Here's the thing that strikes me most from this reading: what we do and believe NOW, in our daily choices, whether they seem small or big, is part of our eternity. The person we are becoming for eternity and the substance of our character is being shaped right NOW. This is a sobering thought, but clearly Jesus' invitation to obedience and discipleship was great news to all who heard it when he walked on earth. As Willard points puts it, this was the "best life strategy" they had ever heard of and thought they would be fools to pass it up.
I am challenged by this, because I realize that I often view following Jesus as burdensome, and one more thing to do in a busy day. Instead, I'm going to try to pray that I would see Jesus' invitation to follow Him and obey Him as the greatest opportunity of my life, and it keeps getting offered to me day after day, by His grace.
Some key quotes I liked.
"Very few people today find Jesus interesting as a person or of vital relevance to the course of their actual lives." (xiii)
"What we have to believe or do now, by contrast, is real life, bursting with interesting, frigtening and relevant things and people." (xiii)
"More than any other single thing, in any case, the practical irrelevance of actual obedience to Christ accounts for the weakeed effect of Christianity in the world today..." (xv)
"The really good news for humanity is that Jesus is now taking students in the master class of life. The eternal life that begins with confidence in Jesus is a life in his present kingdom, now on earth and available to all." (xvii)
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Well, I think this will be a lot of fun. This "book club" is a great example of how Jesus is calling us into relationship with him. I have been on a reading frenzy for the past 6 months and the result for me has been and increase in my love and passion for Jesus and following Him to wherever He may lead me and my family.
ReplyDeleteJust a little about me; I know Matt and Jon Crosson through my wife Catherine whom went to school with them at HBA in Hawaii. I live in Norman, OK where I am married to Catherine Hom Miller and have two kids, Ezekiel (4) and Lucy (1). My family is the love of my life and I yearn to be the best father and husband that Jesus has called me to be. I train and race road bikes,(think Lance Armstrong), and have been blessed to make it to a semi-pro level of racing. Jesus has recently shown me that my purpose in the cycling community is to advance His kingdom, something that I am excited about seeing God do through me. My hope is that my life and the life of my family will reflect the love of Jesus Christ to a lost and hurting world and to the community in which we live (Norman).
I am looking forward to reading and learning about “how” to obey Christ, what obedience to him looks like, and how to learn even more beyond this book about practical steps to take (things to do?) to obey him. That is one reason through my years that I have been reluctant and/or hesitant to read many “spiritual” books – in my experience most of them are full of great ideas and thoughts but don’t contain much practical application. I’m optimistic that this book will live up to its claim and Foster’s foreword indicating its practicality.
ReplyDeleteQuotes I liked:
“The people initially impacted by that message generally concluded that they would be fools to disregard it. That was the basis of their conversion.” The entire paragraph that accompanies this quote excites me. I want to have this mindset, this attitude, and this understanding of the gospel. Like many of us (I’m betting), I’ve grown up with the gospel and through the course of my life have made choices and commitments to make it my own faith and decide for myself to follow Christ, instead of just going with what my parents raised me with. I have never had this perspective, however – that Jesus and his teachings are the best authority out there on anything and everything.
“It is a matter of how we cannot but think and act, given the context of our mental and spiritual formation.” I think we’ve probably all understood, for as long as we’ve been following Christ, that our governing thought processes (both as westerners and simply as fallen human beings) are flawed. This paragraph hints at exposing one of those foundational flaws – I hope and pray that I will allow Jesus to “break the stranglehold of the thoughts and ideas that automatically shunt aside Jesus,” and to reform my thinking to understand and be governed by the essentiality of obedience to his teaching.
Challenging thoughts, Bryan! Willard will have much more to say about the limitations of the Western, rationalist, and materialistic worldview that saturates our culture. I also need Jesus to break the "strangleholds" (especially the ones that I'm not aware of) that prevent me from simple obedience to His commands as the smartest, wisest way to live my life. Loved your thoughts, Bryan!
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