The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ

by James Bryan Smith

Publisher:

IVP

, 2009

Overview

“I have never met a person whose goal was to ruin his or her life. We all want to be happy, and we want it all of the time.” So begins James Bryan Smith in The Good and Beautiful Life. The problem is, he tells us, we have bought into false notions of happiness and success. These self-centered decisions lead us further into the vices that cause ruin: anger, lust, lying, worry, and judging. Eventually we find ourselves living a beautifully packaged life of self-destruction. Following the Sermon on the Mount, this follow-up to The Good and Beautiful God guides us to look behind these character flaws and to replace our false beliefs with Jesus’ narratives about life in the kingdom of God.

Contents

Top Highlights

“The kingdom of God is a present reality that will be fully consummated in the future. It is here and is as real and powerful as it will ever be. Everything Jesus said about the kingdom is true in our lives. Yes, one day it will be the governing power over the entire universe, but for now it is intended to be the governing power over you and me.” (Page 42)

“Jesus’ good news is summarized in a single sentence, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ The Greek word for ‘repent’ is metanoia, which means literally, ‘change your mind.’ Most people think repent means ‘shape up’; thus they think Jesus’ proclamation is a threat. But it is an invitation. The kingdom of God (or kingdom of the heaven)* is an interactive life with God. Jesus is essentially saying, ‘Change the way you have been thinking—a life of intimacy and interaction with God is now in your midst.’ Jesus’ hearers were aware that this was a gracious invitation, an offer so good that when Jesus taught it he often had difficulty escaping the crowds.” (Page 37)

“Our kingdom narrative is God will provide for and protect me and mine, and therefore I am free to seek his kingdom and invest the resources he gives me in his endeavors. The kingdom gives a new perspective on money. God is out for our good and has endless resources. We can never out ask God.” (Page 162)

“Worry keeps me focused on my own limited resources. Trust keeps my attention on God’s abundant resources. This is why worry cannot exist in the kingdom of God. Worry happens when I am on the throne of my life, when I live in the kingdom of me. But we trust when God is on the throne of our lives and we live in his kingdom. That is why the solution to worrying is to seek first the kingdom.” (Page 178)

Product Details

• Title: The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ
• Author: James Bryan Smith
• Series: The Apprentice Series
• Publisher: IVP
• Print Publication Date: 2009
• Logos Release Date: 2014
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Sermon on the Mount › Textbooks
• ISBNs: 9780830878765, 9780830835324, 9780340996041, 0830878769, 0830835326, 0340996048
• Resource ID: LLS:GDBTFLLFPTTNGCH
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:12:03Z

About James Bryan Smith

James Bryan Smith is the author of The Good and Beautiful God and the Apprentice series. He earned his MDiv at Yale and his DMin at Fuller and is a theology professor at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas. He also serves as the director of the Apprentice Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation at Friends University. A founding member of Richard J. Foster's spiritual renewal ministry, Renovaré, Smith serves as a teaching pastor at Chapel Hill United Methodist Church. He is the editor of A Spiritual Formation Workbook and Devotional Classics (with Richard Foster), and the author of Embracing the Love of God, Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven, and Room of Marvels. His most recent books are The Magnificent Story and The Magnificent Journey.