Living a fulfilling life as a Lean Christian in a Fat World ©

Luke 2:48 : ……His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” According to the Jewish customs, when Jesus was 12 years old Mary & Joseph brought him to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Passover.   After traveling a whole day on their return journey, Mary and Joseph realized that Jesus was not among them; neither was he with their relatives or friends. They started to panic, and worry and were overcome with grief.   They decided to travel back to Jerusalem in search of Jesus.   After three days on finding him in the temple, Mary asks Jesus , “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” In modern day America , Mary and Joseph would have perhaps faced serious charges of negligence. As parents of a 12 year old child, they would have been responsible for the whereabouts of Jesus.   They assumed that he was with their family.   I presume ...

Whenever we read the Christmas story, we are always reminded of this verse from Luke 2:7  (ESV) 7  And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn . Isn’t intriguing to see that “there was no room in the inn” for Joseph, Mary and for the birth of baby Jesus. In the story of Christmas, we see an obedient young virgin girl Mary who was doing what God said to her through angel Gabriel. One would imagine if God has given her this task then God too would help them through it.   But the story of Christmas tells us differently. The story starts with Joseph thinking to divorce Mary, since she was pregnant, but through an angelic revelation he willingly accepts Mary. Right before the delivery of the baby, there is a decree from King Herod forcing Joseph and Mary to travel to Bethlehem.   Travelling through the rugged terrain of Israel, they hope the...

Luke 24:32 They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" It is the 3rd day after the crucifixion and Jesus has just resurrected from his death on the cross.   On the same day we see two people walking to a “ village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem ”.   After a few moments Jesus appears to them and starts walking with them.   These people did not recognize Him and he jumps into their discussion.   However, only later in the evening when they were going to eat dinner did they recognize the person who was walking with them from Jerusalem .   As soon as they recognize Jesus, he disappears from their sight, and that is when these words were spoken by these men.   I believe the words spoken by these men communicate a truth, which many times we ignore.   That is, when Jesus spoke and opened the Word of God to them, every word spoken by Him made their...

“I will never succeed”, “I will not get a promotion”, “My dad had cancer, so I too will have”,   "I will not get admission", "My marriage will never be joyful",   "My relationship with my brother will never become okay."  We constantly hear these negative statements within the circle of our family or friends. Inevitably, in due course of time this comes true, even if we believe it or not now.   S uch comments are not only uncalled for, but dangerous. God loves us so much that he wants to bless us, but many times we seem to be inflicting damage on ourselves by putting a curse or a hindrance to our blessing.  There is an interesting story in Luke 1, about a priest named Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. They both were very old and they “were upright in the sight of God.” However, they never had children. One day, as Zechariah was in the house of God, an angel from Almighty God came and told him that, “your prayer has been heard. Your wif...

In the Bible there is a story about the Israelite's, where it took them forty long years to reach their promised land, which otherwise would have taken only 11 days (Deuteronomy 3:1-3).   It is also stated that God took them through a longer path since the Israelite's were not ready to take on their Promised Land on their own and would have become discouraged with the wars with the existing nations. Many times we get frustrated and angry when we see delays in our path of life.   Delays or hindrances seem unacceptable to us, since we are a rushing generation. The shortest path is our preference.   However, the shortest path may not always be the best path for us. Many years back, I remember the time after graduating from High school; I had not got admission into the top engineering schools in India. I was very disappointed, and sad. However, I joined a local college and was determined to give it another try, after studying for an additional year.   A ...

When I was a young kid I used to love watching the stars and the moon in a dark night sky.   I used to wonder how the moon shined and brought light to this dark earth.   It was in my science class that I understood that the Moon does not have any light of its own, since it has no internal source of energy, like the Sun. What we call moonlight was secondary light produced by light hitting the surface of the Moon. The beautiful moonlight was actually reflected sunlight. Another thing that I found interesting was that the moon had a dark spots. However, these dark spots were overshadowed by the magnificence and beauty of the moonlight. As we examine our lives we too can find some dark spots. On our own we too are like the moon. We too do not have a light of our own, since our life is marred with sin. As we journey through life’s struggles, we will be able to see our true nature revealed with pride, selfishness, wickedness, lust, fights, quarrels, hatred…etc.   ...

Some time ago, my wife and I were planting some tomatoes in our backyard. Since the ground was filled with stones I started tilling the ground with a shovel to loosen the rocky ground. I started getting rid of the stones that were restricting the growth of the plants.   We worked hard all morning and were successful in removing most of the stones, but the next day I realized that in the process of gardening I had hurt my back and my hip was out of alignment. One of my nerves started pinching sending shrieking pain to my right leg and forcing me to go to my physical therapist for treatment. In midst of that pain I was reminded of God’s great love, that he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for us. The shrieking pain that I experienced on my leg was in no comparison to the blood that Jesus shed on the cross, which led to his death.  While I was working in the garden I never thought of the pain that I would experience, since I was more concerned about giving life to ...