The Cross: Unrequited Love

Matthew 22: 1-14

“He came to his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who recieved him, he gave the right to become children of God...” (John 1:12). Most people have at one time or another experienced the humiliation of rejection. It hurts sharply when someone we deeply admire, into whose embrace we long to be drawn or on behalf of whom we give ourselves fails to respond lovingly. Shakespeare called it unrequited love.

As a consequence of his sin, man lost his relationship with God at Eden. Throughout the ages, God makes many attempts to restore that relationship. For me the writer of Chronicles makes the most poignant summary of it and the end-thereof. “The Lord sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and his dwelling place. But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of God was aroused against his people and there was no remedy…” 2Chronicles 36: 15-16. When God has tried everything till he says there is no remedy, things are thick. For Israel, the consequence was that Jerusalem was destroyed and the chosen people were taken to exile, and their city was never fully restored to it's former glory.

Jesus faces the issue of his rejection by his people. Earlier, he compares God’s chosen people to the vineyard that has yielded only sour grapes after it has been tended so carefully. In today’s passage, God is the king who has slaughtered his finest oxen and laid out an extravagant feast. But those who have been invited to share in his bounty snub him; they also kill his messengers, a sign not just of rejection but serious hostility towards God’s love. Sometimes the people we love most are the ones who hurt us most. The metaphor of the vineyard and the great feast are to indicate that God has given his very best. Alas, even food and wine which always bring people together in merriment have lost their ability to draw people together in community. What is God to do?

Well, there is a logical consequence to rejecting God’s love. It is the choice of a tragic end—death. In this passage the enraged King sent his army to destroy those that snubbed his feast and killed his messengers. Thus as Paul says, the cross is the fragrance of life to the ones who accept to come to God’s extravagant feast and the fragrance of death to those that snub the invitation (2Cor 2:15, 16). The same cross that will save some will also condemn others. “We preach Christ the crucified, a stumbling block to one and foolishness to the other...to those whom God has called, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1Cor 1:23-25)"

The cross is both the consequence of and the answer to God’s unrequited love. Man says, “We don’t want you here” and goes ahead and makes a painful public spectacle of him on the cross. Jesus takes this demeaning action, spreads out his hands and says ‘I love you this much. Come into my embrace. And then he dies, for “greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15: 13).

Please post your reflections

The Cross: The Big ? of God

Mark 12: 1-12, C.f. Isaiah 5: 1-4

Human agony is a reality. We frequently ask, why me Lord? Why does my friend suffer? Why are those people so poor? One woman who came for counseling asked me amidst heavy sobs, “Why did my project fail after I did everything I could?” I was tempted to focus on management issues of her project before I quickly realized it was much deeper; it was about the depths of everything she is. One of the age old problems of humanity is the question of suffering. Even the Psalmist asked, “how long will you forget oh Lord, how long will you hide? How long must I struggle with my thoughts oh Lord? (Psalm 13)”

It might occur to you, but do you seriously think God also agonizes? Frequently,the Bible vividly portrays God's disappointment with his chosen people. Nowhere is this more poignant that in the passages in Mark 12, a retelling of Isaiah 5. In Isaiah’s version of it, God did everything for his vineyard—Israel—and then he looked for good grapes but it bore only wild grapes. Isaiah sets the divine problem before human minds, “Oh dwellers of Jerusalem, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? Why did it only yield bad grapes?” (Is 5:3,4).

Jesus echoes Isaiah, “what will the owner of the vineyard do?" Mk 12: 9. God has withheld nothing, having given all that he could to help man. But man is unresponsive. Other prophets are sensitive to God’s agony and disappointment as well “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me! (Micah 6:3). Jeremiah cries out, “What fault did your fathers find in me, that they should stray so far from me? Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number! My people have committed two sins; they have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, cisterns that cannot hold water. Why? How did you turn against me (Jer. 2:5, 13, 32)? Jesus expresses this agony again, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Mt23:37).

If you think about them, these scripture are disturbing. The image of an all powerful God is very attractive to us. But a suffering God? We don’t know what to do with that. The story of Jesus and his cross is the only possible response to the agony of God, and of humanity. On the cross, all this age-long anguish of God is consummated. It did not mean that men stopped rejecting God. Even after Jesus agonized for Jerusalem, the city was destroyed in the next generation because they did not repent. Suffering of innocent people continues.

People continue to reject God—and to persecute his followers. To all this, the cross does not answer the big “why?” of God or of humanity. But precisely for that reason, it is firmly planted in the midst of God’s and our disappointments. It is a solid witness to the presence of God in the midst of all the evil and suffering in the world. And there-in, alongside the paradox, lies our hope, “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, your dominion endures through all generations (Ps 145: 13). God is still the triumphant one, and we his faithful ones triumph with him.

Once again, our call is to contemplate on the full implication of God's agony. I believe that if we allow the truth of what led him to crucify his own son to sink in our lives, we shall have strength to live through the circumstantial agonies of our lives. We shall also speak credibly to a suffering world. And we shall find the basis of a selfless devotion to a God who fully identifies with us in wholeness as well as in suffering.

Please share your reflections.

Contemplating on Via Dolorosa

This is a modern glamorous image of the cross. It is silhouted againist a calm sunset sky. It is different from the original shameful stake that Jesus was crucified on. That is alright. It does draw us into contemplation, to a place where can focus on what we have taken for granted for so long. We connect the knowledge in our heads with the values that motivate our hearts, and the impulses that drive us into certain action. For me it comes back to discipleship—following Jesus. The cross should speak to the way we live our every day life.

