Habit Called Faith

Jen Pollock Michel

Description

Today's neurological research has placed habit at the center of human behavior; we are what we do repetitively. When we want to add something to our life, whether it's exercise, prayer, or just getting up earlier in the morning, we know that we must turn an activity into a habit through repetition or it just won't stick. What would happen if we applied the same kind of daily dedication to faith? Could faith become a habit, a given--automatic?With vulnerable storytelling and insightful readings of both Old and New Testament passages, Jen Pollock Michel invites the convinced and the curious into a 40-day Bible reading experience. Vividly translating ancient truths for a secular age, Michel highlights how the biblical text invites us to see, know, live, love, and obey. The daily reflection questions and weekly discussion guides invite both individuals and groups, believers and doubters alike, to explore how faith, even faith as small as a mustard seed, might grow into a life-defining habit.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 16 février 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781493428755
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Cover
Endorsements
“Deep and relatable. Spending forty days in Scripture along with A Habit Called Faith could be one of the best things you do this year. Jen is one of the greatest writers of our generation!”
Jennie Allen , New York Times bestselling author of Get Out of Your Head , founder and visionary of IF:Gathering
“No matter your faith journey, you are welcome here within these pages. Jen warmly invites readers into a forty-day experience that will forever change the root of the readers’ faith. Allow yourself to become vulnerable as you take a deep dive into discovering the joy waiting on the other side of an authentic relationship with the Father.”
Rebekah Lyons , bestselling author of Rhythms of Renewal and You Are Free
“As a pastor, I’m often asked for resources that aid in daily Bible reading, and I often don’t know how to respond. Many Bible study resources tend to be either saccharine and superficial or turgid and inaccessible. And this is why A Habit Called Faith is such a needed and vital book. Jen Pollock Michel has given us a resource that has paired smart, theologically rich insight with writing that is warm and evocative. This book invites us into the story of Scripture and the stories of regular men and women who have taken up this habit of faith. And, wonderfully, Michel makes room for readers wherever they are in their life of faith—wary skeptics and longtime disciples are both welcomed in and helped by this gift of a book. Best of all, A Habit Called Faith made me eager to read the Scriptures more often, to enter more deeply into this story of redemption, and to take up this habit called faith anew.”
Tish Harrison Warren , Anglican priest and author of Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life
“In every area of life, we know that thriving comes at the price of submitting to regular, best practices. Thriving athletes (and healthy people in general) submit to best nutrition and fitness practices, thriving musicians to best instrument and vocal practices, thriving parents and spouses to best family practices, thriving leaders to best organizational practices, and the list goes on. And yet, quite oddly, many believe—or at least behave —as if thriving faith is something that will just happen to us, all on its own. As with every worthwhile pursuit, a thriving and sustained faith will stand or fall on whether we submit to best spiritual practices. For this reason, I’m so thankful for people like Jen and for resources like A Habit Called Faith . Especially in an age like ours in which so many souls are languishing from passive neglect, I can’t think of a more needed book.”
Scott Sauls , senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee, and author of Jesus Outside the Lines and A Gentle Answer
“Getting into genuinely life-changing habits is never easy, but with Jen Michel as a companion, embarking on regular Bible reading will become more of a burden-lifting than burden-creating practice. For all looking to start, restart, or refresh daily time with God, this is the book for you.”
Sam Allberry , speaker and author of Why Bother with Church? and Seven Myths about Singleness
“Jen Pollock Michel is one of my favorite living writers. This book calls us to see knowing God as not just cerebral assent but as formation and habit, as living a life through the One who is Life. A Habit Called Faith will help to strengthen you when you are wavering, encourage you when you are doubting, and call you back to your life in Christ when you start to feel you are losing your way.”
Russell Moore , president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention
