Reading List 2016

For the last four years, I’ve had two primary reading goals. First, read the Bible each year. Second, read at least 52 books, or about 1 per week. I’ve never made this second goal, but I continue to post my results at the end of the year to keep me motivated to try. (If you like, you can see the lists from 2014 and 2015.)

And last year, I fell short on both accounts. Bummer.

This year, however, I made it, and in the process, I read 86 books! I’m pretty happy about this because I only read 34 in 2013; 50 in 2014; and 51 in 2015. For any fellow nerds out there, this year’s total page count was 19,525, which corresponds to an average of 368 pages per week and 227 pages per book.

A few things to note. First, my total number was so high, partly because many of the books were short (26 of them were under 150 pages), and partly because I did a ton of research for a book I’m writing. It’s a book to help pastors in the job search process (another 26 books fell into this category).

Second, I read more novels than ever before (21), as well as a few memoirs. I think I’ll try to keep this up; I’m enjoying it. Several were audio books, which I listened to while exercising.

Finally, my two favorite books were The Imperfect Pastor by Zack Eswine and the novel All the Light We Cannot See. I absolutely loved both.

Oh, one more thing. I read the book I co-authored (More People to Love) about 10 times, but I’m not counting that one! Nor am I counting The Cat and the Hat or Pinkalicious, which I read to my kids at least a dozen times! ;-)

Again, this post is largely for personal accountability, but if you’d like to see the books I read, below I sorted them into four categories.

In the comments, feel free to let me know if you read any of these, and if so, if you had any favorites.

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Miscellaneous Christian Non-fiction

1. Do More Better: A Practical Guide to Productivity by Tim Challies (120 pages)
2. Rules for Reformers by Douglas Wilson (288 pages)
3. Unbreakable: What the Son of God Said About the Word of God by Andrew Wilson (80 pages)
4. Sexual Detox: A Guide for Guys Who Are Sick of Porn by Tim Challies (108 pages)
5. Who Am I?: Identity in Christ by Jeff Bridges (108 pages)
6. Contend: Defending the Faith in a Fallen World by Aaron Armstrong (110 pages)
7. Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller (256 pages)
8. Montgomery: A White Preacher’s Memoir by Robert S. Graetz (132 pages)
9. The Bible by God (2000 pages)
10. How to Walk into Church by Tony Payne (64 pages)
11. Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward by Nabeel Qureshi (176 pages)
12. Your Best Life Now: Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential by Joel Osteen (310 pages)
13. Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan (220 pages)
14. Resisting Gossip: Winning the War of the Wagging Tongue by Matthew C. Mitchell (192 pages)
15. Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel by Kate Bowler (352 pages)
16. The Mingling of Souls: God’s Design for Love, Marriage, Sex, and Redemption by Matt Chandler and Jared C. Wilson (224 pages)
17. Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better by Brant Hansen (214 pages)
18. Anger: Taming a Powerful Emotion by Robert D. Jones (224 pages)
19. Uprooting Anger: Biblical Help for a Common Problem by Gary Chapman (208 pages)
20. Rooted: Theology for Growing Christians by J. A. Medders and Brandon D. Smith (148 pages)
21. Why Pastors Quit: Examining Why Pastors Quit and What We Can Do About It by Bo Lane (110 pages)
22. A Christ-Centered Wedding: Rejoicing in the Gospel on Your Big Day by Catherine Parks, Linda Strode (256 pages)
23. Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism by Drew G. I. Hart (198 pages)
24. Finally Free: Fighting for Purity with the Power of Grace by Heath Lambert (176 pages)
25. How to Survive the Apocalypse: Zombies, Cylons, Faith, and Politics at the End of the World by Robert Joustra and Alissa Wilkinson (208 pages)
26. Surfing for God: Discovering the Divine Desire Beneath Sexual Struggle by Michael John Cusick (224 pages)
27. Every Man’s Battle: Winning the War on Sexual Temptation One Victory at a Time by Stephen Arterburn, Fred Stoeker, and Mike Yorkey (336 pages)
28. One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp (240 pages)
29. Sex Is Not the Problem (Lust Is): Sexual Purity in a Lust-Saturated World by Joshua Harris (192 pages)
30. Gospel Deeps: Reveling in the Excellencies of Jesus by Jared C. Wilson (208 pages)
31. Hidden Christmas: The Surprising Truth Behind the Birth of Christ by Timothy Keller (160 pages)
32. Thank You for the Book of Mormon: A Christians Friend’s Response by Carl L George (128 pages)
33. The Imperfect Pastor: Discovering Joy in Our Limitations through a Daily Apprenticeship with Jesus by Zack Eswine (272 pages)

