Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Our goal as Christ-followers is simply not to be good at the great commandment, but to be great at it

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment."

With this simple quote from Jesus Mark Batterson (no relation) begins to unpack what it might mean to really begin believing Jesus not just believing in Jesus. He invites us to cut away the politics and the unnecessary drapery (some of which is beautiful), and simply explore what following Jesus is in the simplest, rawest, purest form possible

Primal takes you on a journey to rediscover the true meaning of the great commandment.

Mark asserts "The truth is that most of us are already educated way beyond the level of our obedience." In essence he points out that we tend come up with a list of “dos” and “don’ts” and “OKs” and “not OKs” to show that we are different and hold that up to the world as Christianity.

He also writes “I couldn't’t help but wonder if we have diluted the truths of Christianity and settled for superficialities. I couldn't’t help but wonder if we have accepted a form of Christianity that is more educated but less powerful, more civilized but less compassionate, more acceptable but less authentic than that which our spiritual ancestors practiced.”

Mark concludes that "Our goal as Christ-followers is simply not to be good at the great commandment, but to be great at it."

He ends the book with an invitation to all people to become part of the next reformation movement. A reformation that consists of being “a part of something that is bigger than you, more important than you and longer lasting than you.” It is an invitation to rediscover and rejoin the movement that turned the world upside down two thousand years ago.

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