Last Chapter

I finished the last chapter a bit ago and have been pondering several things that Tim Keller said. I have to say that this chapter has somewhat captured my thoughts.

Let me see if I can walk through what impacted me and if it is clear. At the end of this entry I will close with a question/topic that I would welcome everyone's input on.

The first quote on page108 says, "Jesus' salvation is a feast, and therefore when we believe in and rest in his work for us, through the Holy Spirit he becomes real to us. His love is like honey, or like wine. Rather than only believing that he is loving, we can come to sense the reality, the beauty, and the power of his love. His love can be more real to you than the love of anyone else. It can delight, galvanize, and console you. That will lift you up and free you from fear like nothing else."

Then he starts the next paragraph and says, "This makes all the difference.". What a simple and profound statement. When we boil it all down this is the difference. Our view of Gods love for us has the potential to completely change our life. I say our view of Gods love, because one believer is just a loved as another by God; however, both believers may not experience the reality of what Tim says in the paragraph above. He says later that "He(Jesus) offers us access to the presence of the Father".

For me, I realized how I have drifted from the comfort of this love. After reading this I wanted to be freshly aware of, and experience this love again and again.

The next quote on page 115 says this, "We can only change permanently as we take the gospel more deeply into our understanding and into our hearts. We must feed on the gospel, as it were, digesting it and making it part of ourselves. This is how we grow.". And again on page 114 he says, "We must personally appropriate it (the gospel) making it more and more central to everything we see, think, and feel. That is how we grow spiritually in wisdom, love, joy, and peace."

I saw what I needed. It was a consistent time with God. I need to drink from the water of his grace... often.

Then he said something other than I expected, and here is where I would like to get input. Each of us tends toward either cheap grace, or legalism. The solution he say on Page 122 is to, "... focus on how seriously God takes sin and on how he could only save us from it at an infinite cost to himself. Understanding this must and will profoundly reshape our lives."

When I consider the cross, and the cost of sin I think about the great sacrifice that Jesus made to pay that price. I am deeply impacted by what he went through mentally (knowing what was in the cup and still moving toward it), emotionally (all on earth either leaving, or rejecting him), physically, and spiritual (separated from his father). I have always focused on the great cost of sin to Jesus, and the infinite cost it was to him. I find my contemplations about the cross and Jesus rightfully moves my heart, but do you think he is saying I should be equally affected by what the Father went through? Explain.

I know, that sounds like an essay question... but I would like to know!