Beyond the Christian Checklist

Today's Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl Book Blog Update

As usual...I'm just mainly putting what Lysa has said in her book with some (very little--actually maybe not at all today) of my own insight/thoughts.

 

 

 

Learning to seek God with all of my heart is what I inspire to do as I move forward. Seeking with all of my heart requires more than just the routine Christian good girl checklist:

Pray

Read the Bible

Do a Bible study

Go to Church

Be nice

 

I want my life with Jesus to be fulfilling. I want my beliefs to work no matter what life throws at me. I want to be so certain of God's presence that I never feel like I have to face anything in my own strength or rely on my own perspectives. My strength will weaken during hard times. My perspectives get skewed by my emotions.

 

I want total security no matter what happens. In other words, I want my relationship with Jesus to be enough to keep me sane & together & still fully devoted. Is true fulfillment no matter what possible?

 

Fulfillment means to be completely satisfied. How might my life look if I were so filled with God's truth I could let go of the pain of my past, not get tripped up by the troubles of today, or be consumed by worries of tomorrow? It is impossible when I try to make it happen on my own by doing more good Bible study girl things. Praying, reading the Bible, doing another Bible study, going to church, & being nice are wonderful & necessary. But just going through the motions of these activities will not fill my soul. They must be done with the great expectation & heart cry for God to lead me into a deeper & more life-changing connection with Him.

 

True fulfillment is never found in seeking to do enough, be enough, have enough, know enough, or accomplish enough. "Enough" is elusive, always just slightly out of reach. I know this (as many others do), but I still continue the same patterns of trying to be a good Bible study girl --hoping that if I do it long enough, fulfillment will somehow fall within my grasp.

 

Lysa's prayer: reading this book will help me to discover 2 things: (1) a more meaningful connection with God, (2) a truer fulfillment from letting my relationship with Him transform every area of my life. Though it may seem a pretty lofty goal, I am praying them with her: "God, will You help me to have a deeper connection with You and find truer fulfillment as You transform every area of my life. That is the cry and desire of my heart." Lysa suggests I add these 4 simple requests that go right alongside having a deeper connection with God:

God, I want to see You.

God, I want to hear You.

God, I want to know You.

So that I can follow hard after You every day.

 

This will help me daily set my heart & mind in the right place as I not only read this book but start to live its truths. Colossians 3:1-2 encourages me, "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, not on earthly things." Setting my heart & my mind on God & letting His truths change me, rearrange me, & redirect me will help me not just to know the message of Christ --but to live it out!

 

Stay tuned for the next Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl Book Blog Update...