Living the Cross-Centered Life exhorts Christians to be always mindful of the basic message of the gospel. We never “move on” from the fact that Jesus died on the cross for us. When we neglect the cross, we are in danger of falling into the following traps:We may slip into legalism, trying to earn God’s favor. We may become subject to our emotions and our circumstances. We may fall into self-condemnation.
Since I am prone to all three of these errors, I appreciated Mahaney’s brief and simply-presented book. Particularly helpful was the admonition that instead of “listening to yourself” – accepting your feelings and opinions as fact, and dwelling on them – you should “talk to yourself”—that is, deliberately remind yourself of the truth.
Since I am prone to all three of these errors, I appreciated Mahaney’s brief and simply-presented book. Particularly helpful was the admonition that instead of “listening to yourself” – accepting your feelings and opinions as fact, and dwelling on them – you should “talk to yourself”—that is, deliberately remind yourself of the truth.
I like this advice very much. I have a tendency to oscillate rapidly back and forth between legalism and emotion, and it is generally only through deliberate contemplation of the truth that I can achieve, if only temporarily, the proper state. Mahaney's prescription seems a sensible and insightful one.
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