A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Petersen (September 2007)

[woman4life]

Is anyone reading it?

--Melanie


EDIT: Thanks for starting the conversation, Melanie! Another month flew by! I changed the title of this thread to keep the discussion here.:)

[w8ing4daybreak]

Yes, I've had it stacked up in a pile of books to read, occaisionally checking in to see if anyone has posted anything on it yet. I read the first couple chapters in it this morning, and I like what I've read. It's not as light reading as most of the recent selections. It's about discipleship and getting serious about our walk with God.
Our society is all about wanting instant results. The author writes of discipleship as being a life long pilgrimage. I'm hoping that a few of us can go through the book together a chapter or two at a time. What do you think?

[woman4life]

I'm up for it if you are. LOL I'm on Chapter 5. I don't think this book is going to make me very comfortable -- but that is a good thing. :)

--Melanie

[w8ing4daybreak]

In my reading yesterday (Ch.2), I came accross the following statement:
Repentance is not an emotion. It is not feeling sorry for your sins. It is a decision. It is deciding that you have been wrong in supposing that you could manage your own life and be your own god; it is deciding that you were wrong in thinking you had, or could get, the strength, education and training to make it on your own; it is deciding that you have been told a pack of lies about yourself and your neighbors and your world. And it is deciding that God in Jesus Christ is telling you the truth. Repentance is a realization that what God wants from you and what you want from God are not going to be achieved by doing the same old things, thinking the same old thoughts. Repentance is a decision to follow Jesus Christ and become his pilgrim in the path of peace.

What I immediately saw here reminded me of the first steps of the 12 steps of AA and other recovery groups. Gaining the realization that what you've been doing, no matter how hard you've tried, is not working. And then making a decision to change.

In the first chapter he mentions something about people who have "a bent for religious entertainment", scheduling their lives around events, concerts, retreats, conferences. I had to look at myself here. I have a teenaged daughter and have made a real effort to get her involved with alternatives to what the world has to offer. We went to a several music festivals and concerts over the summer. While going to these events is fun and good, it we need to make sure we are balancing that out with discipline on our parts. Are we doing the work required for growth, or just being entertained?

[woman4life]

The one about entertainment hit me between the eyes a little, although I don't particularly have a bent for "religious" entertainment, just music and concerts in general. Of course, I don't think he is suggesting they are bad here, just that we can come to rely on that for our spiritual growth, come back and not change anything and it won't be much more than entertainment.

He definitely hit the nail on the head in regards to repentence. Saying your sorry alone isn't enough. This is a stuggle I am going through on my own now -- making a firm decision to change and sticking with it.

Anyway, I find much hope in what is said here:

"We know that in Israel in saying 'no' did not miraculously return to Eden or live in primitive innocence, or mystically inhabit a heavenly city and live in supernatural ecstasy. They worked and played, suffered and sinned..."

They had direction and that direction was towards God and a new start.
And that is good news.

--Melanie

[mercyGurl]

Can someone tell me what September's book is/where it was announced? :confused:

EDIT: Nevermind. I found the thread:)

[w8ing4daybreak]

On the topic of entertainment...
I spent all of Sunday afternoon/evening at a Christian music festival, so I didn't get anymore reading done. The day was definately worth it though. My daughter brought a friend that had never been to anything like it before. She was sort of bummed that we were going to drive for 2 hours to see a bunch of boring bands that her mom listens to. By the time she was done she had about 30 Sharpie signatures on her arms (my daughter's idea), and was begging for us to take her again next year!

[w8ing4daybreak]

Chapter 3: It's been a busy week, so I'm not keeping up. I lked this chapter, It's about how God is our protector, our guardian. It brought the words of this song to me:
Still
by, Reuben Morgan
Hide me now under Your wings.
Cover me within Your mighty hand.

Chorus
When the oceans rise and thunders roar,
I will soar with You above the storm.
Father, You are King over the flood;
I will be still and know You are God.

Find rest, my soul, in Christ alone.
Know His power in quietness and trust.

[w8ing4daybreak]

Chapter 4
This is the paragraph that stood out to me:

We live in what one writer has called the “age of sensation.” We think that if we don’t feel something there can be no authenticity in doing it. But the wisdom of God says something different: that we can act ourselves into a new way of feeling much quicker than we can feel ourselves into a new way of acting. Worship is an act that develops feelings for God, not a feeling for God that is expressed in an act of worship. When we obey the command to praise God in worship, our deep essential need to be in relationship with God is nurtured.

[w8ing4daybreak]

Chapter 5
Exerpts of paragraphs that stood out to me:
...God intends good for us and he will get his way in us. He does not treat us according to our deserts, but according to his plan. He is not a police officer on patrol, watching over the universe, ready to club us if we get out of hand or put us in jail if we get obstreperous. He is a potter working the clay of our lives, forming and reforming until, finally, he has shaped a redeemed life, a vessel fit for the kingdom.

We live in ... slavery... Freedom is announced and celebrated. But not many feel of act free. Evidence? We live in a nation of complainers and a society of addicts..... And everywhere we meet the addicts-addiction to alcohol and drugs, to compulsive work habits and to excessive consumption. We trade masters; we stay enslaved.

[w8ing4daybreak]

Chapter 6, Help, based on Psalm 124. Here is a quote from what I read:


"Everyday, I put hope on the line. I don't know one thing about the future. I don't know what the next hour will hold. There may be sickness, accident, personal or world catastrophe. Before this day is over I may have to deal with death, pain, loss, rejection. I don't know what the future holds for me, for those I love, for my nation, for this world. Still despite my ignorance and surrounded by tinny optimists and cowardly pessimists, I say that God will accomplish his will, and I cheerfully persist in living in hope that nothing will separate me from Christ's love."

