Here are my notes from chapters 1-5. Note on my notes: I didn't really get into the book until later chapters, so these are kind of random notes that may not be that important to the the real purpose of the book.
Chapter 2.
P. 22 on idols. Thought: Wanting life to be something other than what it is can also be a form of idolatry. This is certainly a subtle one because God has built us to desire more, more of him, more in our relationships, and in many other ways. But, what we have now is from God. We don't deserve better; we deserve worse. The good we receive is by the grace and mercy of God. Especially when we don't know by comparison what we deserve, we can make a different desired life an idol.
P. 25. I agree that we cannot earn God's approval and that it is offered as a gift through the gospel. Yet, in Christ, we have the opportunity to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. There are many verses that exhort us to live our lives in a manner pleasing to the Lord, such as in Paul's prayer for the Collosians (1:10) that he prays "that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God."
P. 26. My notes say: "Death and the cross are all around me: family, work, myself." I don't konw I had this thought from his list of questions about what are God is. I wrote this on vacation; maybe I was having a hard time that day :).
Chapter 3.
My favorite part from this chapter was the quote from Spurgeon: "He woul will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves he has no brains of his own." Two other thoughts about this.
1. Mark Dever said at the weekender that he makes it a point when he has a issue or question come up in pastoring or in sermon preparation that he answers the question first himself before he goes to to read the commentaries so that he can engage in the conversation. In other words, if he doesn't come up with his own answer first, when he reads others or talks to others, he has nothing upon which to engage it with.
2. This quote strongly rebukes me from where I have been for much of my Christian life. I was worried about being tainted with the thoughts of others, and I would read only the bible so that I wouldn't be prejudiced with the thoughts of other men. I now see this as proud. How much better it would have been for me to take the Mark Dever approach and Spurgeon approach and learning from others.
Chapter 4.
This is my favorite meat for the first five chapters. I like his analogy of the picture frame and the summary phrase from Piper, "undistracting excellence." Skill that aids people in being able to focus more on God and receive from Him is a goal worthy of discipline and hard work. I am especially needy in this area as I have been on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, believing preparation to be a hindrance to being spiritual. I repent.
And yet, we need to beware of making our preparation an idol as well. We are first to obey God, and if he wants to use us in a weak and pitiful, or unprepared spontaneous way, then let us do it cheerfully with no or few thoughts of how we look or that we are being a bad frame.
Chapter 5.
I thought this was an especially weak chapter, like maybe he needed more material and just threw this in. For example, he doesn't really give us any meat in the love section. How do we grow in love? He asks the question and then just answers it with two verses.
Thankfully, it gets better. Good book! I'm glad were reading it.
Roy Huddle
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