Foreword: Falling for God


Falling for God, by Gary Moon, Shaw Books, 2004.


This book is about life lived in constant, close contact with God, a life in which “Look, I am always with you”—as said by Jesus to his friends—becomes a day-to-day reality. It is about real life lived now in the kingdom of heaven.

Such a life will never be imposed upon us, nor will it occur automatically. It doesn’t just happen to us, no matter how many wonderful church services we may attend. Though it is a gift, it does not come to those who are passive. It comes only in response to intelligent, informed, purposive, sustained, and interactive relationship with Jesus now living in our world. That is why we are directed to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). Persistent, strenuous, and well-directed action is required.

To that end, we need information: specific, down-to-earth directions on what to do. We need imagination: pictures and stories of what we will encounter along the path of growing to know Jesus better. We need persistence: the will to consistently stick to and apply the means to our goal. We need patience: a willingness to let the life we are living grow and take the wise course. And we need realism: a clear eye and a confidence that it’s safe and necessary to call things by their true name.

These attributes are not readily come by in our world or in our religious circles. Images of “success” all around us run in the opposite direction. American religious history and practice is tied to a revivalist tradition, full of magic figures and magic moments. How many announcements and advertisements have you recently heard that promise “life-changing” or “life-transforming” services or programs? If a significant portion of these actually came true, we would by now have nothing for policemen to do.

As a result many people cease to believe that life can be transformed, that we really can put off the old person and put on the new person, which is the character of Christ. They settle for a life that is no different from that of other “good people,” plus heaven when they die. Or they throw over the whole project of Christlikeness, possibly allowing it may be for some people but not for them.

Here this book can help. Rich in biblical and psychological understanding, it brings the dearest treasures of the Christian spiritual life within reach of the serious contemporary apprentice of Jesus in kingdom living. You will have to sit with it, stew in it—in short make it a priority and a project. (“Seek first the his kingdom and his righteousness,” you may recall from Matthew 6:33). But if you do, you will certainly come to know what it means to grow—steadily, reliably—in grace. Grace is actually God acting in our lives to accomplish, with our participation, what we cannot accomplish on our own. This is eternal life now, a life of interactive relationship that leaves neither the here nor the hereafter in doubt.

Falling for God is charmingly honest and rich in content and illustrations. Gary Moon sees into the soul and then deftly shows how to unsnarl the lines of communication and influence that open us up to God. His gentle and humorous style will hold you close but convey the deepest spiritual lessons at the same time. He shows us that the best way to become like Jesus and be at home in his kingdom is by entering into a journey with him, a transformational excursion of conversation, communion, and consummation.


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