Depending on where you live in the world, you may experience the grandeur of God’s handiwork in nature on a daily basis, or on occasion when you take a drive to the coastline or up to the mountains. Everyone experiences the daily wonder of a sunrise, a sunset, and the magnificence of the Creator of the universe holding all the stars in place…and yet, we so often take it for granted. All of it. In our productive, industrious lives, we somehow plow right past all the wonder and implications of living amidst the daily miracle of life and creation. We are so busy working to sustain our living that we forget what it is to have life.
And so it is with the truth, the gift, and the gloriousness of the Gospel. The Gospel:
“…the incarnation, sinless life, substitutionary death, burial, bodily resurrection, ascension, and eternal reign of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.” (Because He Loves Me, pg. 37)
We are so blown away by the grace of God, displayed through the love of God, upon first hearing it…but so often pay little attention to it as we purpose to mature and grow as Christians. That is why Elyse Fitzpatrick implores her readers to consider:
“…if you neglect to focus on God’s love for you in Christ, your Christianity will soon be reduced to a program of self-improvement–just one of many methods to help you ‘get your act together.’ And although that might see like a worthy goal, it isn’t true Christianity at all. True Christianity is not a program of self-improvement; it’s an acknowledgment that something more than self-improvement is needed. What’s needed is death and resurrection: gospel words, gospel constructs, gospel motives, gospel power–a loving Redeemer.” (pg. 25)
Oh how we truly need the Gospel to permeate our DAILY lives! How we need to be reminded of the truth of our condition and the truth of who we are in Christ. That, my friends, is why we are reading this book!
Because I know you, too, are weary from trying so hard…
Because I know you, too, struggle with all the demands of motherhood, work, home, and heart…
Because I know you, too, sometimes find yourself a Martha and not a Mary, forgetting to abide at His feet for all the serving you are attempting to do for Him…
…we begin this study today…
Because He loves me. And you. And His love is not just a feeling, but a truth we can trace clearly from the heart of God to the redemption of man.
And it does transform our lives.
So…welcome to Week 1 of the Because He Loves Me Book Study! We’re so glad you’re here. Join Joy, at Grace Full Mama, next week, for Chapter 2!
Now let’s talk about it…
1) What are your hopes and expectations as you begin this study?
2) Did you see yourself in one of the responses in the “Time for a Heart Check” section following the scripture passages that told the story of redemption? (pg. 35-36) If so…which did you resonate most with and why?
3) Do you find yourself focusing on performance, or fearing God’s wrath? What is your response to Elyse’s assertion that we will always struggle in this way if we are not convinced that Christ’s love is “ours, right now, fully and unalterably ours?”
I’d love to hear your thoughts! You can do so in two ways…
*Leave a comment below, and feel free to discuss with others there!
*Write a blog post either answering these questions or with your own reactions to the chapter, and link up your blog post below! (Remember to add the title and url for the specific post and not your blog url and name. Thanks!)
And please grab this button if you are joining us so that others can find us here!
(It’s not too late to read along. If you haven’t purchased a copy of the book, you can do so here.)
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On Monday we layed to rest my a great example of sacrificial love. My 90 year old Father in law who for the last 6 years had faithfully cared his wife who suffered from dementia. She had recently suffered from a stroke and was placed in a nursing home. When he observed she no longer noticed his coming and going he simply said , I have done all I can do and in three days he died
I always explain the gospel in the way I came to realize what it means in our lives. I have 4 beautiful daughters, and I could not have allowed one of them to be born and crucified for the sins of the world. We need to learn and remember what this exceptional love means for our lives. We need to change the condemning message that keeps hurting people from understanding the true gospel.
What a beautiful picture of sacrificial love. I will keep you in prayer as your family grieves the loss of such a special man.
Oh, Anna, I pray you and your family can be at rest this week, and rejoice in the life your FIL lived. Thank you for being here–indeed it is not the Gospel unless it is the true redeeming message of redemption through Christ!
I have been reading and pondering the first chapter for a week and linked up above. I wrote my post last night when I knew I would have time so I didn’t specifically answer your questions, but I think I probably answered them all in a round-about way with my own thoughts on the beginning of the book.. Never having done a book study like this online, I followed Joy’s links over here and have been eager to participate with you.
Thanks so much for linking up, Sarah. I’ll look forward to reading your post. It will be a great journey of growing together!
Thanks for joining us Sarah! You did a great job!
