If there is word or a thing that comes close to God it would be cleanliness. As we all know or would have heard—to be clean is described as next to Godliness. And as a Christian state and for a majority of Naga people who profess to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, cleanliness should be our endeavor wherever we are or whatever we do. If everyone can follow this noble ideal, life would be beautiful, happy and our society will be much healthier. A few months back, we were witness to the clean Kohima campaign undertaken by the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) in preparation for its Platinum Jubilee. What a difference it made to the State Capital as our guests would have also noticed—the clean roads without the usual sight of garbage lying or other sore to the human eyes. And if the Church can do it why can’t the others likewise take up cleanliness drive in their respective backyards. The decision of the Ao Senso Telongjem (Ao Union) Dimapur to conduct mass social work across the commercial hub on October 2 is appreciated. If all the tribes can take turns once in a month going for such cleanliness drive, we can easily keep Dimapur clean throughout the 12 months.
However cleanliness is not just about how lovely our towns or villages look, it must also involve a culture of clean living such as rooting out corruption and sin from our personal, social or political lives. And perhaps if we are clean in our hearts it will be much easier to attain cleanliness as next to Godliness. And so why don’t we search our hearts and minds, each one of us and give time and effort from our busy lives to come closer to God. If the love of God abides in us, we will be guided to do things the right way such as the respect for law, the understanding that human life is precious and the need for peace and non-violence, to develop dignity of labour and hard work, to love our neighbors and fellow Nagas, to protect our environment and God’s beautiful creation of nature etc. These are some of the things we can accomplish if we listen to the word of God. And when we learn to live like a good Christian we can become good and responsible citizens.
Many Nagas are perhaps confused that to be a Christian is limited to Church service, praying and giving up all the good things in life. This is so wrong and we need to overcome such harmful mindset from our thinking if we want to grow in a holistic way. In fact we are not doing enough as Christians in our work places—whether as a politician, bureaucrat, teacher, contractor or those running the affairs of our tribal hohos, civil society, business enterprises etc. If we can add here—we seem to have a penchant for building the most beautiful and grand looking Churches. This is perhaps a sign of the great number of Christians we profess to have in Nagaland. However our Christianity will not be judged by statistics or quantity but whether we are able to walk the talk as true Christians in the teachings of Jesus Christ. He ought to be at the centre of our daily lives. Right now we have too many troubles facing our people. This is having an adverse effect on the health and well being of our Naga society. We need solutions to all these. The answer lies in obedience to God. Are we willing?
