Summary of James Bryan Smith's The Good and Beautiful God

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 I couldn’t love my enemies, so I tried to change and prayed to God to make me love them. But I didn’t even love some of my friends, so I prayed for God to help me change that, too. Not long after that, I realized that my hope was not in the outside, in trying to become the person I thought Jesus was, the person I thought Sermon on the Mount followers should be. The only place my hope resided was in the inside of me. I had to change the way I looked at myself. That was the only place I could change. -> A lot of people want to change and would answer yes to these questions, but many of them do not believe it is possible. They lead a Christian life of quiet desperation, longing for change but certain it will never happen.

#2 We have been taught that we cannot change, so we stop trying.

#3 If you want to change, stop trying to change and change yourself. You can’t change other people, so stop looking for them to change, too.

#4 You don’t have control over what you can’t see. You have control over what you can see.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Sep 9, 2022
• ISBN: 9798350001471

IRB Media

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Insights on James Bryan Smith's The Good and Beautiful God

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Many people want to change, but they don’t believe it’s possible. They try and try and try to change, but they never succeed. They become resigned to their fate and sit in their pews each week, silently longing for change.

#2

The problem is not that we do not want to change, but that we are not training. We have never been taught a reliable pattern of transformation.

#3

The changes that occurred in Craig were the result of his desire to become a different kind of person and his participation in the apprentice group and training for transformation. His desire and the work of the Holy Spirit.

#4

The will is the human capacity to choose. It is not strong or weak, but simply responds to the impulses of others. Change, or lack thereof, is not an issue of the will at all. It happens when these other influencers are modified.

#5

We cannot change simply by saying we want to change. We must examine what we think and how we practice, and who we are interacting with. If we change those things, change will come naturally to us.

#6

We are creatures who live by our stories. We are drawn to stories and must follow them to their conclusion because stories are exciting. We cannot avoid narrative, because we are storied creatures.

#7

We are shaped by our stories. In fact, our stories, once in place, determine much of our behavior. We must change our minds, and adopt Jesus’ narratives, in order to change.

#8

The spiritual disciplines are not spiritual at all. They are wisdom-based practices that train and transform our hearts. They are not done with the aim of gaining God’s favor, but with the aim of becoming more wise.