“After the apostle Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, people “were cut to the heart and said… ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ (Acts 2:37). The first church responded with immediate action; repentance, baptism, selling possessions, sharing the gospel. We respond with words like ‘amen, convicting sermon, great book’… and then are paralyzed as we try to decipher what God wants of our lives. I concur with Annie Dillard who once said, “How we live our days is.. .how we live our lives.” We each need to discover for ourselves how to live this day in faithful surrender to God. ”
This is from a book I read a few months ago called "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. This is one of those books that you just don't forget. It's one that you put down and just have to chew on what you just read for a while. And this particular part hit me. Like a ton. of. bricks. How many times do I read a good book and say "wow, great book. I should live differently." Or, "great sermon. I really learned a lot today." or "amen, that person has an amazing testimony. Let me tell you about their story, it's really cool." There is nothing wrong with a great book, sermon, or story. But God wants us to have our own story. A story that is all about Him. We need desperately to let Him use US, teach US, and change OUR LIVES. Drastically. I need Him to. So my prayer today is as I start a new job, encounter new people, and have a whole new level of responsibility in my life, I will choose to let Him use me in ways only He can. I choose to respond with actions instead of pretty words. I choose to live each day in faithful surrender. Because after all, "how we live our days... is how we live our lives."
-Lace
I have heard so many good things about this book... I would love to get my hands on a copy and read it.
ReplyDeleteJamie- you definitely should. I felt like every other sentence was a 'quotable quote' to live by! :)
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