You might be tempted to think that contemplating on and following that path of down-ward mobility is synonymous with being a psychologically weak person, one who allows everyone to walk over them. No, that is not the point. The point is an essential attitude of the heart coming out of a life surrendered to our Lord. It speaks to the motives of all that you do. You have to figure out that attitude for yourself in your own situation.

By the way, lest you dismiss Jesus as self-effacing contemplative, think of his provocative attacks directed at Pharisees and Sadducees in the Temple in Matthew 23, and the sharp words he spoke to the Jews in John 8. We may find it hard to believe, but he did call people ‘a brood of vipers’, ‘hypocrites’ and ‘children of your father, the devil’ and so on. The person who spoke in those chapters was not a wimp.Think of the man that violently drove money chargers from the temple with a whip. He was a man with a passion. But he is the same one who went Via Dolorosa, the way of the cross, the path of powerlessness. He is the same that spoke these scriptures of powerlessness to his disciples. A man of paradox?

Keeping these tensions in mind let me ask you a question. Was Jesus taking an exclusive path that he did not expect his disciples to follow? Did Jesus intend for us to take him seriously on the following scriptures?

“Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me (Mark 8:34)
Anyone who looses his life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will save it (mk8:35).

The one who makes himself as a little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Mt 18: 14)

Blessed are the poor in spirit…who hunger and thirst for rightiousnees…who are peace maker…who are persecuted (Matthew 3-10)

What do you think? Share your thoughts by posting your comments.

Down the Via Dolorosa

Mark 8: 31-38

Did you know that long before it was ever a religious symbol of the Christian faith, the cross was an instrument of violence and humiliation? It was used by Romans as a ruthless deterrent to any and all that would rise in oppose laws and regulations of the Roman empire. The cross sent out a clear message to all subjects under Roman authority: if you disobey the laws of this empire, this will be your fate; you will hang up there in dishonor, suffer under the agony of it and you will die.

Back then, the cross was not glamorous. No one would fashion it into a necklace or earring as we do today, or even cast it in gold and hang it as a centerpiece in their living room. It was absolutely disgraceful, more so to people that were colonized and ruled by a foreign power. The only people that might have relished it would be the Roman conquerors, particularly the soldiers because it was a symbol of their conquest and power of the vanquished peoples.

So you can understand Peter’s vexation with Jesus when the latter starts talking about dying at the hands elders, on the cross. Mind you, this is right after the great disclosure that Jesus is the Christ, he that is expected to restore Israel to its former glory. How can a glorious king anticipate death on a cross? No way! Peter rebukes Jesus, trying to dissuade him from even considering the possibility that His life could end like that of a common criminal. The Messiah has to be a man of power.

Well, he quickly discovers that he cannot dissuade Christ from going down the ‘Via Dolorosa’. Jesus not only sharply rebukes him, he also goes ahead to instruct his disciples “if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will loose it, but whoever looses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” Peter, I’m the Messiah, the all-powerful one who will restore the people of God to their glory. But I’m not taking the easy way to power and glory. I’m going down the way of that disgraceful cross. What’s more, I’m not going down alone—you are coming with me, or you are not my disciple. Do you understand?

This must have been very, very sobering for Peter and the disciples who had expected a Christ of power. One contemplative Christian has called this the way of downward mobility. Peter would later relay that truth as he wrote to Christians in his epistle “…it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering, because he is conscious of God…to this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1Peter 2:19-21). History tells us that Peter would later die on a cross hanging upside down because he did not consider himself worthy to be crucified right-side up like Jesus.

Easter is a season to think about the Lord, about his sacrifice on our behalf. So I say, do not be quick to seek a personal application, rather, think this over and try to go beyond the obvious answers such us ‘to save us from our sins’. You know all about Jesus miracles, demonstrations of immense power over nature, powers of darkness and people; why on earth did he still choose to forfeit that power and go down the Via Dolorosa?

Your reflections and comments?

The Cross: alive or a relic?

I asked us yesterday to take a look at the painting of the cross from various perspectives, calling us to consciously contemplate on it's meaning. Here is another picture to think about.


I took this picture outside an ancient church in a European country. Take a good look. The building is awe-inspiring both outside and inside. In the particular town where I took it, the church steeple with the cross at the top is the highest point of the city. Most ancient churches in the old cities of Europe are like that. In fact, they dot the landscape of European territory. It's a beautiful picture to behold. The steeple and its cross stand above the rest of the buildings as a witness to the presence of God in that city. That those churches are now poorly attended is a different story; the witness of the cross remains.


Most of us who raised in less traditional churches have lost the sense of awe of the cross. Yet there is something about the cross that inspires sincere faith and elicits boundless commitment. I have particularly had the fortune of interacting with sincere Anglicans and Catholics and found some of the most devoted people I know--devoted in their relationship to God and in his cause for this world. And I have wondered, ‘why is it that we lack a similar devotion?’ It seems to me their perspective on the cross has something to do with it.

We who live in the modern era thrive on explaining everything (including people) away, or putting them in a box if we can’t understand it. God and the cross can be expounded but not fully explained. Jesus himself made a heart-rending cry as he was dying on the cross; “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). At that moment, what was happening was a mystery to him. He soon breathed his last while his head slumped in death. I like the dramatic rendition of that moment in the movie “The Passion of the Christ”. A giant tear falls from heaven and cracks the earth as though God himself is gravely wounded by his own sacrifice of his only Son. Contemplating on that unexplained hour of Christ's abandonment by God—and on the grief of God—has provided countless Christians with hope and comfort as they cry out in their lesser calvaries, “My God, My God, why me?”

