I don’t know if any of you have read Phillip Keller’s books but the man is just a master of words and imagery and he brings out great truths in such profound ways. In books such as ‘By the Sea’ and ‘At Water’s Edge’, he turns to the wonder, beauty and serenity of nature to draw spiritual parallels that are so inspiring. I wouldn’t be surprised if his writings were an influence on Max Lucado. His book, “A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23” is still one of my most favorite books and I will never look at the Psalm the same way again.

Anyway, I have been reading his book “A Layman Looks at the Lord’s Prayer” for worship with my students and have been blessed and challenged by it. I thought I’d share this part of his analysis of the phrase “For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever” I think we see much of not only different aspects of Adventism in the following words, but most of Christendom too. I hope you are blessed by it as well!

There are some who attempt to live their Christian lives out of a sense of duty to God. It cannot be done. It becomes a dreadful burden and bondage. There are others who endeavor to maintain their relationship to God by ritual and routine. This degenerates to awful boredom. Still others hope to live in spiritual communication with God by indulging in emotional, ecastatic experiences. These are delusive and temporary., A few struggle resolutely to live stoicly with great self-discipline and inner determination of spirit. They grow weary in their well doing.

But for the soul who understands something of the wonderous goodness of his Father in heaven, who feels his heart warmed by genuine gratitude for the generosity of God, who feels appreciation and love welling up within because of his Father’s love, such a soul has found the secret to a serene and enduring relationship with his God. This is forever, unchanging, undiminished!

Such a person now discovers that the motivation, the drives, the desires which now determine his relationship to God and others are not those of his or her own making. They have their origin with God. Their source is the Person of God Himself. In other words, we love because He first loved us

Merry Christmas to all!

guibox - 18 December 2009 12:46 PM

I don’t know if any of you have read Phillip Keller’s books but the man is just a master of words and imagery and he brings out great truths in such profound ways. In books such as ‘By the Sea’ and ‘At Water’s Edge’, he turns to the wonder, beauty and serenity of nature to draw spiritual parallels that are so inspiring. I wouldn’t be surprised if his writings were an influence on Max Lucado. His book, “A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23” is still one of my most favorite books and I will never look at the Psalm the same way again.

Anyway, I have been reading his book “A Layman Looks at the Lord’s Prayer” for worship with my students and have been blessed and challenged by it. I thought I’d share this part of his analysis of the phrase “For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever” I think we see much of not only different aspects of Adventism in the following words, but most of Christendom too. I hope you are blessed by it as well!

There are some who attempt to live their Christian lives out of a sense of duty to God. It cannot be done. It becomes a dreadful burden and bondage. There are others who endeavor to maintain their relationship to God by ritual and routine. This degenerates to awful boredom. Still others hope to live in spiritual communication with God by indulging in emotional, ecastatic experiences. These are delusive and temporary., A few struggle resolutely to live stoicly with great self-discipline and inner determination of spirit. They grow weary in their well doing.

But for the soul who understands something of the wonderous goodness of his Father in heaven, who feels his heart warmed by genuine gratitude for the generosity of God, who feels apprication and love welling up within because of his Father’s love, such a soul has found the secret to a serene and enduring relationship with his God. This is forever, unchanging, undiminished!

Such a person now discovers that the motivation, the drives, the desires which now determine his relationship to God and others are not those of his or her own making. They have their origin with God. Their source is the Person of God Himself. In other words, we love because He first loved us

Merry Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas to you Guibox, and thanks for sharing an excellent quote.

Keller spent a lot of time outdoors raising sheep and being a shepherd, and his book on the 23rd Psalm appears very good also

Stan

Amen indeed guibox, and thanks for sharing. What a great thing to remember in this season where we celebrate our Immanuel!

Merry Christmas,

Nate

Thanks Guibox for sharing this. I think Keller nails the motivation for our love of God. Without the Father taking the initiative to send his Son and without Jesus taking the initiative to die on the cross and without the Holy Spirit taking the initiative to regenerate us, we would have no genuine love for God. Without God first loving us, we can’t love him nor can we be born again of our own initiative.

Without our guilt of sin and without God’s grace, there can be no gratitude, which is the only true motivation for serving him.

Greg

Guibox,

My thanks to you also for sharing Mr. Keller’s wonderful words with us. I had heard of W. Phillip Keller but didn’t know much about his literary work or his background.

For those who might desire more personal information about Mr. Keller look here:

http://www.christianbook.com/html/authors/1382.html

Also, he was a very prolific author. Here’s the W. Phillip Keller page on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/W.-Phillip-Keller/e/B001I9OLZW

To all… A blessed and very Merry Christmas!!!

More great words from Keller from his book ‘A Gardner Looks at the Fruits of the Spirit”. I am reading this book to my grade 8/9 students and am finding it as much a blessing as his book on Psalm 23. A very important topic and the crux of the Christian walk. How are fruits produced? What soil best cultivates it and what soil destroys the seed of the Word?

If anyone is to walk through my life, it should be He who tends me, cares for me, knows all about me, and longs to improve the garden of my life. This is none other than God Himself. He is the great and good gardner, the Husbandman who loves me.

This is a picture of Jesus Christ. By His gracious, kindly Spirit, He moves in our lives sharing His very own life with us. Pouring out His benefits and blessings upon us, He works deep within our spirits to mellow us and make us receptive to His own good seed, He enables us to respond to the implanting of His own new life from above. As He introduces the exotic fruits of His own person into the prepared soil of our hearts, there they take root and flourish

Perhaps later I may have more nuggets to share!

guibox - 13 January 2010 02:15 PM

More great words from Keller from his book ‘A Gardner Looks at the Fruits of the Spirit”. I am reading this book to my grade 8/9 students and am finding it as much a blessing as his book on Psalm 23. A very important topic and the crux of the Christian walk. How are fruits produced? What soil best cultivates it and what soil destroys the seed of the Word?

If anyone is to walk through my life, it should be He who tends me, cares for me, knows all about me, and longs to improve the garden of my life. This is none other than God Himself. He is the great and good gardner, the Husbandman who loves me.

This is a picture of Jesus Christ. By His gracious, kindly Spirit, He moves in our lives sharing His very own life with us. Pouring out His benefits and blessings upon us, He works deep within our spirits to mellow us and make us receptive to His own good seed, He enables us to respond to the implanting of His own new life from above. As He introduces the exotic fruits of His own person into the prepared soil of our hearts, there they take root and flourish

Perhaps later I may have more nuggets to share!

Thanks Guibox for sharing.

Stan