I got this book over the summer, and I started reading it over the summer, but I would always stop at the same place in the introduction and then get too busy with other books or events or stuff and so it took me about 2 months to finish the introduction of this book! LOL the good part is that since I read it so many times, I feel like it sunk in a little better than it normally would have. but I loved the introduction to this part, and it has really made me think and am not even at the actual book yet!
this book, as you can tell, is about life with God. am bad at explaining what books are about, unlike my friend Brent. when Brent does a book post, he can explain to you so well what the book was about.however, i have trouble with that. my way is just to write about the parts that jumped out at me, the quotes I liked, and why. sometimes I do compare myself to Brent a lot and find myself lacking, but when it comes to writing, not so much. we just have different strenghts when it comes to writing. he's really good at nonfiction writing, like this kind, and am better at creative writing, writing stories,etc. anyway, totally got off track there.
the first thing that I totally fell in love with was on the first page:
"through scripture we hear God whispering down through the centuries: "I am with you! "I am with you!" "I am with you!" then, we heard God asking a question that searches the human person to the depths: "are you willing to be with Me?"the scipture reveals that saying "yes" to this invitation thrusts human beings into life with God...daily...Hourly...moment by moment."(page vii). I loved this because...it rings true for me. God has done so much for me when I stop and think about it, and all He asks is that I love Him, love others, and follow Him. if you consider all God does, even those things you will never know He did for you...doesnt seem like such a big request does it? I also like the last part, being in life with God daily, hourly, in every moment, not just in certain settings but in everything and everywhere. that appeals to me. in my current hearbreak over Dan, i need someone to care enough to be there for me, and it seems like God is the only one that is doing that because He has always done that, you know?even when I knew Him but didnt really give Him any of my time.
on the next page, he writes: " just as God kept saying in ancient times, so God keeps saying today:"i am with you in all the love abd terrror and pity and pain and wonder that is your life. I am with you. are you willing to be with me?"(page viii) I love this because it is saying that through it all, God is with me. no matter what, 24/7, whenever I need Him I dont even have to call Him, He is already there, He already knows. that's...amazing to me. and even though sometimes this isnt very comforting because sometimes, honestly, you need someone with skin, human touch. with this Dan heartbreak thing, I cannot tell you how much i long for someone to just...hold me, let me cry on their shoulder, and listen, but mostly just...hold me. but I never tell anyone that. am not very comfortable with touchy, huggy, but mostly because am not used to it at all. sometimes, a hug can go such a long way towards making someone feel even a tiny bit better, or even loved and cared about. anyways, off track again. but the idea of God wanting to be with me, all the time, wanting to get to know me and spend time with me and teach me to love, and care and to do His work...if you think about it, it is pretty cool that the creater of the entire universe...loves you. it's easy to lose that amazing feeling over that, but if you stop and think about it, it is so awesome.
"but we must seek this life out,turn into it because there is also a principle of death within us,stemming from the fall. therefore, we must be constantly saying "yes" to life and "no" to death. we must always be discerning life-giving actions and attitudes from those that are death giving."(page x). It really struck me that God is offering us this amazing life with God, but its not in our nature anymore because of the fall, so we have to always be choosing it, going against our nature in a way. God is life, and we have to always be choosing Him. it made me have this thought that maybe,before the fall, choosing God was in our nature, and everything else was not important, God was first, but after the fall, our nature changed. when you judge this, be kind, i am only a christian baby(2 years old on november 23!!). this was a new idea to me and also...revelied me a bit to think that its super hard on all of us, not just me, that it is in all of our natures to choose us over God, death over life, and we have to work against it. we all have to do that, not just me.
also on page x, foster wrote: "now, all this struggling and learning to live "with God" has a rock-solid purpose to it: to transform us into the likeness and character of Jesus. God's everlasting intent for human life is that we should be in every aspect a dwelling place for God."(page x). I really like the first part of this. I want to be like Jesus, as dorky as that sounds. granted, we can never fully reach that goal, but we can try and try and try, each and every day, and in each and every moment. it ties back in with what he wrote on the first page, about being in life with God hourly and daily, moment by moment. the part about a dwelling place for God, I must admit I don't fully...grasp that concept yet. I understand it, but I still have to...work on a bit more. I guess it has to do with Jesus/Holy Spirit being in you, and living your life to reflect that. a concept that I am still working on. still, i like the idea of living my life to reflect Jesus and be a good ambassador for Him.
in a previous post, chapter 2 of the Good and Beautiful Life, I wrote how I loved James Bryan Smith's message about the kingdom of God/Heaven being here and not far away. well, foster writes: "Hence, we want to become the kind of person inwardly so that when we do get to Heaven we will want to stay there.our feelings and passions and affections will have been so transformed that we will feel right at home in heaven.nor does this transforming process have to wait for heaven.oh,no, it begins now...today."(page xi). I loved hearing the message that smith wrote about being written about here as well. I especially loved the part about this transformation not having to wait for heaven. if the kingdom of God is here, and we are children of the kingdom, then we should start...acting and living and loving to reflect that. it's like my china prep...I know am going to China, and so am doing all I can to prepare myself,so that even though I wont learn nearly all I need to know until I get there, it wont be such a total shock. what if Heaven begins...right now. what if the kingdom of God has been here all along, and we have been living in it and claiming it but not acting and living like it. one of my favorite songs is this 80s pop hit called "heaven is a place on earth" and I think that says it all; heaven is on earth, and the "place" is...you. me. us. makes me wonder why we don't act like the children of the kingdom, children of God, that we claim to be.
"entering a "with God life"baptizes us into the milieu of the Holy Spirit. everything around us becomes scented with the fragrance of heaven..."(page xi). no deep thoughts here, I just love the idea of the very air around me, my essence, having the fragrance of heaven. am a romantic soul,and I am a creative writer/fiction writer(to be formal) so this idea appeals to my soul.
the last thing that really stuck out to me was this: "the heart is deeply and surely healed and restored and redirected by God alone."(page xi). I am currently more heartbroken that I can say over Dan, and when I read this, my thought was that this is exactly what I need. I need God to come in and healed my heart, restore it, and sent it in a new direction. it was also...comforting in a way, to read that God is the only one that can do this for me. that I cant do it for me, Dan cant do it for me, not even Brent can do this for me. only God can, and He will. last spring, before I knew that Dan knew I was in love with him, during the period when I didn't want to like Dan because I KNEW I would end up like this, I heard God telling me: "dont be afraid of a broken heart. I will heal it." either heal it or take care of it. but it seems as if foster is going along those same lines. and that's what i need.
this introduction was so good! I am so excited to read the rest of the book, and how to read the bible for living a "God life" and I think I'm gonna learn a lot from this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment