Russell Brand is ‘In the Business’ of Serving Jesus
By Movieguide® Contributor
Russell Brand knows the importance of surrendering your life to Jesus. In a recent discussion with Neil Oliver posted to X, the actor shared his heart on the matter.
“In surrendering to Christ, there is something extraordinary about saying there is this man, another man, entirely God, entirely man. But through some necessary, extraordinary, metaphysical act just beyond the edge of rational understanding came the Creator of this simulation came into the simulation and told us ‘Hello, I am God. I’ve come here. Here are some virtues and values.’”
Brand continued by sharing a lesson he learned from Christian author C.S. Lewis.
“C.S. Lewis talks about the ‘stoics era’…to imagine that one might be able to do always what one can do sometimes. You know, there are times where it’s like…‘I am not in the business of Russell Brand anymore. I am in the business of service. Serve Jesus Christ. And it’s such a powerful idea that I’m held alive by it. But surely, this parasite nature grips me again, and I return to egotism. I return to wanting and longing and fear. And all of those limiting things.”
Although he was raised in a Christian household, he recently developed a personal relationship with God. Movieguide® reported:
The actor revealed that although he grew up in a Christian household, he never found much purpose in religion.
“Christianity seemed like it was either really irrelevant and old fashioned and sort of dusty and sort of incense and Anno Domini. Or they tried to modernize it, and it seemed just like, ‘Right, okay, we’re gonna talk about Jesus.’ And, like, both of those routes seem like, ‘Oooh, I don’t know if there’s anything for me,” Brand explained.
However, as he’s grown older, Brand has begun to see purpose in pursuing Christ. In recent months, the actor has undergone severe scrutiny as he faced allegations of sexual assault and rape. Though he was already trending towards Christianity before this, these allegations, which he has adamantly denied, have led him to pursue Christ even harder.
“It seems that it’s taken quite a lot to recognize that you need – I need – a personal relationship with God,” Brand said. “It occurred to me that instead of always talking to myself inwardly, I could replace one of those voices with an indwelling God.”
Brand has become even more outspoken about his faith since his baptism earlier this year
“I’ve been a Christian a month now, and it’s been a big change,” he said in a TikTok video posted in May. “Not that I’ve entirely changed as a person. Of course, I haven’t, but I’ve taken on a lot of new concepts, and it changes you to accept that it’s not like you’re in a game show, and by doing really, really good things, you can get redeemed.”
“It’s a beautiful journey to go on,” Brand added of his faith journey. “I know I’m just at the beginning. I know I’m just learning. I know there’s so much more to learn, and I’m so excited to learn more from you and for us to learn together.”