Primal: Quest For The Lost Soul Of Christianity

With my first post of the new year, I wanted to share a book with you that I believe would be a great read for the beginning of the year. The book is "Primal" by Mark Batterson. Mark pastor's National Community Church, a hugely successful and growing church on Capital Hill in Washington D.C. Tricia and I had the impromptu opportunity to meet Mark at their Capital Hill coffee house Ebenezer's, on our trip to D.C. in October 2008. His kindness, generosity, and humble heart as well as his proven writing in 2 previous books makes me comfortable to share this book with you and to encourage you to rush out and purchase it for your own personal spiritual growth. You can purchase it at Amazon or ask for it at your local Christian bookstore.

We're all familiar with the Ten Commandments, if not at least the concepts they convey. But what we tend to forget is Jesus words in Mark 12:30 where he says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Jesus classified this as the first and greatest commandment while not abolishing the former. In the book Primal, Mark steers us back to this often forgotten commandment that at it's core should be the bulls-eye of life for every self-professing Christian. If we can't get this commandment right the rest just simply doesn't matter. Mark takes the opportunity to take people beyond the surface level of this verse to the depth of really understanding what it means to live this verse out in our everyday lives. In the chapter 5 as he targets how we love God with our soul, Mark talks about what happens when we read God's Word.

"The quest for the lost soul of Christianity always leads us back to the Bible. But rediscovering the wonders of Scripture requires more than reading. That's where the quest begins, but that's not where it ends. Not if you want to get it into your soul. You have to meditate on it (think about God's Word). Then you have to live it out. Meditating on it turns one-dimensional knowledge into two-dimensional understanding. Living it out turns two-dimensional understanding into three-dimensional obedience."

Allowing the Word to get into our soul is more than just reading it, it also involves applying it. He goes on to use the analogy of the radio waves that are all around us on a daily basis. If you tune your radio to AM 1460, as long as you're on that wavelength, a world of information is available to you.

"...the Spirit of God is always broadcasting. But we've got to tune in to his frequency. The Holy Spirit has multiple channels of communication.......But His primary channel of communication is Scripture. When we open the Bible, it's like God opens His mouth. That's how we get on His frequency. That's how we tune into his voice."

What a powerful yet simplistic way to understand how God connects with our soul. I encourage you to pick up a copy of the book for yourself and enjoy the journey.

Have a great week!
Pastor Mark