I just finished reading Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ by Dallas Willard. This book is both deep and practical. The central point of this book is that it is possible and necessary for us to be transformed in a way such that we become more and more Christ-like and that there are steps that we can take to help bring that about. The message is helpful and positive.. this isn’t a book to make you feel guilty for not doing enough.

One of the issues he raises is the fact that in the church we usually don’t actually expect people to grow to become more Christ-like. Instead, we focus on following our religious rituals and try to avoid some of the more blatant sins. Many of us don’t really believe that it is actually possible to live the sort of life that the Bible describes. People can remain selfish, proud, and bitter for years and it does not seem unusual. No wonder the world is not impressed.

This book is a helpful wake up call to the church. It is possible to become more Christ-like, and there is something that you can do to bring it about. This is a hopeful message to all who cry out “Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart.” (p. 22)

Willard calls us to become part of a world wide revolution of character. What would it look like if a community of believers actually lived their lives according to the pattern laid out in the Bible? Gandhi is quoted as saying that if only Christians would live according to their belief in the teachings of Jesus, “we all would become Christians.”

There is so much I could say about this book… maybe I’ll write more later. Willard is a professor in the philosophy department at USC, but don’t let that scare you away. He gives an excellent description of the different aspects of a person and how they work together in the process of transformation. If you are a new Christian or this book seems a little intimidating then I suggest that you first read The Life You’ve Always Wanted. The author, John Ortberg, is heavily influenced by Willard, and he says in the preface that the title he originally suggested to the publisher was “Dallas for Dummies.”

I have been reading in Jeremiah. During the time that the Chaldeans (=Babylonians) were about to capture Jerusalem here is the message that God gave Jeremiah to preach:

2 “Thus says the Lord, ‘He who stays in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans will live and have his own life as booty and stay alive.’
3 “Thus says the Lord, ‘This city will certainly be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and he will capture it.’ ”
(Jer. 38 :2-3)

Can you imagine the reaction of the people of Jerusalem? No wonder Jeremiah was accused of treason and put in prision! And yet his message was from God, who was ready to judge His people Israel.

Sometimes the message we are called to preach is unpopular with the world…

Welcome to my new web site. For quite some time I have been wanting to do some writing, and this seems like a good way to do it. But if you know me, just doing a simple blog won’t do. I have to explore all the latest technology before I start writing. So I have chosen Wordpress as my tool for creating this space. This allows me to have more control over what I write, including filing my musings into categories.

So now I have to think about what to write! When I mentioned to several people that I was considering starting a blog, they said “Pastor Ken if you start a blog a lot of people will read it.” That actually delayed me for about 6 months. It’s a real burden to feel that I have to be profound every day. So I can’t promise profundity. I also don’t plan on discussing in detail what I had for lunch or what I am wearing today. And my diary, if I had a diary, would remain strictly private.

But there is a great deal that I would like to say about many things. The advantage of a blog format is that I can share my thoughts as they are still under construction. I don’t have to wait for it to be publishable before I share it. And I welcome your comments and feedback. That will help me to improve what I have written. Some especially important topics can be moved out of the blog format to their own page into a growing collection of articles. That’s one of the reasons that I chose Wordpress.

There are many other things other than articles that I would like to add to this site, including recommended reading and my favorite web links. I will also probably continue to play with the Worpress features and themes. But I thought that first it was time to actually post something, so here it is!