Four Legs and a Stretcher

F. C. Vogt

Description

If you have ever compared your life to the well know line "what a long strange trip it's been", from the Grateful Dead song "Truckin", you will enjoy this book!

The five components of a chair base, that of four legs and a stretcher, represent five areas of spiritual formation that godly faith requires.

The four legs symbolize truth, love, fellowship, and what the author calls faith disciplines—and the stretcher that connects them characterizes the practice of being spiritually minded about them.

God intended each of the components to play a vibrant role in the way we construct our lives. Like a chair with a dependable base, a life supported by these five components can be secure, rewarding, and purposeful.

This devotional explores each component in detail, including their interrelationship and connection to each other. As you read, you’ll consider questions such as:

• How can you build a base of godly faith that securely and dependably supports a fulfilling life?
• What purposeful steps must you take to grow and mature in faith?
• How can you apply the concepts of purposeful design and engineering to your life?

Throughout the book, you’ll find anecdotes and highlights from the author’s life that will make your journey of faith relevant and achievable.

Take a fresh approach to understanding, applying, and growing in faith and spirituality with the wisdom in Four Legs and a Stretcher.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Fellowship
• Spirituality
• Truth
• Religion
• Faith
• Love

Informations

• Publié par: Archway Publishing
• Date de parution: 23 septembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665727068
• Langue: English

Extrait

FOUR LEGS AND A STRETCHER


Constructing an Intentional Faith that Leads to Godliness






F. C. VOGT








Copyright © 2022 F. C. Vogt.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.



Archway Publishing
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.archwaypublishing.com
844-669-3957

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Interior Image Credit: Nancy Beck

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

ISBN: 978-1-6657-2705-1 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-2704-4 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-2706-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022913312



Archway Publishing rev. date: 9/22/2022



This book is dedicated to my wife, Patricia, and my daughter, Amelia. Without them, writing this book would not have been possible.



Contents
Preface
List Of Abbreviations
Part 1: Understanding Your Faith
Introduction
1 Changing Direction
2 The Promised Land Of Godliness
3 The Picture Of Faith
4 The Structure Of Faith
5 Assessing Faith
Part 2: Constructing Your Faith
Introduction
6 The Leg Of Truth
7 The Leg Of Love
8 The Leg Of Fellowship
9 The Leg Of Faith Disciplines
10 The Stretcher Of Being Spiritually Minded
11 Building Five Habits For Being Spiritually Minded
Part 3: Living Your Faith
Introduction
12 Assembling Faith
13 Sharing Faith
14 The Hope Set Before Us
15 Final Words

Afterword
Appendix 1: Chapter Bookends
Appendix 2: Faith Assessments
Appendix 3: Chapter Notes And Helpful Scriptures
Appendix 4: Resources For The Faith Disciplines











