Ministers Desk 19th August 2012

Gordon MacDonald is a Pastor and writer in his seventies.  I’ve read his books and heard him speak and continue to be inspired by his passion for Jesus and his commitment to disicpling others.  In a recent journal article he wrote he identified twelve ways to spot a transformed Christian.  Over the coming weeks I’m going to include them here for you to read and reflect on.  As you read ask yourself how each point is reflected in your life and what you need to do to continue to grow in each aspect.

1.      Has an undiluted devotion to Jesus.

“Personally, I am drawn to the word devotion rather than love for Jesus. It is difficult to escape the sentimental flavouring in the word love.  And I do not find sentimental love in that follow-me relationship Jesus initiated with his disciples.”

“For me devotion suggests something more deliberate, even calculated. It’s not absent emotion but not defined by it either. Devotion infers determination that one will organise his/her life around Jesus: his quality of character, his summons to know God as Jesus knows him, his unique grace and forgiveness for sins.”

“I, for one, believe that a transforming disciple renews his intention to be faithful to Jesus’ influence on a regular basis, not because he is unsure but because he doesn’t want to lose that ‘edge’ of proactive commitment.”

“As the years of my own Christian life have passed I’ve become more diligent in doing this, just as I have become more intentional about remarrying (in spirit) my wife, Gail, again each day. I know she and I posses a piece of paper that says we were married a long time ago. But my heart says, Why not re-declare your desire to marry her again today? She’ll love you for it. I have come to feel the same way about my devotion to Jesus as my Saviour and rabbi leader as I retool my life around what I see and hear of him.”

2.      Pursues a biblically informed view of the world.

“This means aiming to know the Bible well: its content and its imperatives.”

“There seems to be a universal concern in the Christian movement concerning biblical illiteracy. Blame it on busyness, technology, too many translations, the demise of Sunday School, or something else. But one thing is sure: we seem to be losing a working knowledge of our sacred literature. We think it okay to outsource Bible knowledge to preachers, writers and instructors.”

“The transforming Christ-follower understands that he cannot simply live off the monologues of a favourite preacher. He must-to reflect the Psalmist-hide God’s Word in his own heart so that it becomes a lamp to his feet, a light to his path.”