DEVDAS AND THE GREAT SPIRIT

Many years ago in native America, there was a great Indian chief named Kanuna. He was the husband of a beautiful young woman named Salani. One day the Great Spirit blessed them with a wonderful baby boy. On the seventh day after his birth, Kanuna dedicated the baby to the Great Spirit and called his name Atsadi. His parents were so proud of him. The boy grew up and became a great man that the whole tribe loved, and respected. In adulthood, he became known as Devdas. When chief Kanuna died suddenly, everyone expected Devdas to become chief, but he refused. He chose another great man named Ashwin to take his place as chief. This was not the way of the tribe, but Devdas had known for some time that the Great Spirit had other plans for his life.

Many moons before his father, chief Kanuna died, Atsadi had a dream. In the dream, he saw a man in a white robe walk into his village. The man walked up to him and handed him a small black book and told him that the Great Spirit sent him and wanted Atsadi to share the book with all his people. The very next day, a group of Christians came to the village. They told the tribe about a God who loves everyone and became a man and lived on earth, and sacrificed himself to save the world. When they showed them the Bible, Atsadi knew the Great Spirit had sent the men, and he knew what he had to do. So, instead of preparing to become chief, he chose to follow Jesus and teach his people about him.

Atsadi was baptized in Fox River and became a Christian. He began translating the Bible into his native tongue and teaching his tribe about Jesus. He established a church there and started traveling to neighboring clans preaching and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. In a few short years, he had planted eight churches and introduced thousands to Jesus, including his friend Ashwin, and chief Kanuna.

It’s amazing how God works to spread the gospel across the world and there are many other stories like this one. I heard one story about an evangelist who went to a large city and preached to large crowds of people night after night for a week. At the end of the week, only one young man accepted Jesus and was baptized. The preacher felt like a failure. In the eyes of many, he was a failure on that trip. But God doesn’t measure success or failure by numbers. That young man went on to become an evangelist himself, and over his lifetime, he led thousands to Jesus. We don’t know exactly what God has planned for our lives, but we do know that he has a plan. All we need to do is follow him, and allow him to use us in his plan.

Many times it may mean changing plans we have laid out for ourselves, or even giving up our dreams. We may have to abandon a long line of tradition like Atsadi did. In Bible times, many people even changed their names when they met God like Atsadi did. By the way, Atsadi means fish. Devdas, the name he embraced as an adult, means Servant of God.

Today, when we commit our lives to following God, we get a new name. We become “Christians” which means “Christ-Like”, or “Like Christ.” The name, in and of itself, doesn’t make us anything. Our commitment to God and the new nature he gives us are what count. As born-again believers, we have our names in the Book of Life, and if we endure until the end, we will live forever with him (Matthew 24:13). That will more than makeup for anything we may have to give up or change.

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A BOY, A SNAKE, TWO WOLVES, AND A SONG

When I was young, my grandmother told me a story about a young boy and a snake. The boy’s mother gave him some milk with some cornbread mixed with it. Like he had done the last few times she fed him, he took his food and went outside.

When she decided to go out and see what he was doing, she found him sitting by the rock chimney feeding a snake. It scared her so bad that she grabbed her son and ran back into the house with him, and began checking him to see if he had been bitten. I don’t remember if there was a moral to the story, or if it was even true. My grandmother was part Native American, and she told us lots of stories from Native American culture as well as fairy tales, from children’s books.

There are many old Indian tales that are very interesting. Like the one about how snakes got their poison, and the one about how the world was created. I like the one about the two wolves living inside every person. It is a metaphor explaining the two natures that we all have. The good nature and the bad one. The moral of that story is that whichever one you feed will be the strongest.

This same idea can be found in the Bible. There, it refers to the old man of sin and the new man in Christ. Whichever one we feed will grow strong and thrive. There’s a good little kid's song that I learned very early in my childhood that came from that very idea. It says,

“Oh, be careful little eyes what you see.”

“Oh, be careful little ears what you hear.”

“For the Father up above is looking down in love.

So be careful little eyes what you see (hear).”

That’s a great little song with a great big message. We have to guard our minds and be careful about what we see and hear. That’s what God tells us throughout the Bible.

Proverbs 4:23 says, Guard your heart (mind) with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

We have to be careful where we go, and what we say and do as well. Those are other lines in the song. 1st Thessalonians 5:22 says, Refrain from all forms of evil. 

The first verse in the book of Job tells us that Job was a holy man that revered God and went out of his way to avoid evil. If we want to remain holy we have to do the same thing. We have to be careful where we go.

Both the song and the Bible also show us that we should watch what we say and do. This is very important. When I was a young Christian, I remember hearing a few older Christians cursing. I’ll never forget how shocked I was. I couldn’t believe a saved person would say things like that. Then I learned that many Christians don’t see anything wrong with it at all, but the Bible says they’re wrong.

2 Timothy 2:16 

16 But shun profane and vain talking: for they will lead to more ungodliness.

Did you get that? Using profanity leads to ungodliness. People who want to be godly should avoid profanity. In Matthew 12:34, Jesus said, "...out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Our words show what’s in our hearts. I know that to be true from my own personal experience.

James 1:26 

26 If any of you think you are religious and don’t bridle your tongue, but you deceive your own heart, your religion is worthless.

“So be careful little (and big) lips what you say.”

Don’t be buddies with the snake. Feed the good wolf and avoid all evil like it’s the Plague, and grow more godly.

For an in-depth study of what God says about using profanity read What’s Wrong With Using Profanity?

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My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2017 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6