“The disciplines of prayer and Bible study need to be rooted again and again in Jesus himself if they are not to become idolatrous or self serving. We have often muted Jesus’ stark challenge, remaking him in our own image and then wondering why our personal spiritualities have become less than exciting and life-changing…….
….I have been particularly concerned to put into the minds, hearts and hands of the next generation of thinking Christians the Jesus-shaped model of, and motivation for, a mission that will transform our world in the power of Jesus’ gospel. ……..those…who desire to be loyal Christians need to think afresh through the issues of what allegiance to Jesus means in practice. It is not enough to say one’s prayers in private, maintain high personal morality and then go to work to rebuild the tower of Babel. ”
~N.T. Wright (The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is).
Confessions From a Sinners Hands 