend. The 33rd national youth conference began at Houston yesterday. This conference was hosted by the Youth Fellowship of Trinity Marthoma Church, Houston. It was wonderful to see more than 260 youths from different parishes of the diocese attending the conference. While inaugurating the conference, the diocesan bishop Theodotius thirumeni brought to the notice of the delegates a unique aspect of the youth conferences in the diocese. The uniqueness that thirumeni stressed was the fact that it was the national youth fellowship conference that was the pioneering conference in the diocese, as this has been going on continuously for the last 32 years, without a break. In another sense it was the youth conference that was started first even before the national family conference was envisaged. This is indeed phenomenal considering the fact that it was the youths of this diocese that came forward in organizing the first conference and something that has been in motion for the last 32 years. Youths of the diocese has always been the backbone of all the Marthoma parishes and the diocese. It is participation in conferences that has helped the youths to be committed both to Lord Jesus Christ and also express that commitment in practical ways through the ministry of the Marthoma Church. This year the theme of the conference is " A Portrait of God". How does ones understanding of God leads to transformed lives is something that will be deliberated for the next three days. This aspect is important not only in the lives of the youths who attend this conference, but I believe it is also important in the life of every believer.
The theme of our meditation is “Transformed Living”. The portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Mathew 19: 16-26. This is the parable of the rich young man who comes to Jesus Christ with the quest of wanting to earn eternal life. The rich young man comes to Jesus Christ with an attitude of being good, self righteous. This is because when Jesus said that one should keep the commandments, the rich young man boasted that he had been keeping all the commandments and now his only goal in life seems to be achieving the gift of eternal life. It is then that Jesus said to the young man, that he lacks one thing and that one thing is that he should be ready to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor. When the rich man hears this he becomes sad and goes away grieving. Here is a perfect example of many of the so called Christians today. People who claim that they are very spiritual and have been following all the laws and the commandments that God had asked them to do, but fails in the in expressing ones true commitment to the Lord by not being ready to sacrifice anything costly for the Lord. Here is the young man who encounters Jesus Christ, but is not ready to obey the Lord nor willing to sacrifice nor make any painful changes in ones life as part of ones commitment to the Lord. I think this is what happens to our youths and others who regularly attend conferences. We attend conferences and hear intently the messages by the speakers, but all the messages are grasped only on an intellectual level. The messages that we hear do not bear fruit as we are not ready to make any sacrifices on our part or to go through painful changes of transformation that our Lord wants to do in our life. Hence the phenomena where people tend to boast that this has been their 5th camp that they are attending in succession, but deep within they know that there has not been any significant changes in their life due to the attendance in the last so many of the conferences. Hence it is important not only for the youths who attend the national youth conferences but also the believers to understand that as we encounter God, what He expects in our life is transformed living. A transformed living that happens only when we are ready to pay a price to follow the Lord and to show in practical ways our commitment to the Lord.
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla,
Conferences are always a joy and also an enriching experience to attend. The 33rd national youth conference began at Houston yesterday. This conference was hosted by the Youth Fellowship of Trinity Marthoma Church, Houston. It was wonderful to see more than 260 youths from different parishes of the diocese attending the conference. While inaugurating the conference, the diocesan bishop Theodotius thirumeni brought to the notice of the delegates a unique aspect of the youth conferences in the diocese. The uniqueness that thirumeni stressed was the fact that it was the national youth fellowship conference that was the pioneering conference in the diocese, as this has been going on continuously for the last 32 years, without a break. In another sense it was the youth conference that was started first even before the national family conference was envisaged. This is indeed phenomenal considering the fact that it was the youths of this diocese that came forward in organizing the first conference and something that has been in motion for the last 32 years. Youths of the diocese has always been the backbone of all the Marthoma parishes and the diocese. It is participation in conferences that has helped the youths to be committed both to Lord Jesus Christ and also express that commitment in practical ways through the ministry of the Marthoma Church. This year the theme of the conference is " A Portrait of God". How does ones understanding of God leads to transformed lives is something that will be deliberated for the next three days. This aspect is important not only in the lives of the youths who attend this conference, but I believe it is also important in the life of every believer.
The theme of our meditation is “Transformed Living”. The portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Mathew 19: 16-26. This is the parable of the rich young man who comes to Jesus Christ with the quest of wanting to earn eternal life. The rich young man comes to Jesus Christ with an attitude of being good, self righteous. This is because when Jesus said that one should keep the commandments, the rich young man boasted that he had been keeping all the commandments and now his only goal in life seems to be achieving the gift of eternal life. It is then that Jesus said to the young man, that he lacks one thing and that one thing is that he should be ready to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor. When the rich man hears this he becomes sad and goes away grieving. Here is a perfect example of many of the so called Christians today. People who claim that they are very spiritual and have been following all the laws and the commandments that God had asked them to do, but fails in the in expressing ones true commitment to the Lord by not being ready to sacrifice anything costly for the Lord. Here is the young man who encounters Jesus Christ, but is not ready to obey the Lord nor willing to sacrifice nor make any painful changes in ones life as part of ones commitment to the Lord. I think this is what happens to our youths and others who regularly attend conferences. We attend conferences and hear intently the messages by the speakers, but all the messages are grasped only on an intellectual level. The messages that we hear do not bear fruit as we are not ready to make any sacrifices on our part or to go through painful changes of transformation that our Lord wants to do in our life. Hence the phenomena where people tend to boast that this has been their 5th camp that they are attending in succession, but deep within they know that there has not been any significant changes in their life due to the attendance in the last so many of the conferences. Hence it is important not only for the youths who attend the national youth conferences but also the believers to understand that as we encounter God, what He expects in our life is transformed living. A transformed living that happens only when we are ready to pay a price to follow the Lord and to show in practical ways our commitment to the Lord.
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla,