Reflecting on Christmas in a Power-Hungry World [Being Indian and Christian - Issue #5]

Hi friends,

Welcome to the fifth edition of Being Indian and Christian.

Christmas is here! And I’m very excited about Christmas. It is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, our King. It is a time to reflect on the year that has gone by and plan for the year to come. It is a time for sweets, carols and gifts!

In this week’s blog post, I reflect on how Jesus comes as a King who will rescue us from our own lust for power.

Here’s what I want to share this week:

Christmas as Hope for a Power-Hungry Humanity — Jeyapaul Caleb

While he understands our circumstances, [this King] offers hope to rise above these circumstances. Because this King is not power-hungry. When he was offered all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for idolatry, he refused. (Matthew 4:8-10). And instead took the long road to Kingdom — a road marked by suffering and the Roman cross of crucifixion.

A King, born in the midst of human pride and lust for power… A King, born in the midst of human sin and muck… A King, born to immigrant parents…

And a King who is the hope of the world — a hope to escape the twisted patterns of our lust for power and the consequences of idolatry.

Review: ‘Celebrities for Jesus’ by Katelyn Beaty

This was a thought-provoking read. I haven’t read the book that is being reviewed, but it was fun nonetheless.

Beaty helpfully shows that while Wesley and Whitefield travailed through trouble and inconvenience to save the lost, it has been these most recent decades, with the move from television to YouTube in barely a generation, that has raised this danger to unparalleled new heights. Veritable empires, like that of Brandan Robertson, now sprout up overnight on TikTok, flowering regardless of whether they demonstrate orthodox teaching or sexual purity. In the blink of an eye, the urgent call to save the lost is sold away for personal authenticity.

The Four Desires Driving All Human Behavior

Bertrand Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in the year 1950. His acceptance speech delivered in Stockholm is quite insightful. This article outlines Russell’s argument about what drives human behaviour:

love of power is closely akin to vanity, but it is not by any means the same thing. What vanity needs for its satisfaction is glory, and it is easy to have glory without power… Many people prefer glory to power, but on the whole these people have less effect upon the course of events than those who prefer power to glory… Power, like vanity, is insatiable. Nothing short of omnipotence could satisfy it completely…

That’s it for this edition, folks! Hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

Caleb

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