[xzins]

They’re afraid of the Truth.

The truth is that Jesus knows His sheep, they hear His voice, and they follow Him.

The others aren’t His sheep.

Like a friend said at church last week, “Like it or not, the Bible has a whole lot of “appointing” going on.”

:>)

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Having attended Sunday services at Saddleback I am comfortable saying I'm not a fan of Pastor Warren's pulpit dress code nor some of his preaching. Both are too casual for my delicate Presbyterian sensibilities. (Those Baptists can be so rowdy.)

And yet Warren's advice here is the same suggestion I give to non-Calvinists all the time -- try living as if you believed the Holy Spirit were directing your every step and that God was truly in full control of your life and the world and that all things are ordained by God to bring you closer to Him.

This was my husband's suggestion to me when I was skeptical of the Calvinism he had come to embrace with so much joy. I ignored his offer for quite awhile. Eventually the weight of the evidence prevailed, and I came around.

Now I tell my children the same thing. Even if you find it difficult some days to believe Christ loves you and will never leave you, act as if it were true...because it is.