Church

Yesterday's post about Max Lucado made me think of other books that influenced my thinking and behavior as a young believer.  I'll share the list below.  Some may not mean anything to you; it's likely you may not have heard of a few of the authors.  That's probably more indicative of my experience than your's.  These were the books I needed to read. So ... here it goes (in no particular order): I Just Want to be a Christian by Rubel Shelly Discipleship: The Multiplying Ministry by Milton Jones Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis Power for Living by Jamie Buckingham The Cruciform Church by Leonard Allen The Worldly Church by Leonard Allen The Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman How about you?  What were the books that influenced your faith development? ---------------------- If you've never seen the movie about C.S. Lewis, I'd recommend it.…

"And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again" (2 Corinthians 5:15). The story is told of a little boy and his sister riding on a wooden rocking horse.  The little boy turns to his sister and says, "If one of us would get off there would be more room for me." That pretty much sums up our challenge.  For the Christ-follower, the process of maturity is not to make more room for me but more room for Him.  We are to look for ways to make more of Jesus and less of ourselves. It's not easy.  Our culture breeds selfishness.  From the time we are little, we are told that we deserve a trophy just for showing up.  If we're not careful, we'll bring this attitude over into the church.  The church…

Here is the gospel in a nutshell: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9). We don't often think of Jesus as "poor."  It's just as likely we don't ever think of Jesus as "rich" either. It's easy to forget that Jesus didn't arrive on the scene the moment he was born in Bethlehem.  Prior to the incarnation (God becoming flesh), Jesus existed in heaven.  From the descriptions we have in scripture, it was good living in heaven.  Angels attending to his every need.  Creatures constantly worshipping him.  Streets of gold.  Jesus had everything he needed. Sounds rich to me. Then he gave it all up.  As Paul writes in Philippians, "Jesus, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to…

In 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, the apostle Paul is dealing with the generosity of the Corinthian church.  While it's true he's primarily talking about financial generosity, the real issue is whether or not we will live with a generous spirit in all aspects of life.  People who live with a generous spirit are just as likely to share a donut as much as a dollar.  It's not what they do; it's who they are. For Paul, believers who are sincere in their beliefs will have matching behaviors.  He writes in 2 Corinthians 8:8, "I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others." When we think of a sincere person, we think of the person who does what they say they will do.  Insincere people, on the other hand, may say all the right things but…