Miscellaneous Non-fiction

1. The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness by Jeff Olson (280 pages)
2. The Rights of the Reader by Daniel Pennac (176 pages)
3. Writing a Winning Non-fiction Book Proposal by Michael Hyatt (32 pages)
4. Hiroshima by John Hersey (160 pages)
5. Voice and Vision: A Guide to Writing History and Other Serious Nonfiction by Stephen J. Pyne (336 pages)
6. Book Launch Blueprint by Tim Grahl (70 pages)
7. Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About The Business of Life by James Kerr (224 pages)

Novels

1. The Owlings: A Worldview Novella (Book I) by D.A. DeWitt (98 pages)
2. My Antonia by Willa Cather (200 pages)
3. The Owlings: A Worldview Novella (Book II) by D.A. DeWitt (142 pages)
4. Out of the Silent Planet (Space Trilogy, I of III) by C.S. Lewis (160 pages)
5. Perelandra (Space Trilogy, II of III) by C.S. Lewis (190 pages)
6. That Hideous Strength (Space Trilogy, III of III) by C.S. Lewis (384 pages)
7. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson (160 pages)
8. A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O’Connor (276 pages)
9. To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee (336 pages)
10. No Masters, Please by Fred Burton (295 pages; yet unpublished novel)
11. Animal Farm by George Orwell (56 pages)
12. 1984 by George Orwell (284 pages)
13. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (288 pages)
14. The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis (256 pages)
15. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (531 pages)
16. Tales of the Kingdom by David and Karen Mains (94 pages)
17. Go Set a Watchman: A Novel by Harper Lee (288 pages)
18. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (251 pages)
19. Gilead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson (247 pages)
20. Home: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson (366 pages)
21. Lila: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson (272 pages)

Books about the Job Search Process

1. How to Stay Christian in Seminary by David Mathis and Jonathan Parnell (80 pages)
2. A Change of Pastors ... and How it Affects Change in the Congregation by Loren B. Mead (112 pages)
3. The Minister’s Salary: And Other Challenges in Ministry Finance by Art Rainer (130 pages)
4. How to Hire A-Players: Finding the Top People for Your Team- Even If You Don’t Have a Recruiting Department by Eric Herrenkohl (240 pages)
5. The New Pastor’s Handbook: Help and Encouragement for the First Years of Ministry by Jason Helopoulos (208 pages)
6. The Unwritten Rules of the Highly Effective Job Search: The Proven Program Used by the World’s Leading Career Services Company by Orville Pierson (288 pages)
7. From M.Div. to Rev.: Making an Effective Transition from Seminary to Pastoral Ministry by J. E. Eubanks (232 pages)
8. Next: Pastoral Succession That Works by William Vanderbloemen and Warren Bird (224 pages)
9. Search: The Pastoral Search Committee Handbook by William Vanderbloemen (192 pages)
10. Knock ‘em Dead 2015: The Ultimate Job Search Guide by Martin Yate (384 pages)
11. The Elephant in the Boardroom: Speaking the Unspoken about Pastoral Transitions by Carolyn Weese and J. Russell Crabtree (240 pages)
12. The 2-Hour Job Search: Using Technology to Get the Right Job Faster by Steve Dalton (240 pages)
13. How to Search for a Pastor in Todays Church by Scott K. Delashaw (112 pages)
14. Help We Just Lost Our Pastor! A Step By Step Guide for Pastoral Transitions by Ken Moberg (114 pages)
15. What Is Your Church’s Personality?: Discovering and Developing the Ministry Style of Your Church by Philip D. Douglass (320 pages)
16. When the Word Leads Your Pastoral Search: Biblical Principles and Practices to Guide Your Search by Chris Brauns (192 pages)
17. The First 100 Days: A Pastor’s Guide by T. Scott Daniels (176 pages)
18. Side-stepping Landmines: Five Principles for Pastor Search Teams by Joel Rainey (50 pages)
19. Resume 101: A Student and Recent-Grad Guide to Crafting Resumes and Cover Letters that Land Jobs by Quentin J. Schultze (144 pages)
20. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher, William L. Ury, and Bruce Patton (200 pages)
21. College Grad Job Hunter: Insider Techniques and Tactics for Finding A Top-Paying Entry-level Job by Brian D. Krueger (352 pages)
22. Pastor Search Committee Handbook, Revised by Robert L. Sheffield (96 pages)
23. Before You Move: A Guide to Making Transitions in Ministry by John R. Cionca (314 pages)
24. Confirming the Pastoral Call: A Guide to Matching Candidates and Congregations by Joseph L. Umidi (160 pages)
25. The Pastor’s Start-Up Manual: Beginning a New Pastorate by Robert H. Jr. Ramey (140 pages)
26. The Alban Guide to Managing the Pastoral Search Process by John Vonhof (123 pages)

How to Survive the Apocalypse

No, I'm not actually talking about today’s elections. I’m sure some of you feel like that, though. Instead, I’m talking about a book review I wrote that was published today. The full title of the of the book is How to Survive the Apocalypse: Zombies, Cylons, Faith, and Politics at the End of the World.

