out of the saltshaker

I'm currently reading Out of the saltshaker & into the world, by Rebecca Manley Pippert. I'm only a few chapters in but I'm loving every bit! It's just packed with good stuff, and it's written in such a readable, delightful way.

The start was hugely promising, to me, when the author quashed the ways we think we should "do" evangelism, and recognised my reluctance to take part in what seems like something I "wouldn't even do to my dog". And then she talked about her first experiences with sharing the gospel with someone - all the things she did wrong and how much she worried about doing things wrong - and how in the end it became radically clear that it really wasn't about her. It was about God, moving in someone else's life, and graciously using her.

The theme of the book is that evangelism is a "way of life", not a coat you can put on or off. It's something that flows naturally from you as you get to know the Jesus of the gospels better.

Pippert writes so well about this Jesus. I thought I'd share an excerpt from the chapter I recently finished.

Either we are controlled by the wrong thing or we try to control Jesus by limiting him to our terms. Jesus will accept our faith, but he will never accept our controls.

Is Jesus' desire to be the Lord of our lives some little fetish of his? Why is it so important to him? Why should we want him to have control of our lives? Besides the fact that he deserves it because of who he is, he knows he is the only one in the universe who can control us without destroying us.

No one will ever love you like Jesus. No one will ever know you better, care more for your wholeness and pull more for you. You don't need fifteen years of analysis to discover you are unrepeatable. The last breath Jesus breathed on this planet was for you. Jesus will meet you wherever you are, and he will help you. He is not intimidated by past failures, broken promises or wounds. He will make sense out of your brokenness. But he can only begin to be the Lord of your life today - not next Monday or next month, but now.

And the great and joyful paradox is that while he totally transforms us, he makes us more ourselves than ever before.

Thanks, Rebecca. I'm looking forward to the rest of the book.