Oh my, it's not often that you read a book, relate well, and are sad that it ended. This book is that kind of book for me. I will re-read this book. I found it to be biblical, relatable, and created a picture of a gospel-focused life with the beauty and surrender it entails. It challenged me, it resonated with me, and it has me thinking and is pushing me to grow in my own relationship with the Lord. That's a book worthy of high honor in my opinion.
This book focuses on gospel living. It's focused on life in the limits of Our Good and Gracious God, Jesus' work on the cross for us, His sending of the Holy Spirit, who lives within us, and brings us much space. It's focused on real community, real abiding in Jesus, real life, and a real invitation to live like Jesus models for us. The author shares relatable aspects of learning her limits, with scripture concepts and examples of Jesus living and teaching on earth, and the larger concepts of gospel living in real authentic community, with all the sacrifice that brings.
At the start of the book-this concept, I identified with: "What I didn’t know, at least not then in a deep-in-your-bones sort of way, was that these limitations on my time, body, and affections were actually an invitation. Instead, I fought them. For years I fought God about the gap between my imagined life and my given one. My crash course in acknowledging my limits was parenthood."
"We are made by Love for love, and love joyfully accepts constraints in order to love others particularly and fully."
"The goodness of gathered salt is that it shows us how food works and tastes best. Might the people of God show us how we work best as humans—not overly individualistic, but bearing a communal identity of love? Might we be more concerned about enhancing the flavor of others than enamored with our own saltiness? May the people of God minimize bitterness, temper saccharine sweetness, and heighten the aroma of Christ. What does this look like? Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. To be the gathered salt of God, we must consent to the constraints of community."
"But to be the gathered salt of God, we must consent to the constraints of community—of being for others instead of using others—often through limiting our time, desires, and even those secondary identities we hold dear."
"Rich community in the church, that first family that Jesus adopts us into—like a beef bourguignon or homemade pasta—builds and grows in its flavor only through constraints. It happens slowly. To build thicker communities, we’ll have to stick around, live under gracious and loving authority, forgive each other, and choose to spend time together, rather than making the best choice for any one individual."
"Rich community happens through diverse people, layered and simmering together."
"We crave the goodness of gathered salt. But to actually be the community we crave, we must limit ourselves. We limit ourselves by choosing to show up when at times we’d rather not. We limit ourselves when we give of our time to listen, talk, and pray. We limit ourselves when we participate in weekly liturgy even when we do not feel like it. "
"Part of our work as followers of Jesus is resisting the limit to create our own purpose and instead to receive the one God gives us, even if it doesn’t look like what we imagined. . . Jesus, who limited himself for love, asks us to follow him: to steward our limits for others. Limits create conditions for community."
Thankful to partner with IVP through Netgalley and read an advanced copy of this book. Off to purchase a hard copy!!
A few other quotes:
“Limits create for us a home; they create the condition for flourishing.”
“Limits, given to the world by a loving God, are the conditions for life.”
