40 Days Living the Jesus Creed

by Scot McKnight

"Scot McKnight stirs the treasures of our Lord's life in an engaging fashion. He did so with The Jesus Creed , and does so again with 40 Days Living the Jesus Creed . Make sure this new guide for living is on your shelf." --Max Lucado

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And...love your neighbor as yourself." Scot McKnight has come to call this vital teaching of our Lord the Jesus Creed. He recites it throughout the day every day and challenges you to do the same. You may find that, if you do, you will learn to love God more creatively and passionately, and find new ways to love those around you.

Genres: Christian, Devotional, Nonfiction, Discipleship, Spirituality, Theology, Ebooks

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author or editor of forty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL. Dr. McKnight has given interviews on radios across the nation, has appeared on television, and is regularly speaks at local churches, conferences, colleges, and seminaries in the USA and abroad. Dr. McKnight obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Nottingham (1986).

Reviews

[Tobias Zoellner · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Du sollst den Herrn deinen Gott lieben von ganzem Herzen, von ganzer Seele und mit ganzem Gemüt. Und deinen Nächsten wie dich selbst."
Eine Herausforderung, vor die wir jeden Tag gestellt sind.
Es war gut, einmal intensiver darüber nachzudenken, sich herausfordern zu lassen, sich helfen zu lassen und das 40 Tage (oder in unserem Fall auch etwas länger) intensiv.
McKnights Buch ist super, wenn man sich einmal intensiver mit dem sog. "Doppelgebot der Liebe" beschäftigen möchte, das im Zentrum dessen steht, was Jesus gesagt hat.
Einige Kapitel werde ich wohl immer wieder lesen, über sie nachdenken und mich inspirieren lassen. So soll das sein.

[Pastor G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disqualified? My exposure to the "Creed" is through this book, 40 Days, not its predecessor so perhaps my knowledge is insufficient to render an informed opinion. I rather think both books adequately present McKnight's thesis and it is that with which I take exception.

Foaming the Runway: I'm better for having read it. Loving God and others is of primary importance so 40 Days caused me to do some self inspection and drove me into the Scriptures for a fresh look at my convictions and behavior. For that I am grateful.

To the Point: McNight presents Jesus' exaltation of two commandments from the Law of Moses as the code of conduct for Christians, namely, love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and . . . love your neighbor as yourself. But consider this, Jesus (born under the Law), talking to a scribe (also a man under the Law), gave the perfect answer to a question about the Law. We should expect nothing less. However, Jesus fulfilled the Law and on the eve of ushering in a new and living way (covenant), gave his disciples new orders: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35). What makes this new is his astonishing words "as I have loved you." This is a higher calling than that given in the Law of Moses. Loving a neighbor as yourself comes from the human heart - and is not a bad thing - but the love of Jesus is divine. One scholar observes, "As Jesus was the embodiment of God’s love, so now each disciple should embody Christ’s love." A great privilege and responsibility accomplished in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Disqualified. With the new command before us, daily recitation of, meditation on, even attempted obedience to a couple of verses from the Old Testament Law of Moses (a la McKnight) misses the mark.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

If a creed is the essence of what we believe, then the Jesus Creed, His two greatest commandments, to love God and love others, is what I believe.

I used this as my devotional and finished it yesterday.
McKnight challenged me to think about what this means and how this applies to my everyday life. I enjoyed the challenges, but I wished I could go more in depth.

I plan on reading book on which this is based.

[Mark Archibald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this over the course of Lent - this is an ideal book for that kind of reading. Easy to read as a daily reading, with simple ways to make shifts to live a life that loves God and loves people. Encouraging to read in an “I can do this!” sort of application. And always lifting our view to look to Jesus.

I have not read The Jesus Creed original book, nor been part of the online community, and neither of those factors were a detriment to reading this book.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read through this as part of a church-wide 40-day devotional reading challenge. The 40 daily readings, taking us through the Jesus Creed, were though provoking and helped grow me in my walk of learning to Love God and to Love Others.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is OK for daily devotions or within a small group. The theme got repetitive quickly for me. The study questions that came with the paper copy (some of our small group had the Kindle version - no study questions included) made the book worthwhile for me.

[David Herrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm on day 6. So far so good.

[Rita Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this through Lent with my church group...easy devo to get comfortable with so far...

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as part of a book study at my church. It's pretty straightforward and hard to argue with. The book sparked good discussion in our group about how we love those we disagree with.

[Dad Bowers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good devo, and pretty good to read aloud with my wife! We appreciate McKnight's insights and insistence that living our faith is as important as having a faith. Loving God and loving man go hand and hand.