Grace vs Works

Review of My Foolish Heart by Susan May Warren

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Genre: Christian Romantic Fiction

Series: Book Four of the Deep Haven Series

Recommended.

This is more than a typical romance novel! Isadora Presley is an agoraphobic radio talk show host still dealing with the pain of an accident, which took her mother and debilitated her father. Caleb Knight is a young disabled veteran back from Iraq hoping to coach high school football and blend into the small town of Deep Haven. Of course they fall in love–it’s a romance after all–but in the process they work through pains, insecurities and fears, and discover God’s overwhelming grace. There are a couple other main characters as well, whose stories accentuate and compliment the hero and heroine.

This is a lighthearted, easy read, which excellently portrays God’s love, redemption, and grace within the hurts and struggles of life. The characters are well developed and the plot is only as predictable as it needs to be–that is, there are enough surprises to keep it interesting, while still allowing for the story to develop in the way every romantic hopes. My Foolish Heart is also part of Warren’s Deep Haven Series, so the reader who enjoys this book, will likely enjoy the others as well; I have only read the one, and it felt complete in itself.

I received a complimentary copy of this book as a part of the Tyndale Blog Network.

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Emphasis on the First Commandment

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There are two commandments that stand out within the entire Bible and are particularly emphasized by Jesus in the New Testament.  The first commandment is to love God and the second is to love other people.  The first is first and the second is second–they aren’t equal.  If we forget to love God, it really doesn’t matter how much we love people (1 Cor 13).  The first commandment is a requirement for the second, and it is greater (Mat 22:37-38).

I’ve mentioned these commandments before, but it’s very important to recognize the difference between them.  They wouldn’t be highlighted separately if they were the same; thus, we do not love God BY loving other people, we love God THEN we love other people.  This is not a subtle difference.

So how do we love God?  Scripture says we love God by keeping His commandments–we completely submit ourselves to God in obedience of whatever He has for us (John 15:1-11).

This is why loving God has to happen before the loving of people: God has a specific design for how we should individually love those in our spheres of influence.  We aren’t called to random acts of kindness; we’re called to specific works which He prepared beforehand for us to do (Eph 2:10)!

If we neglect to focus on a relationship with the Lord foremost (on truly and wholeheartedly loving Him), then instead of being led by His voice to pour out His love, we become recklessly attempting to earn or prove our salvation to God, ourselves and the world.  We may help people to feel good in the now, but aren’t able to offer them insight toward a stable relationship with the Lord because we don’t have it for ourselves; what is Christianity unless Christians can offer both?  This ‘being good’ wears us out, makes us feel constantly inadequate or in competition with others, and most importantly, it doesn’t work–God knows our heart.

The ‘goodness’ has to come from the inside out.  As we spend time with Him, we know Him and love Him.  He gives us a heart to love Him–more and more as we seek Him–because He knows how small we are.  And as we completely submit to Him in love, we can’t help but be stirred in our spirits to help His other loves.  It really does happen naturally.  And it brings with it a confidence of being a true heir and son or daughter to the Most High God.

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Wake Up Sleeping Giant!

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Tonight I’m asking the Lord:  How long will your people value the world over You?  What will it take, O Lord, to wake up the Western church?

We who call ourselves Christians have forgotten to love the Lord with all of our hearts.  We have a large bubble of “permissible but not beneficial” activities that we choose over our God.  We pray for His blessing, and forget that He’s all we need–literally!

The problem is not that we aren’t thinking about others, it’s that we aren’t thinking about God.  Connecting with God’s heart overflows into a love of others, but if it doesn’t start with a fear and knowledge of God Himself, it’s worthless.

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