I recently started reading Good to Great in God's Eyes: 10 Practices Great Christians Have in Common by Chip Ingram. I have finished the intro and chapter one and already highly recommend it. Is that allowed?
He introduces the book and title by introducing greatness in God's eyes. "Mediocrity is almost no one's ambition. I've asked a lot of people about their hopes and dreams, and I usually get unapologetic answers about their desires to be great at what they do. But when I ask believers if they want to be great Christians, they seem to be afraid to answer the question... To talk about ambition in following Christ sounds like the opposite of humble spiritual maturity. Yet, what's the alternative? Should we aspire to be mediocre Christians? ... As for Jesus himself, he didn't seem prone to mediocrity either, did he?"
Chapter one is titled "Think Great Thoughts." Besides explaining why and how to think great thoughts, Ingram gives four sources of great thoughts:
1.) Start with scripture
2.) Dwell on great truths
3.) Take time to notice beauty
4.) Meditate on spiritual insights
This is one of those practical, underline-every-other-sentence type of books. But, here are 2 things (out of about 57) that stuck out to me so far.
1.) Thinking great thoughts has to be on purpose, and the habit takes time to develop. "It's amazing to me that our culture can be so smart and deliberate about physical nutrition and so mindless about the spiritual, intellectual, and emotional content of the ideas we consume. We're casual about what goes into our minds and then end up in therapy desperately trying to change what's in there."
2.) "When we meditate on the truths of the gospel, we eventually internalize them. And when they become internalized, they are life-changing."
Well, I hope that was enough to convince you to read it :) I won't give away anymore. Have you read it already? Are you going to?
