Best Wine Saved for the Last in a Marriage - Life of the Luthers

A Quick Tongue Vs A Quick Temper

Martin Luther was the one who sparked the Protestant reformation by nailing his ninety-five theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany.  But how many of you know about his wife, Katie, the runaway nun? She had a quick tongue and Martin had a quick temper, a combination that does not usually make for a good marriage. One biographer calls Katie a “quick-witted Saxon with a ready tongue,” which made an interesting match for Luther, an intense debater with a short fuse. No doubt, they both had an unusual marriage. Let us glean some secrets for a happy marriage from theirs. For a forty-one year old former monk and the twenty-six year old former nun, there were lots to get used to.

Runaway Monk Vs Runaway Nun

Katie grew up in a nunnery when she was only nine or ten years old. At the time of reformation led by Martin Luther, when monks and nuns were leaving their monastic houses, nine nuns were delivered at his door steps. It became Martin’s job, to either find position or husbands for them. The nuns were not trained in housekeeping. All they could do was to sing and pray. Somehow Martin fixed lives for the eight and the one left was Katie. It was not as if no one wanted her. Her personality and quick wit attracted the attention of at least some men. But none were successful. Meanwhile Martin’s parents who were happy to know that his son came out of the catholic celibacy vows, put pressure on him to marry. And Martin himself had been preaching for many years by then, that marriage was a divinely established institution and to elevate celibacy above marriage was unbiblical. With all that, Martin decided to marry Katie.

Katie's Prominence

There is nothing romantic about their early days of marriage. There were lot of issues specially with regard to managing the finances. Martin was liberal and hospitable, whereas Katie was frugal and wanted to make money out of any service she provided. She saved money and bought assets and properties. Katie was many things for Martin – a gardener, a cook, a nurse, a cattle-raiser, a bookkeeper and a brewer. According to one historian, “Katie ruled both her household and her husband, a situation which the latter accepted resignedly, since he was totally incapable of organizing the affairs of even the smallest household. She brought order into his life and not always to his satisfaction.” Martin would probably change that assessment by saying, “She managed the areas that I delegated to her.”

Life was Hectic

Katie after a day with their six children, servants and animals wanted to talk with an equal. While Martin, after preaching four times, lecturing and conversing with students at meals, wanted to drop into a chair and sink into a book. This tested their patience and they had to learn to be patient with one other. Martin had a shopping list of ailments including gout, insomnia, hemorrhoids, gall and kidney stones, dizziness and ringing in the ears. Katie patiently nursed him back to health with proper diet, herbs, poultices and massages. Kathie also had to be a remarkable woman to manage the ever-expanding Luther household. The first floor in their house had forty rooms with cells above for sleeping. Besides their six children, there were a half a dozen of Martin’s nephews and nieces. Luther also brought the four children of his friend who lost his wife.  To cope with the growing household, Katie in turn brought in some of her relatives to help her out. Besides there were tutors and student boarders, and due to Luther’s fame, guests dropped in unexpectedly from England and elsewhere. So life was not easy for the couple.

Best Wine Saved for the Last

Katie called him “Doctor’ in public conversation. Martin called her anything that came to his mind. Sometimes thinking of Eve, he called her, “my rib.” More often thinking the way she managed the household affairs, he called her, “my lord.” Katie had a flair to acquire lands like an empress. So Martin addressed her as a “rich lady.” He even wrote, “Oh, Katie, you have a husband who loves you. Let someone else be an empress.” Martin’s appreciation of marriage deepened during his twenty years of living with Katie. Comparing marriage to the miracle at Cana in John 2, he says that the best wine is saved for last. Marriage is a school for character, and both he and Katie learnt much in that school. They learnt from each other, and from their children, and from their mutual experiences. They were an arguing couple. But still they managed to enjoy a good marriage. “To have peace and love is a gift which is next to the knowledge of the Gospel,” Martin once said.

Luther's Wisdom Quotes

Before his marriage, Luther sometimes spoke of matrimony as a necessity for the flesh. Afterwards he emphasised that it was an opportunity for the spirit. He decried the fact that many men were marrying only for physical reasons, abusing their wives, and knew nothing about love. “Marriage is no joke,” he said, “it must be worked on, and prayed over…To get a wife is easy enough, but to love her with consistency is difficult…for the mere union of the flesh is not sufficient, there must be a congeniality of tastes and character. And that congeniality does not come over night. Love begins when we wish to serve each other. A husband is supposed to love his wife, who is his nearest neighbour. She should be his deepest love and dearest friend.” All of these words are evident, when he called the book of Galatians as his Katharina Van Bora (Katie’s full name). Most of us know that it was the reading and understanding of the book of Galatians which led to his spiritual rebirth and eventually the Protestant Church. Martin often loved to quote: "Let the wife make her husband glad to come home and let him make her sorry to see him leave.”

