Outlive Your Life
Religion 8
Shanae Bergt 10-15-17
This is my Unit 2 Final review. This will be over the book Outlive Your Life. First will be three of my chapter reviews with a prayer following each of them. After that will be my answers to a couple of questions.
Review: Chapter 3
Hello, this is Shanae. I am working on a Religion 8 book review. This is over Chapter 3 for the book Outlive Your Life. I think that the theme for this chapter is to step out of your comfort zone. We see a ton of demonstrations of this in Chapter 3. For example, the author tells a story about one of his own personal experiences on pages 21-22. In this short story he is about to step out of his comfort zone and help this family pay for food. He chickens out and goes back into his hiding. Throughout this chapter Max, the author, continued to give us examples of times when we need to step out of our comfort zones. I think that the theme and the author’s main points are basically the same. He wants us to know that we shouldn’t be afraid to step out of our comfort zones. One main point that he makes is how we often hide when a problem comes up. This goes great with the theme because both are saying that we should be confident and step out from our hiding. I think that there are many things that you could find and say that he is implying in this chapter. One example of something you might say he could be implying is that we should give more. He could be persuading us to think that we have so much more than everyone else so we need to give to others. This is not a bad thing to make us think about. He is secretly making us feel guilty so that we give to the less fortunate. The spot that I found this being shown is on page 22. Here is when he is talking about hiding when we see homeless people and other problems in the society. I think that the author’s goal was to make us see how much we really do hide from problems. That point, I think he definitely got across to his readers. Instead of hiding we should step out of our comfort zones.
Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father,
You are perfect and holy. We know that you made all that we have. We are sinners that need you, Lord. I confess that as humans we do not always grab hold of the opportunities you give us. Even when you put it right in front of our faces we are guilty of hiding away. Thank you for forgiving us even through our daily sins. Please continue to give us those opportunities even though we miss them. When we do get these opportunities I ask that you would help us to step out of our comfort zones.
In Your Holy name , Amen.
Review: Chapter 6
Hello, this is Shanae. I am working on a Religion 8 book review. This is over Chapter 6 for the book Outlive Your Life. I think that the theme for this chapter is hospitality. Max continues in this whole chapter to talk about opening our door to let others in. This quote from the book says it perfectly, “The Greek word for hospitality compounds two terms: love and stranger. The word literally means love a stranger. All of us can welcome a guest we know and love. But can we welcome a stranger? (Lucado 58).” The origin of the word is telling us to welcome in strangers. We need to open our door and let in strangers so that they may see Christ’s love through us. Max even gives us some tips and basics that we can use on page 57. I believe that one main point Max is making is that people will remember your hospitality. We can see an example of this on page 59. A homeless man remembers Max and his hospitality. Another point that goes along with this story is that something small to you can be huge to others. The homeless man remembered him and the sandwich because it was a big deal to him. On the other hand it was just a sandwich to Max so it didn’t mean that much. These both go with the theme because it is showing us that hospitality is important. The author might be implying many things in this chapter. However one thing that I think he is implying is on pages 54-55. I think Max is telling us that the place we gather doesn’t have to be a holy place. Max wants us to know that our houses can be gathered in even without them being considered a holy place. I think that the author’s goal was to make us think about hospitality. He has accomplished this goal because he talked a lot about being hospitable and how it affects people. We can see that Max wants us to show hospitality. Max even helped us so we know steps to use. Show hospitality, love a stranger.
Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father,
You are the one true God. The perfect example of hospitality is you. We need to follow you and show hospitality. I confess that we do not show hospitality. We are always guilty of not following your example. Thank you for showing your mercy and welcoming us into your home even after all of our sins. Please help us to open our homes like you did to us. I ask that you would help us to be an example for others.
In Your Holy name, Amen.