Here’s a portion of my review . . . 

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Two buckets, each holding 120 pre-packaged meals. That’s what I recently loaded into our minivan as we left to return from vacation. “Just add water,” my friend said. “They’ll last ya 25 years without going bad.”

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He was trying to get me ready for what he believed just might be America’s impending dystopian future—whether caused by massive civil unrest, an electromagnetic pulse bomb . . . or something worse, something otherworldly. Truly: My friend is actually, actively preparing for the end of the world.

Professors Robert Joustra and Alissa Wilkinson wrote their book to do the same: to prepare us for the apocalypse. Their approach, however, is less Swiss Army Knife and more Encyclopedia Britannica.

Drawing heavily—very heavily—from Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor, they show that apocalyptic art not only portends the future but also, perhaps mainly, reveals who we are now.

The first several chapters provide philosophical and historical background. Then they move to cultural reflection. We learn about ourselves from shows like “Battlestar Galactica,” which is where the word cylon in the subtitle comes from. We learn from the antihero main characters in television shows like “Breaking Bad,” “Mad Men” and “House of Cards.” And we learn what living among the undead teaches about us in “The Walking Dead” and the movie World War Z.

In the final chapter, the authors offer lessons from the prophet Daniel, not chiefly from his spectacular visions of the future but from his faithful courage and strategic compromises while living in Babylon.

Here are two considerations readers might find helpful . . . 

To read the rest of the review, go to EFCA NOW (the blog of the Evangelical Free Church of America).

[Picture by Frantzou Fleurine / Unsplash]

ROOTED by J.A. Medders and Brandon D. Smith (FAN AND FLAME Book Reviews)

J.A. Medders and Brandon D. Smith. Rooted: Theology for Growing Christians. Rainer Publishing, 2016. 148 pp. $10.97.

“Here’s the thing,” she said, “I don’t think God wants us to stress about this.”

That’s a comment I overheard at a recent dinner party. Several Christians were talking about God, specifically one of his attributes.

When taken literally, yes, I agree. Let’s not stress; let’s not have our blood pressures increase because the finite can’t fully comprehend the infinite. This wasn’t what bothered me, though. It was the dismissive tone with which the comment was made, as though she was really saying, “Why bother with this theology stuff.”

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Why bother? We bother because God has revealed himself with the intention that we, his children, would know him clearly—not exhaustively, of course, but clearly. The prophet Hosea, despite their frequent and severe failures, emphatically encouraged God’s people to bend their lives so that they might know God better. “Let us know,” he said, “let us press on to know the Lord” (Hosea 6:3).

Authors J.A. Medders and Brandon D. Smith wrote Rooted: Theology for Growing Christians to help us do this very thing: to know the Lord. Additionally, what they argue so well throughout the book, as does Russell Moore in his foreword, is that knowledge about God is for the purpose of living. This is why the subtitle is, “theology for growing Christians.” Theology is the water and the sunlight that makes acorns become oak trees.

Rooted is not a long book; it’s only 148 pages. In it, Medders and Smith cover four aspects of theology: the Trinitarian nature of God; the words of God; sin and the gospel; and the church and the future. Obviously, we could fill bookshelves, maybe even small libraries, with books on each of these topics. But the enormity of these topics and the abundance of resources about them does not negate the need for fresh exploration, especially for those unfamiliar with the terrain. This is why we are using it in our church’s High School small groups. But it would be great for a new Christian of any age or even for an older Christian who, for whatever reason, never progressed in his or her theological training. The authors’ use of punchy metaphors make it all very accessible. For example, this one about Jesus’s humanity:

Jesus isn’t some kind of watered-down version of God. He isn’t the pre-algebra standard of Godness. Jesus is full on, high-octane God. (43)

I suppose some might object to this sentence, calling it “imprecise language.” What does “high-octane God” actually mean? This way of speaking, however, when it grows out of the Bible—which it certainly does for Medders and Smith—might communicate better and with more force than using only the expected theological propositions.

