Soul Cravings - Destiny, Meaning, & Seek

The first section of Erwin McManus's book Soul Cravings is titled Intimacy.  The rest of the book is split up into 3 sections titled Destiny, Meaning, and Seek.

Here are some quotes from Destiny, Meaning, and Seek.

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"You cannot live the life God created you to live without being ambitious.  The reason your heart leaps when you see greatness is that your spirit is drawn to it.  The reason we can experience the vicarious exhilaration of a great victory or an amazing accomplishment is that the human spirit resonates with greatness.  While many of us have come to believe ambition is unhealthy, the truth is when you lose ambition, you lose your future.  When you lose your future, you lose hope.  And no one can live well without hope.  Without ambition we have no dreams worth living.  When we let our dreams die, we start dying with them."

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"God created us to engage, solve problems, meet needs, do something with our lives.  He made us to get involved and expects us to act.  That’s why someone like Mother Teresa helps us believe in God.  Human compassion reflects God and moves us toward God."

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"We were created to believe in progress and to pursue it with passion.  It is God who designed us this way.  He made us creative, and he holds us responsible.  Somehow there are many of us who have missed this point.  We have allowed human history to be shaped by those who do not reflect God’s value for love, for beauty, and for justice."

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"Humans are not content to simply survive, we are driven to thrive.  It’s not enough for us to merely exist; we are compelled to achieve.  This drive would not even exist without a concept of time.  We understand that each day is not a reoccurring cycle of static events.  The human experience is not only that time moves, but that we do too.  We have been created with not only awareness but a need for progress."

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"Take a few minutes sometime and find your nearest cemetery.  Walk through the memorials there representing the lives of a countless number of people who lived before you.  You will see different dates of birth and times of death, but they will all have one thing in common—the dash between the two.  To everyone who is a stranger, our dash will be just that, a space holder in between the pertinent information.  But for those who know us, the dash represents the totality of our lives."

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"Is it possible that the reason we find God in our deepest despair is that this is when we are most earnestly listening?"

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"Atheist, agnostic, existentialist, humanist, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, Christian—we all need to believe that somehow our lives matter.  There is a reason for our existence, a reason to live, and if we can’t find it, we’ll just make it up.  And if we lack imagination, then we’ll just medicate ourselves, sedate ourselves, intoxicate ourselves, indulge ourselves, deceive ourselves, or just simply come to the end of ourselves."

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"To go beyond feeling, to go beyond compassion, you have to believe that it is right to act, that you were created to bring change.  If Jesus was nothing else, he was an activist for change.  To be a follower of Christ is to believe that everyone’s life can be different.  No one is defined by the status of their birth.  Our destiny is not limited to our pedigree.  Every human being is of equal value to God.  No one must remain a prisoner of fate."

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"Faith is simply the word for trust when used in relation to God."

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"Over the years, I found that cynicism is a way of escape.  You’ve believed, you’ve trusted, you’ve put yourself out there, and you’ve gotten hurt.  Someone lied to you, or betrayed you, or maybe it was even God.  He just didn’t show when you needed him.  So you retreat to the only place you know to go.  You go hide inside your own soul and decide that you can trust no one but yourself.  In the end, this is at the heart of the path that leads us to trust only in ourselves."

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"God himself stepped into human history so that we would know that he is not only the source of truth, but that he is utterly and completely trustworthy."

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"Whatever religion is used to manipulate or control people, I consider it the enemy of humanity and the enemy of God."

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"Never let anyone tell you that God is offended by your questions.  Your questions will lead you to God.  Your soul craves meaning even as it longs for God.  To search for one is to find the other.  Go ahead—question everything.  We’re all trying to make sense of this life that we’ve been thrown into.  A lot of times the world doesn’t help the process at all.  We experience pain, disappointment, tragedy, betrayal.  It fills us with doubt and bitterness and leaves us confused.  I love that God understands that, that he knows life’s a struggle."

