President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has asked Christians to work hard to achieve decent and prosperous lives while on earth.
“I urge the religious leaders to emphasize the fact that man has both spiritual and physical needs. The spiritual needs are satisfied through praying to God, studying the scriptures, listening to religious and moral instruction, fasting, praise and worship etc. These enable a believer to draw closer to God and impart good morals and discipline in relating with other people,” the president said.
He noted that that there are physical needs that must be satisfied in order to achieve a happy, fulfilling and productive life.
“They include: food, water, shelter, medicine, hospitals, schools, clothes, transport, a job etc. In a modern economy, you cannot obtain the goods and services which are necessary to sustain life without money.
Therefore, the first step that must be taken by an individual or household is to eliminate moneylessness or subsistence living, which satisfies only one need i.e. food,” he said.
He made the remarks at the 2024 Martyrs Day Celebrations in Namugongo, Wakiso district.
Museveni explained that Moneylessness can be eliminated by undertaking a profitable enterprise in the four sectors of commercial agriculture, industries, services and ICT.
“Therefore, a relevant Christian Ministry is one that encourages the believers to work towards achieving decent standards of living. In the process of working for heaven, some of the faithful become negligent about their earthly responsibilities and thereby end up perpetuating and entrenching socio-economic backwardness and poverty in their respective families and societies,” noted Museveni.
Adding, “Jesus Christ should serve as an example to all the religious leaders and their followers. The Biblical record shows that besides fasting and prayer, He also healed the physical ailments of the blind, lame, lepers, deaf etc. He fed the hungry. Additionally, he earned his bread by working alongside his father Joseph as a carpenter. He worked for both the spiritual and socio-economic uplift of his family and society. This is what all Christians must emulate.”