I am currently reading The Irresistible Revolution, by Shane Claiborne. If you haven't read it, it is a book that challenges the typical American Christian and calls people who love Jesus to actually start living out the gospel instead of just believing it. Following Jesus is more than a belief system. It is a way of life. And it involves more than not swearing or lying or demanding that you go to church. It is about loving Jesus so much that you are compelled to love your neighbors - the least of these - and compelled to break out of our "Christian" box and actually start living like one. It's not really all that perfect, actually. Definitely not glamorous. But it IS beautiful and FULL of joy!
As I look at my life, I think that many of us are stuck inside this box of what our culture tells us it means to be a Christian instead of really looking at Jesus's life and listening to what he has to say about it. We stay in our box and think we are doing just fine, while we are actually missing out on a whole lot of fun and joy if we would just get out and explore a little. If you want to deepen your relationship with God and truly learn to love your neighbor as yourself, it is a good read (after the Bible of course). And now that the infomercial is done, I will share some pictures that Alexandria thought would help illustrate my point. Of being stuck in the box, that is.
hmm, she looks pretty happy to be in that box. :) I read Claiborne's "Irresistible Revolution" a couple years ago, and while it did challenge me spiritually, and I thought he had a lot of great points, he also had a few things that I didn't feel were quite spot on theologically. I'm reading David Platt's "Radical" right now and feel like he deals with the same practical issues while being more theologically sound. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteI agree about him not being spot on all the time. I think I tend to glean all the good stuff and then forget about the rest. :P I will check out "Radical" when I finish with this one.
ReplyDeletephew, I got scared after I posted this that I had offended you and kept thinking that I should've reworded what I said. But I totally agree with you that there was a lot of good stuff to glean from Claiborne's book, and I'm so glad you're learning and growing. Love you!
ReplyDelete