However, the message inside the book is powerful and thought-provoking.The author asks, "What if the path toward an extraordinary life is becoming more ordinary?" He then shares how ordinary people, doing ordinary things (like performing simple acts of service, showing neighborly love, offering hospitality, supporting or pursuing adoption), can make a huge impact in our world.
In the preface to the book, the author quotes Aristides reasons for the influence of Christianity in AD 125. Among other things, Aristides said that Christians "do not worship strange gods...go their way in all modesty and cheerfulness...love one another...deliver the orphan from him who treats him harshly...gives to him who has not, without boasting...fasts two or three days in order to supply to the needy their lack of food." Wow, I wonder if someone were describing Christians today if he would use these same words.
Here are a few other points that stood out to me in this book:
*Christians should be indignant toward evil, yet compassionate toward its victims.
*Love involves action, not indifference. It involves compassion that leads to action.
*Evil will triumph when people do nothing.
This is a book I'll be keeping in my personal library to reread . . . despite its size and distressed looking cover!
"modesty and cheerfulness"..I like that a lot.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that "loves involves action" themes keep popping up in my path these days. I think someone above is telling me I need to take that nudge. Thanks for your post!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a very thoughtful thesis. Although I've often chosen books by their covers, this goes to show that a cover may not indicate the quality of the contents at all. (Actually, choosing books by their covers has, for the most part, proven to be pretty effective for me.)
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of this book - I'm going to go looking for it.
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