The goal of contemplating on the cross is not to increase knowledge, nor is it to become a mystic or monk. What I’m asking us to do is not let the cross be a passing relic once again this Easter. Seek out scriptures. We can share some of those on this devotion, and will as we go along, but the most fruitful quest will be your own search, reading and contemplation on the cross. You might even want to spend a day in a ‘holy place’, where you can set aside all distractions and allow the full meaning of the cross to dawn on you. Look for passages that give a perspective on the cross, and find out if these will not transform the way you commit to and follow the subject of the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Your Comments?

Topical Devotional Study: "Via Dolorosa"

Via Dolorosa: The way of the cross

In the last several weeks we have reflected on the two books of the Bible, Phillipians and Jonah. I hope you have grown in your walk with the Lord as you have studied and reflected with me on those books. My colleague is preparing devotionals from another New Testament book. We shall post them in April. Before then, we are going to have a topical study based on Easter. What better way to reflect on Easter than to focus on the cross.

The picture attached to this post is a famous painting known as “Christ of St. John of the Cross” done by a painter called Salvador Dali in 1951. Over the last 50 years the painting has been quite popular as a silent but powerful exposition of John 3:16 “for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. Take a few moments to look at the painting from different angles. What do you see?

First, the cross looks massive, as if everything else does not matter. It also looms over the world on which its subject looks. Clearly, the painter has placed the view point not from the perspective of someone looking from the base of the cross but from someone looking from above, as though the image were seen from God’s view in heaven. The cross makes most sense when looked at from God's eye, not from a human perpective.

Secondly, the person on the cross seems to be powerfully pushing back a great volume of darkness that wants to envelope the world. Light shines onto the world which he overlooks, and the darkness retreats behind him. It is as the scripture says, “the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining”.

What else do you see in the painting? Would you point them out to the rest of the readers on this blog on the comment bar below?

The cross a symbol of the complex patterns that the Christian life takes. Once we welcome the crucified and risen Lord into our lives, life becomes a constant adjustments towards becoming like him. It is not just the way we live our lives as Christians. The crucified Christ has a unique angle on everything that goes on in this world. The closer we live to Christ, the more different everything else becomes. People, problems, circumstances may not change but looked at from the angle of the cross, their contours change. We just need to open our eyes to see things as he sees them from that position of the cross. This reflection will be an attempt to discover some of the perspectives of the cross.

As we start out, it is important to say this: all of Christ’s life on earth was not about the crucifixion. He did not merely come to die on the cross. His three years of public ministry teaches us so much more about his purpose and about God's redemptive plan. In fact, Jesus' life and teachings before he went from the cross are a major clue on how we should live as his disciples. Some day I would love write devotionals reflecting on Jesus’ life on earth. But, the cross is a very important part of our Christian pilgrimage. It is central to the message of salvation. Therefore it is worth spending time focusing on it.

So, come with me for the next several days and let’s together re-live the most importan event on the face of this earth, "Via Dolorosa", the Way of the Cross .

Please share you what you see on the image attached.

Jonah: a lesson for us

As I said yesterday, chapter 4 of Jonah has been included in this book for the benefit of the Israelites back then and us Christians today. It is to reveal the depth of the issues in our hearts for which God might as well judge and destroy us with the same breath as he would destroy Nineveh.

Look at how defensive Jonah gets when God forgives Nineveh “I knew you are gracious and compassionate…that is why I was so quick to flee” (v 2). “I’m angry enough to die”. The intensity of his self-centeredness has so corroded his heart he cannot appreciate God's compassion at providing him with shade and better still, saving Nineveh. He is so focused on his own comfort and well being—the vine that provided him with shade—but cannot think of the thousands of lives at stake were Nineveh to be destroyed.

At the heart of the Jonah’s anger a sense of insecurity as an Israelite. He reckons that if God loves such a wicked people, then the special place of Israel as a chosen and privileged people is threatened. Look at God’s contrasting response to Jonah’s self-absorption “God provided a vine and made it to grow over Jonah to give him shade” God does cares very specially for his children. They are his beloved. Indeed he says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love, I have drawn you with loving kindness” Jeremiah 31:3. So being concerned for the wicked does not mean he has abandoned his chosen people. His great, benevolent heart contains more than enough love—and goodies—for all of his creation.

As we end this study, let us keep in mind that we have received undeserved, unconditional and unending love. That applies also for his care, provision and protection; God's blessings like are always available to us, like the elder son in the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15). He had no reason to be jelous at the celebration of his rebellious brother's return. If we are affirmed and secure in God’s love for us, then we will be free from the kind of dark emotions, passions and feelings that Jonah harbored against the Ninevites. And we will gladly share the good news of Gods kingdom with all around us.

I began this devotional on Jonah by telling you about the books of the Minor Prophets. They are accounts of God’s struggle with his intense love for a wayward people. Jonah is a version of that struggle. His issues are a reflection of us Christians. Nineveh is typical of the unbelieving world around us. May the Lord help us to surrender all our issues to his transforming hand (Romans 12: 1-2) long enough to feel his passion and pain for a wayward humanity. May he equip us with zeal to reach to all those are living in Nineveh and may we be quick to respond when he calls, that we may become the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved (2Cor 2:14-16), the fragrance of life to all the world.

As you think about what you need to do, would you meditate on these words of a familiar song by Steve Green, "People Need The Lord".

Everyday they pass me by, I can see it in their eyes.
Empty people filled with care, headed who knows where?

