Chap 7 - Integrity and Self-Acceptance

There were three things that really resonated with me in this chapter.

1) The dream of Jesus Christ is the Kingdom of God, and the committed Christian buys into his dream. It ought to be noted that the Kingdom is not an abstraction. It is concrete, visible, and a formidable reality forged by the personal commitment of many members.

The Kingdom is here now. This thought regularly comes to my mind and I think about this. I can be effective in the kingdom now. The choices I make now affect how effective my walk will be. While I can't take a friend to meet Jesus face to face, I can do it in prayer, conversation about Him, and the things I do. The kingdom is here now and we were called for such a time as this to walk in the kingdom!

2) …there is no growth without pain, no integrity without self-denial, and neither are particularly attractive apart from the personal love of Jesus Christ.

But Jesus for the love of us endured the cross - pain and self-denial is written all over the cross. And this Savior who loves me way more than I can ever comprehend calls me close - very close. I wanna be like Him. Pain? OK! Self-denial? OK! Am I good at either of these - No, but I'm willing because He will walk with me through it.

3) When the crucified One says, “I’m dying to be with you” and then whispers, “Will you die a little to be with me?” my sluggish spirit is stirred (unfortunately not always) to prefer the pleasure of his company to whatever trinket of creation is mesmerizing me at the moment.

I've thought long and hard about this. I feel the Spirit whisper it to me. Unfortunately, I too have a sluggish spirit. But if we don't die a little to be with Him, we'll never know the full extent of transformation He can do in our lives. We will cheat ourselves in the long run if we don't.