A LIFE WELL LIVED – JOSEPH DAMIEN

“A LIFE WELL LIVED” is a life lived for the LORD Jesus Christ. “A LIFE WELL LIVED” is a life lived in obedience to God. “A LIFE WELL LIVED” is a life lived serving the Kingdom of God. “A LIFE WELL LIVED” is a life lived as God’s love and light in this loveless and ever darkening world.
– “14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” – Matthew 5:14-16

Many times, as Christians, we are very good at theorising our faith, and restricting it to the four walls of the Church. Faith is no more that dynamic power from the very presence of God, powering us to be a channel of God’s blessing, to all those who are in need of help and healing. What was intended to be a practical and tangible faith, is turned, in a lot of places, into a mere intellectual exercises, where a mental ascent to Christ the LORD is deemed sufficient to be called a follower, a disciple, a Christian.
– “14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” – James 2:14-17

Faith without works is a dead faith. Mere mental and intellectual ascent to the LORD Jesus Christ is nothing more than a statement of acceptance of facts. It is not the transforming faith, that is the hallmark of a true Christian.

Joseph Damien, a Belgian missionary, lands in Hawaii and volunteers to serve the lepers of Molokai, Hawaii, in 1873. This place is a place where none dared to go. This place was called, a “vortex of misery, despair, and rampant vice.”

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Joseph Damien, over a period of 16 years, helped construct houses, schools, and churches for these abandoned lepers; he endeavoured to educate the children; helped engineer a clean water system, and made provisions for the medical care of his leprosy affected flock.

In 1884, after working among the lepers for 11 years, Damien himself contracted leprosy. This did not deter him from serving His LORD Jesus among the victims of leprosy, but continued his work until he became totally incapacitated. He subsequently died on 15 April 1889, at the age of 49.

The LORD Jesus, speaking to His audience about the Judgement Day, says these words, which I am sure should wake us up.
– “31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.” – Matthew 25:31-36

“A LIFE WELL LIVED” means much more than ‘believing’ the doctrines of the Church; coming to the Church Sunday after Sunday; and giving our tithes and our offerings to the Church. Read what the LORD says in the Bible – “A LIFE WELL LIVED” means, A Life Lived for God. Our faith in the LORD Jesus should be far greater than the Jewish Priest and the Levite, in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Their faith was impeccable as concerning the law; but was utterly useless, and far from what God actually intended.

How are we living? Is God happy with our life? Would the LORD Jesus call us, “well done thou good and faithful servant?” Let us pause to take stock about what we believe in, and how we are living our faith. Even so the LORD help us.