Luther left for eternal home before Katie. At his death bed, Luther admonished: “If it be God’s will, accept it.”Katie responded: “My dear doctor, if it is God’s will, I would rather have you with our Lord than here. Don’t worry about us. God will take care of us.” Katie died four years later to her husband. Her last words were: “I will stick to Christ as a burr to a top coat.” 

The success of any marriage, like the Luthers, depends on two people who are not afraid to grow and change.

(I have copied lines from William J. Petersen’s “Martin Luther Had a Wife” for this article.)

They Loved Each Other – The Life of the Booths

How does a marriage work when both husband and wife are public figures? What if both are strong minded and dogmatic? Catherine Booth was as famous as her general husband, William Booth.  No wonder, their marriage survived and was successful too.  No religious movement has ever been more the product of a husband and wife team than the Salvation Army. It is also said that no family has ever disseminated the gospel farther and more effectively than William and Catherine and their eight children.

In some ways, they seemed an unlikely couple. He was tall (about six-foot-one), gangling, a bit awkward sporting a black beard and usually wearing a dark frock coat. She was dark, slightly built, had lustrous brown eyes, and carried herself with obvious refinement.  Both William and Catherine were intense, opinionated, determined. Both were frequently moody and prone to depression. Did their marriage work out? It worked and both lived to see the Salvation Army which they began in the London slums which has spread to fifty-two countries. The merger of social concern and aggressive evangelism among all types of people in Salvation Army added a refreshing new dimension to Christendom.

Catherine had definite thoughts on the kind of man she wanted to marry. He would have to have religious views similar to hers. He would have to be a man of sense and character and he would have to have similar tastes. She also believed that she must be physically attracted to him. Lastly he should be a total abstainer. Besides that, she had a personal preference for a minister. William Booth met all the qualifications except for not being a total abstainer. She soon convinced him of the importance of total abstinence, and that made him her perfect match.

William felt strongly that every minister’s wife should play the piano. So Catherine tried to learn the skill before she would be married to him. But that was not easy, because she lacked any musical sense. One day with bitter tears she said to herself, “William, I do this for you. Measure my love for you by this standard.” But what came easy for Catherine was writing sermons for him.

Catherine developed four rules for their married life: 1) Never to have any secrets between them 2) Never to have two purses 3) Talk out differences of opinion to secure harmony and not to try to pretend that differences don’t exist 4) Never to argue in front of children. The fact that two of the four had to do with differences of opinion underlines the fact they had some.

One area where they initially differed regarded women.  Catherine won the argument. Interestingly it was William who prodded her into preaching, and a decade later she was more in demand as a preacher than he was. When a nearby minister attacked women’s right to preach, Catherine responded with a thirty-two page rebuttal. To her mother she wrote: “Would you believe that a congregation half composed of ladies could sit and hear such self-depreciatory rubbish?”  She could never understand why reports on sermons by women preachers seemed to concentrate more on fashion than on content. As a female preacher, her delivery was calm, precise and clear without the least approach to formality or tediousness.

Catherine wanted to accompany her husband everywhere, for his sake as well as hers, but her health could not take it. When the Booths were nearly sixty and the Salvation Army had become international with their children spreading the message into distant lands, it was then Catherine discovered a cancerous growth on her breast. When she was given eighteen months to live, she told her husband that her first thought was that she would not be there to nurse William, when he comes to his last hour.  It was a crushing blow for William. He writes that for the first time, he had a sorrow that he could not cast on HIM. He felt that life became a burden and it was too heavy for him to bear. Later he writes: “To stand by the side of those you love and watch the ebbing tide of life, while the stabs of pain make the eyes flash fire and every nerve quivers, forcing cries of suffering from the courageous soul – is an experience of sorrow words can but poorly describe.”

Biographers state that both William and Catherine came from parents who had problem marriages. One would not expect the love and commitment that was evidenced by the Booths.  But they needed each other. At times they admonished each other. At other times they propped each other. The fact of the matter is, they loved each other.

"Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned." (Song of Solomon 8:7)

(I have copied lines from William J. Petersen’s “Martin Luther Had a Wife” for this article.)

