REFLECT

Thaddeus Williams

Description

REFLECT: A Personal and Small Group Guide for Mirroring Jesus is the personal and small-group study companion to REFLECT: Becoming Yourself by Mirroring the Greatest Person in History by Thaddeus J. Williams. Drawing on science, literature, art, theology, history, music, philosophy, pop culture, and more, REFLECT paints a fresh and inspiring vision of how we become most truly ourselves by mirroring Jesus Christ. Each chapter of REFLECT: A Personal and Small Group Guide for Mirroring Jesus expands on a chapter from the book and summarizes the main points. Reflection questions prompt deeper study or discussion, and prayer suggestions help readers identify ways to incorporate insights in prayer. Ideas to practically implement lessons are also included along with recommended resources for further study.REFLECT is the ideal resource for digging deeper into how we can better reflect Christ in every area of our lives.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christian theology
• Theology
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Lexham Press
• Date de parution: 23 janvier 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781683592822
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

REFLECT
A Personal and Small Group Guide for Mirroring Jesus
Thaddeus J. Williams
REFLECT: A Personal and Small Group Guide for Mirroring Jesus
Copyright 2018 Thaddeus J. Williams
Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225
LexhamPress.com
All rights reserved. You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at [e-mail] .
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.
Print ISBN 9781683592815
Digital ISBN 9781683592822 -->
Cover Design: Frank Gutbrod
CONTENTS
A Word from the Author
How to Meet Your Future Self
1. Reason: Mirroring the Profound Thinking of Jesus
2. Emote: Mirroring the Just Sentiments of Jesus
3. Flip: Mirroring the Upside-Down Action of Jesus
4. Love: Mirroring the Radical Relationality of Jesus
5. Elevate: Mirroring the Saving Grace of Jesus
6. Create: Mirroring the Artistic Genius of Jesus
7. Transform: Mirroring Jesus in All of Life
REFLECTion LOG
A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR
Dear Reader,
Welcome to REFLECT , the personal and small group guide for REFLECT: A Personal and Small Group Guide for Mirroring Jesus (Lexham Press, 2018). The goal of this study is to help you become more truly yourself as you worship and mirror Jesus, the Greatest Person in History. Each lesson comes in seven parts:
1. READ. Focuses the study with a passage of Scripture.
2. RECAP. Highlights the big points from each chapter.
3. REFLECT. Poses questions to probe deeper in group discussion and personal reflection.
4. REPENT. Helps you identify and pray through specific ways you are (or are not) reflecting Jesus.
5. REQUEST. Prompts you to ask God to make you more truly yourself as you mirror the Greatest Person in History.
6. RHYTHMS. Offers action steps you can take to form good habits and better reflect Jesus.
7. RESOURCES. Lists top-quality resources for further study.
My prayer for each of you is that, as you behold more of Jesus in this study, you find yourself “being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18), taking on more of his gravitas and glow.
In Christi Gloriam ,
Thaddeus J. Williams
Rancho Mission Viejo, CA
May 2018
HOW TO MEET YOUR FUTURE SELF

1. READ
They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.
— PSALM 115:5–8
Read “How to Meet Your Future Self,” pages 1–16 of REFLECT: A Personal and Small Group Guide for Mirroring Jesus and watch video curriculum at www.logos.com/reflect/intro ).

2. RECAP
W orship products and you will become as heartless and dumb as products. Worship your romantic partner and you will become his or her clone. Bow at the altar of pornography and you will become as soulless and two-dimensional as the images on your screen. Our deities shape our identities. We are all in the process of becoming like whatever we worship, for better or for worse.
If we want to become most truly ourselves, then what should our lives say is the most important, weighty, and radiant thing in the universe? In C. S. Lewis’ words, it must be a “first thing,” not a “second thing,” a “total good,” not a “partial good.” Otherwise we will not only miss out on the real first thing but lose that second thing too. It must also be something unbreakable that won’t buckle under the weight of our infinite needs and expectations. And something worth worshiping should also be more like a sun than a spotlight. It should not just beam light on one or two parts of our lives, but illuminate the full scope of our personhood, our intellects, emotions, actions, relationships, and our moral and creative lives.
Who, then, is the most radiant and unbreakable first thing in existence? Jesus is. Not some human projection of Jesus, but the actual Jesus we meet in Scripture, who can enlarge and enlighten our souls like nothing else in the universe can. We become most truly ourselves by mirroring the Greatest Person in History.