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"Some people who do not believe in God are consistent and don’t believe in love either.  No primary evidence.  In fact, my nonscientific research has found a direct correlation between losing faith in love and losing faith in God.  But for many people it is at this point where they simply live with the inconsistency.  You can’t see God; you can’t prove God in the laboratory.  Believing in God is a stretch, but they believe in love.  But you can’t see love.  You can’t prove love.  The only evidence available is secondary.  No primary evidence.  Yet when you love someone, you are more certain of that than of almost anything else.  Love reminds us there is a knowing beyond reason."

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"For love to exist it doesn’t even require reciprocation."

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"No matter how hard your life is, if you can imagine a different one, it somehow seems to pull you through.  You can stomach who you are, no matter how much you hate yourself, if you can somehow believe that one day you’ll become someone different."

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"I guess it will never be easy, but Jesus made it possible.  You don’t have to be afraid to commit your life to someone who gives his life for you."

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This book is a great read for a person who is new to Christianity or doesn't really know what they believe.  

Even though that is who I think McManus wrote the book for, I still enjoyed it very much.  Seriously, check it out.

Peace.

Soul Cravings - Intimacy

I finished a book called Soul Cravings by Erwin McManus not too long ago.  I loved it.  I wound up getting 79 quotes from the book (I wasn't kidding when I said I was a big quote guy!).  

There is no way I'm putting up 79 quotes in a blog post, so I'm going to split the book into 2 sections. 

There is a section in the book called Intimacy and then there are 3 other sections in the book that I didn't get as many quotes from.  So here are some of my favorites from the Intimacy section.

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"If you try to ignore it, if you think that you can live your life without love, you’re in even worse shape than the person who’s desperate to find it."

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"When love does not come to you, it breaks your heart, but when you do not give love away, it hardens your heart."

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"Our need to love, though rooted in God, is not limited to him.  Love is not a limited commodity.  Love expands as we give it away.  Love dies when we do not."

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"Love is not about how many people we have used, but how much we have cherished one person.  I’ve come to find over time that players are the ones who are most afraid.  They are afraid to love, and so they make it a game.  They’re terrified of loving deeply, and so they keep everything superficial.  I think deep inside they wonder whether any woman could actually love them if she really knew who he was."

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"Home is ultimately not about a place to live but about the people with whom you are most fully alive."

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"When it comes to love, often we are our own worst enemies.  When we’ve been hurt in the past, when we feel that love has betrayed us, we can easily become the enemies of love.  To see if it’s real, we do everything we can to destroy it.  We tell ourselves we’re testing it, but actually we’re resisting it."

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"The truth of the matter is that we’re uncomfortable with God.  We’re disoriented by the way he loves.  We want God to love us for an endless number of good reasons.  At the same time, we find ourselves nervous before him because he sees right through us and knows everything that isn’t lovable.  He tells us that he is our place of rest and acceptance and unconditional love, yet we cannot reconcile this love.  We know who we are.  We know all that is unlovely within us.  We wonder how we have become worthy of such love, and that’s what worries us—we know we’re not.  So we run.  We run from God because he sees us best; we run from God to escape our own sense of unworthiness; we run from God because we are certain that the closer we come to him, the more guilt and shame we will feel."

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"It is just too hard to believe that if you come near to God, you will find yourself not drowning in condemnation, but swimming in compassion.  Jesus called to all who were weary and who found their souls exhausted to come to him and find rest.  He is telling us that God will be for us our place called home.  We run from God because we long to be loved and we have convinced ourselves that the One who is most loving could not and would not embrace us.  We run from the One our souls crave."

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"What in the world would happen if people actually began discovering the actual message of Jesus Christ—that love is unconditional?  What would happen if we began to realize that God was not, in fact, waiting for us to earn his love, but that he was passionately pursuing us with his love?  What would happen if the word got out that Jesus was offering his love freely and without condition?  Would anyone actually choose to be a slave to ritual and legalism when he could have relationship and love?  The answer, unfortunately, is yes.  The reason religion works is that we believe in conditional love and doubt the existence of unconditional love."

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"What we have described as love has become something so superficial, something so thin and without substance, that pretty much anything qualifies as love.  If we really knew love, if we knew deep, profound, unending love, maybe we wouldn’t love chocolate.  While I’m sure God appreciates all these things (after all, he is the Creator of all that is good and perfect), creation is not the object of his affection.  When it comes to love, you exist in a unique category.  There are a lot of things that are on that list.  He can re-create whatever he wants.  You, however, are not on that list.  You are unique and irreplaceable."

