From the archives ~ Something Borrowed

(The last few days, I have been re-reading some old posts, and have found that the truths in them, continue to convict and challenge me. So, I have decided to spend the next week or so, on a "From the Archives" series. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! This particular post was originally published on May 25, 2011)

     Yesterday afternoon I finished reading "In His Steps" by Charles Sheldon, and I started thinking about modern Christianity. It seems that so many of us Christians today borrow our faith. And by that I mean, we use the faith of someone else, or the faith that we used to have, to cover up the gaps in our present faith. We have so much knowledge today about how to be a great Christian, how to walk as Christ walked, and how to talk as He talked, and yet there is a surprising shortage of people who actually do.
   
    I'm guilty of this myself! I know all the right words to say and the all the proper things to do, but I often don't allow my heart to be changed by the wisdom that I glean from others. I substitute a passion for Christ, with a shallow excitement for the thrilling aspect of doing things for Him. And the knowledge that I have of God, comes not from intense hours spent in His presence, but information I have obtained from other peoples experience of Him. While it is good to hear and be inspired by what other people have to say, it is wrong to substitute their words, for the words of the Father.
   
   So the question I have is this: What if we as Christians began laying aside the words of others, and learned to listen to the words of our King, applying them to our lives, without thought to the personal cost? That question may never be answered until we ourselves muster the courage to know Christ, and stop borrowing our faith.

Against the Tide ~ Book Review

   I first discovered Elizabeth Camden, who majors in historical Christian fiction, through her first book, "The Lady of Bolton Hill". I fell immediately in love with her writing style, and her fresh characters, so when I had the opportunity to receive her third book free to review, I jumped on it!

The pros:

   As I read this book, I was struck by the historical depth and accuracy, as well as the consistency that Camden shows throughout the changing settings in her book. I have read too many stories where the author can't keep their facts (dates, ages, events, etc...) straight, so this was very refreshing. Also, the story itself was riveting! Camden, throws in several plot twists, some, I could see coming, but several surprised me and kept me turning the pages. I especially loved that the story did not drag. Many books, even good ones, have 'dead spots' in them, which I generally skim through to get to the action. This plot however, was so cleverly planned, that when I most expected to be coming upon a lull, I would find a twist instead, which definitely kept the story hopping. And, since this is a Christian novel, there are no dirty words, or bad scenes, which is a plus. 

The Cons:

    As much as I love a good mystery and romance, I prefer to read books that leave me longing to be a better Christian, and this book just didn't do that for me. The hero, is a Christian, and the heroine is not, but instead of guarding his heart, the hero jumps right into love with the girl, which was disappointing to me. Also, I was saddened to find that the Gospel is not mentioned in the story. It appears at the end that the heroine is following Christ, but there is no mention of her making a specific decision to accept Christ as her Savior, which I found anti-climactic.

In conclusion:

   If you are looking for a clean, adventurous, well-written story to pass some time, you cannot go wrong with "Against the Tide". If, however, you are seeking a spiritually edifying story line that will leave you thirsting for more of Jesus, you can take or leave this book.

*I received this book free from Bethany House publishers for my honest opinion. 

Procrastination, and Random Notions

 

    Hello all! I am so sorry for my super long blogging break. I would say that I have been super busy lately, (which would be absolutely true) but it is also (and probably more so) true that I have been procrastinating.
   I have alot of things on my heart and mind that I want to share, if I knew how, but since I don't, I will wait a little longer on them. I am however planning to add book reviews to my blog. I have already posted a couple on here, but these will be reviews for free books!!!! (I have to feed my habit somehow...)
   Also, I sometimes feel hemmed in, on what I can say here, because I have no set audience. I have been wanting to change this for some time, and turn the focus of this blog toward my sisters in Christ, so be looking for some changes to that effect in the near future.
   I believe that, this is all that I want to say, so good night, and I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday tomorrow!!!  

Covenant Exchange

  I've been quite frustrated the last couple of weeks with the phrase "covenant exchange" or just the plain word "covenant". I have heard it, read it, mulled over it, and still had no earthly clue what these people were talking about! (Anybody else with me?) I mean, I knew what a covenant was, but I didn't know how that applied to my relationship with Christ until, quite literally, five minutes ago. (Thank you Leslie Ludy!) Here it is:

Covenant Exchange: Saying to God, "Everything in my life, all that I am is yours, and everything that you purchased on the cross is now mine."

   How awesome and powerful is this? I mean think about what Christ purchased on the Cross. He purchased eternal life, power over death, adoption into God's family, plus all the things that go along with being children of God, such as His strength, and power, and life in ourselves! All these things in exchange for our measly selves. ( Do I sound like a TV commercial yet?) I mean, why is this not standard stuff in Christianity today? We spend so much time trying to fix the symptoms, that we never get to the disease. We belabor the issues of insecurity, and self esteem, and recurring sin, but we miss the fact that the answers can all be found at the cross, in a covenant exchange with our Lord and Savior. How awesome is that? 

Every Day Glory

                                               "It is one thing to go through a crisis grandly, 
                                       but another thing to go through every day glorifying God
                                                   when there is no witness, no limelight,
                                                no one paying the remotest attention to us."
                                                                          -Oswald Chambers-

"When God Writes Your Love Story" a book review

by Allie Loyd

                This book  was lent to me by a good friend (I’ll call her Lindsey). I must admit, I’m terrible at reading...well, finishing non-fiction books (especially the devotion kind). But after an awkward meeting with Lindsey during which I had to admit I hadn’t even started the stack of books she had given me, I finally buckled down and started reading...only to stop three chapters later due to certain issues of the heart.

                See, despite the book’s *ahem* misleading title, it is not purely about waiting for God’s perfect timing and finding your perfect match. This book is about oh so much more. 
                It teaches the importance of your relationship with Christ, of serving and loving others more than yourself, of living truly a set-apart life for God. Once you have the foundation, you can have a truly fulfilling single-season and God-written romance. 
                But the Ludy’s don’t stop there. 
                They tell of their own experience through the world’s messed up dating system and how they each came to hold their views of dating and marriage. They encourage and exhort those who seem ‘stuck’ in the season of singleness and offer practical advice on how to make the most of these years in ‘the wilderness’. And to those who feel like they have tainted their purity and ruined their chances at a God-written love story, they offer the blood of Christ.
                   If this had been just another book on Christian marriage and dating, it would have hardly made a difference in me. It speaks some harsh truths, but those always turn out to be the ones worth listening to. 

What you do for God.

"The more you do for you, the less you do for God."

- Bro. Bobby