In the Name of Jesus

In the name of Jesus is a very short book, only about 100 pages or so. However it is the first book that I have sat down and read basically in one setting, and it only took a little over an hour. Written by Henri J. M. Nouwen, In the name of Jesus is about christian leadership. There are so many great things that are presented in this book, but what really stuck with me was the point that Jesus' only concern is that if we love him or not. Because if we truly have a loving relationship with Jesus, that relationship will never stop shaping our lives.

Nouwen spends a great deal of time on explaining that we should be building a relationship with God through prayer and devoting our time in service to him. He talks about the need for strong relationships with people in our community - in and outside of our church, because without people, humans fall apart. Another point that really stood out to me was that Nouwen states that Christians must give up their desire to be powerful and embrace authority based on prayer and forgiveness. We live in a world that desires popularity, power, and influence. Jesus wants us to give all these up, and to simply love him. In loving him he will give us guidance in our lives, and use us to show others how much he loves them. In doing so God will compell us to various actions and tasks that will greatly influence our surrounding communities for the better. We should never lift our individual selves up higher than others, we should be constantly striving to lift Jesus up above all else, and so many menial tasks that cause us worry in our life will simply fall into place and not be a concern.

One thing I believe we definitely need to be asking ourselves is are we "truly men and women of God, people with an ardent desire to dwell in God's presence, to listen to God's voice, to look at God's beauty, to touch God's incarnate Word, and to taste fully God's infinite goodness?