“God does not come to
us offering rules; God comes offering relationship.”
What Matters Most:
How We Got the Point but Missed the Person is a new book by Leonard Sweet.
The quote above is a good summary of the message of this book: We spent more
time debating the “right theology” and creating the“right rules”, than building
a relationship with God and with others.
I liked this book as Sweet offered new slants to the
familiar story of Abraham and I appreciate his method of studying the root of
words such as belief, faith, hear and obey to gain insight into their meanings.
I enjoy reading a book that offers some “meat” to ponder and innovative
viewpoints with stories and words that have grown familiar.
This book would be a great book for discussion in a small
group. Questions are available in the back of the book and there is a web site with
bonus material to add to a group’s conversation.
Sweet reminds us that God’s greatest desire in to love us so
we can love God and others. God’s greatest hope is that will we join Him in a
living and growing relationship. God calls us not to spend all of our energy on
defining and defending a set of beliefs, but to pursue God, the Great Pursuer
of us, to know God as He knows us, and build an open, honest relationship with
Him.
Some interesting quotes to think about:
“Christianity is not for ‘professionals.’ Christianity is
meant o be lived by amateurs. Amateur
is based on the Latin word amator,
which means ‘lover.’ Christianity is meant for lovers, not experts.”
“Is Christ a noun or a verb in your life? If he’s a noun,
you may be capable of intellectually, comprehending that the Lord is good. But
only if he is both a noun and a verb are you able ‘to taste and see that he
Lord is good.’ A verb mean Jesus is alive and active in the flesh. He is an
experience and an embrace.”
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing
Group for this review.
What book have you read lately that brought you a new point of view or
drew you closer to God?
No comments:
Post a Comment