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"You are the object of God’s love."

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"This is the story of God: he pursues you with his love and pursues you with his love, and you have perhaps not said yes.  And even if you reject his love, he pursues you ever still.  It was not enough to send an angel or a prophet, for in issues of love, you must go yourself.  And so God has come.  This is the story of Jesus, that God has walked among us and he pursues us with his love.  He is very familiar with rejection but is undeterred.  And he is here even now, still pursuing you with his love."

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"There is only one reason for God to come himself, because in issues of love, you just can’t have someone else stand in for you."

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"Religion exists not because God loves us too little, but because we need love so much.  In the end all religions misrepresent God.  They either dictate requirements for love or simply become a requiem for love.  I think many of us have rightly given up on God on this basis alone.  We’ve been told that God is a reluctant lover and that his standards must be met before there can be any talk of love.  This is lunacy.  Love exists because God is love.  Our souls will never find satisfaction until our hearts have found this love that we so desperately yearn for."

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"Jesus, it seems, is certain that the more you love God, the more you will love people."

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"The truth is, we were designed for relationship, and when our relationships don’t work, they affect how we see God, how we relate to God, and even whether we will believe in him."

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"Our need for relationship comes from the core of our being.  It would be the greatest of tragedies to sacrifice others in the effort to find ourselves.  Our souls crave to belong.  The experience of love, though it emanates from God, is not limited to him.  We are created for each other."

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"If God is at the core of something, if he exists at the hot, flaming center, what you’re going to find is love.  Jesus knew this all too well.  He warned us against the trappings of hypocrisy. When those who claim to represent him are unloving, those searching for God might conclude he is as well.  The problem, of course, is that we are all hypocrites in transition.  I am not who I want to be, but I am on the journey there, and thankfully I am not whom I used to be."

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"Honesty is the only context in which intimacy can develop."

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"Love, no matter how you come at it, is a huge risk.  It makes it easier for me to remember that God will never reject me because I’m not good enough and that any community that has His heart will embrace me as I am.  Jesus invites us into a community where imperfect people can find acceptance, love, forgiveness, and a new beginning."

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"There may be no greater proof of God than the power of community.  There may be no greater gift than a place to belong.  While it may seem that you’re selling out to admit you need people, the irony is that you’ll never really know yourself until you’re in a healthy community.  We only truly come to know ourselves in the context of others.  The more isolated and disconnected we are, the more shattered and distorted our self-identity."

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"The power of community is that is helps us understand ourselves.  In a healthy community we come to know ourselves and find strength in that knowledge.  In community we learn how to live a life beyond ourselves, we begin to discover our potential and our strengths, and we are best positioned to make out greatest contribution."

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"God can lead you through even the most painful tragedies if you ask him for his wisdom and allow him to help you make sense of your life."

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"He gambled everything on the power of love.  That love was more powerful than hate.  That love was more powerful than death.  What was he thinking to die for us, to give himself for you and for me, knowing we might just kiss him on the face and then walk away?  Love’s just crazy like that."

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Part 2 is coming.  

Peace.

Sometimes It's Too Much

I'm not sure, but I would imagine most people can sympathize with me. Sometimes you can just find yourself in such an emotional rut that you can't make sense about how you feel or what you think about a ton of different things.  

The only thing you can really make out of these kinds of situations is that everything is very intense.  

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Sometimes its amazing, sometimes its terrible.  Sometimes its just confusing.  

The only thing I can make out tonight is how much I don't feel like myself.  The only thing I know is how lost I feel in some ways and how I don't feel lost at all in other ways.  The only thing I know is how intense it is.

...

I guess it all comes down to what it is we are talking about; specifics. This isn't the place to have that conversation though.  Sorry.

Peace.

Blissful Moments

I just finished a book called Soul Cravings by Erwin McManus.  I absolutely loved it.

You all know that I will, of course, post a huge blog containing all my favorite quotes from the book (of which there are a TON), but for now I just want to focus on one quote.

