One might say that I am prioritizing reading time over sleep time, and they might be correct. I've been "checkin in" with God to make sure I'm following his lead in this area, but I can't stop myself from sharing another excerpt from yet another book I'm in the midst of reading currently. I've heard it spoken about it several circles and I've been so excited to join in the frenzy, just so happened the library had it available for me now, so here we go.
The title of this book is Crazy Love, by Francis Chan. I'm about halfway through, again, soaking up words just as a sponge soaks up water. Tonight I found myself reading, guess what? About a running analogy, cue perked up "ears". (maybe I've been hangin out with little Wubzzy too often lately). He writes:
Imagine going for a run while eating a box of Twinkies. Besides being self-defeating and sideache-inducing, it would also be next to impossible - you would have to stop running in order to eat the Twinkies.
In the same way, you have to stop loving and pursuing Christ in order to sin. When you are pursuing love, running toward Christ, you do not have an opportunity to wonder, Am I doing this right? or Did I serve enough this week? When you are running toward Christ, you are freed to serve, love, and give thanks without guilt, worry, or fear. As long as you are running, you are safe.
But running is exhausting - if, that is, we are running from sin or guilt, out of fear. (Or if we haven't run in a while.) However, if we train ourselves to run toward our Refuge, toward Love, we are free - just as we are called to be.
As we begin to focus more on Christ, loving Him and others becomes more natural. As long as we are pursuing Him, we are satisfied in Him. It is when we stop actively loving Him that we find ourselves restless and gravitating toward other means of fulfillment.
2 comments:
oooo. I want to read, I want to read. Love it.
This book is amazing, I read it about 3-4 months ago and highlighted about the whole thing. I specifically love these two points: 1) Don't we live intstead as though God is created for us, to do our bidding, to bless us, and to take care of our loved ones 2) God is the only true Giver, and He needs nothing from us. But still He wants us. He gave us life so that we might seek and know Him. Thanks for motivating be to get this book back out and re-read all it's great points.
Post a Comment