Review: Chapter 14
Hello, this is Shanae. I am working on a Religion 8 book review. This is over Chapter 14 for the book Outlive Your Life. I think that the theme for this chapter is equality. You can take this theme many ways but I think it fits better with the chapter as a way of fairness. “In our lifetimes you and I are going to come across some discarded people. Tossed out. Sometimes tossed out by a church. And we get to choose. Neglect or rescue? Label them or love them? We know Jesus’ choice(Lucado 151).” We can see from this quote that people aren’t always looked at equally but that doesn’t mean that we can’t. In fact as Christians we should see people equally but as sinners we don’t. Another example is the story of Molokai. He saw people the same. I think that his story is also a main point. Treat people the way you want to be treated. “Society sent the lepers a clear message: you aren’t valuable anymore. But Father Damien’s message was different(Lucado 143).” Father Damien treated them with kindness, the way he would want to be treated. This goes with the theme because he treated them equal. Another main point is that we need to follow Christ over society. We can see this on page 145. If society says to stay distant but God says to build a bridge. Listen to God and build a bridge. He has a plan. A very true thing that Max could be implying is that we are quick to judge. We judge people and think that he is sneaking this in when he talks about the way God sees people. Examples of this are pages 147 and 151. I think that the authors main goal is to make us treat people fairly. Also to stop being so judgemental. That is when problems arise. I think he achieved his goal because he gave us story examples and made us think about what God would do versus us. He ends his chapter by making us think about what choice we will make. God already chose his. Will we choose equality?
Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father,
You are above all. The Alpha and Omega. We are below You. However we put ourselves above others. I confess that we do not keep ourselves equal as we should. Thank you for reminding us that we need to stay equal. You are always a perfect example for us. Please help us to try and keep ourselves equal instead of putting ourselves above others. I ask that you would be with us so we do not think that we are better.
In Your Holy name, Amen.
The book, Outlive Your Life, is very helpful in better explaining the book of Acts. The author, Max Lucado, adds more detail to the stories of Acts making it easier to understand. He also makes the stories easier for us to comprehend as if it were happening in our day and age. Max relates the stories to us allowing us to put our own emotions into. When we put our emotions into the story we can understand the people and what they were going through rather than just reading. While the book of Acts is put into our current time through the book doesn’t make it 110% trustworthy. We can trust that Max is following along with the book of Acts but at the same time we need to understand that it isn’t the Bible. So some of these tails he adds aren’t as accurate because it isn’t what actually happened.
I think that I have outlived my life even though I of course could have outlived it even more. For me, I think outliving your life is to make a difference in your time and not dwelling in the past. These two things can affect the way you outlive your life. When I say to make a difference in your time it doesn’t have to be a huge thing like inventing a lightbulb or a toaster. It could be something that might seem small. I would say that if in all your life you brought one single person to faith, you made a difference. You don’t have to make a difference in everyone but saving one person means you made a difference in that person. I have gone with friends and we have found random people on the street and we told them about God. They may have believed what we said or ignored it. I would like to think I made a difference in at least one of those people’s lives. The second thing I mentioned was not dwelling in the past. You cannot live your life if you are always thinking about the past. I think that I have outlived my life by making a difference and live without dwelling in the past.
I remember going to Dare2Share in 2015. We went back to school because we were going to walk around and go up to people around our school. We were probably an hour in when we came up to a house with an older lady at the door. We started talking to her and she began to cry. She told us that she had been going through depression and had been in the hospital recently. You could tell she was going through a rough time but she gave our leader a hug and told him that this really meant a lot to her. I remember feeling something special there when we talked to her and I think it was the Holy Spirit working. I would really love to get with that same group and go back there and see how she’s doing now. Also to share Jesus with more people. I hope something like happens again because that was something special.
“For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption,” Acts 13:36 ESV. I have chosen this verse because it relates to me and the book very well. I need to do what David did. Once I complete God’s purpose in my generation than I will have made a difference. This is a message that came from this verse and the book. When you make a difference than you can better outlive your life.“From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.”
2 Corinthians 5:16 ESV. This is my second verse which basically is talking about judging. It relates to me very clearly because we are all sinners that judge. I am very guilty of judging even though this verse tells us the we should regard no one. The book also tells us this. Max tells us that we will come across discarded people and it will be our choice. We can regard them or we can rescue them. Again this will make a difference.The movie AD has cleared up a lot of points from Acts for me. It showed just how violent it really was in that time. You would get in trouble for telling one person that you believe in Jesus. We also see what trials might have been like. Those were also harsh. I feel like after watching that movie that everyone wanted you dead if you talked about Jesus. It was violent and scary in a way. Another thing that was made more clear was that the Holy Spirit is powerful. That is probably what I liked most about the movie was the way the showed the Holy Spirit. I loved it and thought it was so neat. The wind in the house was very powerful to me. Also the ascension and the feeling when I saw that. You could really see how the Holy Spirit was working in Peter when he was on trial. We saw the wind rush over him and the Holy Spirit gave him words to speak. It is also made more clear what Ananias and Sapphira did. The clip in the movie has more detail which makes it easier to understand. We also can better understand their deaths. Specifically how and why they died. The movie was helpful in making things much clearer.