If you're not pursuing a dangerous quest with your life, well, then, you don't need a Guide. If you haven't found yourself in the midst of a ferocious war, then you won't need a seasoned Captain. If you've settled in your mind to live as though this is fairly neutral world and you are simply trying to live your life as best you can, then you can get by with the Christianity of tips and techniques. Maybe.
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But if you intend to live in the Story that God is telling, and if you want the life he offers, then you are going to need more than a handful of principles... [you are going to need Him] Narrow is the way, said Jesus. How shall we be sure to find it? We need God intimately, and we need him desperately.
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Approach the Scriptures not so much as a manual of Christian principles but as the testimony of God's friends on what it means to walk with him through a thousand different episodes. When you are at war, when you are in love, when you have sinned, when you have been given a great gift-- this is how you walk with God. Do you what a different mind-set this is? It's really quite exciting.
-John Eldredge