For Better, For Worse - William and Dorothy Carey's Marriage

William Carey was the pioneer among missionary pioneers and Bible translator par excellence.  But his wife Dorothy had emotional problems. In going through this brief write-up on the Careys, we should end up finding clues that will help preserve the mental health of our own marriages.    

The marriage of William and Dorothy was not exactly idyllic. For more than forty years, William pioneered and plodded as a missionary in India. Dorothy lasted fourteen years reluctantly and pitifully. The story of William Carey, the humble shoe maker who became a brilliant missionary linguist shows how, God plucked an unlikely candidate to be the leader of a multitude. But what about poor Dorothy?

Nothing is known of the courtship of the two. But when they married, Carey was nineteen, Dorothy was twenty five. In their small poverty stricken home, where they started their lives, when William was not working on shoes or gardening, he was reading or studying Greek or preaching. Dorothy was an illiterate. It is said that at the time of her marriage to William, she signed the church’s register with a “large, wobbly cross”.

Year two of the marriage was traumatic for the couple, with the death of their daughter Ann. A high fever left William bald at the age of twenty-one. The daughter’s death left Dorothy despondent and fearful. While William bought a wig to cover his bald, Dorothy found nothing to cover her emotional hurts. William got the opportunity to pastor a church in England. In his spare time, he learnt foreign languages – Greek, Latin, French, Dutch and Italian – all of which were relatively easy for him, while Dorothy was struggling with her alphabets in English.

With four children in the Carey household, it is said that William was apparently concerned about disciplining his own mind and was not concerned if his children were undisciplined in behaviour. Dorothy possibly felt neglected, even abandoned by her husband. He seemed always to have important things to do. William’s world was growing, but Dorothy’s was shrinking.  From the very beginning, even though William Carey was failing as a husband,  he was not going to quit, in his burden for a missionary outreach to India.

Poor Dorothy was not ready for her journey to India. She had plenty to fear in such a venture. The couple had now lost one more child, with three boys left. When she first refused to go with him to India, many were shocked. It was accepted that a wife would blindly follow her husband, wherever he would lead him. However after many days of persuasion, Dorothy reluctantly agreed to the decision that her sister Kitty would accompany the family to India.

Four months aboard in ship with three boys and a new born baby would pose a challenge for any mother. Dorothy must have sensed that she would probably never see England and her loved ones again. Not sharing her husband’s missionary commitment, she felt as if she were sailing toward a slow death. Dorothy’s depression deepened into neurosis when her sister Kitty left her after marrying an English man in India.

The Careys had made six moves in their first nine months on the mission field. In the sixth place not long before they settled, Peter, their five year old died of dysentery. William, himself who was stricken with malaria then, had to dig the grave of his own child, since no one opted to help. Peter was the third child that the Careys had lost. But for Dorothy, it was a loss of everything in her life. From then on, William speaks of his wife as his, “domestic affliction”. After this, in one of his letters, Carey wrote regarding the qualifications for future missionaries. One thing was that, “it is absolutely necessary for the wives of missionaries to be as hearty in the work as their husbands.” Previously, it had not dawned on William that this was so important.

While the Careys finally arrived at their new mission quarters in Serampore, Calcutta, Dorothy was so deranged, that she was incapable of sharing in any of the domestic responsibilities. Hannah Marshman, another coworker in the missionary team took care of the Carey boys. Hannah gets credit for disciplining the boys, because William Carey was from the beginning unsuccessful in disciplining his own children. Dorothy at this stage was turning violent and had to be confined in a separate room. She finally passed away at the age of fifty-one. In her fourteen years in India, she was deranged for nearly twelve years.

Six months after Dorothy died, William remarried. To Carey, Charlotte his second wife for another thirteen years, was everything a missionary wife should be. The joys of his second marriage aroused his desire to marry a third time after Charlotte passed away. It was a happy marriage again, ending with his own death eleven year later.

William Carey was a plodder in every sense. What caused Dorothy’s mental illness? Hereditary problem? Insecure living conditions? William seems to have easy-going and indecisive in his dealings with his own family. Probably, he could not provide the security and stability that Dorothy needed. Also Dorothy could not understand the missionary commitment and sacrifice, a couple has to have and face as a family  in a mission filed.

After writing on the Careys, I feel, couples today, need to remember often the vow we gave on our marriage day in the presence of God, as often as possible and take attempts to fulfil it:  "I ___ take you, ___, to be my (husband/wife), to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, for as long as we both shall live." In both prosperous and adverse situations, we need to choose to be united in our married lives, holding on to His grace. 

