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Thursday, May 20, 2010

Challenging Words...

I've been reading an excellent book "The Bravehearted Gospel" by Eric Ludy. I want to share with you an excerpt of "The Bravehearted Gospel" that I thought was so good.

"Jesus was perfect, and He lived the only perfect life that's ever been lived. These words are well-worn and have been repeated more times than can be numbered. but do we realize that the practical implications of such a statement? It means that in all things, and at all times, Jesus was perfectly loving, perfectly unselfish,and perfectly holy. In fact He was perfect in every way. The Bible says that He was without sin. Jesus was blameless. Not once in His life was He ever arrogant, boastful, or proud. The number of times that Jesus spoke an unkind word or mindlessly lashed out with His tongue came to a grand total of zero. He had no blind spots. His doctrine was pure. He never erred in His teaching by placing an over-or underemphasis on any doctrine. He never spoke out of prejudice, mere opinion or dogma. He transcended His culture. He spoke only what His Father gave Him to speak, and His words were the words of God. He came to serve others, not to be served Himself. He made no attempt to manipulate the masses for His own gain, but lived humbly and without pretension. He was approachable. Women, children, tax collectors, prostitutes, and even lepers came to Jesus and were never turned away. He taught that we should love one another, that we should treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated. and that we should do good even to those who use and mistreat us. "The Bravehearted Gospel" pp 8-9

Eric continues, " Maybe Jesus just didn't know about being a cool Christian and how effective of witnessing tool it can be. Maybe He didn't know about all the people He would could have reached if He would have only related to them in a style that oozed beauty and allure from every pore. But I doubt it. The Lamb was slain from before the foundation of the world. And God planned every detail of His advent on Earth down to the very last jot and tittle. He knew what He was doing. And He knew what He was choosing. Isaiah 53 prophesied that Jesus would have "no form nor comeliness," and that "when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." That doesn't sound very cool. But that is exactly what God chose. And He chose it to make a point. He chose poverty to prove that a man's life does not consist of the abundance of the things that he possesses. He chose weakness to prove that it is not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of Almighty God the men are made and battles won. He chose obscurity to prove that it profits a man nothing if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul. He chose the path that men deem foolish to prove that God's ways are not our ways and that our ways are not God's ways. And that, in fact, God's ways are higher than man's as heavens are higher than the Earth. He chose the path that was despised to prove that blessed are those of whom all men speak evil for righteousness's sake, for they walk in the company of the prophets, the martyrs, and in the footsteps of the very Son of God. And finally He chose death to prove that all those who seek to save their life will lose it, but those who will release their grip on life for the glory of God and the proclamation of His kingdom will without doubt gain it in the end. For truly, they can never die. We know what He chose. But what are we choosing? They call us Christians; and all that really means is that we are supposed to follow Christ. They question is.... are we?" "The Bravehearted Gospel" pp. 96-97

1 comment:

Hayley said...

Awesome girl! Those words are so powerful and just really HIT you you know? Thanks for sharing...I can't wait to read the book for myself...:)