On they go through private pain, living fear to fear.
Laughter hides their silent cries, only Jesus hears.

People need the Lord, people need the Lord.
At the end of broken dreams, He's the open door.
People need the Lord, people need the Lord.
When will we realize, people need the Lord?

We are called to take His light, to a world where wrong seems right.
What could be too great a cost, for sharing Life with one who's lost?

Through His love our hearts can feel, all the grief they bear.
They must hear the Words of Life, only we can share.

People need the Lord, people need the Lord
At the end of broken dreams, He's the open door.
People need the Lord, people need the Lord.
When will we realize that we must give our lives,
For peo-ple need the Lord.

Jonah's 'righteous' anger: 4:1-5

The Jonah narrative would have been complete if it ended in Chapter 3 verse 10. The goal was to get Nineveh to repent and be saved, right? Not really. The story is not so much about Nineveh as it is about Jonah—and the people he stands for, that is Israel as a chosen people vis-à-vis the character that God expects of them, demonstrated by the example he sets.

If Pharisees would have existed during Jonah’s time, Jonah would have made a classic one. Pharisees of Jesus time knew all about God’s law and all about God’s judgment, even about God’s mercy—intellectually. They engaged God with the head, not the heart. They recognized their special place as a chosen people and reveled in it as though they had a special preserve of God’s favor. They were quick to see how God would judge and destroy the wicked, but were hard-pressed to feel compassion for anyone they considered evil. And they got grumpy when Jesus showed mercy to sinners and tax-collectors, so grumpy that they plotted how to kill Jesus and succeeded. Well. Jonah was so eaten with jealousy at Nineveh’s salvation that it took all the pleasure out of living. He literary prayed to die.

Sounds far fetched from today’s Christians? How often do we harbor ‘righteous anger’ at those we consider to have wronged us or those we think are doing evil? How often do we pray that God would teach ‘those people’ a lesson? What we do not admit is that if we were in God’s shoes, we would cause something bad—evil—to happen to them. We would seek revenge.

Jonah 4 teaches us an important lesson. No matter what wrong people have done, it is never, ever our prerogative to curse or will evil on them. That prerogative belongs to God and even he desires that everyone should repent and be saved (Ezekiel 18:23). As quoted by Jonah he is full of mercy, slow to anger and rich in love. To curse and seek revenge is to be in league with the kingdom of darkness, and there is already enough suffering in the world on the devil’s account. Those that do evil are in bondage to Satan; often they are not even aware of their bondage. So the least we can do is to compassionately pray for them. Deut 32:35 says, “Vengeance is mine…the Lord will vindicate his people” “Beloved, never avenge yourself, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘vengeance is mine, I will repay…if your enemies are hungry, feed them…for by doing this, you will heap burning coals on their heads. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12: 19-21).

This reflection comes back to us—Christians. The outburst of your ‘righteous anger’ or whatever form it may take is actually a revelation of who you have been all along. It tells a great deal about the depth of your transformation if there is any transformation at all. You may have been a Christian for a long time, converted, going to heaven, but if heaven is not in your heart, you will not get as many people as possible ready to go to heaven because your life testifies against your witness. If you are to be a credible witness, your life needs to embody a certain character, the character of Christ.

We shall carry on this lesson tomorrow but please post your thoughts on this passage.

Repentance in Nineveh: Jonah 3:6-10

When we invite to put their faith in Christ, we normally ask them to ‘seal the deal’ with the Lord by saying the ‘sinners prayer’. This prayer asks them to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, ask the Lord to come into their hearts, confess their sins and accept God’s forgiveness. This guarantees that they are accepted in the household of faith and if they die, they will go to heaven. If they make a great emotional show while they are making that prayer, we interpret that to mean a deep level of remorse over their sin. We might also think that their tears mean a deep commitment.


I have nothing against the 'sinners’ prayer'. It is necessary to make that confession prayer. Even the tears are alright as people are ‘cut to the heart’ (Acts 2:37) at the realization of how badly they have offended God. The only problem in this day and age is that after making this prayer, most people just settle at that very low level of commitment to God. Today’s passage has a lot to teach about the level of expectation that God has on us when we ‘believe’ him.

Ninevites put on sackcloth—a sign of remorse and prayed for mercy. Remorse and saying the sinner’s prayer are an important step in crossing from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. But it is just the beginning of what the Lord has invited you into. Picture it like being invited into a great feast, getting inside the hall because you have the right card, but then you stay at the lobby sipping cocktails while the real feast is going inside the banquet hall.

The Ninevites gave up their evil ways. This is the hallmark of repentance. It is turning away from the wrong you have been doing and start doing right. John the Baptist warned the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to him to confess and be baptized "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance! And do not say to yourselves, we are Abraham's children...every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down" (Luke 3: 7-9). In other words, don't imagine that confession and conversion guarantees a relationship with God. You need to change your ways. When the tax collectors and soldiers asked him what they should do, he explained "Do not collect any more than you are required to" and to the soldiers, "do not extort money and do not accuse people falsely..." In other words, stop the wrong you are doing, start doing right.

At the heart of repentance is giving up being in control of your life, of your choices, of your behavior. You submit to God and follow his will as spelled out in scripture. Your choices and behavior do not contradict his word. As such, repentance is a lifelong process as God continues to reveal areas of spiritual growth. As you submit to God, he changes your character to be more like Christ. Now, that process of being changed in your character to be more and more like Christ is the essence of 'spiritual formation'.

