Being Christian: A Journey from the Boat to the Shore, Culminating at the Cross

Contents

Why this Book?

Purpose for Writing

Initial Feelings

SECTION ONE

A Change of Lenses

SECTION 2:

Slow Down: God Is Here

From Heaven’s Throne to Human Hearts

SECTION 3:

Beyond Mindless Dos and Don’ts Into Meaningful Relationship

Abraham: The Father of Faith

SECTION 4:

Identity in Community

In the Dust

SECTION 5:

An Infectious Gospel

Broken and Poured Out

Lovingly for Mom and Dad,

Without whom I would not have the tools or the confidence to accomplish what I have. Thank you for believing in me.

Why this Book?

THIS IS A QUESTION I had to ask myself over and over during the writing process. Why does the world need another Christian living book? Aren’t there enough on the shelves—and, at that, many by writers far more learned than myself? Why then another book? I believe there are several aspects of this work that make it especially unique and helpful. First of all, it brings readers into the depths of the biblical narrative without using theological jargon that would narrow the book’s readership to those who have had theological training. This makes it appealing to those who want to dig deep into God but would otherwise find themselves lost in technical terminology. It takes an approach that considers God a very present Spirit Who is highly relational, thus making the book immediately applicable to one’s personal life.

Furthermore, this book walks the reader from the boat of uncertainty with James and John, when Jesus first called them, onto the shores of adventure when they first encountered and began to follow Him, and up to the cross and beyond when they began to change the world for Him.

And lastly, there have been many books about Christian faith and practice as well as notable books of the essential doctrines that a person must ascribe to if they want to consider themselves Christian—none more notable than C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity or N. T. Wright’s more recently popular Simply Christian. However, while these books detail most beautifully the essentials of the Christian faith, it does seem as though a thorough, deep, and practical book on being Christian is relatively absent from the bookshelves. This book takes as its focus not only God, and certainly not only humans, but the interaction that does and must occur between them.

Purpose for Writing

HAVE YOU EVER ASKED YOURSELF why we read—not just the Bible or a Christian living book, but any book at all for that matter? Maybe you heard a sermon this past Sunday or Wednesday, or maybe you heard a lecture in class. What is the point of someone standing in front of you and teaching you or writing to you information about a particular subject or person?

This is all about perspective. You offer someone your take on a subject because you believe that you have encountered that subject in a meaningful way, and you believe that this empowers you to share the subject with others.

This is why people bother with teaching at all. Maybe we read because we believe there is a better way to think, and someone can offer us that. Or maybe we believe there is something we are missing, and the book we are holding can help us find it. Some have even suggested that we read to know that we are not alone, and I find this a plausible reason also. Either way, the purpose of teaching is for the sake of transformation. We know that we are not the people we are supposed to be. We know that we have growing to do. Deep down something is wrong; we and the universe are out of whack. We must be transformed. The question is how. The only way to have a true transformation of character is to have one’s perspective changed. Pastors, writers, and teachers toil night and day trying to change the way that people live, trying to help people live a better life, a more meaningful life. But this I know: people will not begin living a more meaningful life until they see the world in a more meaningful way. They have to see before they can be. Essentially, the brain and the perspective are the only launching pads for transformation; they are the only passageway by which people can begin living a more meaningful life. The teacher desires a transformation for the people, which can only begin with perspective. I pray that the next few weeks, or months, or however long it takes you to read this will be a time where you begin seeing your God and His world a bit differently.

Initial Feelings

I AM EXCITED THAT YOU will be joining me on this journey. This book you are now holding is a compilation of thoughts that have been developed and gathered over a period of several years. These ideas surfaced as a result of countless conversations that I have had with my closest friends. These conversations would start at 1:00 a.m. and carry on throughout much of the night. Sometimes they would lead us to late night IHOP runs or even to McDonald’s, but these conversations have changed my perspective on life, and they have even changed the way I live. Most of these thoughts I can credit to good friends, some I can credit to good mentors, and still others I can certainly credit to great coffee. Nonetheless, I hope that these ideas prove to be good conversation starters. Maybe from them you can grow, as they have been a catalyst for my growth as well.

