"We wrap our identity and self-esteem in many things, but God cares more about who we are than what we do for a living." (page 177)
Jud Wilhite addresses issues that hit close to home for all of us. He talks openly about our need for grace and the real truth of God in our lives. Why are those things so needed? It is because many of us are living based on what we see, what we think and what seems common sense to us. Yet the truth is we need to have our 'eyes wide open' to see as God sees. We need God. It is that simple.
"Circumstances change. But hope overcomes. God has loved us before the creation of the world. He created us to do good works that He already prepare in advance for us to do. He sees us very differently from the way we're naturally inclined to see ourselves." (page 180)
God has given us a new identity. He sees us so differently than we see ourselves, and it is not until we grasp that truth that will live in the victory and worth that God has given us. We have, as Jud did, had our thinking backwards about God's love. Have we tried to gain God's approval or His love? While all along God has loved us with an unchanging, never taken away kind of love (see page 6). One of the highlights of this book and of life for me is the fact that we are forgiven and can live in the forgiveness and grace that God offers. To see that is to see from God's perspective. To see that is to accept what God says is true.
(Great story about Duane "Dog" Chapman and of King David in chapter 3.)
"God's perspective on us is remarkable, almost unbelievable. He delights in us and loves us as a caring Father. He is running toward us, ready to embrace us and forgive us. He's for us in all the pain of life and can sustain us in every challenge." (page 43)
What I have learned most from this book is that our identity, though it may seem new, is what God created for us to know and live in. Our challenge is live in a new and almost un-natural way believed what God says is true about us. We are worthy and loved by Him. We are forgiven and never separated from Him.
"Do you know what the greatest lesson I've learned over the years about serving God with our gifts? It's that the gifts are not about us. They are about God. The main thing is not how talented we are or how good we are or how we feel about ourselves. The main thing is that we leverage those gifts for God's glory, serving in whatever way we can." (page 97)
I would recommend Eyes Wide Open to Christians seeking to know the truth and to live in it. Thanks for allowing me to be part of this Father's Day blog tour!
About the Author:
Jud Wilhite lives in Las Vegas and is Senior Pastor of Central Christian Church. He has written several books and is leading people to see and know God in vivid color!
Find the book at:
Publisher's Summary:
I had it all backwards. The main thing was not my love for God, but his love for me. And from that love I respond to God as one deeply flawed, yet loved. I'm not looking to prove my worth. I'm not searching for acceptance. I'm living out of the worth God already declares I have. I'm embracing his view of me and in the process discovering the person he created me to be.
In Eyes Wide Open, Jud Wilhite invites you to discover the real you. Not the you who pretends to be perfect to satisfy everyone's expectations. Not the you who always feels guilty before God. Not the you who secretly feels God forgives everyone else but only tolerates you. Not the you who looks in the mirror and sees a failure. The real you, loved and forgiven by God, living out of your identity in Christ.
A travel guide through real spirituality from one incomplete person to another, Eyes Wide Open is a book of stories about following God in the messes of life, about broken pasts and our lifelong need for grace. It is a book about seeing ourselves and God with new eyes–eyes wide open to a God of love.
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