Primal

I just finished reading Primal by Mark Batterson. The essence of this book is an exhortation to return to our first love for God: "Go back to that place where God opened your eyes and broke your heart with compassion for others. Go back to that place where the glory of God flooded your soul and left you speechless with wonder. Go back to that place where thoughts about God filled your mind with holy curiosity. Go back to that place where a God-given dream caused a rush of adrenaline that filled you with supernatural energy."

He then breaks down our love for God into the four components Jesus spoke about in Luke 10:27, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind."

Here are a few of the thoughts from each section:

Heart:

• If you are in Christ and Christ is in you, you cannot be okay with suffering or injustice or starvation.


• It’s much easier to act like a Christian than it is to react like one. Anyone can put on an act. But your reactions reveal what is really in your heart.


• Establish an income ceiling. Most people spend more money as they make more money. Their standard of living goes up in direct proportion to their income. What if every Christ-follower gave away everything above and beyond their predetermined income ceiling?

Soul:

• Awed silence in the presence of divine beauty is a form of worship that is often deeper and truer than sung words.


• The Bible is not an end in itself. In other words, the goal of knowing the Bible isn’t Bible knowledge. The goal of knowing the Bible is knowing God. Anything less is bibliolatry. The truth is that most of us are already educated way beyond the level of our obedience.

Mind:

• Learning isn’t a luxury; it’s a stewardship issue.


• God wants to sanctify every part of your mind for His purposes: sanctified logic, sanctified intuition, sanctified imagination, even a sanctified sense of humor.


• God doesn’t just want you to worship Him; He wants you to know why you worship Him.

Strength:

• God loves it when we break a sweat serving His purposes.


• Anything less than leveraging all our strength for God’s purposes is boring at best and hypocritical at worst.


• God ideas don’t become reality without some blood,sweat, and tears. Oh yeah, and loss of sleep. But that’s the true test of love, isn’t it? If you love someone or something enough, the expenditure of energy isn’t seen as a chore. It’s a privilege. It’s not something you have to do, it’s something you get to do. Love turns work into worship.

Here are a few other quotes:

• Which do you love more: your dream or God? Do you love God for what He can do for you? Or do you love Him for who He is? In its purest, most primal form, loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is loving God for God. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing else.


• The impact God has planned for us doesn’t occur when we’re pursuing impact. It occurs when we’re pursuing God. -Phil Vischer, creator of VeggieTales.


• How much happier you would be, how much more of you there would be, if the hammer of a higher God could smash your small cosmos. -G.K. Chesterton


• Let God be as original with other people as He is with you. -Oswald Chambers

Check this book out!