Not A Fan

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I had a great day of reading on Thursday and was able to finish two books: Spiritual Parenting by Michelle Anthony & Not A Fan by Kyle Idleman.  If you would like to read more about Spiritual Parenting go here & here.  But today I am focusing on Not A Fan.  For those who attend Hesston MB, this will be our study when we move into "Transparent Relationships" as we move through the CHRIST acrostic. 

I highly recommend this book as well.  I had several posts about Not A Fan several weeks ago.  If interested, they are here, here, & here.  But Idleman finishes this book stronger than he began.  Don't get me wrong-I was intrigued from the minute I picked up the book.  But at the end, he hammers his point home.  His last section is about denying ourselves.  This is not a popular topic in Christian circles even when it is clearly biblical.  Here are the titles of the last 3 chapters: wherever, whenever, & whatever.  I will share quotes from these chapters below.

Wherever
"Following Jesus literally means that you go where Jesus goes." 
"Fear always asks the question, "What if?"
"Saying yes to following Jesus meant saying no to comfort."
Whenever
"When fans are asked about when they will get serious about their commitment to follow Jesus, the most common answer is tomorrow."
"The word tomorrow is not in the Holy Spirit's vocabulary"
"The truth is the longer you put him off, the more likely it is that following him will never happen."
Whatever
"Jesus doesn't want followers who have a divided affection or a split allegiance. And Jesus points to what you most value and are most concerned about, and says, "What about that?"
 "the one thing we are most reluctant to give up is the one thing that has the most potential to become a substitute for him."
 "Understand it's not that any of those things are wrong or sinful in and of themselves, but for too many of us these good things become God things."
 
 

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