It’s writing like this that causes old truths to be heard afresh. I think that’s one reason the authors of Scripture did this so frequently. Just to give you one example, consider Romans 13:11–13, “The hour has come for you to wake from sleep. . . . The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness . . . . Let us walk properly as in the daytime.” Here, Paul uses the metaphors of ‘sleeping and waking’ and ‘light and darkness’ to stress the urgency of following Jesus. The alarm clock is ringing, people! Wake up and follow Jesus!

I should mention that a few times, at least for me, the conversational tone and metaphors fall just a bit short (e.g., “an atomic bomb of grace,” [77]). But regardless, their attempt to pair fresh language with sturdy, biblical theology is one of the most enjoyable aspects of the book.

We’ve had Rooted in our church bookstore for several months, and I’ll be happy every time we have to restock the shelf with more copies.

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A Few Favorite Quotes

We are all theologians. While there are a select few on planet earth who get paid to be theologians, the truth is that all humans are in some respects a theologian—we all have thoughts of God, and they are either right or wrong. Theology is all about God: all God is, all he has done, all he does, and all he will do . . . Theology isn’t simply for the mind—it’s for life. (22–23).

Theology is a map for us sojourners. (24)

Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6); he is theology in the flesh, theology with ten fingers and ten toes. (25)

Typing a question and finding an answer is as easy as opening an app on a cell phone. Many difficult questions about theology can be found in the same way, however God is more than a search result. A person can’t ultimately “Google” him. (46)

To Jesus, the Old Testament isn’t filled with cute fairytales and fables—it’s filled with truth. It’s interesting to notice that one of Jesus’s common rebukes goes something like this: “Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” It’s so obvious that God spoke through the Scriptures that he wonders aloud if doubters had read it at all.” (73)

Jesus hung on the cross, not as some kind of motivational poster, but as a Savior who was literally paying for our sins and giving us his righteousness, his perfect standing with God the Father. (107)

Since Jesus breathes, death is like a housefly to the saints. It’s annoying, but it cannot ruin the Christian. (110)

Christ conquered death on its home court. (120)

Related Post

J.A. Medders also hosts the podcast, Home Row, which I love and wrote about here.

[Picture by Matthew Smith / Unsplash]

Can You Really Become Unoffendable?

The following book review of Brant Hansen’s book Unoffendable was written for The Gospel Coalition. You can read the complete review on their website here.

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Brant Hansen. Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2015. 214 pp. $15.99.

WARNING: You might not want to read Brant Hansen’s Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better because, as you read it, you’ll have more opportunities to practice being unoffended. 

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At least that’s what happened to me several times. As a teaching pastor in a local church, there always seems to be a cluster of people who run a low-grade fever of disappointment with me. Recently, the fever spiked. And despite my “warning” above, I was thankful to have Unoffendable coach me along the way.

At least that’s what happened to me several times. As a teaching pastor in a local church, there always seems to be a cluster of people who run a low-grade fever of disappointment with me. Recently, the fever spiked. And despite my “warning” above, I was thankful to have Unoffendable coach me along the way.

But this isn’t just my life, is it? Likely you’ve also found ways to offend others. It’s not hard to do; it’s natural for us as sinners. Moreover, our world—sometimes even Christian subculture—trains us not to have a chip on our shoulder but a lumberyard. We see this when the predictable cultural “buttons” are pushed concerning issues like abortion and marriage, and now bathrooms, but also in less expected ways. Consider John Piper’s article last winter on guns and self-defense. The volley of response articles revealed his article didn’t simply touch a nerve; it grabbed one with tweezers and yanked.

And surely this presidential election year, as it has already, will continue to multiply opportunities for offense. How shall we respond to these provocations? I loved how Russell Moore responded to Donald Trump when Trump tweeted that Moore is “A nasty guy with no heart.” Moore replied:

[This is] one of the few things I agree with Donald Trump on. I am a nasty guy with no heart. We sing worse things about ourselves in our hymns on Sunday mornings: we’re a wretch and in need of God’s grace.

But where does this ability to be unoffendable come from? Is it as simple as making a choice to not be offended? And backing up a bit, should we really seek to be unoffendable? Isn’t there a place for legitimate, non-sinful anger?

Good questions. Hansen offers provocative answers to both.

Do You Have a Choice?

Let’s start with the first question. This is where Hansen opens Unoffendable. It’s also the central idea behind the subtitle.

It seems the answer is yes and no. I do think we can choose not to take offense. This choice, however, isn’t made in isolation; the choice to be unoffendable is an interlocking one determined by our answers to a host of other questions. To use an analogy, is the choice to run a marathon just one choice? Well, yes and no. To be sure, it’s a choice, but it’s not a choice made in isolation from other choices about diet, sleep, training, and rest. The same can be said about choosing which car to own. It’s a choice, but one contingent on other things, such as career and income and family size and comfort with debt....

