Serious Times
We do live in “Serious Times” so when a book by that title was recommended I was anxious to read it. It was written by James Emery White and I highly recommend it as it really nails the times we live in and what our responsibilities are as followers of Christ. Here’s just a few quotes:
“Serious times are met with serious lives. This is the anvil on which history is forged. More important, it is the means by which the Kingdom of God is advanced and the life of a Christ follower measured. Paul Helm rightly notes that according to scripture ‘the whole of a person’s life is fundamentally serious, something for which he is responsible before God, and for which he will have to give account…He is individually responsible to God for what he makes of it”.
“This brings me to a confession. I’m taken by this, because there is nothing I want more than for my life to matter. I want to be used profoundly by God, to be seized by his great and mighty hand and thrust onto the stage of history in order to do something significant. With as pure a heart as I can muster, this isn’t about fame or prestige. It’s about wanting my life to count where it is needed most. There is a great movement of God that has been set loose in this world, and I want to be on the front lines.” James Emery White: Serious Times. Making Your Life Matter In An Urgent Day.
Me too. My experience is that there are too few in the evangelical world. How do we change that?
More:
“…But for Christ to become the transformer of culture he needs transformed lives through which to work. Jesus initiated the great revolution through the cross, then entrusted the message of the cross to men and women (2nd Cor. 5). They were not particularly educated, sophisticated, wealthy or influential, but that was not what was most needed. Engagement with the world demanded one thing-that they be like Him. The heart of Jesus’ strategy for transforming the world was unleashing a force of transformed lives”. Ibid
“…Added to this must come a singular concern-the sharing of Christ with the world in such a way that the lost are found, the blind see, the deaf hear and the hurting comforted. I must understand that the world is in desperate need of Christ and become passionate about being His ambassador (2nd Cor. 5)”. Ibid
I agree with all the above.
