This Week With Jesus

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths ". Do we think we are greater than God? I am very sure most, if not all of us, will say NO! AND I am very sure a lot many of us, in practice do exactly the opposite: Try to play God. Man by nature strives to reach God's stature even to the extent of trying to create another human or humanoid. This is an extreme example, but we try and play God, every day in every way. When we pray, don't we say, Lord I have this challenge and I need to do X to solve it. Or Lord can you please help me achieve Y so I can do this or that? Why are we trying to tell God how to solve a problem, instead of just putting out the problem and letting Him solve it the way He deems fit? Who are we to tell God what to do? Do we trust ourselves more than we trust God? As an exercise, just think of your prayers in the last 3 days.

John 12 .."And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people". There is a poison each one of us are prone to: Gossip.  Gossip is a sad and destructive fact of life. It damages reputations, ruins relationships, divides families and creates too much bad blood. Gossip is as old as history itself. In John’s gospel, Jesus’ absence from Jerusalem during Tabernacles evokes gossip among “the crowds” that is interestingly ambivalent about Jesus’ character: “And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, ‘He is a good man,’ others were saying, ‘No, he is deceiving the crowd’” (John 7:12). Jesus’ assessment by some as “good” and by others as “deceiving” underscores the social process through which gossip can create tension—in this case, over Jesus’ very identity. Throughout the Bible we have been warned not to gossip, not listen to gossip. Ephesians -

What is your Job Responsibility?  Responsibility is defined as the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone. Starting with Adam and Eve, we all have responsibilities. They were supposed to be caretakers of creation by virtue of having control or dominion. Peter was also given specific responsibilities ("take care of my sheep"). Paul also points out in his letter to the Corinthians that whatever we do, should be for the glory of God.  Drawing on these I like to think that our JD primarily consists of these - 1. Taking care of God's creation : We have been given dominion or charge over the entire creation, or nature as we call it. With this charge comes a responsibility to maintain it, for ourselves and the generations to come. We are stewards and must fulfil that responsibilities of a steward.  2. Take care of people : In line with Christ's commandments, loving our fellow citizens passively is not enough. We need to acti

  Ephesians 5: 15- 17 "So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times! Don't live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants". (5:15–17 MSG) The highlighted first statement is so familiar. Parents say that to children, people use that as a warning to others and so on. This is a general warning. But read further, it is a guideline for every Christian. As we travel a path carefully chosen according to His will, word and purpose, God presents us with so many opportunities. Opportunities to flourish and prosper, and also opportunities to say NO. Opportunities to lead an exemplary life. Opportunities to use our gifts for others. We cannot pass our time mindlessly, but realize every second we live is an investment we make into life. And why? Because at the end of it all, we have the promise of His return and our saving from a second death. People don't think about their second death too seri

There is an interesting question nearly everyone knows and has asked at some point in their lives: Which came first- the chicken or the egg. Like everyone else I have been trying to answer this question for 40 years now and I must confess I am at a loss to come to an unchallengeable and irrefutable answer. However, I do have the answer to another similar question many Christians face: Do I have to become a citizen of the Kingdom of God first, or do I get blessings first.  For the answer I will reference Matthew 6 Verses 32 and 33 .... 32 For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.  First things first. What is the Kingdom of God and what do I seek in there? Now, we are all familiar with the virtual world where the internet reigns supreme. Think of the Kingdom of God as a virtual kingdom where God reigns supreme, where Jesus is t

Genesis 2:15 "And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it". The original mandate to humans was to look after and maintain this beautiful world God gave us. A utopian world which would be bereft of climate change, carbon emissions, pandemics, human tragedies. I could go on and on. We have failed miserably. Our failure necessitated the coming of Jesus Christ as well. Necessitated His death. We can't go back in time and correct what we failed in, but we sure can correct ourselves in the present time, on a personal basis, as a personal responsibility, given to us by none other than God and His son. For starters, we can reduce our personal carbon footprint. You can calculate your personal footprint here and see how to reduce it and help the environment and our world that God gave us. Second, we should see helping our fellow brothers and sisters as helping God because they are His children. God has commissioned us to be blessin

Read Matthew 5:14 -16 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven" The world population in 1 AD is estimated at about 150 Million people. Published estimates for the 1st century ("AD 1") suggest uncertainty of the order of 50% (estimates range between 150 and 330 million). Who would have believed then that a movement that started with 12 people, would include 1/3rd of world population in 2021 or 2.38 Billion people? This kind of growth is not possible to sustain unless we, as followers, become that light on the hill that Christ talked about. We need to be  active points of dissemination of God's word through our attitudes, behaviors and lifestyle, and lastly His witnesses. We need to