Let's Chat about Chapters 1 & 2 | Becoming Book Club
Chapter 1 & 2 Discussion with Cari from Cari Trotter on Vimeo.
Good Morning, friends!It seems as if I have been waiting for a 100 days to get into Chapters 1 & 2 of this incredible book with you!! These opening chapters waste no time diving right in to the depths of God's desire for us to seek Real Joy. If you missed the Introduction Video that's okay - it is still up on the blog and you can watch it anytime. Also up on the blog is the post with my four Introduction Journal Thoughts and you can read those along with the scriptures posted anytime. I am so hopeful you have been able to get your book, a good highlighter and dive headlong into it. I am LOVING your feedback and have been so grateful to read your comments here, over on Instagram and Facebook, and several text messages over just how much this book is speaking to your specific season. Our faith life has the potential to gain great tenacity if we will allow our entire spiritual weight to lean in wholeheartedly. It is a true gift knowing we are fighting for Real Joy TOGETHER. Sooooo....what did you think about Chapters 1 & 2?!I mention this in the video above, but page 19 held substantial heart treasures for me. It also carries the theme I believe John Piper wants so desperately for us to negotiate deep down in the marrow of our souls.
"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Which means they are finding that their desires, not just their decisions, really matter. The glory of God is at stake."
I want us to take notice anytime he mentions what his "aim or goal" is in each chapter and the book overall. Those will become good aims and goals for us as well. Page 21 starts us out with what I believe should be more or less a life mission as we allow this book to challenge our spiritual lives.
"The aim is that Jesus Christ be made known in all the world as the all-powerful, all-wise, all-righteous, all-merciful, all-satisfying Treasure of the universe........and this joy will hold us and keep us, if we have tasted it and fought to make it the supreme experience of our lives. Christ is supremely glorious and supremely valuable. Therefore he is worth the fight"
Again, and again in Chapters 1 & 2 I felt the theme of both seeing and savoring Christ come through. Jesus is the Promise. His Presence is what we are after in all things. Delights should get us aimed towards a more intimate walk with Jesus. Desires should place our surrender to an unlocked perspective of God's heart.Our discussion questions and journal prompts are...
- If Jesus is the Promise and our goal is to see and savor Him....how are we actively PURSUING His Presence? In our daily quiet times? In our jobs? In our friendships?
- Read Exodus 33:12-18
- Let's take a good look at where our delights are aiming us...is what we delight in developing a more intimate walk with Jesus?
- Let's take a good look at where our desires are aiming us....is what we are desiring giving us an unlocked perspective of God's heart?
I want so much for you to make your relationship with Jesus and His Presence personal. Challenging us to spend some time in prayer asking the Lord to cultivate our desires and delights to be in Him and through Him. I love you so very much and I am specifically praying God reveals how His Presence is as near as a whisper to you all day!
"God and God alone is the final, ultimate goal of our quest. All that God is for us in Jesus is the Object of our quest for joy. When I speak of fighting for joy, I mean joy in God, not joy without reference to God. When I speak of longing for happiness, I mean happiness in all that God is for us in Jesus, not happiness as physical or psychological experience apart from God. Whether we are desiring or delighting, the end of the experience is God."
