I started a new book last night titled The Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel. I'm into it after 1 chapter because it's something I think I have experienced and called my "Intellectual Christian" phase. Basically, Groeschel brings up the question of why we call ourselves Christian but often don't live like we are trying to follow Christ. Does going to church on Sunday but doing little, if anything, to teach and reach the lost during the week signify real discipleship? Does talking to God but never listening to God signify discipleship? Does reading His word (Bible) on Sunday and setting the book on the coffee table the rest of the week signify real discipleship? I'm looking forward to getting deeper into the book. I don't think it's going to impact me as much as The Shack or Crazy Love but I might more closely identify with it.
I love the Psalms. Groeschel mentions Psalm 63 in part of the 1st chapter.
1 O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
4 I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
Some of these words are hard for me right now because I still feel somewhat disconnected from God yet the words resonate because I want to know God better - partially in hope that I will better understand what He has planned for me and might reveal why I have been through the season I have and, to a greater degree, to be closer to my Creator, my Savior, my LORD simply because He is who He is and loves me unconditionally for who I am.
Verse 3 stands out to me as I think about 2 dear friends. His love is better than life. Being in His presence is better than life. I continue to look forward to the day I can experience His love face to face and do not have to face the pain, the pitfalls and the evil of this world.
Grace and peace to you.
2 comments:
I started his book, but that was before Jenny got sick. Haven't gotten back to it.
I am encouraged to see these books calling us to greater discipleship. We American Christians, for the most part, would be described in Jesus' parable of the soils as the soil being choked out by the weeds. Just too much to distract us from radical discipleship.
Post a Comment