Post by GoBlue on Oct 1, 2007 11:17:21 GMT -5
Getting It! (by Wayne Jacobsen)
lifestream.org/pdf/Gettingit.pdf
Here are some of the things we need to ‘get’ to thrive in the life of Christ. Helping us ‘get it’ is a work Jesus does as we grow in relationship with him. More than just intellectual assent, ‘getting it’ means to live in God’s reality without having to consciously think about it because it has become a natural part of who we are
and how we live in the world. This is the fruit of a renewed mind that lives freely in God and freely before the world. Certainly there are many other things God will show us as we grow in him, but I have found that these are quite common to most people on the journey of Christlikeness.
Incarnating His Love In the World
• When you realize sin doesn’t make you worthless it just makes you lost, you will know God’s compassion for people caught in sin, not contempt for them.
• If you can shut up, shut up.
• God wants to demonstrate his love for the world in the naturalness of our lives living transformed and that is far more powerful than anything we can say.
• Engage the world not in the artificial conversations of religious obligation, but by taking an interest in them and incarnating God’s life before them.
Living In Father’s Affection
• You have a Father who loves you more than any other human
being on this planet ever has or ever will.
• Nothing you can do today will make God love you any more,
and nothing you can do today will make God love you any
less.
• God is not disillusioned with you because he had no illusions
about you to begin with.
• Because shame, guilt and condemnation have no role in
helping you live in God’s life, he has removed them in Christ and does not manage them for your growth.
• He wants to make himself known to you daily and teach you how to recognize his voice.
Growing in Trust
• Everything about your life is in the Father’s hands.
• Trust is not a choice it is the fruit of your growing confidence in Father’s love for you.
• Jesus, as the Author and Finisher of our faith, is the one
who grows our trust in the real circumstances of life.
• He wants to free us from the preoccupation of getting from God so that we can simply live in the reality of what God gives.
• Know the story of Scripture well enough to know how God
works.
Embracing Freedom
• The greatest freedom in this kingdom is from the tyranny of your own desires, agendas and plans.
• The second greatest freedom is from the tyranny of other people’s opinions about you.
• “Unforgiveness is like drinking rat poison waiting for the
rat to die.”
• As long as your personal well-being depends on someone
else’s actions, you will manipulate them.
• Human effort, on its best day, will not produce the fruit
of the kingdom.
Sharing Life in the Body
• Christian community is a gift that God gives not something
human effort can produce.
• Community is not based on need, but on the joy of sharing
relationship with fellow-travelers.
• The life of Jesus fl ows from the individual into the body, not from the body to the individual and whenever we try to get from the body what we’re not finding in Jesus, we are making an idol of it.
• The life of the early church was defined by their relationships
with each other not their meetings or activities.
• You can only love and serve others to the degree that
you know how God is loving and serving you.
• The test of character is how you’re willing to treat someone when you are absolutely certain you are right.
lifestream.org/pdf/Gettingit.pdf
Here are some of the things we need to ‘get’ to thrive in the life of Christ. Helping us ‘get it’ is a work Jesus does as we grow in relationship with him. More than just intellectual assent, ‘getting it’ means to live in God’s reality without having to consciously think about it because it has become a natural part of who we are
and how we live in the world. This is the fruit of a renewed mind that lives freely in God and freely before the world. Certainly there are many other things God will show us as we grow in him, but I have found that these are quite common to most people on the journey of Christlikeness.
Incarnating His Love In the World
• When you realize sin doesn’t make you worthless it just makes you lost, you will know God’s compassion for people caught in sin, not contempt for them.
• If you can shut up, shut up.
• God wants to demonstrate his love for the world in the naturalness of our lives living transformed and that is far more powerful than anything we can say.
• Engage the world not in the artificial conversations of religious obligation, but by taking an interest in them and incarnating God’s life before them.
Living In Father’s Affection
• You have a Father who loves you more than any other human
being on this planet ever has or ever will.
• Nothing you can do today will make God love you any more,
and nothing you can do today will make God love you any
less.
• God is not disillusioned with you because he had no illusions
about you to begin with.
• Because shame, guilt and condemnation have no role in
helping you live in God’s life, he has removed them in Christ and does not manage them for your growth.
• He wants to make himself known to you daily and teach you how to recognize his voice.
Growing in Trust
• Everything about your life is in the Father’s hands.
• Trust is not a choice it is the fruit of your growing confidence in Father’s love for you.
• Jesus, as the Author and Finisher of our faith, is the one
who grows our trust in the real circumstances of life.
• He wants to free us from the preoccupation of getting from God so that we can simply live in the reality of what God gives.
• Know the story of Scripture well enough to know how God
works.
Embracing Freedom
• The greatest freedom in this kingdom is from the tyranny of your own desires, agendas and plans.
• The second greatest freedom is from the tyranny of other people’s opinions about you.
• “Unforgiveness is like drinking rat poison waiting for the
rat to die.”
• As long as your personal well-being depends on someone
else’s actions, you will manipulate them.
• Human effort, on its best day, will not produce the fruit
of the kingdom.
Sharing Life in the Body
• Christian community is a gift that God gives not something
human effort can produce.
• Community is not based on need, but on the joy of sharing
relationship with fellow-travelers.
• The life of Jesus fl ows from the individual into the body, not from the body to the individual and whenever we try to get from the body what we’re not finding in Jesus, we are making an idol of it.
• The life of the early church was defined by their relationships
with each other not their meetings or activities.
• You can only love and serve others to the degree that
you know how God is loving and serving you.
• The test of character is how you’re willing to treat someone when you are absolutely certain you are right.