Jesus Pure and Simple by Wayne Cordeiro

There is a common theme in my prayers.  I ask the Lord for invisibility, that when people look at me they would see Him.  To cast the proper reflection I need to know Him.  Jesus Pure and Simple the new book by Wayne Cordeiro sounded like another step in that direction.  The book cover teased me with the following:

When you focus on Christ, everything else falls into place. Your relationships. Your job. Your church. Your mission. It's all placed in the hands of Jesus, pure and simple.

Here's something refreshing: a pure and simple devotion to Christ. Sounds wonderfully inviting, doesn't it?

And the good news is that it's not about doing more or doing less. Because God created you in His image, the more you become like Jesus, the more you become the person you were created to be.

Cordeiro again and again reminds us to correct ourselves back to Jesus knowing that he is speaking to hearts that are easily swayed and prone to stray.  Hearts like my own.

I was moved to tears and to prayer by many of the stories shared.  Aha moments abounded in these pages.  I was most moved by the following information I had never heard before:

In the Bedouin sheepherders' culture, they know that if the sheep are flocked around the shepherd, predators will not attack, because the shepherd is there.  But predators will be patient and wait for a lamb to stray. 

The shepherd will leave the ninety and nine in the open field and go after that one lamb and bring it back.  He will forgive it, love it and say, "Stay!  Because I know that if you stray again it may be the end of your life." 

Now if this lamb has a propensity to stray, and if the shepherd finds it straying one time...two times...ten times...then he knows that the future of this lamb is in grave jeopardy...When the shepherd realizes the fatal pattern, he will hold the lamb firmly and break its front leg.  A struggle ensues, but the shepherd will methodically splint the broken leg, wrap it, and return to the flock carrying the wayward lamb on his shoulders.  He continues to cradle the lame returnee in his arms until the healing is complete.  And when the prodigal is finally able to sustain its own weight once again, a transformation has taken place along the way.  A new propensity has replaced the old pattern.

The lamb stays intimately close to the shepherd.

I'm sure the lamb did not understand why things happened in that manner any more than we comprehend God's ways in our lives.  It takes faith to trust His work, but the rewards are more than worthwhile

Could your life use a bit of realignment?  I challenge you to read this book and learn to fall in love again with the One Who was, Is and always Will Be Jesus, Pure and Simple.

I was given a complimentary copy of the book by Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group.  The opinions I have expressed are my own.