(I have copied lines from William J. Petersen’s “Martin Luther Had a Wife” for this article.)

A Precious Person in My Life

On my marriage day with "Amma"

I knew this "Amma" from my childhood days. I don’t have memories of those times, when she first came to our house. I think she came when I was five year old. In the years of growing only, I came to know that she was from a very small village near my small town, Mettur where we lived. She came to help us in our household chores. She has told me many times, how in her village she never knew what a bathing soap was. She did not have access to education of any sort. She came to our small town, after marrying a man who was working as a watch-man in the one and only boy’s school in our town. I used to laugh loud whenever she would narrate her first experience of going to a cinema theater in our town. She thought that the hero and heroine were really doing private scenes in front of every one. She never could grasp the fact that it was a pre-recorded act which was displayed on a screen. She screamed and yelled at the people who were watching the film. She walked out of the theater and did not know how to walk back to her house. She had lost her way.

When she came to our house to help us, she had altogether a different problem. She had white patches all over her body. She was a Leucoderma patient. As a young wife, she was ridiculed by her husband. He hated her and started having relationships with other women. She then went from pillar to post, to temples and mosques. When she came to our house, she saw us worshipping another God, whom she  considered as one among the thirty crores of Gods and Godesses in India. She observed our life styles and started to make this simple prayer: “Jesus...if you are a true God, please heal me from this disease. I want my husband to love me…” My mom had told me later, how every day this amma would come and show her the size of the white patches getting smaller and smaller. In a few days her whole body regained her original beauty. Joyfully she joined the same church where, we were worshipping and later she also got baptized. From then on she had a steady growth in her spiritual life. Praise God, this ignorant woman found her way to heaven.

This one thing, which I am going to share with you, stays in my mind as fresh as ever. I was a bigger girl then. My parents had gone away from house for a short visit outside of town and had left me and my brother in her care. She stayed with us for the night. That night I could see her private prayer life. In the midnight, I could hear her naming some nations of the world like Greenland, Iceland and so on. I was thunderstruck. She was praying with tears for those countries. I could not wait for the morning to come. With great excitement, I asked her, “Amma, how do you know the names of these countries, which I am learning in my Geography classes at school?" I was struck back with awe, because she could not reproduce those names in the morning. It did not take me too long to realize that the Holy Spirit had put the burden in this simple, illiterate woman to pray for the nations of the world. Years later, after my marriage, I watched a video named, “Transformation” which was hghlighting how gospel penetrated to the difficult cold countires in the Arctic area. I got goose bumps all over my body and thanked the Lord for this simple woman and her prayer life.

Whenever I teach on the subject of “Missions” and being a “World Christian,” I never forget to tell about  this amma who impacted me in my childhood years.  I have told about her in India and the countries, wherever I have visited so far. Her name is Rukmani. We never called her by her name. For us she was our “Amma.” Isn't true that God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong? (1 Corinthians 1:27)

An Uncommon Union between the Edwards

In days when marriages tend to be cold and formal, here is a brief note of a marriage that was warm and friendly.  Jonathan Edwards besides being a revivalist and a theologian, was also one of the greatest philosophers, America has ever produced. “A sweeter couple I have not yet seen”.  That was what evangelist George Whitefield of England wrote regarding Jonathan and his wife, Sarah Edwards. He was so impressed with the Edwards’ household that he resolved to get married after returning from their house. Writer Samuel Hopkins had an admiration for the “perfect harmony and mutual love and esteem that subsisted between the couple." One visitor to their home, Joseph Emerson commented: “The most agreeable family I was ever acquainted with. Much of the presence of God is here.”

But can you believe that Elisabeth D. Dodds called her book on Sarah Edwards as, “Marriage to a Difficult Man”. Lost in his own world, impractical and moody, Jonathan Edwards must have been a difficult person to live with. It takes two to make a good marriage. Sarah was seven years younger than Jonathan and totally unlike him.  He was moody. She was vibrant. He was shy. She was outgoing. He was socially inept. She was a natural conversationalist. He was gawky. She was graceful.  Both Jonathan and Sarah spent time making it work.  They learnt to live with each other. Jonathan enjoyed Sarah’s companionship.  So, about four o’clock in the afternoon, they often went horse-back riding together. At such times he would discuss ideas with her and hash over parish problems. Late at night, when the children were tucked in bed, Sarah and Jonathan would share a devotional time together.

