Today, too many "Christians" feel that they have earned their salvation and are simply marking time, coasting along on what they once had. Their Christian lives now involve only the hour that they begrudgingly give once a week on Sunday. Somewhere along the way, they lost their passion. They lost their deep overwhelming thirst and awestruck feelings for God. They stopped listening to the urgings and comfortings of his Holy Spirit. Now, they are mere shells of the Christians they once were. They are the lost souls of Christianity.In his new work, Primal - The Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity, author Mark Batterson asks us to look back to the time when we met God and God met us. There was him and there was us. A season where our heart broke with compassion, our soul was filled with wonder, and our mind was filled with holy curiosity. We need to break through the fog that enclouds our minds. Wipe everything away. Focus on the simple, primal commandment given to us by Jesus:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, Mark 12:30
Jesus wiped the myriad old laws of the Pharisees away with this simple requirement. Primal reminds us of what faith, obedience, and compassion really look like:
- Faith equals God-ordained risks in the face of fear.
- Obedience equals God-honoring decisions in the face of temptation.
- Compassion equals Spirit-prompted generosity in the face of greed.
