My ThoughtsFrom, “Present Perfect” ,
“For us ordinary Christians, trying to remain aware of God’s presence moment-by-moment seems like a hyperspiritual pipe dream. If you’re inclined to feel this way, it might be because like everyone else in modern Western culutre, you’ve been brainwashed by what is called “the secular worldview”.In this view of the world, what’s real, or at least what’s important, is the physical here-and-now. When we’re brainwashed by this worldview, we experience the world as though God did not exist, for we habitually exclude Him from our awareness. We may still believe in God, of course, but He’s not real to us most of the time.Because of this we go about our day-to-day lives as functional atheists. We may pray and worship God on occassion, but these are “special times,” isolated from our “normal,” secular day-to-day life.”-Chapter One, Mere Christianity, “Present Perfect” .
So began a pretty powerful first chapter of ,“Present Perfect” , by Gregory A. Boyd.
Published by Zondervan, written in a hard hitting but yet casual, conversationalist style, reading,“Present Perfect” , I was both humbled and enthralled with Gregory A. Boyd’s perspective about having a living, breathing relationship with our Heavenly Father that wasn’t boxed in, legalistic or filled with “Need to do” or “To do”, but instead, about the fact, it’s not about living and experiencing our Father yesterday or tomorrow, or when the time is perfect, but rather, experiencing Him, right now, in the present.
What I enjoyed about reading, “Present Perfect” , besides the fact that I found myself constantly nodding in silent agreement, but how as Christians, we sometimes tend to treat our Father as someone who is “only there” on “Sundays” or when we are in need, versus Someone who is there for us and with us 24/7 and not a light switch that we just turn on and off in our lives.
This is not an easy read for it will both encourage, but occassional leave one with that convicted, “Ooo….good point there”, such as the example Gregory Boyd shares, when he writes, “Suppose a woman in your neighborhood had her husband walk out on her and is in despair. Everyone on the block knows this woman “had it coming” for it was common knowledge that she cheated on her husband, drank too much, and was a “miserable nag.”
But Gregory hits it hard when he adds, “Yet knowing that God didn’t give you what you deserved, you understand you can’t anyone else to account for what they may deserve.”
What Gregory does in, “Present Perfect” , is exposed how easy it is for us to become too comfortable in our walk that we become a little too much like the world, sometimes then we care to admit.
He turns around and challenges us to not treat our Father unconsciously or consciously as the world would, but really, cast away our cultural conditioning and cast on our Heavenly Father’s conditioning and truly look at the world as He sees it, evoking memories such as Jesus confronting not the adulterous woman, but the Pharisees who were about to stone her.
“Present Perfect” , is highly recommended for those who are ready or wanting to have a much closer relationship with our Heavenly Father, not based on what others may think or the “group thought”, but rather, really taking things on using our Fathers “thought”.
I particularly enjoyed how Gregory Boyd challenges the readers to really, take our lives, everything, however mundane and living fully, in an act of worship and service to our Heavenly Father, for us to be fully transformed by Him and not holding Him at bay for when it suits us or our cultural comfort.
This is about not inviting our Father in schedule moments but fully inviting Him into our lives, every waking moment and letting Him shine in and through us to the world.
I really enjoy reading this book and fear that by the time I finish re-reading it, more than just a few times, that it will be highlighted, creased, notes written in the corner, references and more.
For other bloggers participating in this tour
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Scraps and Snippets
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Sunflower Faith is a quiet, sometimes silly, sometimes sarcastic, sometimes serious, follower of Christ sharing words of devotion, encouragement and hope that is always about our Father in Heaven. So grab a cup of coffee and join Sunflower Faith in words of growth, hope and more all in the spirit of 2 Peter 1:5-8.
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