Every one of us has a story. As we share those stories with each other, we learn more about the miracles that God, by his grace, invites us to participate in. One such story is that of Commissioner Narayana Muthiah. His life began as a devout Hindu in the late 1800s; devout to the point that his first memory of The Salvation Army was proudly ripping up a War Cry and throwing it in a young Salvationist’s face. Who would have suspected that this young Hindu zealot would one day become the first Indian to achieve the full rank of Commissioner of the Salvation Army?
Yet, Muthiah’s life after conversion was anything but easy. He begged door to door for his daily portion of food; was kidnapped by his Hindu family and forced to give up his inheritance; was thrown into jail for his faith; was beaten in the streets by Muslim teenagers; lost his wife and his child to sickness and risked his life numerous times for a faith that he once hated. As you hear the extreme difficulties Muthiah faced, an obvious question surely comes to mind: how did he manage to stay spiritually and physically energized despite all these trials? The secret to his strength was that throughout his life there are evidences of distinct Salvationist spiritual disciplines that not only sustained Muthiah, but that can also sustain us in our journeys toward heaven. While not exhaustive, the following list provides some of those examples of spiritual practices engaged in by Muthiah.
A Private Faith is not Acceptable:
Muthiah grew up seeing his Hindu father practice a hidden form of Christianity. This angered the young Hindu and made him resent Christianity for many years. Yet much like his father, when Muthiah first began to feel the Holy Spirit in his life, his first response was to try and keep it a secret. A wise young Salvation Army officer told him in that moment that a private faith is simply not acceptable for Christianity. For us today that remains the case. Christianity is not a private faith, and if practiced faithfully must be practiced publicly. Muthiah went forward to the mercy seat despite his hesitation and publicly declared to his friends that “I have become a Christian, and know my sins are forgiven through faith in Jesus.†From that moment on he never stopped declaring this good news.
Private and Public Prayer:
Despite the busyness of life for Muthiah, he consistently brought to the Lord everything in prayer. He attended prayer meetings as often as any other meetings if not more, and held firm to his own personal prayer time. We may be a people of action as The Salvation Army, but we are first and foremost a people of prayer. We are a mobilized army marching forward on our knees.
Reading of the Word:
Reading of the word for Muthiah was not a task or chore, but was an activity that brought him strength and encouragement. He did so in times of joy and pain, and found consistent time to read the scriptures daily. We are a people of the book, are motivated by Christ’s love demonstrated in the book, and thus must know the book as we know those we work with.
Encouragement through the sung word:
When Muthiah faced his toughest challenges, he sang Salvationist songs in order to be encouraged. A song written by Lucy Booth, at that time working as an Indian Officer, was important to him:
“If all were easy, if all were bright,
Where would the cross be, and where the fight?...
Keep on believing, Jesus is near;
Keep on believing, there’s nothing to fear;
Keep on believing, this is the way;
Faith in the night as well as the day.â€
These words gave hope to Muthiah in times of pain, they bound him together with other Salvationists and reminded them of the love and grace of God. Music today continues to shape people’s lives, but do we, as Muthiah did, sing and listen to songs of Godly encouragement on our iPods and MP3 players, or are we missing this great opportunity of spiritual formation?
Self-Sacrificing:
Muthiah was a man who knew something of loss and suffering, but he did not dwell on it, nor praise himself for pushing through it. Instead, he spoke of how losing everything only allowed him more time to focus on God. How often are we willing to give things up for the Lord’s sake? How often are we willing to sacrifice without praising ourselves for doing so?
Practical Faith:
Holiness for Muthiah meant that we do more than show up to a Salvationist hall on Sundays and read our Bibles. Holiness is practical, and it is life changing for us and those around us. Muthiah served others with all his strength and heart. This did not take away from time with God, but was a part of his spiritual act of worship.
Encouragement and fellowship of Believers:
Throughout Muthiah’s life there were people who took time to invest into his life. Not only on the local level, but further around the country. As Muthiah travelled outside of India he was encouraged and uplifted by the international fellowship of the Army.[1] As an Army it is more than a vocational duty to commune with Salvationists around the world at congresses, through e-mail and while travelling; it is an essential part of our spiritual identity.
Conclusion:
Muthiah’s life serves as an exemplar of some of the essentials to our spiritual walk as Salvationists. Encouraging believers internationally, having a practical faith, being self-sacrificing, being encouraged through the sung word, reading the word, intentional prayer, and having an overt public faith are all attributes of our Salvationist Spiritual identity. These principles, while not always easy to practice, allowed Muthiah to successfully navigate the pilgrim journey from Hindu fundamentalist, to Salvationist Commissioner.
by Peter Lublink