* * *

I love reading my Bible and discussing my ideas with friends. I owe a great deal of this book to those who have helped me develop these thoughts on being a Christian. Many thanks go to Heath, Stan, Trae, Mitch, Mike, Daniel, Cody, and not least my beautiful girlfriend and best friend Katie Rae. You are my siblings in the faith, and I pray that you find yourselves in this book. I want to thank my parents for providing me with life, a house, an education, and also a computer to type on. Finally, I want to thank the countless mentors that have made me who I am today.

Some of the thoughts here will be uncharted territory for you, and I think they will be very stretching. It is absolutely necessary that you approach them with an engaged mind and an open heart. The book is set up into sections that each build upon the previous section. So, in a sense, in the same way that our lives are a process and each stage is built upon the previous stage, so it is with this book.

SECTION ONE

Glasses

We cannot begin living in the world in a more meaningful way until we start seeing the world in a more meaningful way.

A Change of Lenses

For the longest time, I assumed that everything in the world was as I saw it with my own two eyes, only to realize I needed glasses. Oftentimes, what we are missing is right in front of us, and all we need is a proper pair of lenses.

ARE YOU ONE OF THOSE people who has thoughts, and not just any thoughts, but the kind that if someone were to come inside of your head, they would no longer consider you a reasonable human being? I definitely consider myself one of these people. I began following Jesus some six years ago, and ever since then, my thoughts have concerned me in a way. They caused me to wonder whether I was the only person living inside of my head because I started having thoughts that seemed like they were someone else’s. Maybe this is what Paul had in mind (literally) when he encouraged the Philippians to have the same mind which was in Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:5). Maybe the mind of Jesus literally comes to live in our own mind when we come to faith in him. What a thought!

I believe this to be an integral part of Jesus’ plan—even as Paul writes in the twelfth chapter of his letter to the Romans: God wants to renew our minds (Rom. 12:2b). The pattern of our thinking must change.

* * *

This message is rampant across the entire New Testament. Far too often, we have missed this message of Jesus and the New Testament authors. The Bible not only encourages us to live, act, and behave like Jesus but also to think like Jesus. While behaving like Jesus is certainly in the agenda of the Gospels, I believe there is still a more primary goal of the New Testament. The reason we have so many of Jesus’ teachings recorded is because Jesus not only wanted to change followers’ actions but their perspectives as well.

This was the calling of a rabbi, which was the name for a teacher and interpreter of Scripture in Jesus’ day. The Gospels record that at a certain age, many people began considering Jesus a rabbi. In modern language, this means that Jesus majored in understanding the intention of the Scriptures and spent His life helping others first understand them and second apply them.

Consider again the command in Romans 12:2: Be transformed by the renewal of your minds. Don’t miss out on all this verse is saying. The verse is literally saying that the only path to transformation is through your mind. This means that your actions aren’t truly transformed until your mind is transformed! Do you understand the significance of this reality? What does this mean for all of the change your habit sermons that we have heard over the years? You remember them: Quit drinking, quit smoking, quit having premarital sex, quit cheating, quit lying, etc. Indeed, the Bible clearly teaches against these behaviors, but the question is, how does the Bible go about ridding people of these habits? Can’t someone avoid these things yet be filled with jealousy, bitterness, envy, lust, and hate? I believe God is far more concerned with ridding His people of these diseases than having them stop certain habits.

While these habits may be manifestations of the sinful nature, simply changing habits means taking all of that inherent nature and transferring it into another manifestation of sin. This would just mean that if one doesn’t have premarital sex, one practices some other form of lust, and if a person is no longer lying in full, they are withholding certain aspects of the truth. Jesus wants to transform what is at the heart of the matter, which is only transformed through the renewal of our minds. He desires that we understand why we must tell the truth, why we must love others, and why we must obey Him. He wants us to think like He thinks and want what He wants. Jesus is trying to give us a proper perspective on Him, others, and ourselves. The gospel is determined to