The love that Jesus calls his followers to is a holistic spirituality, encompassing the emotions (heart), character (soul),  intellect (mind), and physicality (strength). (Read Mark 12:28-31)

Today I decided to share 4 book recommendations for those of you looking for some stimulating summer reading.  Each of these books have deepened my own love for God, but in very different ways.

HEART

The Journey of Desire: Searching for the Life We Only Dreamed of By John Eldredge

Eldredge is a fantastic writer and story-teller, but also a man of deep spiritual pursuit.  If you read this book, I can guarantee your heart will be refreshed, challenged, and stirred to pay attention to your deepest desires.  God doesn’t want to kill our deep desires, he wants to redeem them. I can’t recommend this book enough, especially if you are feeling spiritually dry, emotionally numb, or longing to fall back in love with God.

SOUL

True Spirituality by Francis Shaeffer

This is just one of many classic books by Francis Shaeffer, who is  considered one of the most powerful voices in the latter half of the twentieth century to church and culture.  Shaeffer said  this should of been his first book.  After a major crisis of faith, Shaeffer wrote this book with a new confidence in what the Bible teaches and how followers of Jesus can truly live differently.

MIND

Wisdom and Wonder by Abraham Kuyper

This book is written at a fairly high intellectual level, so keep your dictionary close at hand and get ready to read certain paragraphs two or three times before they make sense. However, don’t let Kuyper’s depth keep you from embracing this powerful work that builds a theology specifically for Science and Art.  If you are interested and/or gifted in these two particular areas, you need to read this book.

Strength

Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World by Bob Goff

This book is made of many small chapters in which the author Bob Goff shares his own stories of a life of following Jesus in practically engaging with others.  Goff has been instrumental in the spiritual life of author Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz), and this book will inspire you to love God by loving other people with all your strength.

A primary focus of #LiveFully is to consider the intersection of faith and culture, and specifically how Christians navigate life in the world today. Below are 3 (general) kinds of Christians.  I’d encourage you to consider your personal attitudes as well as the attitudes of your community as you read.

1. Christians against the world

These Christians possess an “us versus them” attitude.  To be a committed Christian means to stand staunchly against anything that is secular and not Christian in nature. Christians against the world have no problem with living inside a Christian subculture because this is in fact the point – to not engage with the secular sinful world. Generally, these people only say “NO” to the culture that surrounds them. Continue Reading…

When Jesus calls his followers the “salt of the earth,” one implication is that they are to be the flavor that brings bland living to life.  Christians are supposed to live the most attractive lives and carry the most joy, regardless of their circumstance.

We should throw the best parties, hold the greatest traditions, and have the healthiest families.  Our marriages should thrive, growing more intimate as time goes by.  Our friendships should be the most authentic and meaningful.

Followers of Christ should have lives that others want, and I don’t just mean other Christians. People who do not know Christ should be attracted to the depth and richness of the lives we live.  According to Jesus, they should even start to praise our Heavenly Father as they watch us live our lives (Matthew 5:16).  This is one aspect of what it means to be the salt – the savoring quality of life on the earth today. Continue Reading…

Brian Burchik, founder of #LiveFully project, shares about Christians’ calling to be salt and light of the earth, and specifically how easily we can drift from that call and settle for living in a subculture away from the world. You can listen to the entire message given at Grace Church entitled “What does God adopt us into?” here.

Picture in your head the clothes dresser in your room. How many drawers does it have? Are they all closed? (if so, pat yourself on the back, you’ve accomplished something I have never been able to do).

Now that you have your dresser in mind, I want to suggest that our lives are a lot like a dresser.  By this I mean there are many fragmented parts (drawers) of our life, and they get stacked up on each other. We have the “Family” drawer, and here we act a certain way, have certain responsibilities, and spend a great deal of time. We have a “Friends” drawer, and we relate to these people in different ways than you relate to your family, and you act a bit different as well.

If you are a student, then there is a “School drawer,” or if you are a worker than you have the “Work drawer.”  Then, depending on what you love to do, you may have a “Sports drawer,” or “Music drawer,” or “Photography drawer.”

Additionally, there is perhaps some type of “Health drawer,”  some kind of “Finances drawer,” and finally, there is your “Religion drawer.” Whether you are a Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or athiest, everyone has a religion drawer because everyone has their own answers to the big questions of life, as well as ways they act in response. Continue Reading…