The title here is a subtitle in Waking the Dead, Chapter 6. Guided and A Case for Discipleship were also a part of this chapter.
I love that Eldredge makes the point that we need to pay attention to our hearts. We do! So badly. Many men have all but forsaken their hearts. It doesn’t pay the bills, so we focus on the cognitive and the physical world. Emotions and desires are too mushy for us. Continue reading
I am continuing in Eldredge’s book, Waking the Dead (Chapter 6).
This section hit me especially because ‘guided‘ relates to walking with God. Eldredge relates a situation where he is in scripture and The Lord urges his to meditate on it for a longer time. He interacts with The Lord on the passage and realizes why he needed that within an hour. Continue reading
I told my guys, ‘we want to get to Carpe Diem!’ But, where is Carpe Diem for us? It may be a different place and a different time for each of us. Continue reading
The human heart is a precious thing. God views the human heart as a precious thing. The human heart is a precious thing. Continue reading
The human heart is the central focus of our being. God deals with us in our hearts.
What is the heart? John Eldredge, in Waking the Dead, concludes that your heart is “you.” My heart is “me.”
Now if we break this down just a bit we see that the heart God deals with has a rational component, we think, it has and emotional part, we feel, it has a volitional component, we make choices, and it has a desire part, we have surface and deep desires. Some of our deep desires were place in our hearts by God. That is the subject of another discussion.
I believe my heart has attitude! My heart does have attitude and I have had to deal with attitude on many occasions. Righting a wrong attitude makes all the other components of my heart work better together. Continue reading
“The truth is, we have not taken them [myths] seriously enough. Myths are stories which confront us with something transcendent and eternal.” [Wild at Heart, Page 182]
Knowing what I know now about life and the Battle that we are in, I must say that it is difficult to get my arms around what is the problem with life. I have struggled with this for years now. Yes, I have sinned and I have confessed my sins and repented. I have experienced forgiveness, I am free in that regard, yet other things seem to trap me, bind me.
I just reviewed the concept that we lost our glory in the fall of Adam and Eve. That is certainly a factor. I’ve looked at the idea that we need myth to understand the deep things in life, mythic reality.
There are other concepts that explain why I am the way I am and why life comes at me and goes by dme the way it does.
Eldredge covers what he calls three eternal truths which help us get at the meaning of life and answer why we find ourselves in the state we are in.
Continue reading
What happened to my glory?
Now I understand what John Eldredge means. He is using parable, or fairy tale, or myth as a synonym for story. It is all a means of communicating Eternal Truth, the larger meaning, or transcendent truth which is larger than what we see in the physical world.
To break that down: Jesus parables were not always about real people or real situations. We listen and hear those parables not even considering whether the details He gave were fact or not. Jesus uses the details he gives us to make a point–usually a very powerful and sometimes life-changing point to those hearing Him.
I am continuing in Chapter 2 of John Eldredge’s book: Waking the Dead.
Jesus is lauded as one of the greatest Teachers of all times, but look at what He taught and how He taught. He taught us about a sower in a field, a woman who lost a coin, and lepers healed and only one being grateful. So what is all of that supposed to mean?
Yes, we know Jesus used parables, in fact, at some point the scriptures say “to hide real meaning.”
The Good News 