Christian Life – Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church Sunday School Department

Hiwot Salelew

Christian life is always filled with good deed. Our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ taught us in Gospel about the way to salvation which is perusing GOD’s law with dedication. Human life is for benevolence. Otherwise mankind dies twice losing his soul/life/. His first death is indispensable, but the second one is bestowed with the rule of GOD (Revelation, 2÷11). No human is life but alive.

Consequently, for us to live eternal life, we ought to follow Our Savior Jesus Christ’s basically with his miraculous life on earth, along the gospel he preached and his love he revealed for us. So, it is mandatory to perform the followings.

1. Services

Above all, mankind should praise his creator by praying, fasting, sanctioning and singing Psalm. Furthermore, feeding poor people, constructing churches by endowing labor force and skill is expected from one Christian. It’s unfortunate that a boy who was a Sunday school student grows up to be a musician after ten years. Another student who acted on a play in Sunday schools changes his carrier and gets involved on a different thread. Chairperson, Writers and Members of Sunday Schools, leave everything after they wed. But, Marriage is not a service pension; if you wed you can never go back.

Serving the church as Sunday schools and become singers, priests, deacons or preachers, constructing monasteries, feeding poor people, organizing councils, leading spiritual associations without complaining of getting sick or suffering, being ungrateful and wishing your hands to be cut off; some people stop serving by making up excuses about their physical inability. Others impede because they are scorned. If we don’t bare all this, why do we talk about the era of Diocletian? Who stay diligent till the end? But we have to endorse Christian life.

2. Accrediting Time

Time is a gift from GOD; and so we must make use of it properly. It is necessary to value time when participating on councils, serving on Sunday schools, visiting poor and sick people, constructing monastery churches, preachers sermonize and singer sing.

On Matthew’s gospel 25÷34-36, it is stated, “Come, you who have been blessed by my Father, to inherit the Kingdom prepared for you before the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; you welcomed me when I was your guest. Clothed me while I was bare, for ye have visited me when I was ailing and came to me during my imprisonment.”

Accrediting time doesn’t mean using our spare time; it is different to devote our entire time than exploiting the spare one. Avowed on gospel, one man gave some coins from his full pocket while an innocent woman gave her only two coins. Our LORD Jesus Christ then said, “Verily Verily I say, this widow has bestowed much offering for GOD. All of these offered from their profit. But this poor woman gave all her asset.” We value time by offering what we have, but not after we finish working, feeding on, drinking and entertaining ourselves, then complacently go to church; that’s not accrediting time. When we devote and properly proffer our time of working extra jobs and earn money, visiting other people sharing their meal and drink, it is valuing time. It is stated in the Gospel that our credit is small if we offer our spare time.

3. Perseverance through religion

Declared on Johannes’s revelation 12÷16-80, the python infuriated at the woman, went to battle her races who abide GOD’S law and being the witnesses of Jesus. It is necessary to battle the python and preserve our religion for we are her descendants and the witnesses of Jesus Christ. In this generation, it is Christian’s responsibility to persevere by religion, protect it and brazen out Protestants. Judah (1-3) affirmed, “I intercede for ye to fight for the religion conferred to Saints.”

It is Christian liturgy to fight for Orthodox Tewahdo Church. Thousands get manipulated for their greed of money and vain belongings. Like Saint Paul said, “Be careful of those defying Jesus law attempting to deceive you with artificial conduct through scattering vain things and the sins in this world.” (Colossians, 2÷8). There are some who change their religion mislead by Satan. Our LORD in Mathew’s Gospel (24÷13) said, “He, who is serene till the end, will get salvation.”

4. Abstaining ourselves from fornication

Akin to what Bishop Gorigorios alerted, we have to preserve ourselves from fornication in this generation. It has become hard to remain virgin until marriage these days. We have forgotten the Laws forbidding fornication that we learned in schools.

Surviving this world’s temptation is like passing through flame; because fire calls upon those even far. Our fathers say “fires calls”. While we are living in this world, why does fornication come to our mind? We can’t ask why sin exists around us. But we can cross pass the dispute. We have to have chastity. When a man and woman preserve themselves from fornication and get married in Church, they wear crown. It is also written in Holy books about husbands and wives who are crowned in Church honored binary by GOD. It is not because these people do not have luck or gain material benefits; but they forbid themselves from these advantages, struggle from their friend and the surrounding’s temptations, longing to pay sacrifice for their soul.

5. Perseverance by Marriage

In Christian life, a man and woman live in perseverance by marriage. When a husband and wife live in lenience and peace, when a man abides his partners and children’s attitude, consent his flesh and blood, live by church’s liturgy abiding GOD’s law; that is Christianity.

Ordinary people, who neither became a nun nor wed, do not desire of living a Christian life. It is like the Protestants who lived in the years of Martyrs. You might think people who are married celebrating 50 and 80 years anniversary are happy. However, they might have passed hardship. There could be times they said, “I wish my legs got broken; my eyes got blind before I stood in the aisle and I want to disappear,”. But it is important to pass every obstacle through perseverance.

May those who wed persevere till the end; singers who serve with chastity and preaching’s; those who grant portion of their meal to churches and monasteries, donating our spare shoes and clothes, promising to save and serve elderly struggling on streets, fathers who keep peace, those who find the lost ones, others who convince protestant in to Christianity, also those who bring faithless to baptism; inhabit perseverance until the end, and hear LORD’s words “Come, you who have been blessed by my Father, to inherit the Kingdom prepared for you before the creation of the world,” with his mercy and the intercession of Virgin Mary, Amen.

Source: Amharic text by Deacon Yosef Bekele at/ www.mahberekidusan.com/amharicwebsite/