“Today the Bible is often seen as a strange artifact from the past, with Christian beliefs viewed as exotic and irrelevant. The result is that in some corners of the West, the Christian faith has not simply been rejected; it has mainly been left untried. And yet, there remains a hunger for something beyond the dominant secular story lines of our age. This means that while people sometimes sense a need for something more than the shallow scripts secularism has to offer, they are also suspicious of any attempt to dust off ancient sources that claim to be a divine guide. Jen Pollock Michel models a way forward by inviting skeptics and doubters to “come and see” that Christianity does not just claim to be true—it claims to work. But only by stepping into the Bible and trying it on can one see if it works. So Jen welcomes everyone to come along on a journey to see , not only by navigating us through the smaller biblical plotlines (in Deuteronomy and the Gospel of John) but also by winsomely mapping these within the bigger story line of the Bible and engaging with the twists and turns of our modern lives. A Habit of Faith is a book that believers and unbelievers alike should read—and ideally read together.”
Joshua Chatraw , director of the Center for Public Christianity and author of Telling a Better Story
Half Title Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2021 by Jen Pollock Michel
Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2021
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-2875-5
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2016
Some names and details have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals involved.
The author is represented by Alive Literary Agency, www.aliveliterary.com.
Dedication
To Esther, Jill, and Mabel:
Remember the blue heron— and consider his mighty wings. Deuteronomy 33:26
Contents
Cover 1
Endorsements 2
Half Title Page 5
Title Page 7
Copyright Page 8
Dedication 9
Acknowledgments 15
Introduction: A Believer in Belief 17
A Note to the Reader 25
Mark Lawrence: “God, I don’t know if you exist, but I’m going to act like you do.” 27
DAY 1 Lend Me Your Ears 31
DAY 2 Oh, the Places You’ll Go 35
DAY 3 Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall 39
DAY 4 No Do-Over 43
DAY 5 To Have and to Hold 47
Ian Cusson: “This is real. This is truth. I don’t have any rational way of explaining why this is real and true except that it is.” 51
DAY 6 The Moment Called Now 55
DAY 7 Practice Your Lines 59
DAY 8 His Name Is Jealous 63
DAY 9 Fieldnotes from the Wilderness 67
DAY 10 Signs and Wonders 71
Shannon Galván: “From that point I knew: just like water is wet and birds can fly, Jesus is real.” 75
DAY 11 There’s No Place Like Home 79
DAY 12 Five Words of Faith 83
DAY 13 Worrying for God’s Reputation 87
DAY 14 The Question of Appetite 91
DAY 15 No Mercenary Affair 95
Kevin Feiyu Li: “I planned a lot of things in my life. Being a Christian was never one of them.” 99
DAY 16 No Cherry-Cheeked Santa Claus 103
DAY 17 Heart Surgery 107
DAY 18 The With-God Life 111
DAY 19 The Laboring God 115
DAY 20 The Bookends of Blessing 119
Mika Edmondson: “If you will save me, then I will live for you.” 123
DAY 21 Where We Left Off 127
DAY 22 That Wine Will Preach 131
DAY 23 On Getting Fidgety 135
DAY 24 A Ringing World of Praise 139
DAY 25 The Great Mystery 143
Premi Suresh: “I started to realize how the gospel changes everything.” 147
DAY 26 God’s Gift of Bread 153
DAY 27 Identity Verification 157
DAY 28 The Dawning of DAY 161
DAY 29 Born to Be Free 165
DAY 30 Dead Man Walking 169
Kim Demchuk: “God, if you’re real, heal me.” 173
DAY 31 Hail to the Chief 177
DAY 32 Undercover Boss 181
DAY 33 Last Will and Testament 185
DAY 34 The Hard Work of Staying Put 189
DAY 35 The Helper 193
Deborah Smith: “He called me to love what I used to hate and hate what I used to love.” 197
DAY 36 The Lord’s Prayer 201
DAY 37 The Gospel Garden 205
DAY 38 The Finish Line 209
DAY 39 Closing Arguments 213
DAY 40 Revelation 217
Darius Rackus: “God had picked me up, taken me from being his opponent, and put me on his side.” 221
Epilogue 225
Group Discussion Guide 229
Notes 237
About the Author 247
Back Ads 249
Back Cover 251
Acknowledgments
This book was seeded by an inconspicuous Pascal reference in Kent Annan’s Slow Kingdom Coming. In the margin, I wrote, “Book idea?” I tracked down the reference and tucked it away for several years. Such are the methods of writers, which Margaret Atwood described in Negotiating with the Dead. She compared them to “the ways of the jackdaw: we steal the shiny bits and build them into the structures of our own disorderly nests.” 1
As I wrote the chapters to follow (and often despaired of the work), a friend likened me to the Israelites, wandering in the wilderness. In the final months, I prayed this verse nearly every day as a kind of liturgy: “Hear, L O R D , and grant me grace. L O R D , become helper to me” (Ps. 30:10, translation by Robert Alter). I count it a privilege to participate in a little bit of God’s work in the world—and also to wholly depend upon his grace for doing it.
I am grateful to my agent, Lisa Jackson, who was as excited for the idea of this book as I was. I feel especially glad for her patience with my rambling Voxer messages.
I am grateful for this new partnership with the good people at Baker Books, including my editor, Rachel Jacobson.
I am grateful for my family: for my husband, Ryan, who continues to learn how to partner with me in this work. As I’ve finished this manuscript (and he’s moved home for his own wor