I'm emphasizing this issue in length because most Christian's today have settled at that level of conversion. This has produced a weak and powerless brand of Christianity that was not common in past eras of Christianity. The logical result is that we have become poor witnesses for Christ. Many non-believers do not see why they need to be converted; they can’t see the difference. Alternatively they convert to become the institutional Christians that we are and the cycle continues.


Dear friends, throughout this devotional, I have continually called us to seriously witness to those in our circles of influence, lead them to Christ or bring them to church. If we are to be effective in this challenge, our own lives need to produce fruit in keeping with repentance!

Jonah Preaches in Nineveh: 3:1-5

God was determined to save Nineveh from falling under his holy judgment due to the evil in that city. 2 Peter 3:9 says that God does not want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. So he spoke to the chastised prophet a second time and commanded him to go preach. This time round, Jonah knew to obey.We note later that he went reluctantly, still not convinced that the city should be saved.

What is of interest in this passage is that the people of Nineveh believed God at the first hearing of Jonah and responded immediately. They declared a fast and wore sackcloth. Putting on sack cloth was the highest form of penitence and humility. That city of violence, witchcraft, promiscuity and so on heard the words of a grumpy prophet and turned to God at first hearing. Jonah, who had not understood the nature of God’s love, had thought these were people that were beyond the reach of God’s grace, but God believed in these people as part of his beloved creation and prepared their hearts to respond to his message.

God does not have favorites. All of us who are saved are recipients of God’s mercy. We never did anything to deserve his salvation, even the blessings of life that we now enjoy. Paul in Acts 17 told the Athenians, who had an altar to an ‘unknown God’ that the God who made heaven and earth determined the exact times and places where they would live. He did this so that people would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. In fact, in him we all live, move and have our being.

We witness to all people because no one is beyond the saving grace of God so long as they are still on this side of eternity. Christ’s sacrifice for sins included everyone, for John 3:16 says “whosoever believes will have eternal life”. Everyone can also respond to God’s invitation to follow him.

There is a prevailing notion among people that have been raised in nominal Christian homes that only God will determine for them if they will be saved or not. They say they cannot make the decision to follow unless ‘God wills’ it for them. This gives them license to continue in an indulgent lifestyle. The bible on the other hand shows that God has already done his part and that he expects us to respond to his invitation to repent (turn away from the wrong we have been doing) and follow him. I hope this thought will give you the courage to pray for and witness for people with the expectation that they can respond to God.

Is there someone in your circles that you have given up on? May the Lord renew your hope that they can be redeemed.

Humbled Jonah 2:1-10

As one devotional writer says, ‘a taste of the consequences of sin is designed as a kind of strong medicine. God often gets the attention of strong willed, self-centered people by letting their choices go sour.’ God certainly got Jonah’s attention when he was tossed into the sea. He thought his life would end, but he found out that God was not going to let him end it all so quickly. He was trapped in the belly of a fish, unable to run away anymore and unable to engage in any escapist behavior. I imagine even sleep was impossible in the queasy belly of the great fish. Thus he had time to come to his senses and to pray.

His prayer reveals that he recognized that he had come to the end of his rope. He finally became willing to submit to God’s authority “when my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, oh Lord, and my prayer rose to you”. He saw that only God could help him “from the depths of the grave, I called for help and you listened to my cry”. And when he was saved from death, he appreciated the grace that God had made available to him “those who cling to idols (or those with other things they trust in the place of trusting God), forfeit the grace that could be theirs. Clearly there was immense relief in discovering that that God had not discarded him. At the end he even sings a song of thanksgiving and looks forward to the day he will go to the temple of the Lord to make a sacrifice.

In this devotional study of the book of Jonah, I’m encouraging us to keep thinking about the lives, destiny and fates of those in our social networks that are living lives far from God. We have seen that many that are clearly taking a path of self-deception. They know about the Lord but do not know him personally.They get to the place where they cannot get themselves out of the mess they are in. Like Jonah, they keep making choices that lead them further and further away from the Lord; eventually they are headed to hell on earth and upon death they will end up in eternal hell. I pray as we meditate on Jonah’s story we shall be able to think of them with compassion so that we can pray for them. Today's reading shows us that it is not over until God says it is over. If we have that hope, then we will be energised to do anything and everything we can to help them find salvation in Christ

The cost of running away is from God is great. Jonah paid money to get into a ship to run away from God, but God provided him with a free ride, you could call it an all expenses paid ticket back to the right place. God offers a free ticket to a relationship with him. All it takes is for someone who knows God to help the lost person realize that God is offering a free gift, and a life will be restored. He does not wait until people get their act together. He demonstrates his love in that ‘while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”, Roman 5:8, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16.

Who around you needs to come to their senses like Jonah or the prodigal son? What are you doing about it?

Please share your thoughts with others on this post.

Tossed! into the sea Jonah 1:11-16

Jonah had come to the end of his rope. He could not run any more from God; he had no options anyway. Note that we never hear Jonah repenting to the Lord for his disobedience. Pushed to the corner, he confesses to the sailors, but he doesn’t seek God’s forgiveness. Instead he opts to flee even further by committing suicide in the raging water. Asking the men to toss him into the sea was asking for death. I don’t know if it was pride, stubborn rebellion or if it was the height of hopelessness that made him want to end it all in the sea. It is probably all of the above. Jonah just did not think that God could help him.

