Musings

This book I've been reading has been rocking my socks off. I bought it several years ago--it is one of many books which I've packed and unpacked each time I've moved and thought, "I wish I had time to read that right now." I've been reading a chapter a day for the last week or so. And every day I get that "Man, I wish everyone could read this book!" feeling. It's a Christian book, a creative telling of the Gospel, that I would feel totally comfortable recommending to my non-Christian peers. Searching for God Knows What  (there are super cheap used copies on Amazon, if I'm convincing you it might be worth reading). For those of us Christians who talk a lot about ideas and trends and like to analyze often, there has been lots of talk about postmodernity, narrative, our need for relationship, what the Gospel is, etc. Some people enjoy reading thick books by theologians to understand such things. Others want things that are easier to read in or...

    I have always squirmed when people talk about being "nothing" without Christ, being able to do "nothing" on our own, etc. In our self-esteeming culture, it doesn't easily integrate with our personal philosophies. I've never been the type to beat myself up; I don't really struggle much with feelings of failure. But through reading (again) The Search For Significance (by Robert McGee), I've realized that's because I don't often try the things I would probably fail at. So my confidence is based on my own performance just as much as a discouraged person's lack of confidence is based on their performance.      So how have I been dealing with this? By thinking more about my identity in Christ. It's a concept I had heard references to for years, but didn't really start to grasp it until a Moody professor taught me and my classmates to notice all of the references to Christ in the first few chapters of Ephesians. In looking at thos...