Practices for Living in the Light of Eternity
Kenneth D. Boa
Boa ranges this book into two parts. Part 1 is the biblical basis for the presence of God. Part 2 is how to practice the presence. In Part 1 covering the first four chapters, I found him to be quite thorough in describing the biblical evidence for how people lived in God’s presence. Chapter 1 describes people in the Bible who have experienced God’s presence throughout their lives.
The author talks about Adam Enoch, Abraham,, Moses, David, and several others to experienced God’s presence throughout their lives. He focuses on how they knew God’s presence and walked in it. In chapter 2, he talks about the images of God’s presence throughout the Bible. I had never thought about these images before.
Chapter 3 covers the Exemplar. The author describes widows like to be around Jesus, the ultimate fulfillment until heaven of God with His people. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to live like Jesus and please Him. We are going through the process of sanctification. Boa talks about Jesus and how the Bible describes Him. He teaches us how spiritually grow.
In Chapter 4, Boa talks about the walk with God and how the Bible describes it. He focuses on John 15 and other passages that talk about abiding Christ. What made the lives of these people who practiced daily closeness with God look like? He has great observations on what happened in their lives.
Part 2 contains the rest of the chapters in the book. Chapter 5 talks about how to train yourself to be in a constant state of being with God in His presence. He describes how you can be constantly in prayer even if you are busy throughout your day. He says you can be thinking about God throughout the day and meditating on the Word after memorizing it.
Chapter 6 has great information on renewing your mind. This is the gem of the book. It was my favorite chapter because it focuses on something I believe Christians don’t realize or receive teaching on, the renewing of your mind. The mind is the battlefield of spiritual warfare and Christian identity. When we realize how much I mind matters to our growth in Christ, I think we would pay much more attention to it. The top.
Boa goes into detail about neural plasticity and how the brain can change through habit-forming and other practices. Of course, God knows this. When the Bible tells us how to renew our minds, God knows we can change our thought patterns. The author combines current scientific knowledge on the mind with biblical teaching on how to change the mind and its processes.
Chapter 7 describes how we can see the world in a different way. We must see the world from God’s perspective. How should the world be viewed differently by us as Christians? Our worldview and values are different than those in the world. But how does that affect how we can live in God’s presence question
Boa considers the question of how we use our time in this world in chapter 8. We waste so much of our time. Consider also that our busyness keeps us from spending time with God and in God’s Word.. How could we spend “more time on eternal things” the Bible and people? Every Christian must consider these issues of how they spend their time.
In chapter 9, the author talks about how Christians view rejoicing and suffering differently than the world. As this subject is not taught often enough by American pastors and teachers, each Christian must consider how to deal with suffering. No one likes to suffer, but it is part of living as a Christian in the world of evil. We must reframe the way we talk about and understand suffering. The Bible certainly has much to say on the subject we are not used to hearing.
The author talks about sin in chapter 10. We don’t like to talk about sin, but it is the one thing that hinders a Christian from practicing the presence of God in his or her life. This was a very helpful chapter. Boa explores some frameworks for understanding how sin can affect us. He discusses temptation, sin, and the trap of going from temptation to sin. It can become a habitual act that keeps us from thinking through how sin keeps us from seeing how we skip consenting to sin..
Chapter 11 focuses on the power of living in community, and not trying to live out the presence of God in your life alone. So much of the Bible is about living in community rather than living alone. Everything he has talked about so far, especially sin, is impossible to do alone. You cannot have accountability for sin alone. You cannot enjoy the presence of God alone.
The final chapter of the book Boa talks about what heaven will be like and how we live life now in light of that future inheritance. What should our focus and practices be? Do we imagine what heaven will be like? We will continue to learn and grow in heaven. It all starts now. This is the best quote on the presence of God I have read yet! I couldn’t recommend it to you enough. It will challenge you to grow in Christ, but it will also show you what it’s like in a very practical way in each chapter to live in the presence of God now. This is such a great book that I wanted to get an e-book copy of it to accompany my audiobook version. Boa has great insights into a practical living in the presence of God for today.
