This Week With Jesus

  He Hears AND He Answers 

Today is the 12th of March 2024 .  Today, at 12 am, 2020, 4 years ago, the world officially went on to face a pandemic, of proportions unknown by these three generations which are present here today. The pandemic called Covid.  Worse than the Spanish flu, it went on to claim  7,004,732 lives as of March 2024. That is more than 7 Million!  To give you an idea of the depth of the tragedy, o n November 5, 2020 , Neapolitans woke up to discover a provocative white marble sculpture placed at the center of their most important square, Piazza del Plebiscito (Plebiscite Square): a chained baby lying down in a fetal position. Naked, with closed eyes and looking tired, the baby’s name is Homeless. Appropriate for this time of COVID lockdowns, the sculpture is called “Look Down” and invites each passerby to stop and look down at the human condition, chained by the health emergency and by the economic crisis heightened and exasperated by the ongoing pandemic. (Sage Journals) And yet, here we are.

  A sailing boat is an ideal example of a partnership between man and God. Even the law recognizes and divides actions into two parts - act of man and act of God. When God works for us to provide various blessings, it is through a combination of actions - act of God combined with an action of man. Unlike the law it does not separate but combines. Much like a sailboat which sails when a sail is hoisted by man to use the wind sent by God. In our earthly life, we have been destined to work the ground with labor to eat and live. Every action of ours, unless supported by God is useless. A farmer tills the ground, breaks his back to plant but unless the right weather conditions exist, he won't get a crop. Likewise, a factory worker will flourish when demand for that product is high which will happen if economic and natural forces are positive, both of which depend on nature which depends on God. Yet, we try and solve our own problems, find our own solutions. How much more foolish can we

In the year 2000, Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book called the tipping point. According to the book summary "The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behaviors, crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a change in mindset, a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. Or a powerful faith in Christ .  You and I can discuss Christ, God and the Gospels because Christianity itself went through a tipping point  when Christianity was rocket-propelled from a dynamic new religion to an official state sponsored religion and can be traced exactly to the day, it was 28th October 312 AD .  To reach that tipping point were the efforts of Jesus’ disciples, who along with the apostle Paul were on fire with the new Gospel to the point that all but a few of the 12 apostles died natural deaths. The majority were

2 Timothy 2 14-26 People must see us as different—and different in ways they want to emulate. Our world revolves around two things - assets and liabilities. We define and classify people around us with these two scales. That is of course in the material world. In the Christian world, a similar question arises: are we an asset to Christ? Firstly, let us understand that we are NOT a liability. We, each one, each one of us are valuable to God. Not because of who we are or what we have done, but because of what we have cost. Second, just because we are not a liability does not mean we are an asset . An asset is something or someone who is useful to God and to the world, people around us and to society at large. As assets we become agents of change for the better. Last, and following from the above, as assets we become agents of change for God. His word tells us what we need to do, how we must behave and act. How we need to build a relationship with Him as well as the people around us. Tha

 

"Amos 8:11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: Amos 8:12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD and shall not find it". As believers and followers, we are extremely dependent on the word. We may not be regular, we may run to in times of trouble only, we may not be familiar with it, but the truth is our lives are centered around the word of God. The word acts like a rudder as we sail to the other end.  What then would happen if suddenly we were left bereft of the word? Bereft of the rudder? Can we imagine such a scenario in our lives? We would panic at the slightest mishap; we would feel directionless.  The fact is that we realize the value of something, when we are left without it. It could be a person, a blessing or anything we take for granted like food