Thank you so much for hosting and for the opportunity to read this book! I am in the midst of adopting a baby boy whom we have had with us since he was 1 1/2 weeks old. He is now 15 months old. We love him so much and are so grateful he is here. This addition to our two (18 and 15) has changed up our schedules for sure and there hasn’t been much reading time….that had to change! So, here I am and SO glad to be participating. We are anticipating the arrival of another foster/adopt baby any time, but I am going to sincerely try to complete this study….it is much needed refreshment. Blessings to you!
I can so relate, Diane, to the season of motherhood you are in with a little one. I’m so glad you could join in, and I’m anticipating great refreshment and growth as we read together.
I am so excited to dig into a new bible study with you, Ruth! You always bring something to light that I did not see.
Here are few thoughts I had from the intro and chapter 1:
* Elyse asked the following question in the intro: “In your pursuit of godliness, have you left Jesus behind?” My initial thought was “no, I don’t think so”. She did , of course, hit a cord with her follow-up questions: “At the end of the day is there a rest in our soul because of him, or is there guilt and a determination that tomorrow you’re going to ‘do better’?” Every. Single. Night! That question alone propelled me to tighten my belt and take on this book.
* The other big highlight I made was the quote you wrote above. (pg.25). It is frightening (from an eternal perspective) how many people, including myself at times, see Christianity as a self-help program. If we are in Christ, we have already been helped to the greatest degree possible and it was not be our own strength or our own hands. We must daily rest on the finished work of Christ. I will never be good enough, but He is! I pray that through the Holy Spirit I will always rest on His performance and not my own. And, by His grace, He will draw me closer and closer to Him where I will humbly submit to His rule and His sanctifying power! (I suppose this goes back to my first point of trying to do better the next day.)
* Finally, I have never seen the gospel presented scripture by scripture like Elyse did in this first chapter It was phenomenal and will be a great resource to me (and others) in the future.
I actually didn’t see myself in any of the heart check responses. Right now, by the pure grace of God, I want to soak it all in. I am hungry!!!
Thanks, Ruth! I’m looking forward to digging into Chapter 2.
Michelle–I so agree with what you said about the Scripture verses. It blew me away the first time I ever read through those pages, and it did again this time. It brings tears to my eyes as I read the cumulative expression of God’s love for us through his plan of redemption. I pray that wonder and awe will continue to press into us as we grow and walk with Him. I’m so glad you are here, and I’m looking forward to studying with you!
I am so excited you are doing this book! It is one of my favorites. I so often forget that the gospel is for my everyday life, not just for salvation. Remembering that He loves me needs to be the foundation for everything I do, how I face any problem, and the core of my identity. Because all is grace.
Amen, Christina. I think we will be reminded, as we study together, how sufficient God’s word is, how thoroughly transforming the Gospel truly is…may it be so in our lives, one day at a time!
Like Sarah, I wrote a blog post before reading your questions (which are great and I’m looking forward to answering them on my own!). I however haven’t finished reading Chapter 1 yet and blogged about how I feel like the author in forgetting important things and having that nagging feeling of not remembering.
I am SO grateful that God meets us where we’re at to show Himself to us…I just hope that in my own busy season (first time mom with a 5 month old) I am slow down enough – STOP DOING – to start listening to Jesus’ voice and bask in His love and what He’s done for me.
I posted my link-up. I wanted to say I am new to blogging. So I have not yet been able to figure out a few technical things, like how to add your button on my page. Or how to make my links look like titles, instead of an ugly link.
I’m so glad you linked up! No worries about all the technicalities.
As for the button: you copy the entire code that is in the box under the button pic, and paste the code where you want it in the “html” or “text” tab of your post or sidebar. It will show up in the “visual” or “view” tab as the button, and when people click on it, it will take them to the series here at GraceLaced!
I read the intro and first chapter yesterday. I thought about my responses to the questions and how I felt about the book. When I was reading through the scripture in the first chapter, I was definitely in the “yada, yada, yada” category. I have been a Christian for some time now… and I have read those pieces of scripture so many times. I have heard them read so many times. I guess I was looking for something new?
I started to read the scripture slower. I wanted to really get into it because I knew that this was going to be what we’re studying for the next 12 weeks. I kept reading and kept thinking. And I started to wonder. I have a husband and two precious little boys. I love them more than life itself. Would I ever give one of them up for the love of someone? Never. So how special must I be that Christ gave up his Son for me?
I think I continually look at my performance and realize I don’t measure up. How can I be so special if I just keep messing up? I know.. “Gods grace is sufficient.” Though sometimes, it might be hard to believe.
What am I hoping to get out of this study? Everything. I am hoping to realize that I am already good enough. That tomorrow is not a day that i’ll get it right. Because God already takes care of it! I can’t wait to read more in the coming weeks. Thank you for hosting this study online!
