8.1.1 Disciples of Christ are called to obedience.
Jesus said: “If you love me, keep my commandments.”
Obedience involves us totally.
Yet as we give ourselves to him we discover
that his service alone brings true freedom.

8.1.2 Life in Christ is formed in a believing community,
and expressed in daily living.
We are to bring Christ’s healing presence
to the world for which he died,
his peace to its pain and anguish.

8.1.3 Life in Christ brings joy, liberty, glory.
But it also brings conflict
with unbelief, fear, and temptation.
Throughout our lives
we struggle with disheartening difficulties.
Yet the Holy Spirit helps us
and gives us power to grow in Christ.
While we are far from perfect
yet our lives can be pleasing to God
and helpful to others.

8.1.4 Life in Christ involves prayer,
the seeking of God’s will and blessing
on all of life.
Prayer is openness to the presence of God.
In words, or the absence of words,
prayer is the focusing of our lives towards God.
As we commune with God through Jesus Christ,
the Holy Spirit enables us to express our deepest longings,
and we experience the sustaining power of God’s presence.

8.1.5 We live in Christ as we study the Scriptures
learning to think and act in a Christian way.
The Scriptures are given that Christians may be complete,
equipped for every good work.

8.1.6 We live in Christ as in freedom we observe Sunday
as the weekly festival of the resurrection,
for the worship of our Lord, rest from our work,
and the enjoyment of God’s world.

8.3.1 We bow before the mystery of God’s love.
From it came our creation.
By it we are daily nurtured.
Through it we find salvation.
A consuming fire of purity, God’s love
is yet warm and gentle compassion.
We respond to the God who is love
by loving in return.

8.3.2 Love means seeking the best for others
and is the mark of a Christian.
Love for God leads to love for others.
We cannot claim to love God, whom we do not see,
if we hate those about us, whom we do see.
Love of God and of neighbour fulfills the law of God.

8.3.3 Love is compassion for creation.
Love is the service of others and is not self-centred.
Love speaks the truth tempered with kindness.
Love grows in knowledge and discernment.
It is the road to Christian maturity, and is
the way of seeing others as God sees them.
Love follows the example of Jesus Christ.

8.3.4 We should also love ourselves.
Self-love is not selfishness.
We love and accept ourselves because
God has already loved and accepted us in Christ,
providing the foundation of our sense of worth.

8.3.5 Love is the greatest gift in the world
because it will last beyond this world
and is supremely pleasing to our Lord.
Love foreshadows life in heaven.

9.2.1 Some whom we encounter belong to other religions
and already have a faith.
Their lives often give evidence of devotion
and reverence for life.
We recognize that truth and goodness in them
are the work of God’s Spirit, the author of all truth.
We should not address others in a spirit of arrogance
implying that we are better than they.
But rather, in the spirit of humility,
as beggars telling others where food is to be found,
we point to life in Christ.

9.2.2 We witness to God in Christ
as the Way, the Truth, the Life,
and invite others to accept from him
the forgiveness of God.
We are compelled to share this good news.

9.3.1 For some today “God” is an empty word
indicating no reality
they have ever consciously known.
They do not believe there is a God.

9.3.2 Many find it hard to believe in a loving God
in a world where so many suffer.
Unbelief threatens many with despair,
the feeling that nothing really matters
and that beyond this world is emptiness.

9.3.3 The Bible witnesses to God in Christ
entering deeply into human suffering.
As we behold our Saviour on the cross,
we are convinced of God’s love for us.
Faced with the pain and agony of the world,
only a suffering God can help.
God is with us in our anguish.

9.3.4 Faithful men and women of the Bible
also knew pain and uncertainty.
Yet they experienced God and felt compelled
to speak of God moving powerfully in life.
Christian faith is a response
to the searching presence of God.
Christian belief brings new meaning
into one’s life,
for life’s true purpose
is to glorify and to enjoy God.