daddy4ms

This past week, I have reading three specific books.  Core Christianity by Michael Horton, Life With A Capital L by Matt Heart, and Because He Loves Me by Elyse Fitzpatrick.  Here are quotes from recent chapters: The logic of karma or the law is broken because the God of justice is also the merciful God of grace. The gift has been given. Therefore we are free to give. And what we give is our thanks to God and our good works to our neighbor. The good news draws us out into the world, looking up to Christ in faith and out to our neighbor in love and good works. We are called to a discipleship that grows out of living on the Vine--in union with Christ and together with the communion of saints. At the core of the Christian faith are objective, historical realities that secure our faith. And with our salvation fully secured, we are able to look up in faith toward God and out to our neighbor in love. Plumbing theology is simply a matter of receiving from God and then...

Yeah, me too.  All of us fall into the hypocrite category because we say one thing and do another. Scott Sauls has an excellent chapter in Jesus Outside the Lines on this topic.  Here are some of my favorite quotes from the chapter: It reminds me that God's relentless grip on me, not my relentless grip on God, keeps me in his love. Shouldn't we evaluate Jesus on his own merits rather than the flaws of his followers? There is something incredibly attractive and inviting about people who stop pointing fingers and posing and pretending to be totally good and totally right, and instead start taking themselves less seriously and openly and freely admit that they are not yet what they should be. The Bible helps us see how: it is the loveliness of Jesus, and only the loveliness of Jesus, that can make hypocrites lovely. Humbled by our own hypocrisy and drawn to how the loveliness of Jesus can transform us, we must preoccupy ourselves less with trying to be l...

In Jesus Continued, J.D. Greear has a great illustration on intimacy with Jesus and how that impacts the fruit of the Spirit.  It is a little longer so I am including it in a post by itself: Think of how a married couple produces physical "fruit." In the moment of conception, they are not thinking about the mechanics of making the child; they are swept up in love for one another! The "fruit" of that is a child. In the same way, when we get swept up in intimate interaction with Jesus in the gospel, the "fruit" that results is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control. Spiritual fruit comes not by concentrating on producing those attributes, but by becoming intimately aware of God's full acceptance of us in the gospel.

Do you want to be ordinary?  Is this a bad word?  What images come to mind? Average, mediocre, passive? I am reading through Ordinary by Michael Horton with a group as an online book discussion.  I have read two chapters up to this point.  Part of me is not fond of the word, ordinary.  I want to believe that through the Holy Spirit's power, we can be extraordinary.  I would like to see God do amazing things through us that can not be explained as ordinary.  However, the author is sharing some good thoughts.  Here are some quotes from the first two chapters: We are called to grow in a personal relationship with Christ. We are also called to love and serve others--our fellow believers and our neighbors. And yet, the tendency of the evangelical movement has always been to prioritize extraordinary methods and demands over the ordinary means that Christ instituted for sustainable mission. What we are called to do every day, right where God has pl...