Yesterday, I read online about an interesting ritual among young girls in the Newar community of the Kathmandu valley of Nepal. They are married thrice; firstly at age 9-10 to a god that they worship, secondly, a couple of years later, to the sun and thirdly to a man at around 25 years of age. Marriage to a god is symbolized by marrying the young girl to the fruit of the wood-apple tree, a representation of their god. Marriage to the sun takes place by the girl spending 12 nights in a dark room, a ritual that earns her protection according to local beliefs. Most of us may find this strange, even funny; but for them who have grown up believing and practising these things, it's a part of life.
As a believer in the salvation that is made available by God through Jesus Christ, I feel sad for such, who have not yet known Christ and are living a life full of superstitions. But it challenges me to do more for the Lord and take the gospel to the unreached. How about you? Are you resting content that you are saved? Or do hearing such things spur you on to take the good news to the spiritually impoverished?
Read what the Apostle Paul writes to the believers in Rome....
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" (Romans 10:13-15)
We have our tasks cut out. Only time will tell how faithful we have been to the Lord's calling in our lives.
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