This is how the spiral of self-destruction works. People rebel against God to have their own way over and against God’s will for them. They even have some fun rebelling, all the while shutting out the voice of Holy Spirit calling them to repent. Soon enough the fun gets out of control, their choices go sour and pain checks in. They get to a place where they are controlled by guilt and shame and it becomes a hide and seek game with God and with people. So they delve deeper and deeper into a life of endless problems. Picture it like a soap opera that turns into a horror show that spins fast into a black hole. Next time you hear of someone involved in all manner of scandals, think of them with a little more compassion and pray that the Holy Spirit will rescue them; they are trapped.

So when God cries out, “whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”, He is making a pained, agonized appeal to those of us that are sober to see these horror shows all around us and do something about it before they are sucked into the black hole. It is you, the believer, who can partner with God to retrieve one who is stuck in the spiral of self-destruction.

The damage may be great, yet as with Jonah, God mercifuly reaches out and rescues. God provided a whale to save Jonah from drowning. He wanted to show him that disciplining him was not equal to discarding him.

Besides, when he disciplines, he walks with us in the length of the discipline. I have been reading through the book of Jeremiah. It is one of those anguished books of the OT. God is very angry with Israel for sinning continually. Eventually he lets Nebuchadnezzar take them to captivity amidst the worst humiliation of the ancient world. The people then feel very hopeless. And then in chapter 29 God comes to them with an assurance of restoration. In fact they are told to work hard, marry and be married and prosper in the country of their exile for God is with them to bless them. It is better to undergo the discipline of the Lord than to be left all on your own.

Now, who around you is a horror show waiting to happen? What will you do about it?

Share your reflection with others on this blog.

Found out! Jonah 1:6-10

I have changed today’s sub-topic to “found out!” Indulge your imagination with me a little bit. Jonah had thought he could hide from God. He even went and lay down in deep sleep while everyone else watched the gathering storm. Was he trying to shut out the small still voice in his conscience? Did he think no one would know what he had just done? Deuteronomy 32: 23 says, “Be sure that your sins will find you out”.

Not only did God prod his conscience, the sailors also found him out when they cast lots. And in typical human fashion they laid the blame squarely on him. I can imagine the captain squarely delivering a kick at his shin, “You fool, what have you done!” Smarting with pain, he confessed in full detail why he was running away from God. As they listened to the account of the threatened destruction of Nineveh and looked at the frothing sea, their emotions must have shifted from anger at Jonah to wide-eyed dread of this all powerful God. And there in lay their dilemma as well: if they threw Jonah into the sea as he advised, what guarantee did they have that his God would not destroy them? So they tried to row the ship back to the shore, but it wouldn’t do. The only option left to them was to toss him into the sea.

Are there some people you are afraid to witness to because they look and talk tough? Note how in the face of death each of the hardened sailors (and sailors have the reputation of the coarsest language and worst mannerisms too) called onto his god. When trouble happens, it’s interesting to note the haste, the penitence and raw faith with which unbelievers turn to God expecting immediate relief from their crisis. If we are sensitive enough when the Holy Spirit guides us to such people, he can use us to bring them to salvation.

Some of the people that you think are too tough to reach with the gospel have a very soft heart. As I write this I’m reminded of a man that was in our lives as we were growing up. He was this rough, tough talking mean cowboy type of a guy. He intimidated everyone around him. One night he had a terrible physical fight with his older brother who was visiting from the city. He had never fought with his brother before and never fought with him like that again, not to our knowledge anyway. But in my mind, that night created a most irreconcilable image of the man. I saw the big village bully completely humiliated, reduced to bawling out loud like a child. Somewhere in there was a helpless heart that could be hurt after all.

Everybody has a soft spot that brings them within reach of the gospel of Christ. A crisis of life reveals this soft spot, what St. Augustine called the ‘God-shaped vacuum’ that keeps us restless until we find our rest in God. Some people’s soft spot is revealed when something happens to their means of making a living. Some people’s vulnerability becomes obvious when they experience rejection from someone they deeply care about. Such are opportune moments to preach the gospel to them. Usually if there is no one to reach out with love they sink into a deeper vacuum, engaging in escapist behavior such as alcohol or illicit relationships. This is why if you know someone who is in some sort of crisis, you should lovingly reach out to them and lead them to the rock that is higher than them, certainly higher than you—to Christ.

Do you know someone that is currently in a storm? Take them to Jesus. If you cannot share the gospel with them, pray for them and try to take them to church.

Pursuit! of Jonah with a storm: 1:4-5

When I was a young I used to look after cows after school and on holidays. One day when I was bored I wandered into the bush to pick wild berries. The cows strayed into a nearby patch of maize crop and began to trample the young crop. Just then an uncle came. He herded the cows away from the maize and then looked for me. I had seen him coming and realized was in serious trouble. Scared of the worst, I had gone very still. Then I saw him remove his legendary disciplinary tool, his hard leather belt that stung worse than a bamboo stick. I crawled deeper and deeper into the bush. Later that evening I sneaked home and hid in a corner. Not even cold and hunger pangs would get me out of my hiding place. My unrelenting uncle and his belt caught up with me the next day. I never again left the cows to go pick berries.

Jonah thought he had done the ultimate act of hiding by taking a ship to sail in the opposite direction from his assigned city. It never occurred to him that the Lord could follow him into the sea. He should have read David’s words in Psalm 139: 7-12 “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me...” I bet if he knew of the danger of the storm, the damage he would cause his fellows sailors, even the threat to his own life, he might not have take flight via the sea.

