- Jennifer Dungey

Book Club – “Chasing Perfect” (Week Four)

Hey Readers! SOOO sorry for the delay in Week Four’s questions! Internet problems 🙁

This book has been convicting and full of truth bombs! Excited to discuss it with you, so here we go!

Chapter 10: Rare Love

*“The greatest self-love is to love God above self. The best thing you can do for yourself is to get over yourself” (pg. 165). Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?

*Compare and contrast sacrifice and thoughtful gestures. How does real love go beyond thoughtful gestures?

*We are to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, with all our mind. Which of these do you find most difficult to do?

Chapter 11: Keeping it Real

*Do you life in CPM (Constant Protection Mode)? Do you struggle with living with authenticity, vulnerability, or transparency?

*In your opinion, does culture promote true change? Or does the popularity of vulnerability, authenticity, and transparency in social media skew our desires? How do you see this playing out today?

*Do you feel stuck on the “Hot Mess Express”? How would true repentance lead to true growth and therefore living by grace?

Chapter 12: Chasing Perfect

*Are you experiencing active rest? Alisha suggests that we confuse the concept of active because:

  • we confuse comfort for peace
  • we confuse striving for worth
  • we confuse success for significance

Which of these do you resonate with the most? Why do you think that is?

*Alisha describes a well-spent life as:

  • being a life of surrendered effort
  • seeing life through an eternal lens and within a different economy
  • working from a place of acceptance and victory

Does a well-spent life sound feasible to you? What changes might you need to make in order to move to a well-spent life rather than just a spent one?

*Have you been searching for perfection in other things besides Christ? How has this book helped you shift your priorities and focus onto the Perfect One?

Scripture of the Week

Jeremiah 29:13

Hebrews 12:1-3

1 Corinthians 13

Prayer of the Week

Father God, thank You for Your unfailing love and grace. If we have been searching for perfection in other things, please help us to focus on our attention on You. Help us to know Your ways and to walk in them. We long to live a life that is pleasing to You but so often we get distracted and bogged down by all the things that life throws at us. We don’t want to live exhausted spent lives that keep us from walking in Your love and grace. Would You help us to seek You first and above all other things? Thank You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen

For Next Month

*Check out THIS POST for all the details on February’s book club!!

One thought on “Book Club – “Chasing Perfect” (Week Four)”

  1. “We can’t become the people God calls us to be if we aren’t realistic about who we are today.” (Page 177)
    Lately I’ve been in a season where God is shining a spotlight on all that is me. A major part of the lessons I’m learning through this is how to “get over myself.”
    I’m not exactly sure how the author intended her statement to be interpreted, but I think I agree that “the greatest self-love is to love God above myself.” The best way for me to love myself is to realize God loves me even more that I do, wants His best for me, and has plans for me. I think one of the challenges of believing this is that our hearts and our minds are on different pages so much of the time.
    We equate feeling with knowing. As a result, we trust our feelings and therefore consider them to be right and true. Our minds aren’t factored into the equation. No wonder we get tripped up?!
    It’s no surprise then that we live in CPM (Constant Protection Mode). Our version of self-love is self-protection
we can’t afford to give all of ourselves to anything really except fear. Fear seems safe because it provides the illusion we can’t – won’t – get hurt. Fear feels like a good idea because we’ve learned even love can’t be trusted. It is this fear that is causing us to put up shields
around our hearts, our souls, our strength, and our minds. But ironically, the more we try to hide, the more exposed we feel. We try to fill our lives with all the love this world says it has to offer. And we may feel the fear subside for awhile
but it always creeps back in.
    “Perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18) Perhaps fear stays with us because we aren’t perfect and can’t love perfectly. As the author says (and I paraphrase): Perfect is a person, Jesus. And Jesus is love. So when you read the verse in that light, Jesus casts out fear. How calming, how freeing.
    We need to step into, and rest, in that freedom – His freedom. Maybe then we would know how truly free we are. We are free because of His great love for us. I don’t think we understand – or can this side of eternity – how much we are loved. By God. His love wasn’t just a feeling – it was an action.
    If we can step outside ourselves – get over ourselves- Christ can take our place and show us the perfection we’ve been desperately searching for. We need to let Him in. We can begin to feel His love once our minds (which we are continually allowing Christ to transform) know His love. “The heart can’t love what the mind doesn’t know.” (Page 171) Praise God because He loves and knows us! How amazing it is that we can love Him! We can know Him! đŸ„°

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