Clay Crosse on his decline and renewal Part I

Recently I saw on a discount table the book I Surrender All by Clay and Renee Crosse. I recognized the authors as Clay Crosse is a Christian artist and I recognized the book due to having heard of his struggles with pornography.

The book is the story of "rebuilding a marriage broken by pornography." As I read the book, I am going to give you several quotes from the book today and tomorrow that shows how Clay had a shallow walk with God and what happened after confession.

"I had built my life on the philosophy that said, It's not about you because it's about me!" (page 81)

"I never thought about what it really meant to follow Jesus, other than by attending church and avoiding certain vices." (Page 83)

"Using the church as a hiding place from the world wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but I had allowed church to take God's place in my life. Church, not God and His Word, became my place of refuge, and consequently, my faith never grew up." (Page 84)

"We were committed to attending church, but we weren't very commited to God." (Page 86)

"We went to church most Sundays. We tithed. We did almost everything a Christian is supposed to do. But our focus was always on ourselves. God was always a means to an end." (Page 136)

"Our spiritual problems resulted from a failure to keep the first and greatest commandment. Neither of us loved the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Instead we loved the world and everything in it, all the while clutching a ticket to heaven purchased by Jesus with His blood on the cross." (Page 141)

I will continue this tomorrow.