Sreedhar's Journey

Everyone has a favorite number. Some use their favorite numbers to plan their special events. Some use it to buy the lottery or some jackpot game (a game of chance). Others use it perhaps to remember favorite bible chapters or verses. My favorite number is 17 because it is part of my birthdate. The chapter I just read today is chapter 17, and it contains a powerful final prayer by Jesus before His death on the cross for His disciples and the believers that come after, like many of us. John 17:20-21 I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. Jesus prayed for those that would believe in Him. As I read the prayer it showed me how much God wants us to have that restored intimacy with Him. Jesus said in many different ways how we will be with Him and with the Father. We will never be alone. Yes, ha...

What would you do in the last night if you knew that tomorrow you will be killed? Write your will. Seek forgiveness from those you have wronged in the past. Eat your favorite meal. Hug and say goodbye to your loved ones. Finish any unfinished work that you still have time for. The list goes on. But what if you knew this from before time , and you knew what was going to happen to you after you were killed? This was the scenario with Jesus! John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. For Jesus, though unannounced, He knew exactly when and how He would be killed. He knew the end from before the beginning . For this reason I have peace in spite of everything that is going on around us.  This includes the possibility of being ostracized for my faith.  Being the odd one out in a conversation.  Losing privileges and being ridiculed.  Jesus said it plain...

A well known Christian apologist, had a good illustration of how Jesus came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it ( Matthew 5: 17 ). This was in response to a question from a Muslim gentlemen at one of his talks. The gentleman commented that the Jews had their laws and so did the Muslims. And he asked, and I am paraphrasing, "How can the Christians change the world if the code of life left by Jesus does not have sufficient detail?". See video here.  The apologist responded by saying that God's laws did not go away. It just became a mirror to help us see everything that is wrong with us. We are helpless in correcting it by ourselves. And so we need Jesus. John 15:4-5 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. Jesus clearly says we need to abide in H...

Are you rushing somewhere? Perhaps you are leaving town and settling many things before you go. The most important thing is to ensure your household matters and things in the office are taken care of while you are away. You make all the arrangements with family, friends and colleagues and trust them to follow through. You give them the keys to your house, money for payments and authority to make decisions. You edit the automatic response on your email account(s) as well.  Jesus did the same (within His context) on His last night before His death on the cross. But he delegated more power than He had demonstrated. John 14:12 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. We have read all the great things Jesus had done and He is saying greater works than these we will do. Are we ready to process this from the one who says in the same evening, "I am the way, the truth, and ...

As mentioned in my life journey post, my parents grew up in a rubber estate in Malaysia. My paternal grandfather retired and stayed in the rubber estate till he passed away. Until then I remember going to visit my grandparents each school holiday and being involved in estate life. One of the practices we had was to wash our feet when we came home from playing in the dirt. When we were younger my grandmother would be the one washing our feet, if not my mother. I have fond memories of those days. There was another person of great standing who washed other people's feet. Jesus! John 13:3-5 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. My grandmother and mother loved me very much and demonstrated th...

There is a phrase that we commonly use. "We have come to a place of no return". Sometimes we come to the end of ourselves and we feel there is no where to turn. Desperate situations cause us to do desperate acts. This was what was happening in this chapter of John with the Jewish leaders that did not know how to control the great movement that was starting to form and today has overtaken many around the world. John 12:19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!” They were not only trying to kill Jesus, but also Lazarus who was raised from the dead. Jesus came to Jerusalem riding on a donkey as prophesied by Isaiah about 700 years before this celebrated event.  The people were proclaiming Him king. Here Jesus starts to announce that His hour of death is coming, and that those who believed in Him and followed Him will be children of light. Yes, after all that you know of Jesus, you cannot no...

I lost an uncle a some years ago. And he passed away without knowing Jesus. Each time I go through this I keep asking can I do more to share the gospel to them so that they will not be lost. I am reminded that all we can do is share the gospel as permitted and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. We cannot force the matter but we can certainly share the best thing that ever happened to us. Did I do enough to share the gospel? Don't know. But I will certainly share it at every opportunity like I am doing now. Jesus found every opportunity to preach the about the kingdom and share the salvation promised, and many believed. John 11:27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” This is Martha saying it before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Would you believe? Jesus did not raise everybody from the dead. He did it here to show the glory of God and to allow this to be a testimony of who He is. There will come a time wh...

Damned if you do, and damned if you don't. That is the predicament for the people of any country when it comes to admission of non citizens with limited screening. How do you tell whether someone is of sound mind and will not create trouble when they enter your country. Leaders who take extreme measures to protect their country must be ready to have part of the population upset with them and their political future could be condemned for it. Are you in the same situation with regards to something in your personal life? No matter which way you turn you will face challenges. Well, time to take the pain now and yield good fruit in the long run. Jesus had a choice. He chose to die for our sins. John 10:18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” He will be condemned if He chooses to save us by dying on the cross. If He does not, we are condemned for eternity. Jesus...

Blindness is both a curse and a blessing. It is a curse for the obvious reasons. A blessing because it opens up for greater sensitivity of the other 4 senses. But we are still handicapped. We generally take for granted our 5 senses until we lose one. It is like losing a toe or a finger. Are you blind? All of us are born spiritually blind and that blindness needs to be healed before we can see Jesus. The episode in this chapter is to demonstrate our spiritual blindness. John 9:12 Then they said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.” This is a powerful question and a powerful answer. The Jewish leaders who can see from the beginning cannot see, and the blind man, who is healed, also cannot see where Jesus is. It tells me that physical sight is not good enough until your spiritual eyes are opened. John 9:35-38 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may ...