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"Have you ever experienced an entirely blissful moment? A moment when everything was right in the world? Can you remember how you didn't have a care in the world? Or at least so it seemed. I've had many times like this. And ironically it wasn't because everything in life was exactly as I wanted. I have never had that moment--maybe because my expectations are too high. But what I did have was a wonderful sense of optimism. When you lack hope, you feel powerless to change anything and certain that nothing will change. When you have hope, you are able to see the beauty and potential of every circumstance. Life is filled with wonder. Hope empowers us to pursue our dreams."

...

I know EXACTLY what moments he is talking about in that paragraph. I love those moments so much; those are my favorite moments in life. Those are the moments where I really do feel happy.

I miss those moments. I haven't had moments like that consistently in a long long time. This last school year I actually became very aware of the lack of these moments in my life and had a couple conversations with people about that. I'm almost not sure which is more painful, to not experience those moments or to recognize you haven't had those moments and consciously long for them.

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I'm working on it though.  I'm getting hope back in my life; a healthy kind of hope. Not the hope of ambitions and desires I prop up, but a more generic hope of what I feel is coming. Good things are coming. Good things. Blissful things.

...

Peace

God Loves The World

God so loved the world that he sent his one and only begotten son that whoever should believe in him will never perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

This verse is so popular.  It's such a good summarization of  the Christian faith.

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What hit me recently was the phrasing of the first 5 words of this verse: "God so loved the world."

I know that Christians can get really caught up in trying to separate ourselves from the world and completely detach.  We try to exist in a place but simultaneously not look or touch anything around us that we don't label "safe."

It isn't nearly as bad in all cases as it is in others.  I've caught myself occasionally slipping into a mindset that attempts to discard the world as worthless, but some people carry a condemning perspective that tints the way they see everything in our world.

I can certainly concede that the world is a fallen place and far from what it should be.  Even still, I think it is a nasty pitfall to get caught in when you fail to see anything that comes of the world as anything other than useless or, lacking merit or, (in a worst case scenario) evil.

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I just love how John phrased that verse.  

God so loved the world that he sent his son to die for it. Period.  

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I can't imagine anything better than being able to look at things in the world and people in the world and see the intrinsic beauty that God sees as a product of him, the Creator. When God looks at drug-dealers and adulterers, porn-stars and murderers, thieves and liars, all he sees are his children that he loves with all his heart.  Albeit, children that are lost and children he is longing to come back to him, but these are people that God is absolutely crazy about.

How soon when we deal with those people do we run out of mercy and grace? How soon do we shower them with our judgement?  Way too soon.

I can't imagine anything better than getting to a place where when we see those people we see them through God's eyes and not our own.  I can't imagine anything better than looking at the world and the numerous things in it that we are so ready to condemn and ridicule, and instead see the awesome characteristic that God sees in them.

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I don't think we are supposed to burn records and ban books.  I don't think we are supposed to shut ourselves off and turn away from the things the world creates.  I think we are supposed to reach our hands out and polish things so they shine like they were meant to.  I think we should see things in the same light Jesus would see them.  I think we should look at people through the same lens Jesus did.  And then love them.

Peace.

Starving Jesus

I already posted a blog about how I am a big quotes guy. 

I just finished a book called Starving Jesus by Craig Gross and J.R. Mahon.  These guys are from the XXXChurch.com ministry, but the book isn't about that ministry.  Here are some quotes I liked.

 

(Since the book is written by two guys, if it is a quote from Craig I'll put CG in parenthesizes after the quote and JR for quotes from J.R.)

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"Satan does a great job ministering to those in the church who love the fame and power associated with helping others heal.  You can get drunk on helping people change their lives. Unchecked, the lie becomes “God had little to do with it, and I am solely responsible for this new life.”  Believe that lie long enough and you start believing your own press.  Satan then devours those seeking themselves by helping them celebrate their own self-centeredness.  In the long run, the lie turns into a self-righteous theology that says, “I am the bottom line in the lives of people.”  The ministry quickly becomes about a man and what the man has to say or not say." (CG)

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"Jesus understands the human drive to be important and valued by other people.  He is here to set us free from ourselves.  The freedom needs to express itself in selflessness and service to others.  He’s looking for your reaction to the world to be that of a servant." (CG)

