With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God

by Skye Jethani

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”

People in this category want God’s blessings and gifts, but they are not particularly interested in God himself.

This is the LIFE OVER GOD posture. The mystery and wonder of the world is lost as God is abandoned in favor of proven formulas and controllable outcomes.

This most celebrated of religious postures is LIFE FOR GOD. The most significant life, it believes, is the one expended accomplishing great things in God’s service.

THE LIFE UNDER GOD posture sees God in simple cause-and-effect terms—we obey his commands and he blesses our lives, our families, our nation. Our

The LIFE FOR GOD posture is highly celebrated and those capable of accomplishing the most receive great accolades and admiration.

Those who pride themselves on their reverent submission to God’s truth are strangely reluctant to submit to anyone else.

notes

They often gauged the quality of their faith on one measure alone—how well they controlled their sexual desires.

The Christian God is a personal deity who exists in eternal community with himself.

The reason, simply put, is that seeking control is not the solution to the human condition but is part of the problem.

And yet most of us retain some sense that God is important, that he must be factored into our lives in some way even if only to control him. But