A Beautiful Way: An Invitation to a Jesus-Centered Life
up:: Books
- Type:nonfiction
- Author:: Dan Baumann
- Year published: 2005
- Year read:
- Month read: November 2020
God’s love is personal
→ God’s personal love This was a pretty big revelation for me. I can see God’s love in general: for all his Creation and all people. Understanding it specifically for me personally is a new revelation.
Intimacy with Jesus
The call to discipleship was first and foremost an invitation to intimate friendship. –Dan Baumann, A Beautiful Way - An Invitation to a Jesus-Centered Life
Our primary calling is to be with Jesus
Transclude of John-15#4==—4==
When we spend time with Jesus we automatically produce good fruits. So often we strive to bear fruit but he promises that naturally we will bear fruit. We don’t need to do anything. Just spending time with Jesus and seeing him do the rest.
A God-centered life
His ideas around this topic, especially “Quiet time is not enough”, influenced my ideas on A God-centered life strongly.
Hearing God’s voice
Hearing God through a sense (or absence) of peace
Often, as our hearts align with God’s, we feel a certain peace about pursuing an option. Other times we also feel a lack of peace about an option.
It is important not to confuse an absence of peace with fear. An absence of peace is rooted in God’s character and trust in him. Fear looks at me, my worries and my stakes. Fear has to be prayerfully dealt with, an absence of peace has to be obeyed. Obeying fear leaves us with a feeling of guilt, obeying an absence of peace will quickly fill us with peace as we explore the different path that God has for us.
A fear on missing God’s will
Related: Christian Fatalism
The only way to miss the will of God is to know it without a doubt and then to go the other direction
If our hearts are aligned with God’s then it’s virtually impossible to miss his will. If uncertainty persists, Dan Baumann recommends asking three questions:
- What would be the most honouring to God?
- What would Jesus do?
- What would be the most loving to the other people involved?