Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Divine Moment

My Community Group just started the book Seizing Your Divine Moment by Erwin Raphael McManus. The book in a nutshell is about recognizing the moments where God calls you to take on life, where he has prepared important opportunities for us that we should act on. So far, I am just a few chapters into the book and am just getting a sense of McManus' style and approach. I do look forward to the journey ahead. I found myself chuckling a bit reading some of the praise blurbs on the book jacket from their chosen panel of outside experts. Some of them are crazily over the top. "Erwin McManus has penned a book of such magnitude it will be a catalyst for every believer's faith." I'm quite certain that the book is not all that. Other blurbs are littered with exclamation points! I think they tend to overuse them! It's just a book! However, I did flag a number of lines in the first chapter that spoke to me that I thought appropriate to share with you as relevant.

1). Jesus calls us to live a life of unimaginable adventure. It begins the moment we choose to follow Him. It is no less than to pass from existence to life.

2). Even with a time machine you cannot change the past, so change the future.

3). We've come to see the world through still frames, when in reality life is in constant motion.

4). How we view God dramatically affects the persons we become. How we understand God to work radically affects the life we live in God. The subtle shift from following Jesus to receiving Jesus is significant.

5). One of the reasons that we are unprepared for the moment before us is that we're stuck in a moment behind us.

6). One moment in the past continues to haunt every moment of your life. A moment in your history that steals from you all the moments in the future. Is there a moment you keep reliving again and again? To relive the past is to relinquish the future. If you are willing to let go of the past, then you are ready to step into the future. When you choose to remain stuck in a moment, you become incapable of seizing your divine moments.