The Shack... "learning to live loved"

The Shack… theological feature: God’s relationship with us is a friendship, a dialogue, and a journey in which we “learn to live loved” (175).

Comments: What a well-turned phrase -- "learn to live loved"! I think these are the most quotable words in the book.

I don’t know anything more important and freeing than learning to live loved by God. This one point is worth sitting and meditating on in our personal, quiet times with God. We often think of the Christian life as a process of learning to love God... and it is. However, it is just as much a process of learning to receive God's love. For many of us, receiving love from God is more difficult than giving love to him. Our sense of guilt gets in the way. Overcoming guilt and shame, and allowing God to transform us with his love, is life's greatest journey.

Postmodern connections: Again, we see God presented as close, intimate, and eager to invest himself in our world and life. The Scriptures bear witness to this.

One word of caution… As much as I believe we desperately need to hear this, it does have the potential to go wrong. The postmodern world is known for radical narcissism. MySpace is a celebration of our rising “look at me” culture. It is not uncommon to hear Christian teachers and writers proclaiming that the most important thing you can do is to find your true self – what you truly like to do and who you should do it with. I’m not saying this pursuit is unimportant, but the Christian life is a process of being turned inside out, not wrapping the world around ourselves. I am also not saying that this is what Young is saying. However, postmodern narcissism will be eager to take God’s love for us in this direction.

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