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"Paul, James, Luke, Mark, and countless others who have followed in their footsteps all dealt with the truth and its ability to set us free from sin.  Their evangelizing tactics differed from one another, yet what they said and how they said it was so offensive to the world that most of them wound up dead at the hands of another man or country." (CG)

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"Be willing to fight the good fight every day.  This doesn’t mean we match wits with the world. It means we are to be salt and light, to let the world see our good deeds so they, the world, can praise the Father.  We collectively need to offend the senses of the world with the truth.  The life of Christ was, is, and always will be offensive to the world." (CG)

--

“Sometimes I think we have lost our nerve as followers of Christ.  I often think if we lived under the threat of death in this country, similar to what the early church faced, we would be on our game.  The early church knew what the deal was.  They knew it was only a matter of time before they were going to be put in jail and crucified.  Paul called himself a prisoner of Christ.  The first time I read that, I thought, That ain’t for me.  Think about it: Their message was so disturbing, so offensive, that they knew it meant death.  When Jesus told his disciples, 'Take up your cross and follow me,' he was not talking about some little mission or job; he was talking about dying for the cause." (CG)

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"The world has come to identify us by what we hate and what we are offended by, instead of by what we love or why we love." (CG)

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"Whether it’s a porn-show outreach, feeding the homeless, or painting your neighbor’s house, we must meet people the same way Jesus did—unafraid of what the truth will do for them." (CG)

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"Perhaps more than anyone in history, Paul understood his role of offending like Jesus.  We often like to dismiss Scriptures from Paul, because they make us responsible to all the people around us.  Paul says, 'By all possible means I might save some' (1 Cor. 9:22).  All possible means.  That Scripture is not a loaded gun giving you license to be a complete idiot in the name of Christ, but it is the freedom to go, do, and say what you need to.  To say it to anyone, anywhere, at any time.  Actually, it is a responsibility." (CG)

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"You want to know if you’re listening to God?  Ask yourself one question: Who am I predominantly concerned with when I am making decisions?  Is it you and your plans?  Is it God and his already-established will for you, found in his Word?  It takes a lot of guts to answer this question.  Answering means you will come face-to-face with yourself.  If you are answering honestly, you will gain the understanding that you walk with Christ has very little to do with you plans and design.  It is solely about serving God and those around you.  That question should be in your breast pocket at all times.  Use it as a guidepost for making decisions." (CG)

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"Put down the life you think you need, and open yourself up to the life Christ has designed." (CG)

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"He gave himself until they killed him.  His resurrection means you need to do the same." (CG)

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"If you’re looking for God to tell you directly what to do, you are not studying the Word, and you’re definitely not understanding that this ain’t about you." (CG)

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"Giving should equal relationships.  We should be striving to build new friendships and new communities every day.  We should be looking constantly for ways to inject our newfound freedom into the lives of those lost and looking for Christ.  Giving is not about the church, it’s about the faith Christ had in us to give.  He sat on a hill two thousand years ago and assumed we would." (CG)

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"Christ knew we would struggle with prayer.  He knew praying to a God we can’t see or touch would be problematic.  That’s why he taught us exactly how to pray.  That’s why he challenged the disciples to pray.  Jesus would go off for hours—sometimes all night—and pray.  He did this consistently, so you and I would know the value of prayer, the value of talking with the Father alone about whatever… It was simply asking God to do whatever it is we cannot or sometimes just don’t want to do." (JR)

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"We understand that works aren’t saving us or anyone else, for that matter, but works designed to inspire people to Christ will help answer the most important question in the world: Who is Jesus?" (CG)

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"I will walk with him, because he is my life.  Maybe that’s a little perfunctory, but that’s all it is and all it has to be." (CG)

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"Church is sinful because we are sinful.  We as a body are prone to wander from God; God doesn’t wander from us." (JR)

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"When you act out your faith, when you move toward God, it is often the hardest thing to comprehend, especially when it produces fruit you can touch, eat, and share.  From nothing stems something.  This is how God gets it done.  But how can it be true?  How can God, whom we have never seen, never heard, interact with us?  How can God change our lives after the collection of garbage we manage to amass in a lifetime?  Yet somehow when we step forward in a belief that says he can and will, he shows up and we come to understand he is our salvation, our hope, and our freedom from whatever sin takes us down." (JR)

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I've certainly read better, but it was worth the read.  Check it out and tell me what you think.

