A Quote from Bill

I've been reading Reconciliation Blues - A Black Evangelical's Inside View of White Christianity by Edward Gilbreath. It has been an interesting read and has given me a lot to think about. I love reading books like it because they give me a glimpse into someone else's world.

I wanted to share a quote from the book. The quote is actually from a missionary to the Middle East that came and spoke at Gilbreath's church. His name was Bill.

Bill started off his talk by saying, "I believe that perhaps the biggest threat to believing and following Jesus is when we come to depend on a religious system of faith instead of daily depending on God and seeking to do his will."

He went on to say, from his own experience, "I found that when its all gone, you find that you either depend 100% on God himself for everything--every aspect of life, no matter what happens--or, like me, you begin to see how much of your faith is dependent on the forms of Christianity or the circumstances of life instead of on God alone... However you define what it is to be a Christian, if we're not committed to seeking and doing God's will every day, we've missed it."

If all the tangible aspects of my christian life were stripped away, my church, my biblestudy group, my Christian music, my Christian books, etc. would I find that I had been depending more on those things than on God himself? Am I committed to seeking and doing His will every day?

"Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalm 73:25-26