I heard John Ortberg speak last week on the topic of the easy yoke. Got an autographed book from him 🙂
He speaks as good as his books, and I like his books.The beginning of his talk was a little slow, but he warmed up and had a lot of insights into the Christian life. I like the way he can quote Dallas Willard, and repeat the quote a few times, without notes. He must use these quotes a lot.
Here are a few things he said that struck a cord with me.
Be careful not to have the service of God get in the way of our life with God. Ministry often reinforces inattentiveness to God.
There’s a difference between training and trying. Training is to arrange my life around those activities that enable me to receive power to do what I am not able to do now by direct effort. We are to train, not try to be like Jesus.
We can do church but that transformation process that Paul [in the Bible] talks about isn’t happening. We settle for pseudo transformation, boundary markers that are superficial ways that serves to distinguish who is inside and who is outside of the people of God, such as the way you dress, the way you talk, etc.
Spirituality wrongly understood or pursued is a major source of frustration and rebellion against God. An example is the Pharisees. They measure spirituality by devotional activities.
Spiritual disciplines are not a measure of someone’s spiritual maturity. It’s a means, not an end.
Spiritual disciplines should not be hard and joyless.
Disciplines are about freedom; they free you to do what you can do.
Authentic transformation is possible if we arrange our lives around those practices Jesus engaged in to receive power and life from the Father.
Grace is not just forgiveness of sins. It’s much more. Grace is God’s power in us to do what we could not. We are meant to run on grace. We are to live on grace.
The greater vision is what already is, who God is. It’s not what we want people to do.
The easy yoke for pastors begins with joy.
Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. Hurry is different from being busy.