 

Peace.

Confessions Of A Pessimist

I enjoy it when I learn things about myself; the good and the bad.  It is one of the most rewarding things to have this incredible epiphany or realization about yourself as a person.  The "a-ha" moment.  I had one of those moments the other night and I sent my friend a letter that kinda outlines where I'm coming from.  This is that letter.  Enjoy.

(I have deleted all the names of people in the letter that I was referring to.  Just fyi.)

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Me and [BLANK] always talk about how I’m a pessimist... I hate the fact I’m a pessimist. I just kinda don’t expect good things to happen to me.  Maybe that is why I try really hard to be a good guy because maybe I’ll earn my way into God’s good graces and good things will happen to me that will make me fulfilled and happy. I just, for some reason, ever since I wrote that blog, am convinced that I am selfish for trying to be everything I want to be. I want to be humble and selfless but I am so riddled with wants and desires. I feel like I have sunk my claws into what I want so deeply and for so long that I don’t know how to let go. I don’t remember what its like to not have those desires. I think maybe everything I've done has always been for me to try and get those things I’ve wanted and now letting go is the most painful and convicting and crippling thing I’ve ever done.

…

I get on this tirade because I was just talking to [BLANK] and I was trying to have a deep, encouraging, loving, and I'm-here-for-you-because-you-are-my-friend conversation with them and immediately jumped to asking them what in their life they are struggling with and what has been difficult for them and stuff.  I think I partly jumped to that because I know [BLANK] is convicted about some things and trying to grow and I'm praying for him/her and I want them to be better and such, and I just want to be there for them.  At the same time, I’ve realized that with you and him/her, and everyone else, I just jump right to the bad in conversations so I can try to be there for them.  I always go fishing for the hurt in peoples lives. I do it with you and [BLANK] and [BLANK] and [BLANK], and with [BLANK] and [BLANK] I’ve seen them both retract from that a little bit. [BLANK] told me tonight that he/she had been feeling good over the last week and just didn’t want to talk about the things that make him/her feel crappy. He/she didn’t want to bring them back to the surface, regardless of whether that would help him/her move forward or not (and maybe it wouldn’t have helped whatsoever).

I just feel like such a downer. I fish for the hurt so I can help people but sometimes people aren’t experiencing hurt, at least not like I am right now (or do so often). That’s so crappy of me to do.  Idk... this is just me thinking out loud and combining my pessimism with communications classes and my inability to celebrate the good things in my life.

…

I have a lot of great things in my life right now. I have fantastic friendships with a handful of people, I have an amazing ministry internship, but all the while I am concentrated on what is hurting me and dragging me down and I ignore the blessings and find it impossible to praise and be thankful when I feel any kind of substantial hurt.

I wish I was a more balanced person. I’m not. I’m pure pessimism.

…

Some people are so good at celebrating God's goodness and his gifts and everything they have.  It’s almost like I see all those things and I’m expecting God to take them all away from me at any moment because I don’t deserve them. I know I don’t, no one does; we can’t deserve anything we have. That’s what makes grace so beautiful. Maybe I just need to get over my pride and stop feeling guilty for accepting grace and just celebrate the gift of it. Maybe that isn’t even the case... I don’t know.  This is just me thinking.  I’m telling you because I'd like to have you understand me when I can seem really inconsistent.

THE END

...

Hopefully you guys might be able to understand me a little better too. 

Peace.

Things I Want To Be When Grow Up

(In alphabetical order)

Authentic

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Caring

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Disciple

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Empathetic

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Genuine

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Graceful

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Honest

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Loving

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Reflective

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Transparent

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Wise

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What I did not put up on that list were the words "Happy" or "Selfish."  Odd, really.  I say that because I want to be all those things listed above because I hope/believe that embodying those characteristics will bring me a life and guide me down a path that makes me "Happy" or is at least "Fulfilling."  That seems like an awfully "Selfish" motivation, doesn't it?