A good friend posted this excerpt from a book she has just read.
“it is in the contemplation of the mysteries of the faith, the deep-down wrestling match of conflicting ideas, that resides the motivating power it takes to become what we see in Jesus. the world around us tells us that life is about money, security, power, and success. but the Gospels tell us that life is about something completely other. real life, the Gospels tell us, is about doing the will of God, speaking for the poor, changing the lives of widows and orphans, exalting the status of women, refusing to make war, laying down our lives for the other, the invisible, and the enemy. it is about taking everyone in instead of leaving everyone out.”
We have got to be more careful of what we read and what we take in:
The subtlety of what is said is clear in the comments that followed and people talking of imitating Christ.
Here in is the danger!
Take this sentance: the motivating power it takes to become what we see in Jesus.
Sounds good but it is riddled with danger!
We ar not to become like Jesus! No effort on our part can achieve this!
Our task as such, is to let Jesus live His life through us! Only when we surrender and allow Him to do so will we be changed to conform to His image – when He is actually living out through us!
There is only one thing of the life of Jesus that we are to imitate and that is to refer every situation in our live back to the Father and ask what He wants us to do about it, or how we are to respond etc. Just like Jesus, we are to ony speak what He wants us to, only do what He wants us to do and so on.
I notice that in John 16: 13 and 14 that even the Spirit refers back to the Father and does not speak or act on His own authority.
How much more so should we be like this?!
This is the danger of just reading books that are written by people who have not actualy understood the Gospel themselves.
Take care folk of what you read and what you allow to teach or train you!