I found the same thing, Mandy, when I read the scriptures slowly, and soaked them up. It was so amazing to put all the pieces together, and to really sense the magnitude of redemption, of God’s plan, of his great love for us. I’m so glad you are joining in!
RUTH!!! Sandwiched between your post on encouraging your children and this one was a day in which I actually called my kids, “brats” to their faces! So….when my heart was to encourage, i failed….and these words today were exactly what I needed. Death….and resurrection….made possible by a loving Redeemer.
Oh Tish, God is so gracious to confirm our weakness and to cause us to wholeheartedly lean on Him. Thanks for your vulnerability and friendship!
I love what Tish wrote above–
).
“Death …and Resurrection… made possible by a loving Redeemer.
You know how I feel about all this… (and that I wish I was reading along with you
But– this is so true Ruth.
I don’t need a list of self-improvement points, or even someone to commiserate with me in my failures.
I need more of Him. And less of me.
I need the strength for real transformation that only He offers.
I need to be grafted in–
To Him. The true vine and and life source.
Love you friend. Sharing around…
P.S. I’m going to link to an older post because learning about “grafting” was huge for me in understanding all this.
Amen, Kara. Of like mind and heart we are!
I’m reading along as well and just wanted to comment that it’s been within the last year or so that the Lord has been showing me this same message – that Christianity is not about self-improvement. That I cannot improve myself, but that I must wholly and fully trust Christ for my sanctification. And it begins with the gospel and His love…trusting that the Man who died for me is the Man who will transform me as I rest in Him and seek Him daily. He will make me become what He wants me to become
Looking forward to reading this book!
So glad you are here, Kim! What a blessing it is to realize it is not about us, but about the greatness of Christ…through which, we actually get to experience transformation! Thanks for joining in!
I am new to your website but I am looking forward to doing this book study with you.
Question 1: I hope/expect to get a closer relationship with God by doing this study.
Question 2: As far as which “Heart Check” I saw myself, I would honestly have to say a bit of each:
*Yada, yada, yada because I just feel stuck although I would say that I have been searching and I just don’t see transformation.
*Oh dear, not again! because although I don’t feel guilty so much, I certainly know I am not grateful.
*That reminds me because although the story does move me, it doesn’t really motivate me to “try harder” because I have been there so many times before.
*I’m different from other people because I can see people change, so I know it “works”, but it surely doesn’t seem like its working for me. I know that God loves me, but as far as it being real, well, I probably “got it” to a level and can’t move forward with it….I don’t know.
*I’ve tried to live the life I know God wants me to live, but I just can’t because that seems to carry over into every other category. How can a person life the life they know God wants, if they first struggle with accepting His love? If I summed up my life since receiving Christ, I would have to say much better because I know he is there, but I seem so much the same in so many ways that I always feel like I missed something.
*Sorry, too busy to read. Can you text-message me? Gotta run! because I feel that there are times I can have a good amount of time with God, but so often I read what I should to get my reading done for the day and then go on with my day.
It all seems to be, for me, although I know God should be in every aspect of my life, it just isn’t that way. And honestly, I am clueless how I got that way or how to change it.
Question 3: I would have to say I focus on performance. I understand enough to know that God isn’t mad at me every time I do something wrong. Certainly, regarding Elyse’s assertion about Christ love, I believe it is hitting the nail on the head. As someone saved as an adult there was a lot of “world” put in my head as a normal upbringing and not knowing Christ’s love leaves people searching for something to fill the void they have but they don’t know what makes the void or how to fill it… which being a Christian now I have come to know. We are, however, part of this world and need to move through life, but I am certainly having an understanding of Christ’s love and a “working belief” is quite different. I guess that goes back to question 1… I would love a working, living, breathing belief in Christ’s love for me that people would be able to see as I have been transformed by it rather than conforming to what I know.
Deb, thank you so much for these thoughtful responses. I’m so excited to have you join us! I think I saw myself in a little of each of your responses, and really relate to the issue of having had so much “world” ingrained, and not fully understanding the Grace of God until later in life. Praise God for His ever-working presence in our lives. I anticipate much growth in the coming weeks!
For quite awhile, I have been reading this book to my family on the way to church. I have quoted extensively and frequently on my blog. I was the teen who dwelt in Eph 4-6 in High School, not realizing chapters 1-3 came first for a reason! ( I think I grabbed this button, but I haven’t been to my blog recently….will if I haven’t)
What do I hope to gain? By discussing with the other women, and taking more time, I hope to see more of that transforming power! It’s been far too long since anything has significantly changed in my character!
MQ