Speaking to Fox News Digital, the man who plays Jesus in “The Chosen,” Jonathan Roumie, spoke about the immense transformation he experienced once he welcomed God into his life. Particularly, he noted how it felt like a great weight was lifted off of his shoulders by the momentous personal faith decision and his willingness to embrace it wholesale.
During the interview, Roumie also commented on the weight of the role and how he took the step of trying to act as Jesus acted by taking time during the day to slow down, pray, and recharge by speaking to God. Roumie added that the decision to do that was “monumentally impactful” to him.
Speaking on that method of taking time out of the day to pray as Jesus did, he said, “I think when Jesus felt the pressure of life, of human life, often He would go off on His own to pray and get recharged and just find quiet time. I do this. I find that doing the same thing — going off to pray by myself and just spend time with God in prayer alone — is monumentally impactful to me.”
Continuing, Roumi noted how the incredible opportunity to play Jesus was also a monumental weight, as the responsibility of and opportunities for helping return people to the faith presented by that role were so incredible. “This commitment, this responsibility, this gift that I’ve been given — while challenging at times — ultimately is for my greater good,” he said. Continuing, he added, “and for the potential for other people to find some sort of inspiration or some sort of connection or a return, in many cases, a return to faith.”
Then Roumie spoke about the intense financial pressure he was facing before he got the role. Working hard, he still found himself with a negative balance in his checking account. Describing those desperate days, he said, “I felt that I was trying so hard to control my career, to do all the things that I thought I needed to do, to check all the boxes.”
Continuing on that point, he said those things included “generating auditions, trying to work side jobs, you know, to make ends meet, keep the income coming in.” But it didn’t work. “It was like, the more I try, the harder I tried to make everything run smoothly, the more chaotic it got,” he admitted.
So, he decided to stop worrying about his fate and place everything in God’s hand instead: “I basically took, you know, took my hands off the controls and said, ‘God, if you want me to do something different, if this pursuit of entertainment, of being an actor is something that is just not attainable, well, show me which direction you want me to go, and I’ll go there.'”
Describing how he did so, he said, “I got on my knees, and I prayed. I said, ‘Look, God, I give everything to you. If you want this to work, you’re going to have to help me figure out a way to survive, to find food for tomorrow. And I’m not going to worry about it anymore.'” He added. “The point was that I committed to not having control over it anymore.”
And that worked for him. Describing what came next, Roumie said, “And when I did that, I think that’s the thing that changed for me. My life, from that moment, has never been the same.” He added, describing the immense benefits, “Once [people] let go of the reins and just kind of put their trust in the divine, in God – He will basically change your entire life the way He did mine.”
Featured image credit: By Movieguide® – https://www.flickr.com/photos/93659170@N08/50091047253/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=112627667
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