3. REFLECT
Ponder these questions for personal study or group discussion:
1. What do you think our culture is most prone to make the end-all-be-all of existence? List five or six of the most common idols of our age. What specific soul-shrinking effects do you think these idols are having on the kind of culture we are becoming?
2. What, other than Jesus, are you personally most prone to make the “first thing” in your life? Share the top three competitors with Jesus for what your life says is the most important thing in the universe.
3. Making Jesus your “first thing” may sound a bit abstract. What do you think would mark the daily lifestyle of someone who lives out the truth that Jesus is the most weighty and radiant being in existence? What habits, disciplines, and actions demonstrate a life of real Christ worship?
4. Out of your God-given capacities—your capacities to reason, feel, achieve moral greatness, love people well, help those in need, and create beauty—what would you say are your bottom two, the God-given capacities that seem the most dim and underdeveloped in your life?
5. One factor that caused Jonathan Edwards to have such gravitas and glow in his life was his resolution at age nineteen to “cast and venture my soul on the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust and confide in him, and consecrate myself wholly to him.” Have you made a resolution like that? Are you living out that resolution? If not, then why not?

4. REPENT
In the left column below, write down ways that your life reflects the truth that Jesus is more weighty and radiant than anything else in existence. In the right column, list ways that your life does not reflect his glory. We often wear primrose glasses when we introspect, so pray with the Psalmist, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23–24). Ask yourself honestly: Is Jesus my first thing? Do I look to him as my unbreakable source of purpose and identity? Do my intellect, emotions, actions, relationships, morals, and creativity reflect the truth that he is the most glorious being in existence?
How I am REFLECT ing
How I am not REFLECT ing


Pray your way down the left column. Thank God for any ways that you are living out the supremacy of Jesus. Recognize that any ways in which you actually worship him are not from your own willpower, but from God’s grace, so he gets the praise and thanks. Then pray down the right column, confessing any idolatry and asking God to transform you into Christ’s image “from one degree of glory to another.”

5. RHYTHMS
Becoming more like Jesus isn’t just a matter of filling our heads with new information. It includes forming habits that make us more like him in our daily lives. Choose two or more of the following suggestions this week to help you become more truly yourself as you mirror the Greatest Person in History:
1. One way of identifying idols is to pie chart what you think about most. For many of us the biggest piece of the pie does not go to Jesus. Pick one of the gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and read a chapter or two a day. This will help redirect more of your thought life to its most worthy focus.
2. John Calvin said that our hearts are idol factories. List the top five priorities in your life. Identify your most likely idols, the top three good things in your life you are most likely to mistake for ultimate things at the expense of exalting Jesus. Pray against the idolatry in your heart.
3. Edwards wrote his famous “Resolutions” to clarify his life mission. He read them every week to keep from drifting off course. Set aside some time and write out at least ten personal resolutions, clarifying your life mission and what practical steps you will take to ensure that your worship energies don’t drift to false gods.
4. If you haven’t already, join a local church community who is focused more about exalting Jesus than exalting its own programs, celebrity pastors, or a political agenda.
5. When the Bible says Jesus died for our sins that includes taking the punishment we rightfully deserve for turning against the infinite Creator to worship finite creations instead. Be honest with Jesus about your idols and thank him for bearing the penalty of your creation-worship.
6. Whether driving, working, or vegging, play good music that exalts Jesus as the Greatest Person in History, helping your imagination better connect with that truth. Examples include Handel’s “Messiah,” Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” bands like Ascend the Hill, Switchfoot, The Modern Post, Loud Harp, The Brilliance, rappers like Ambassador and LaCrae, and hymn albums by Bifrost Arts.
7. Remember that the only way of “being transformed into the same image [of Jesus] from one degree of glory to another” is “from the Lord who is the Spirit.” Ask the Holy Spirit to transform your thoughts, feelings, actions, relationships, moral life, and imagination to take on more of the weight and radiance of Christ.

6. REQUEST
With the humble recognition that real change comes from God’s power, not our own self-help efforts, ask God to help you give up your idols and worship Jesus as Lord over your whole life. Feel free to pray the following prayer or something like it:
A PRAYER TO BECOME YOURSELF
Jesus, you are the most weighty and radiant being in existence, but we often don’t live like it.