Skip to main content

Performance free living





Saving the saved by Bryan Loritts

Pastor Bryan Loritts in his new book, Saving the Saved, brings to the foreground two twin themes that will help readers in their journey of faith; one, the kingdom of this world is a meritocracy and two, Jesus kicked this meritocracy to the curb and calls us his children, not dependent upon all of our vain efforts.  Bryan speaks to those who have fallen on hard times and those who are smooth smiling, his goal is to “refuse to have our joy tethered to the external events of life or to our personal strivings to measure up.” (22)

One short sentence sums up what Bryan is trying to teach us in chapter one.  After looking at God’s loving kindness and mercy, Bryan writes, “God didn’t wait for me to get cleaned up before he loved me…Performance-free, unshakeable love.” (39)  The quote he looks to is from Romans 5:8 and Bryan focuses on the “while we were yet sinners,” the mercy and love of God goes down deep to save us while we are enmity with God.  It’s a joy that God reached down and saved us in our wickedness because our strivings to become right before God always fail, we go up and down in a quest for holiness and fail to see our Savior.

Bryan brings out a concept of third-way theology that I also believe is deadly in our churches.  Third-way theology glosses over sin, extramarital affairs, greed, and add just enough Jesus to your life to make you acceptable (90-91).  This kind of living is deadly because it seeks to put one foot in the world and one in the kingdom, but we know that Jesus says we cannot serve two masters.  Bryan gives two indicators of a performance-free living for Christ; do I grieve over my sin and does this grieving lead to a full change (repentance)?  These two things go hand in hand.

I really enjoyed this book and also enjoyed learning from Bryan’s father many years ago.  This book will bring grace to people in the midst of a merit based culture.


Thanks to BookLookBloggers for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God's Grace for All of Life

The Romance of Grace by Jim McNeely III To be honest, when I received this book in the mail I had visions of what it might be like with a title like, ‘The Romance of Grace.’  The emotional rollercoaster and one-sided perspective on how our emotions fuel our faith was my presumption about the book, but this was the furthest thing from the truth as I started reading.  The Romance of Grace by Pastor Jim McNeely III is a careful look at the movements of grace in the way God pursues us with his love and his desire to get us to love him back.  McNeely writes, “We are entering a cosmic romance with a passionate lover, and He is interested in our heart’s truest desire.  His deepest objective isn’t to make us more moral; it is to get us to love Him back.  Virtue is the fruit, not the root” (18).  Why is this helpful?  For one thing, beginning with God’s initiating grace frees us from starting out on the wrong foot in the way we tell the story and...
2 comments
Read more

Saving Casper

Saving Casper: A Christian and an Atheist Talk about Why We Need to Change the Conversion Conversation by Jim Henderson and Matt Casper http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Casper-Christian-Conversion-Conversation/dp/1414364881 Many readers will quickly know the authors of this book from their previous release Jim and Casper Go to Church.  Jim and Matt’s new book entitled Saving Casper focuses on the way we talk about conversion in the church and the devastating ways we have pushed away atheists and other non-believers by our posture.  Both Jim and Matt traversed the national landscape, meeting in churches and asking hard questions about faith, conversion, and life. The basic premise of the book and travel is laid out here in their words, “Part of what Casper and I are trying to achieve when we speak to a group of Christians is to help people move a little bit on their “judgment meter.”  This capacity, while intellectually and often theologically uncomfortable,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Journible The 17:18 Series: Acts

Journible The 17:18 Series: Acts The 17:18 Series: The Book of Acts by Joel R. Beeke and Rob Wynalda In Deuteronomy 17:18 Moses foretells of a future king coming to reign over Israel and copying the law himself rather than just acquiring a copy of the law.  The role of writing down or scripting the Word of God is of paramount importance for the growth of the believer.  With this truth in mind, Joel Beeke and Rob Wynalda have created Journibles.  This Journible on the Book of Acts is both a resource to copy the Scriptures yourself and engage in some questions about the text. On the right hand side of the Journible is blank lines with verse indicators for you to copy down the whole Book of Acts.  On the left side of the Journible are questions regarding context, theology, and details of the text for you to answer.  In other words, this Journible on Acts incorporates a place for you to write your own copy of Acts while engaging with the details of the te...
1 comment
Read more