Many years ago I met Gordon and Linda through our mutual friend Summer. Gordon was in transition which is a journey of knowing who God is and what he is all about. I respect Gordon and I respect Linda. At first I wasn’t sure if they were truly full of God’s grace. I knew they were full of something, just wasn’t sure what it was. It looked so different than what I knew from my experiences of being raised in a fundamentalist church. Church to me was singing solemn songs, listening to someone at the pulpit who criticized, condemned, and judged me. I always felt so uncomfortable. I always felt that there was something more. Gordon and Linda changed that view for me. To me they are wise (not in the ego one bit), they know the Bible, both of them know Jesus, and one thing that truly impresses me is that they are both willing to learn and admit when they are wrong. No condemnation, no guilt trips, no shame has ever been present when meeting with them.
I never experienced that with the church I grew up in. Ego is a big thing in church and that is one thing both of these books do not possess, ego. Gordon is not writing this for an ego trip or to be a know it all. These are things he has done himself and is still working through as he walks on his journey.
In his first book “Out from the Shadow of Other Gods” we learn about his journey. We also learn about what salvation looks like and what it isn’t and how men and women have usurped Jesus’ authority by their own egos and fractures. I learned a lot about how my own ego and my own fractures have caused me to behave and do some of the things that I have been feeling ashamed about. The most important thing I learned is that I am forgiven. I am supernaturally dead to my previous ways of doing things and I am in Jesus and my mind and heart will be renewed. How awesome is that? I know hard to fathom, but it is the truth. It is so simple, yet we want to complicate it with rules and regulations that are not present in Jesus’ teachings.
In the second installment of Brownlee’s saga we learn in more detail what that looks like and what that entails. I realized while reading that I still have a long way to go, that I am not alone. That I can still move forward and I am still forgiven, loved, and dead to my old man of looking at things. Where I gained the most knowledge from is the section titled “Unhealthy Spiritual Connections”. I have a few of those, even in my own family. Testing and challenging things by Jesus and the cross will be a continual presence in my life. Read this book, I think pastors, teachers, and leaders should read this and start testing and challenging many of the beliefs and ego trips that they hold so that we can all be in a healthy relationship with Jesus and with each other.
Please wait...