It should be fairly obvious to most believers that they cannot hide from God. Nevertheless we often act as though he cannot see us when we have disobeyed, as though he will only find out when we go to him to pray. He is everywhere and knows even the intentions of our hearts. Usually the Holy Spirit will try to stop us from rebelling by nudging our consciences. But then God allows us to exercise the gift of free will, the choice to obey or disobey. When we disobey he should just leave us to experience the consequences of our disobedience. But before we self-destruct he disciplines us to get us back on track just like we discipline our children so that they can grow up with the right values (Hebrews 12:6, Rev 3:19). The storm in the sea was a disciplinary action for Jonah.

I have found that the best response when I have wronged God is to confess to God immediately. I don’t wait and hope I will feel better after a few days then sort it out with him. I confess and ask forgiveness right away. The immense release that comes with confessing as soon as I am convicted by the Holy Spirit also breaks the powerful cycle of sin and rebellion. It simply disarms the devil, breaking his hold over your life. If you have in any small and big way been disobedient to God, don’t try to hide further. Don’t wait till you can talk to someone about it, or till you feel better so you can pray. You may just find yourself slipping into a prolonged spell of spiritual dryness. Postponing your confession, mopping around or waiting will only give the devil a foothold to tempt you to disobey more. Confess there and then, and the Holy Spirit will restore you. Otherwise God may teach you a lesson in a watery grave.

In the same breath, when I feel grossly wronged or misunderstood, or given an impossible assignment like Jonah I have found that confessing the associated negative feelings to God immediately opens up my circumstances to his goodness and loving care. Instead of fighting back the next time you feel wronged, close your eyes and tell God exactly how you feel. He will help you walk the high road of loving those who wrong you, and will show you better alternatives other than taking flight from him and from them.

Is there a storm in your life? Could it be the discipline of the Lord and what do you need to do to get back onto track?

Post your comments to share them with other readers on this blog.

Flight! Jonah 1:3

“Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship, paid his fare and went aboard to go...away from the presence of the Lord”.

In the introduction, we talked about why Jonah felt justified to take a dramatic flight to Tarshish instead of obeying God's call to go to Nineveh. He was afraid of being defiled and also he did not like the idea that Ninevites could be forgiven. When most Christians are called and resourced to go evangelise cross-culturally, they grab the opportunity, unlike Jonah. There is likely to be a degree of success when people go to evangelise in the ends of the earth. There are no long term expectations on relationships formed in those encounters. There is certainly need and room for frontier witnessing.

But for us the call at hand is to witness to our regular social networks. This is where the greatest opportunity for kingdom impact is, but it is also the biggest challenge. So, many christians take a 'relational flight', that is they turn away from witnessing to people within their regular sphere of influcence. Quite often they have similar reasons with Jonah:

Fear: Jonah was afraid of going beyond his religious culture into an irreligious community. Many long-time Christians do not have non-Christian networks. When I was in college, we had what was known as a Jerusalem table in the dining hall. On it sat only believers who never interacted with non-believers. Such Christians are so secure in their small world that they cannot be exposed to the needs of those outside their circles. They will often rave againist the evil in the world but will do little to stem the tide of wickedness. If they try to witness, their communication style ends up being insensitive and abrasive. There is need to be careful over social interactions especially for young believers, but we have to learn to be in the world without being of the world so we can reach the world.

Insecurity: Jonah did not like it that such an evil people would be recipients of God’s mercy. In fact in Chapter 4:2 he complains that God has shown mercy and forgiven the Ninevites. He was being protective of the national heritage of his people as a chosen nation. Is it possible that we are so protective of our turf that we cannot imagine sharing kingdom goodies with those we consider wicked? You probably work with people that are so mean and ruthless that they will do anything to advance in the corporate ladder. You may have relatives that are so malicious that you cannot see a shred of goodness to warrant them to receive God’s forgiveness. At times you would rather see them confined to hell. This is exactly what Jonah was feeling when he got on a ship to run away.

Christians are called to be different. Instead of turning your back on them, take the high road: love them,do good to them and pray that God will show you how to witness to them. Are there people you have taken a relational flight from, either because they have hurt you or they are difficult to reach? Pray that God will give you compassion for them, and then extend an invitation to them to attend church with you.

The Call: Jonah 1:1-2

Our passage today is short but the issue is very weighty. Recently, our pastors asked us to reach out to all the un-believers in our networks and bring them to church where they will have a chance to hear the gospel. This was a call, just like Jonah’s. If we understand the call then we will act with urgency in the interests of all those in our networks.

First, Jonah received a very specific call. This kind of commissioning “the word of the Lord came to” is common in the books of the prophets such as Jeremiah 1: 1-2, Hosea 1:1, Joel 1:1. God got Moses attention by burning a bush. David was visited by old prophet Samuel to be commissioned as king of Israel. Jesus saw Peter and Andrew at the lake and simply said, ‘follow me and I will make you fishers of men'. Whatever means God used to call his servants, there would be no doubt that he had intercepted their ‘normal’ business to give them some urgent work. 2Corinthians 5: 18-20 reminds us that God is in the business of reconciling the world to himself and has co-opted us into that business; we are his ambassadors in this world. Every Christian is called to participate with Christ is saving the world.

Secondly, Jonah was specifically commissioned to Nineveh. For the average person reading this blog, attending Nairobi Chapel and working in Nairobi, the Lord has probably not called you to evangelize in China or Nicaragua. You are sent to speak prophetically to the social networks in your locale, your workplace, your family. The question is, do you care?

Quite often, you as a faithful Christian want to bring others to Christ. But your life is too stretched, demand on your time is too much, challenges to surmount are too many. If you are this kind of Christian, ask the Holy Spirit to stir you with compassion for the unbelievers. An old high school song had this line “Lord, share with me the great bitterness that you have when man sins and I will show your sweet love to thousands of men”. Make this your prayer.

