Monday, December 3, 2007

Revolutionary Parenting by George Barna intro

I am reading the book Revolutionary Parenting by George Barna. So far it is very encouraging and challenging. The book is based on the Barna Groups research into what common themes are found in families that raise spiritual champions.

One thing that I found to be a little sad was this quote from page xvi:

By spiritual champions, I mean individuals who have embraced Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord; accept the Bible as truth and as the guide for life; and seek to live in obedience to its principles and in search of ways to continually deepen their relationship with God. Spiritual champions live in ways that are noticeably different from the norm--even when compared to the average churchgoer.

The reason that I found this a little sad is that to me this describes a mature Christian. The ending statement tells me that most churchgoers (regardless of age) are not spiritually mature.

Anyway, it is also a challenging statement. It made me ask myself several questions. Maybe you should ask them of yourself too.
1. Am I embracing Christ as my Savior and Lord or am I just OK with Christ being my Savior and wary about him being Lord?
2. Do I accept the Bible as completely true, or do I look at it as a bunch of nice stories? (By the way, for Mike Huckabee's answer to this question click here.)
3. Do I use the Bible as a guide for my life more than friends, family, co-workers, and ministers?
4. Do I seek to live in obedience or do I float through life vaguely aware that I should be obedient?
5. Do I search for ways to have a deeper relationship with God, or am I satisfied with where I am?

O God, help us grow to maturity in you!

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