The couple had eleven children in their 31 years of marriage. Sarah was of the opinion that until a child will obey his parents, he can never be brought to obey God. She knew how to make them regard and obey her cheerfully, without loud, angry words and much less heavy blows. Though Jonathan was a stern and busy preacher, he set aside to spend  an hour daily with his children. He said, “Every family ought to be a little church, consecrated to Christ and wholly influenced and governed by his rules”.

Jonathan had a principle not to accept all invitations to ministry, that came his way. Some he turned down saying, “I have lately been so much gone from my people.” Yet, Sarah had struggles of instability. She didn’t like it when her husband was away from home so much. But, she knew she couldn’t ask him to stay with her. She knew God was using her husband, wherever he went. Most of his life, Jonathan had bouts with headaches, colitis, and moodiness. Sickness, failures were ever present in the lives of this couple. They went through both, times of prosperity and adversity in ministry.

The final office, Jonathan held as President of Princeton University lasted only a few weeks. He was stricken with small pox, and as he lay dying, he talked much about his wife and children: “The uncommon union that has long subsisted between me and Sarah has been of a spiritual nature and therefore will continue forever. My children, you are now likely to be left fatherless, which I hope will be an inducement to seek a Father who will never fail you.” Sarah’s favourite verse came to mean much more to her at this time: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?...neither death nor life…nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God.” (Romans 8:35-39) Six months later, she became ill with dysentery and she died at the age of forty-eight. Indeed, it was an uncommon union as Jonathan had said at his death bed.

As companions together they took time for each other and made their marriage a success. They enjoyed each other’s companionship and respected each other’s gifts. Biographers tend to praise Sarah for making the marriage successful. They may be right. But, Jonathan too shared his ministry with Sarah and gave her a larger role than many women of that time enjoyed.

A study of 1,400 descendants of the Edwards home says that this uncommon household produced 13 College Presidents, 65 Professors, 100 Lawyers, 30 Judges, 66 Physicians and 80 holders of public office including 3 Senators, 3 Governors, and a Vice President of the United States. I consider this fact file as a fulfillment of a verse from the Bible:  From everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children (Psalm 103:17). May we work on the aspect of ‘uncommon union’ in marriages and pass the bliss of marriage to our children’s children like how the Edwards did.




(I have copied lines from William J. Petersen’s “Martin Luther Had a Wife” for this article.)

John Wesley’s Messy Marriage with Molly

Do you know that John Wesley spoke of his marriage to his wife, Molly as a "cross" that he had taken up? John Wesley, the father of the worldwide Methodist Movement was a remarkable man and God used him mightily. We sing the hymns written by John and his brother Charles. Yet, John’s marriage with Molly was a miserable failure. What were the factors that made it such a miserable marriage? What can we learn from it to avoid in our own marriages? Allegations from biographers accuse both Molly and John as “worst” spouses. But what are you to do with the story that Molly Wesley was seen dragging her husband around the room by his hair? And what about the correspondence that John Wesley continued to maintain, despite his wife’s objections, with his female admirers?

Parents a Reason?
In order to understand John Wesley and his problems in marriage, you have to take a glimpse of the fascinating home in which John grew up. Both Susanna and Samuel, John’s parents were stubborn and Samuel had a quick temper besides. Susannah once wrote about her husband, “It is a misfortune peculiar to our family that he and I seldom think alike.” Susannah herself was also a dominant force that her influence was imprinted especially on John’s. They read and discussed the same books. John himself admitted that in his early years, he put aside all thoughts of marriage through despair of finding any woman her equal. Though John had some good proposals for his marriage, they flopped due to some reason or the other. Finally when he married Molly a widow, he was 47 years old.

Married to Work?
John Wesley preached on the day before and the day after his marriage. He said to Molly that he would not be making any adjustments to married life. It was Molly who had to make adjustments. Molly complained about her husband’s lack of sensitivity to her needs. Molly was starting to feel paranoid. She tried travelling with her husband on the roads. England’s roads were not easy to travel, especially the way, John Wesley travelled them. After a meeting, while John would exult about spiritual blessings, Molly would complain about the hard beds, the itchy blankets that were too small, and the bed bugs. It was no doubt after circumstances like this, that Molly’s hair-pulling story took place. According to one of Methodism’s travelling preachers, he saw Molly trailing John Wesley by the hair of his head. She had in her hands venerable locks which she had plucked up by the roots.