Preface
A book is as dangerous as any journey you might take. The person who closes the back cover may not be the same one that opened the front one. Treat them with respect. 1
The classic novel The Agony and the Ecstasy 2 was the starting point for my love of history. When I first read it at the age of fifteen, this biographical work describing the life of Michelangelo Buonarroti captured my attention like no other book I had read up to that point. At school, lessons about history were mechanical and boring. But this book introduced me to history as a story—a story about real people. Michelangelo’s magnificent artistic creations became linchpins in time and a frame of reference for other historical events that piqued my interest. It made history real and meaningful to me.
I share this with you because it makes the point that we are intellectually and emotionally drawn to understand and conceptualize almost everything in different ways, and faith is no different. While the scriptures provide truth about what faith means, requires, and does, God created us as individuals, and the way we perceive and apply our faith is as varied as we are. As an artisan who makes and restores furniture, the metaphor of constructing our faith like the base of a chair speaks to me in a way that makes understanding faith plausible. For me, building a base of faith like a chair is an apt comparison with how we build the foundation for a spiritual, moral, and purposeful life. Perhaps this book’s perspective will help make faith more real and practicable to you.
The five components of a chair base, that of four legs and a stretcher, represent five areas of spiritual formation that godly faith requires. The four legs symbolize truth, love, fellowship, and what I call the faith disciplines. The stretcher that connects them together characterizes the practice of being spiritually minded about them.
The author and designer of life intended for each of them to play a vibrant role in the way we construct our lives. Like a chair with a dependable base, a life supported by these five components can be secure, rewarding, and purposeful. We will study what comprises these elements of faith and how they are shaped. We will consider their interrelationship and connection with each other. We will examine how to build a base of godly faith that securely and dependably supports a fulfilling life.
We will also reflect on a lifelong journey as a metaphor for faith. While certainly not original to this book, this metaphor speaks to me as I recall my experiences on this path to God. It characterizes the direction and the purposeful steps we take to grow and mature in our faith and how we progress toward a life consecrated to God. It’s a destination that I call the Promised Land of Godliness and define later in the book.
Yet, despite the anecdotes, metaphors, and personal experiences found here, this book is, at its core, a theological work. It is so because it is a study of the nature of God and religious belief. In his book Everyone’s a Theologian , R. C. Sproul makes the point:
Many people believe that theological study holds little value. They say, “I don’t need theology; I just need Jesus.” Yet theology is unavoidable for every Christian. It is our attempt to understand the truth that God has revealed to us. So, it is not a question of whether we are going to engage in theology; it is a question of whether our theology is sound or unsound. It is important to study and learn because God has taken great pains to reveal Himself to His people. He gave us a book, one that is not meant to sit on a shelf pressing dried flowers but to be read, searched, digested, studied, and chiefly to be understood. 3
God entrusted us with the responsibility to understand what He says in His Word, and He has given each of us the ability to do so. The purpose of theology is to bring us into the presence of the creator of the universe—God Almighty. It requires a studied and recurrent examination of the scriptures. However, even if our theology is sound and our understanding of the scriptures is patently accurate, a theology that is purely academic but that doesn’t engage our hearts, provoke us to respond with passion and personal conviction, and, most importantly, bring us into a surrendered and loving relationship with our Lord is merely an intellectual and legalistic adherence to rules and regulations.
Faith is God’s method for bringing humanity into consecrated fellowship with Him. Relative to this, faith is, at its core, about the presence of God in our lives. Faith determines the degree to which our knowledge of God develops into a relationship with God . Faith measures how we respond to that, deepen our understanding of it, and change our lives because of it.
The purpose of this book is primarily focused on building our understanding and practices of maturing in faith. Yet, despite all our efforts to grow in faith, there is an essential truth we must be constantly aware of: God has given us the capacity for faith in the first place. Without this, we would be incapable of faith, and our faith journey would be meaningless. When we genuinely began a spiritual journey in earnest, we were changed forever. We were given a new nature spiritually, which can understand spiritual truth, the godly purposes of life, and a heart that desires to please Him that was not there before.
The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
So as we work to build our faith and grow in spiritual formation, there is no place for pride or smugness. We would be incapable of spiritual growth if left on our own and without God’s capabilities. The glory and honor of our faith belong to Him.
While this book is not a study of apologetics, it is written with some presumptions about reality and truth that are universally held by those who are followers of Jesus Christ:
God does, in fact, exist and desires a personal relationship with humankind.
There is such a thing as absolute truth.
The Bible reveals this truth, as it is the word of God.
Jesus is the son of God, the savior of humanity, and has invited all people to follow Him.
Jesus was crucified, died, and was raised from the dead to spiritually give us a new life.
We can live sanctified and holy lives.
Jesus wants His followers to fellowship together and help one another grow spiritually.
Jesus will return in the future to be with us eternally.
All people are made in God’s image and are equally valuable to Him.
I understand and respect that these may not be current realities for you. But I would ask that you put your doubts and disagreements aside for a few hours and consider what i