Every court of law seeks the truth so that the right judgement can be made. I once met a public defender and he explained to me what he does. Basically, he defends those who cannot afford a lawyer. He does not do anything other than get the facts as presented by the defendant, including witnesses, and presents a defense against the charges made against his client. He also advises the client if his or her defense is poor and the consequences of losing the case. The chapter today almost sounds like a trial as everyone around Jesus seek the truth. John 8:31-32 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Jesus was obviously speaking way above the ability of the Jewish leaders to understand. The only way they can accept Him is to make shifts in their preconceived minds and view Jesus as being from God. The discourse between Jesus and the Jewish leaders is very intere...

As a family we grow up together, and we have fond memories of our experiences. I have 2 sisters, and I had 17 great years at home before I left home for Canada, and then came home after 7 years to a busy career that took me to places, and after 5 years became a married man. Some of the things I did or experienced even my own family are not aware of. I did not really mention them because they were confidential or did not think they would be of interest to them. But looking back I may have done it differently. Jesus had an earthly family but He was "conceived of God" and His calling was to the world. This chapter gives some perspective on the condition of His family. Even His own family did not understand Him or His plans. This was also evident with the people around Him during a major religious function in Jerusalem. John 7:40-44, Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, “Truly this is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “W...

Do you have doubts about anything? Doubts cause uncertainties. Uncertainties cause stress. Stress causes illness. I believe we therefore have a natural tendency to jump to conclusions to remove those doubts. This removes all tensions and we have peace again. But frankly when we are doing the all important shifting of paradigms, this is when doubts come in the greatest. So, do we reject the shift? It is not easy. Jesus said some "out of this world" things in this chapter that challenges the paradigms of His disciples, and perhaps yours as well. John 6:60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” Doubts rose and many left, leaving behind just the disciples. Earlier, many got into boats chasing Him from Tiberias, where He fed the 5,000, to Capernaum. But after crossing over, they went away disappointed. He said they needed to "eat and drink of Him". Of course this was said in the spiritual sense and on...

Shifting our personal paradigms is very difficult when you have lived it for many years. Your worldview and comfort zone is structured around it. This allows you to go about your daily activities in auto mode and not figure out what is coming next. But sometimes we fail to realize that there is something better when you do this. That was what happened to me when I discovered a whole new world when I started wearing glasses at the age of 10.  I will never forget seeing how different and beautiful everything was.  Jesus was pointing out that there is something better right under the noses of the Jewish people. John 5:7-9 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath. The lame man at the pool of Bethesda thought he could on...

Many seek to live long lives and go to extreme measures to achieve this. Everyone is seeking their fountain of youth or life. They are pursuing treatments, foods and lifestyles that can extend their lives. When you ask them why they want to live a long live, they say it is to enjoy life longer. But is that all you are doing it for? Will you not enjoy a better life in heaven?  Jesus met a Samaritan woman at the well and had an interesting discourse about how to live forever. John 4:13-14 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” There you have it, the fountain of life. Jesus can give it to you. Everlasting life is promised. You do not need to toil to stay alive; to have everlasting life. This everlasting life is experienced with God in heaven through Jesus Chris...

When we were growing up we used to play a lot of "hide and seek". We would hide in places where people would hardly look and in many cases could be a dark place where you may not be able to see your own hand. And perhaps, never found. Well, as adults we continue this game by doing things that you do not want others to know in secret. Away from the crowd in a secluded place. And even if it is in a crowd, with a crowd that do not know you. In all of these cases we made a personal choice to do things in secret. Jesus is speaking to that.  We are very familiar with the expression of God's love when Jesus Christ was conversing with Nicodemus, a Pharisee (a Jewish leader) in John 3:16 . What does the next verse say? John 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. When we choose to do something in secret and something that may not be right, we are choosing to move into darkness, spiritual darkness. Jesus ...

What defines your authority in a situation or an organization? I will never forget my "leap over tall buildings" when I made the transition from 4 years of Computer Science to doing an MBA at the age of 21. I had to make the big transition from reading many lines of programming code and studying logic to reading many books and writing many essays. One of the early things I learned was about leadership and how you had both formal and informal leadership in an organization. Formal is given by the formal rules and procedures in the organization, and informal leadership is given by the strength of your know-how and relationships. Jesus exercised His authority with informal leadership from a human standpoint. But, He had formal leadership from a Godly perspective. John 2:15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. Quite a ruckus here and He was asked under what...

We have the benefit today of many ways of studying and documenting literature from years ago, even if they were just parchments or scrolls. These are ancient writings that cannot be ignored because they are the earliest form of documentation of human experience and history. But there is one document that stands out above all of these, and that is the Old Testament and, following that, the New Testament. These have been studied meticulously and critiqued with great effort. Nothing can take away the fact that Jesus, John the Baptist, and the disciples of Jesus were heroes from the days of the Romans occupying Israel. This is the context of the introduction of the book of John the Apostle.  Here is the last verse of the first chapter of the book of John. John 1:51 And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” A dream? Certainly not. It gets better when you realize how it con...