Laugh. Love. Learn.

The third and final installment.

“The point of your life is to point to Him. Whatever you’re doing.”

“I urge you to consider and actually live as though each person you come in contact with is Christ.”

“God is fair and just…When we disagree (with Him,) let’s not assume it’s His reasoning that needs correction.”

“I believe He wants us to be known for giving – of our time, our money, and our abilities – and to start a movement of “giving” churches.”

“With the American church being so concerned about converts, we don’t take time to present the God-centered universe to people. We don’t try to dig deep into the truth of God. We need to learn the attributes of God before we know what He is like.”

“We’ve developed a habit of listening to the Word of God and not obeying it.”

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:22-25

Check this out:

“My caution to you is this: Do not assume you are good soil. Has your relationship with God actually changed the way you live? Do you see evidence of God’s kingdom in your life?”

“The goals of American Christianity are often a nice marriage, children who don’t swear, and good church attendance. Taking the words of Christ literally and seriously is rarely considered.”

“Lukewarm people give money to charity and to the church…as long as it doesn’t impinge on their standard of living.”

“Lukewarm people will serve God and others, but there are limits to how far they will go or how much time, money, and energy they are willing to give.”

“No worship is better than apathetic worship.”

“It struck me that many Christians flash around their “no trans fat” label, trying to convince everyone they are healthy and good. Yet they have no substantive or healthful elements to their faith.”

Have you read any “No Trans Fat” labels lately and seen how much partial hydrogenation’s in that junk? Ouch.

Your thoughts?

Morgan warned me, but this book totally rocked my world. Unlike this book that I couldn’t put down, I had to put Crazy Love down for hours at a time because I couldn’t get my brain around what it said. Here are the first three quotes that messed me up. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

“When I am consumed by my problems – stressed out about my life, my family, my job – I actually convey the belief that I think the circumstances are more important than God’s command to always rejoice.”

(Worry and Stress) “…communicate that it’s okay to sin and not trust God because the stuff in my life is somehow exceptional. Both worry and stress reek of arrogance.”

(okay really?!?!)

“Another important element of giving is with our time. Most of us are so busy that the thought of adding one more thing to our weekly schedule is stressful. Instead of adding in another thing to our lives, perhaps God wants us to give Him all of our time and let Him direct it as He sees fit.”

i did it. i read an entire book today. there’s a new book called It, and it has it. i’ve started several books lately and finished none of them, which is highly uncharacteristic of me, and i attributed it to lifestyle insanity. but since this book has it, i simply couldn’t put it down. not only was the author completely hilarious, his raw honesty was both refreshing and convicting. maybe that’s because he has it.

so what is it?
the rare combination of passion, integrity, focus, faith, expectation, drive, hunger, and God’s anointing….raw passion for God and for people….the zeal for him, the desire to please him, the passion for people….passionate, godly, sincere, authentic, transparent, hungry for Christ….passion for his presence, a deep craving to reach the lost, sincere integrity, spirit-filled faith, down-to-earth humility, brokenness….(being) virtually obsessed with reaching those who don’t know Christ….

quotable:
“Can you think back to a time when the only thing that mattered was doing what God wanted you to do? Do you remember craving his Word? Do you remember being excited about sharing your faith with anyone who would listen?”

“The goal isn’t innovation. The goal is effectiveness.”

“There’s a huge difference between a good idea and a God idea.”

“Have we forgotten that the church doesn’t exist for us? We are the church and we exist for the world.”

Churches that have it have a “distinct spiritual hum”…

“When a ministry has it, the staff knows they’re part of something much bigger than themselves, part of a divine mission.”

“Jesus was full of grace and truth. Our ministries should reflect these qualities.”

It is outstanding. There are topics I didn’t even cover in this glimpse, because I need time to process. All I know is that I want to have it forever. I want our church to have it forever. I want to help people who haven’t ever even considered Jesus find him and find it so they can live like they’ve never imagined…

Read It. You might find it. And you won’t regret it.