Unchained Melodye

Jerry Bridges: The Discipline of Grace
“To the degree that we live with an abiding sense of His love for us in Christ, to that degree will we love God with all our heart and soul and mind. Our worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace. [So] preach the gospel to yourself every day. [Because] all the pain we experience is intended to move us closer to the goal of being holy as He is holy.”

I will forever be grateful to God for Jerry Bridges and this book – a compilation of scripture that points to the grace of God for our everyday life. And now I can’t unknow what I know about God’s grace.

Elyse Fitzpatrick: Because He Loves Me
“God loves us so much that he crushed his Son so that we might be his and that this love isn’t based on our worthiness or performance. His love doesn’t fluctuate from day-to-day. It was settled the moment he set it upon you before the foundation of the world.
And we neglect the glorious gospel when we fail to recognize his preeminence. How frequently we forget that everything is for him and about him. We forget that he is to be first, in our honor and in our worship. Whenever the gospel slips from our conscious thought, our religion becomes all about our performance, and then we think everything that happens or will ever happen isa bout us. When I forget the incarnation, sinless life, death, resurrection, and ascension, I quickly believe that I’m supposed to be the unrivaled supreme, and matchless one. It’s at this point that I’m particularly in need of an intravenous dose of gospel truth. He is preeminent.
The gospel frees us from demanding our own way, because nothing we desire to obtain is worth sinning against such love and kindness.“

I knew the verses. I sang the songs. But it wasn’t until I read the words in this book by Elyse Fitzpatrick that I grasped what Paul prayed for the believer in Ephesians 3. And now I can’t unknow what I know about God’s love.

Francis Chan: Forgotten God
“I want to live so that I am truly submitted to the Spirit’s leading on a daily basis. Christ said its better for us that the Spirit came and I want to live like that is true. I don’t want to keep crawling when I have the ability to fly.
If it’s true that the Spirit of God dwells in us and that our bodies are the Holy Spirit’s temple, then shouldn’t there be a huge difference between the person who has the Spirit of God living inside of him or her and the person who does not?

The world is not moved by love or actions that are of human creation. And the church is not empowered to live differently from any other gathering of people without the Holy Spirit. But when believers live in the power of the Spirit, the evidence in their lives is supernatural. The church cannot help but be different, and the world cannot help but notice.
I don’t want my life to be explainable without the Holy Spirit. I want people to look at my life and know that I couldn’t be doing this by my own power.”

I know Jesus said when the Holy Spirit comes “it is better for you.” But I am not sure I believed it like I do now. Francis Chan reminded me that the scriptures clearly teach the work and power of the Spirit in the life of the believer. And now I can’t unknow what I know about the Spirit of God.

David Platt: Radical
“The message of biblical Christianity is ‘God loves me so that I might make Him—His ways, His salvation, His glory, and His greatness—known among all nations.’ Now God is the object of our faith, and Christianity centers around Him. We are not the end of the gospel; God is.
Fundamentally, the gospel is the revelation of who God is, who we are, and how we can be reconciled to Him. Yet in the American dream, where self reigns as king (or queen), we have a dangerous tendency to misunderstand, minimize, and even manipulate the gospel in order to accommodate our assumptions and our desires. As a result, we desperately need to explore how much of our understanding of the gospel is American and how much is biblical. And in the process we need to examine whether we have misconstrued a proper response to the gospel and maybe even missed the primary reward of the gospel, which is God Himself.
God has given us His grace to extend His glory not just to areas of need here but to areas of need around the world. Not either here or there, but both here and there.
We will multiply the gospel only when we allow others to get close enough to us to see the life of Christ in action.”

David Platt’s words shook my world. I’ve certainly ebbed and flowed in my passion for the world. But I’ve never been the same since I read this book. I’ll never read Matthew 6:19-21 the same, and now I can’t unknow what I know about the danger of pursuing the American Dream over the treasures of God.

These books have been used of God to change me. And while it’s true I can’t unknow what I now know, I can forget what I know. So I pray I’ll keep reminding myself of these truths God put in my heart about His grace, His love, His Spirit and what He treasures most.
Oh, the goodness of God … pursuing me all the days of my life.