God will use circumstances to accomplish his work in us. We have hope for the future. He will never leave us or forsake us.
Our HOPE is in HIM.:)

[w8ing4daybreak]

Chapter 7, Security based on Psalm 125.

Again I will quote a few things that “grabbed” my attention.

The emphasis of Psalm 125 is not on the precariousness of the Christian walk but on its solidity. Living as a Christian is not walking a tightrope without a safety net high above a breathless crowd, many of whom would like nothing better than the morbid thrill of seeing you fall; it is sitting in a fortress.

My feelings are important for many things. They are essential and valuable. They keep me aware of much that is true and real. But they tell me next to nothing about God or my relation to God. My security comes from who God is, not from how I feel. Discipleship is a decision to live by what I know about God, not by what I feel about him…

… We wander like lost sheep, true; but God is a faithful shepherd who pursues us relentlessly. We have our ups and downs, zealously believing one day and gloomily doubting the next, but he is faithful. We break our promises, but he doesn’t break his. Discipleship is not a contract in which if we break our part of the agreement he is free to break his; it is a covenant in which he establishes the conditions and guarantees the results.

[w8ing4daybreak]

I have finished the book and will post a few excerpts of stuff that stood out to me.

From Ch. 9 Work Psalm 127
Jesus leads us to understand the Psalmist’s sons in terms representative of all intimate and personal relationships. He himself did not procreate children, yet by his love he made us all his daughter’s and sons… People are at the center of Christian work… The character of our work is shaped not by accomplishments or in possessions, but the birth of relationships… We invest our energy in people. Among those around us we develop sons and daughters, sisters and brothers even as the Lord did with us.

From Ch. 11 Perseverance Psalm 129

Perseverance is not a result of our determination; it is a result of God’s faithfulness. We survive in the way of faith not because we have extraordinary stamina, but because God is righteous, because God sticks with us. Christian discipleship is a process of paying more and more attention to God’s righteousness and less and less attention to our own… making a map of the faithfulness of God, not charting the rise and fall of our enthusiasms. It is out of such a reality that we acquire perseverance.

From Ch. 12 Hope Psalm 130

We find, as we observe how God is addressed, that he is understood as the One who forgives sin, who comes to those who wait and hope for him, who is characterized by steadfast love and plenteous redemption, and who will redeem Israel. God makes a difference. God acts positively toward his people. God is not indifferent.

The psalmist’s and the Christian’s waiting and watching-that is hoping- is based on the conviction that God is actively involved in his creation and vigorously at work in redemption.
Hoping does not mean doing nothing. It is not fatalistic resignation. It means going about our assigned tasks, confident that God will provide the meaning and the conclusions…
And hoping is not dreaming. It is not spinning an illusion or fantasy to protect us from our boredom or our pain. It means a confident, alert expectation that God will do what he says he will do. It is imagination put in the harness of faith. It is willingness to let God do it his way and in his time.

I will put the rest in a separate post. I will say that I have enjoyed this book and do highly recommend it.

[Changed 4 Ever]

I just saw this thread for the first time today. Looking through it, I have decided I need to go get this book. Hopefully I will have something to post here in the near future!

[w8ing4daybreak]

I just saw this thread for the first time today. Looking through it, I have decided I need to go get this book. Hopefully I will have something to post here in the near future!Cool! I really liked this book, and would have posted and commented even more if I felt like someone was actually remotely interested.;)

Here are my last few quotes:
Ch. 13 Humility Psalm 131

Christian faith is not a neurotic dependency but a childlike trust. We do not have a God who forever indulges our whims but a God whom we trust with our destinies. The Christian is not a naïve, innocent infant who has no destiny apart from a feeling of being comforted and protected and catered to, but a person who has discovered an identity given by God which can be enjoyed best and fully in a voluntary trust in God. We do not cling to God desperately out of fear and the panic of insecurity; we come to him freely in faith and love.
Our Lord gave us a picture of child as a model for Christian faith. Not because of a child’s helplessness, but because of a child’s willingness to be led, to be taught, to be blessed. God does not reduce us to a set of Pavlovian reflexes so that we mindlessly worship and pray and obey on signal; he establishes us with dignity in which we are free to receive his word, his gifts his grace.

Ch. 15 Community Psalm 133

Important in any community of faith is an ever-renewed expectation in what God is doing with our brothers and sisters in the faith. We refuse to label the others as one thing or another. We refuse to predict our brother’s behavior, our sister’s growth. Each person in the community is unique; each is specially loved and particularly led by the Spirit of God. How can I presume to make conclusions about anyone? How can I pretend to know your worth or your place?
A community of faith flourishes when we view each other with this expectancy, wondering what God will do today in this one, in that one... I loved this last quote and pray that I can incorporate it into my life, because I know I predict, I judge... And that is so wrong.:o

[woman4life]

I got rather stuck with reading lately, but recently picked this book back up. I practically started over and am just about where I left off now. I'm rather glad I restarted, though. It's been a good thing. I think I am appreciating things even more.

Someone at work saw the book on my desk and made the comment that on one was obedient. Oh my! I think she hit the nail on the head, and she probably has no idea. I wanted to follow up with her on it, but the situation didn't allow it at the time. It was too quick and she was on her way out. :( But sometime maybe this will open a door. Cool, huh?

--Melanie