"The Transformed Life" by D A Carson

What leaves you astonished?  Let me share something with you that has astonished me:  II Thessalonians 1:11 says, “We constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of His calling, and that by His power He may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.”

That is an astonishing statement.  I would have expected it to say, “that by His power He may fulfill every good purpose of His.”  But the passage does not say that, it says, “every good purpose of yours!”  Don Carson, in his book “The Transformed Life” says, “Gods people have been so transformed through their conversion to Jesus Christ…that they now develop new sets of goals.  Prompted and shaped by goodness and faith, they inevitably formulate new purposes, decidedly Christian plans, Christian purposes and Christian goals.

That is what happens when we experience a transformation of life.  Carson intends to help his reader to understand that it is not enough to drift through life.  Life as God intended requires intense engagement.  It is not spiritual to sit idle and just be “open to whatever the LORD wants me to do.”   That is not spiritual, it is laziness, it is passivity.  The Transformed life is not passive.  God invites us to take the initiative, to formulate plans and to act in faith.  Carson says that an effect of the Gospel is that these things are informed and transformed by the Word of God, conforming us into the image of Jesus so that all we purpose is good and in accordance with His pleasure and will.
The Transformed Life by D A Carson is a book I highly recommend.