Sickness & A New Book

I've been sick for about a week....the longest I can remember being sick. I'm on the mend now, but it knocked me out for about 6 days. I didn't blog, I didn't study, and I hardly read.

But, now that I am better, I picked up a new book, "Sitting At The Feet Of Rabbi Jesus" by Ann Sangler & Lois Tverberg.



I have only read four chapters, but I have done something while reading this book that I have never done before. I just finished reading the fourth chapter, "Following The Rabbi", which deals with discipleship, mentoring and apprenticeship. When I was done, I went back and read it again. This chapter alone makes this book a must read for everyone who wants to know what it means to be a true follower of Jesus.

We have reduced being a disciple in the western world to completing a class or keeping a list of "do's and don't's". We have not really comprehended what it means to "leave all" and follow Jesus. This chapter has shown me that it is all about following Jesus with our entire life. Discpleship is not something we do, it is something we are. To leave everything and follow Jesus is not about leaving family, jobs, or possessions, it is about leaving self. It is about leaving our wants, our desires and pouring our life out as an offering to Him. It is about living our life in such a way that everything we do points to our love of Jesus.

It is living out Romans 12:1-2(The Message)
"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."

I think I'm going to go back and read chapter four again, and then move on from there. I'm enjoying sitting at the feet of Rabbi Jesus, and I think you will too.

Still learning,
Pastor Dave