This Week With Jesus

Once upon a time there was a man named Jonah. God calls Jonah and charges him with a specific task go to Nineveh the capital of Assyria and ‘cry out against it for their wickedness. What did Jonah do? He went in the opposite direction. The Assyrians were a wicked nation and their years of cruelty had left deep wounds in the Israelite psyche. And for this reason, Jonah hated the Assyrians and his hatred for them caused him to question God’s grace. God knew that the Assyrians were a wicked nation so Jonah questioned why would God want to forgive them? Jonah thought he knew better, so he took a judgement call: Run away from God! But can anyone do that? In spite of Jonah’s self-justification of his action his was an act of deliberate disobedience. Jonah did not understand God’s grace. He did not understand that God appointed the Jewish people to be a light to the nations and what this meant. He did not understand why God wanted to give a second chance to the people of Nineveh. We all kno...

Human independence is devastating. When we are faced with a challenge, our first option or attempt is to address and solve it ourselves. We think we know all the answers. And then when we face failure we pray to God to help us out. Often, prayer becomes the last resort. The fact is that the enablement to solve problems or face challenges actually comes from God. He is the alpha and creator of everything, including our abilities and circumstances. After all when we face a problem with an appliance, do we not refer it to the manufacturers for a solution? Then why, in our life, do we try and solve everything on our own? Why not just refer it to the "manufacturer" of our lives? Logically, prayer should actually be our first option and not the last resort. As we go through life, living merrily everyday, we become stuck when we suddenly face a wall. That's when we rush to pray. But if proactive prayer was in our life, God would have shown us the way around the wall, and not get...