Doubting Partner?
John Wesley naively encouraged Molly to open any letters that came to their home, when he was travelling. This kick started another tantrum because John’s intimate counselling of women through letters did not change after his marriage. Molly started to imagine the worst. In a particular letter to a woman named Sarah, John Wesley had told his problems with Molly. Molly misunderstood the language John had used in the letter. Later in a public meeting, Molly pointed to Sarah and called her a “whore.” She even gave some of Sarah’s letters to John Wesley to the London newspapers to publish. John responded by listing ten major complaints against Molly. He said that he could not pray with his wife because he felt that she was daily watching to do him hurt. Molly also knew that she was not the wife she ought to be for John. However, she wanted the world to know that not all the blame for their unhappy marriage was hers. She also didn’t like to be preached at by her husband. John could persuade most women, but he was unable to budge Molly.

Difficulty with Celebrity Spouse?
On their 20th anniversary, Molly walked out and a year later she came back on her own. Again she travelled with her famous husband in his ministerial tours. Again when he was 73 and she was 67 they separated for the last time. From the beginning till the end, she always felt that people were placing John on a pedestal and her in the gutter. John wrote, “The water is spilt. It cannot be gathered up again.” Two years later, he wrote his last letter to his wife which was a bitter note: “If you were to live a thousand years, you could not undo the mischief you have done.”

I agree to the biographer William Petersen’s conclusion. He says, “John Wesley was married to his work. He felt that it would have been a grievous sin to be unfaithful to that divine marriage. But sometimes a servant of God fails to distinguish between loving God and loving God’s work.” If the Bible in Hebrews 13:4 says, "Marriage is honorable in all," I want all who believe the Bible, to answer this question: How can I honor my marriage? I also want us to think about possible solutions for a messed up marriage and work on improving our marriages and be a blessing to others too!

(I have copied lines from William J. Petersen’s “Martin Luther Had a Wife” for this article.)

PS: I am a Methodist Pastor. This article is aimed to trigger learning from mistakes, but, not to undermine John Wesley or Methodist Church at large by any means. Thanks for your understanding.  

Worldy Christian or World Christian?

Christmas - 2011 is over and some of us have celebrated several Christmases in our lives. There are also people in this world who have never heard the first Christmas story, even once in their lives. Oswald Smith said, “We talk of the Second Coming; half the world has never heard the first.” What is our responsibility as a follower of Christ this New Year? How about being a “World Christian?”


Who is a World Christian? A World Christian is one who has a God's perspective of the world. How did God view the world? "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). How was Jesus, when he lived in this world? Jesus felt compassionate to those in need (Matthew 9:36, 14:14, 15:32, 20:34, Mark 6:34, 8:2, Luke 15:20, etc.). And the Holy Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express (Romans 8:26).


No follower of Christ is exempted from following the “Great Commission.”  (Matthew 28:18-20). This passage has a promise to inherit, and a command to be followed. Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."


How can we make disciples of nations? In a land like India, where there is a kaleidoscope of cultures, every place and geographical state is unique. India is like, nations within a nation. The percentage of Christians is increasingly high in the south and the north east Indian states, compared to the rest of India. The greatest call in this land of India for a follower of Christ is to be a cross-cultural worker in a geographically and culturally distant place (as a missionary). Now with urbanisation a reality in countries like India, in the cities, the mission fields are not geographically distant. They are only culturally distant and they are at the door steps.


However, all of us for sure need to choose to be a “World Christian.” True Mission starts with love in us, like the love of God, which he showed towards this world. It is followed by a compassion which propels us to be involved in missions to the needy. We will also intercede like the Holy Spirit, to the Lord of the harvests, to send out workers into his harvest field (Matthew 9:38). We cannot travel to all the nations of the world and places in India to proclaim the gospel. But we can travel to all those places with our knees. While praying, we need to pray intelligently and specifically for the needs of these places. “Operation World” gives a prayer calendar to help us to pray, every day, for the countries of the world systematically: http://www.operationworld.org/prayer-calendar. How I wish that our churches and houses will turn to be a “House of Prayer for all Nations” (Isaiah 56:7).


All who pray, “Maranatha" (Come, Lord) should say that after reading Matthew 24:14. Jesus said: "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come”. What is our responsibility as a follower of Christ in the New Year to see to that the gospel is preached to all nations? I would pray that the love of God, the compassion of Christ and the interceding nature of the Holy Spirit would grip us all the more this New Year.


Am I going to be a “Worldy Christian” or a “World Christian” this New Year? Wishing All My Friends a Blessed 2012!