A book that changed your life…
CROSS PURPOSES # 99
26 September 2007
The Sydney Morning Herald Saturday paper has a magazine inside called ‘Good Weekend’. Each week Good Weekend (GW) has a column titled “Your time starts now…” Whoever is being interviewed is given a host of half finished statements which need a quick and short conclusion.
The sort of statements involved are:
My earliest memory is…
I wish I’d never worn…
My happiest moment was…
What I don’t find amusing is… And so on.
One of the statements each week is, “The book that changed my life is…” Recent responses to that statement include:
… ‘Intimacy and Solitude’ by Stephanie Dowrick (Stephen Campbell, Head of campaigns, Greenpeace Australia).
… ‘The Prophet’ by Kahlil Gibran (Ethan Stiefel, Ballet Dancer).
… has yet to be written. Only experience changes us. (Peter Cundall, gardening guru).
It was while reading Ethan Stiefels responses that I began to wonder what I would say in answer to that same query. The book that changed my life is…? Lots of books have informed me and challenged me. Some profoundly. Eg “The People of the Lie” by M. Scott Peck, or “The Covenant” by James Michener.
Then I thought I should probably have answered “The Bible”, which made me wince because it sounds so pious. I wasn’t the least bit comfortable about that until I thought about one particular book of the Bible. It’s St Paul’s Letter to the followers of Jesus Christ at Ephesians. The first time I actively recall reading in that book it changed my life. After years and years of “working to impress” the Lord above, I read this:
“By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast”. (Ephesians 2: 8-9)
As I read these verses I was hit by a conviction that has never left me. All my bloody best efforts to get into God’s good books counted for nothing – and Jesus Christ counted for everything. That very day I stopped the hard labour of trying to do enough to get into God’s good books and accepted that God gave me freely in Jesus Christ what I desperately wanted and which I couldn’t create for myself. Peace!
Later it dawned on me that each follower of Jesus Christ, each one who trust him for Good Friday and Easter, “…has been saved”. It’s behind me already. I don’t live toward his acceptance. I live from his acceptance. Freedom!
Over the years it’s been this letter of St Paul which has provided so much of the insight that has shaped my life, my hope. and the cause to which my energy goes. Let me share a few:
God raised us (past tense) up with (Christ) and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (2: 5-6). Translation? My kingdom address is: In Christ, at the right hand of the Father. Home!
“… he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world…” (1: 4). Translation? Don’t know how, but I was / you were on his radar before creation. Known! And loved!
“…through him (Christ)… we have access in one Spirit to the Father” (2: 18). Translation? I / you have a permanent entry pass into the Father’s presence. Personal conversation!
“Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine…” (3: 20). Translation? You’ve gotta love that ‘abundantly far more’. Our requests are never ever beyond his reach. Limitless!
“The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for building of the body of Christ…” (4: 11). Translation? The word about Christ – the message, the knowledge, the wisdom – is the absolute foundation of everything the church does and how it lives and how I live. And I have been given ears to hear!
“… being filled with the Spirit” (5: 18). Translation? The followers of Jesus have a high calling for sure – but he is constantly moving his Spirit toward us to make it happen. Rained on!
“Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church” (5: 25). Translation? I / I’m going to lead in my marriage, it will be the way Jesus lead – by serving, even if it means the cross. Counter-cultural!
There you go. I could give you dozens of examples just from that one book. It’s a living Word we’re dealing with. It’s a living word which is dealing with us.
Bless You
Fred
26 September 2007
The Sydney Morning Herald Saturday paper has a magazine inside called ‘Good Weekend’. Each week Good Weekend (GW) has a column titled “Your time starts now…” Whoever is being interviewed is given a host of half finished statements which need a quick and short conclusion.
The sort of statements involved are:
My earliest memory is…
I wish I’d never worn…
My happiest moment was…
What I don’t find amusing is… And so on.
One of the statements each week is, “The book that changed my life is…” Recent responses to that statement include:
… ‘Intimacy and Solitude’ by Stephanie Dowrick (Stephen Campbell, Head of campaigns, Greenpeace Australia).
… ‘The Prophet’ by Kahlil Gibran (Ethan Stiefel, Ballet Dancer).
… has yet to be written. Only experience changes us. (Peter Cundall, gardening guru).
It was while reading Ethan Stiefels responses that I began to wonder what I would say in answer to that same query. The book that changed my life is…? Lots of books have informed me and challenged me. Some profoundly. Eg “The People of the Lie” by M. Scott Peck, or “The Covenant” by James Michener.
Then I thought I should probably have answered “The Bible”, which made me wince because it sounds so pious. I wasn’t the least bit comfortable about that until I thought about one particular book of the Bible. It’s St Paul’s Letter to the followers of Jesus Christ at Ephesians. The first time I actively recall reading in that book it changed my life. After years and years of “working to impress” the Lord above, I read this:
“By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast”. (Ephesians 2: 8-9)
As I read these verses I was hit by a conviction that has never left me. All my bloody best efforts to get into God’s good books counted for nothing – and Jesus Christ counted for everything. That very day I stopped the hard labour of trying to do enough to get into God’s good books and accepted that God gave me freely in Jesus Christ what I desperately wanted and which I couldn’t create for myself. Peace!
Later it dawned on me that each follower of Jesus Christ, each one who trust him for Good Friday and Easter, “…has been saved”. It’s behind me already. I don’t live toward his acceptance. I live from his acceptance. Freedom!
Over the years it’s been this letter of St Paul which has provided so much of the insight that has shaped my life, my hope. and the cause to which my energy goes. Let me share a few:
God raised us (past tense) up with (Christ) and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (2: 5-6). Translation? My kingdom address is: In Christ, at the right hand of the Father. Home!
“… he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world…” (1: 4). Translation? Don’t know how, but I was / you were on his radar before creation. Known! And loved!
“…through him (Christ)… we have access in one Spirit to the Father” (2: 18). Translation? I / you have a permanent entry pass into the Father’s presence. Personal conversation!
“Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine…” (3: 20). Translation? You’ve gotta love that ‘abundantly far more’. Our requests are never ever beyond his reach. Limitless!
“The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for building of the body of Christ…” (4: 11). Translation? The word about Christ – the message, the knowledge, the wisdom – is the absolute foundation of everything the church does and how it lives and how I live. And I have been given ears to hear!
“… being filled with the Spirit” (5: 18). Translation? The followers of Jesus have a high calling for sure – but he is constantly moving his Spirit toward us to make it happen. Rained on!
“Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church” (5: 25). Translation? I / I’m going to lead in my marriage, it will be the way Jesus lead – by serving, even if it means the cross. Counter-cultural!
There you go. I could give you dozens of examples just from that one book. It’s a living Word we’re dealing with. It’s a living word which is dealing with us.
Bless You
Fred
posted by PastorFredVeerhuis at 1:49 PM
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