Ignorant Historian

Week 2 of my Summer of Growth challenge and we’re to point 2 of John Piper’s Challenge to Women:

“That the promises of Christ be trusted so fully that peace and joy and strength fill your soul to overflowing.”

I’ll take this in pieces. “That the promises of Christ be trusted so fully that…

1. “…peace…fill[s] your soul to overflowing.”

Would I characterize my life as being filled with peace?

Yes and no. I don’t fret about the big things: death or the after life. It’s just the little things.

I think I’ve grown in the area of worry, but it’s all too easy to fall into it. I know it’s when I’m focusing too much on those little things, so they seem really big.

I frequently sing the hymn “Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus” to myself:

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.”

2. “…joy…fill[s] your soul to overflowing.”

I think this is an area that I’ve been lacking in lately. My life over the last few months could not be characterized by joy. Ho-hum would be a better term. I’ve allowed my relationship with Christ to become more of a duty and less of a joy. And for that, I do God a disservice. Reading the Bible, prayer, and worship aren’t items to simply be checked off of a list.

3. “…strength fill[s] your soul to overflowing.”

If God’s strength had not filled me during those weeks in April, I wouldn’t have made it. It might sound melodramatic, but I fully believe that without God’s help, I would have struggled more emotionally (that may have exacerbated my physical problems).

But how much more would I know of God’s strength if I was more closely walking with Him?

The truths in the Bible are powerful. But I have to know them and remind myself of them frequently through consistent Bible reading and study…

Not sure why this is the first book review in 2 years on the Ignorant Historian?  Check out the reason here.

You knew this was coming right?  Though I read The Happiness Project after sharing my thoughts on our happiness idol, it contains some of the same thinking that’s so common to our culture but counter to a biblical worldview.

Though The Happiness Project follows a similar patern to The Year of Living Biblically (which I enjoyed) and Eat, Pray, Love (which I didn’t), it’s different, too.  Author Gretchen Rubin’s goal is happiness, but I felt like that goal was mis-stated or at least two-fold.  Most of her monthly goals dealt with self-improvement, not necessarily happiness (though obviously they can be related).

Interestingly enough, what I found least intersting about this book is the comments she included from her blog.  While I like to read blog comments (of course on my own blog *hint hint* but also on interesting subjects on other blogs), I don’t necessarily want to read them listed out in a book.  Perhaps they added to what she was saying, but I found whole blocks of comments without discussion from Rubin to be distracting and disruptive to the flow of the  book.

While Rubin’s endeavor for greater happiness was an understandable one, she was looking for happiness (or better yet, joy) in all the wrong places.  Nor can we truly change who we are on our own.  True, lasting joy and true, lasting change can only be found when we are in right relation to our Creator.