Thirdly, Jonah’s instruction was to urgently announce judgment—destruction—to Nineveh because of the evil of the people in that city. The book of Nahum is a later prophecy against Nineveh. Some of the sins that Nahum mentions include prostitution, violence, bloodshed, extreme cruelty in war, witchcraft, and commercial exploitation; every kind of evil you can imagine. But before God destroyed Nineveh, he sent a warning first. As we see at the end of Jonah, Nineveh did repent and was saved. The book of Nahum shows that that Nineveh later reverted to her wicked ways. It was destroyed about 80-100 years after Jonah's preaching.

Do you recognize what this means? You may be happily saved, going to heaven, full of peace and prosperity because you are walking well with the Lord. Very good. However, all the people in your networks are awaiting God’s judgment if they do know him. It is a very uncomfortable, very uncommon message, probably because it is terrifying to even think about: they are going to hell if their lives are not already hell on earth. Do you care? If you care, then do something about it urgently. Just as God’s promises for his children are true and will be fulfilled, so will his threats of judgment over all evil. You may be the only means that God can use to help avert judgment over people you deeply care about.

Pray for them, preach to them, and/ or bring them to church and let them have a chance to hear and respond to the gospel.

Please share your insights and comments with others on this blog.

Introduction to the Book of Jonah

Welcome aboard this whale ride! It promises to be as queasy as it is exciting!

I am fascinated by the books of the Minor Prophets. They are poetic accounts of God’s relationship with his people in turbulent times. Their themes swing between two poles: rebellion and restoration. In between these two poles you encounter the full array of God’s emotions for a people he desperately loves but for whom he quite often pulls his hair out (if he has hair, pun intended). Through the mouths of the prophets, he gets angry, anguished, frustrated, grieved and so on. He warns, he rebukes, he gives up. At times cajoles, he pleads as he calls his people back. When they repent he pampers them with great promises, he blesses them with hope, he protects them, and he secures them a future. If you have never encountered the God of the Minor Prophets, you have missed out on a very unique way of understanding of God’s nature. You need to set aside some leisurely time read through those books.

Well, Jonah is not as poetic as some of the Minor Prophets, but the events are no less dramatic. Jonah is mentioned in 2Kings 14:25 during a long reign of King Jeroboam II in the Northern kingdom of Israel. In terms of time frame, he does his ministry in the years following prophets Elijah and Elisha. Jonah himself is a contemporary of prophets Amos and Hosea, both of who seriously warn Israel of impending exile because of their sin. Jonah's time was also the peak of national prosperity and patriotism. Therefore the idea that an Israelite would preach in a gentile city was nearly outrageous and a betrayal to the nationhood of Israel. This gives us the necessary background to understand why Jonah not only disobeyed but also took flight from God, and after he had been compelled to preach to Nineveh, why he was so disappointed that Nineveh was saved.

Nineveh was a gentile city. In no way would Jews associate with gentiles. In Deuteronomy, Jews had been instructed to stay separate from the gentiles so that the gentiles would not cause them to worship idols. With time, institutional religion had embellished this instruction and it was a near anathema for a Jew, especially a prophet to have anything to do with the gentiles whom they considered ritually unclean. Jonah was not going to Nineveh and be the one to defile the religious culture of Israel!

Secondly it was not just a gentile city. It was the capital of Assyria, Israel’s arch enemy. Any Israelite would be delighted to have God destroy them. Israel did have relationships with gentile cities such as Egypt, from whom they sought military alliances. But Assyria was a ruthless, cruel enemy. Who in their right mind would want to save such an enemy?

Thirdly, Jonah was sent that the city because it had become exceedingly wicked. What if Ninevites wanted nothing to do with foreign prophets? Who said that prejudice was the preserve of Israelites? In such a wicked city, his life would certainly be in danger! No way was he going to walk into a death trap!

As we plunge into this study, bear in mind that humanly speaking, Jonah had good reasons to respond the way he did: he was a patriotic Israelite, he was scared for dear life and he had no motivation whatsoever to want to help such a wicked city. As a faithful Christian, I would like you to place yourself in his shoes. Given all the above circumstances, what would you do if God sent you to Nineveh?

Please post your thoughts for others to see and interact with.

Jonah: Study Outline

During the month of March beginning from tomorrow, we shall do a two week devotional study from an Old Testament book called Jonah.

Here is our study Outline

Introduction to the book of Jonah March 6

Week 1
The call vs 1-2 March 9
Flight! from God’s call vs 3 March 10
Pursuit! of Jonah—with a storm vs 4-5 March 11
Panic! in the sea and confession vs 6- 10 March 12
Tossed! and whale to the rescue vs 11-16 March 13

Week 2
Overwhelming gratitude to God 2: 1-10 March 16
Jonah preaches to Nineveh Vs 3:1-5 March 17
Repentance in Nineveh 3:6-10 March 18
Jonah disillusioned by God’s goodness 4:1-5 March 19
Conclusion: A lesson for Jonah vs. 4: 6-11 March 20

Welcome, study and participate with us! The Lord bless your walk with him.

New Devotional Guide

Greetings to all of you who are following the devotions posted on this blog. Thank you for staying with us throughout our study of Philippians! We hope that you have grown in your walk with the Lord through that study. We would be delighted if you shared your experience with us on info@nairobichapel.org.

We have a fresh study coming up soon. We shall post the outline and let you know what the new book is by Thursday this week.

In the meantime, read your Bible, pray every day if you want to grow.

The Lord bless you!
Daily Devotions writer.