Contradicting my faith …

I’m reading an amazing new book (that I highly recommend! hopefully Fred will add it to my list of “Recommended Books” just as soon as Amazon starts carrying it): How People Change, by Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp.

(Yes, yes another Paul Tripp book. I know! I know! I keep recommending these astoundingly biblical and practical CCEF authors and I keep selling hundreds of their books. Simply said, I really do think that they are writing some of the best resources out there these days.)

The first chapter is entitled, “The Gospel Gap” and I’ve had to slow down and read it carefully with a pen in hand. Like any of the great Puritan books (which my brain still has a hard time getting all the way through!), there are nuggets of wisdom and God-centered help in every single paragraph.

(Man! I am a blessed woman to be able to read. Looking back on 20+ years of being a Christian now, I can honestly say that a TON of my growth in sanctification and grace has been through authors who point me to Christ and get me into Scripture. What a gift.)

Anyway … I’m trusting that if I have any blogs to share with you in the coming days and weeks, this book will be influencing them. (So thanks in advance profs. Lane & Tripp!)

Here my first observation based on Chapter 1, The Gospel Gap …

Symptoms of the “gospel gap” include:

– A trail of broken relationships
– A knowledgeable but impersonal walk with God
 – A struggle with material things; and
– A definite lack of personal growth.

In short … “Their lives are not characterized by peaceful, loving relationships, a sweet, natural, day-by-day worship of the Lord, a wholesome and balanced relationship to material things, and ongoing spiritual growth. Something is wrong with this harvest; it contradicts the faith that is supposed to be its source.”

Of course, I’m convicted in the truest, most lovingly God-exalting (right!) sense of the word … convicted = godly sorrow that leads to repentance that brings salvation.

How often my life contradicts the very faith that it is supposed to be its source! My struggles with “peace with food” are a huge evidence of this. It’s good to be back in the battle again.

How grateful I am for the mercy of God and the forgiveness I have in Christ!

(And how grateful I am for authors such as these men who point us all to faith in the living, redeeming, Triune God.)