[Click here to continue reading on The Gospel Coalition's website.]

Opening a Church Bookstore

In Ephesians 4, when describing the many good gifts that Jesus Christ gives to his church, one of the gifts listed is the gift of “teachers” (v. 11). Some of these teachers are the godly women and men who teach primarily in the context of their local church. Others, through their speaking and writing, have a wider ministry. Regardless of the breath of a particular teacher’s ministry, what I’ve always thought is that if God gives his church teachers (which he has certainly done), than I want to be a learner.

And one of the great ways for us to be learners is through books.

But if you’ve been to a Christian bookstore recently, then you might have been overwhelmed by the amount of stuff there, especially because there is often a small portion of the store filled with . . . how shall I say this . . . junk—religious paraphernalia and authors with suspect doctrine.

Of course, among the garbage there is also gold. But I sympathize with those who find it hard to tell the difference. On first glance, it’s often hard for me to tell.

That’s why two weeks ago our church launched a bookstore. I don’t think, however, we’ll be putting our local Lifeway (a national chain of good Christian bookstores) out of business anytime soon. Our bookstore is really just a bookshelf that sits in the café. We filled it with 25-30 Christian books that were handpicked by our elders and staff. We are selling each book a little below cost (i.e., we’re not trying to make money!) at $10 each, except of course for Grudem’s Systematic Theology which is actually $20, but that’s because it’s the size of four books!

We organized the books by favorite authors and category. Our three favorite authors, in no particular order, are Timothy Keller, John Piper, and Kevin DeYoung. And our four categories are (1) Bible & Theology, (2) Marriage & Family, (3), Christian Living & Miscellaneous and (4) Apologetics & Evangelism.

Please scroll through our list below, and in the comments section, let me know what books we missed!

[Also, CLICK each book cover for more information.]

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FAVORITE AUTHORS

 

Timothy Keller

 

John Piper

 

Kevin DeYoung

 

BY CATEGORY

 

Bible & Theology

 

Christian Living & Miscellaneous

 

Marriage & Family

Apologetics & Evangelism

[Photo by kazuend / Unsplash]

YOUR BEST LIFE NOW by Joel Osteen (FAN AND FLAME Book Reviews)

Joel Osteen. Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential. Warner Faith, 2004 (original). 310 pp. $14.99.

 

Joel Osteen is the pastor of Lakewood Baptist Church in Huston, Texas. He’s been the pastor there since 1999. Osteen is extremely popular. His sermons are broadcast all over the world. He even has his own Sirius radio station that plays 48 sermons a day (Channel 128, if you’re interested). And he has almost 4.5 million followers on Twitter. I’m one of them.

Yet for all this popularity, lots of people don’t like him. Some of those who don’t like him do so because he smiles a lot and has a huge church (I mean, huuge!). I think these are poor reasons to not like the guy. I’ll point out some better ones in a minute. But before I do, I’ll say that in Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential, I actually appreciate several things. For one, I appreciate Joel’s repeated expressions of affection for his father, the late John Osteen to whom the book is dedicated. At one point, I even teared up as Joel recounted the last time he saw his father alive (pp. 247-8). I also appreciated Osteen’s belief in the supernatural; our culture is losing this. “We serve a supernatural God,” he writes. “He is not limited to the laws of nature. He can do what human beings cannot do” (p. 127). I suppose I agree.

However, all of us know people who speak well of their father. And all of us know people who believe in the supernatural. Neither of these—alone—makes a person a Christian. And this gets at my real frustration with the book: Your Best Life Now, though it fashions itself as a Christian book, is not.

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This probably sounds strange, even impossible, to some. I mean, the book has frequent mentions of God and the Bible. It offers a relentless pursuit of happiness and an inspiring plea for good deeds. This is what it means to be Christian, right?

No, it’s not. These things, by themselves, are not necessarily Christian. Your Best Life Now is missing the thing that real Christianity has: the gospel.

The gospel is the good news that sinners can be made right with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The gospel answers why things are wrong in the world and what God has done, is doing, and will do to make them right again. And it’s this gospel message that is the basis of what it means to have an abundant, eternal life with God. Without the gospel, Christianity wouldn’t be Christianity. Therefore, because Your Best Life Now is missing the center of Christianity, any overlap or similarity with the real thing is only superficial.

At this point, I’d love to tell you more about why I’m reading Osteen at all (some might be surprised at this), but the long story is for another day. Suffice it to say, I think real Christianity, because it has the real gospel, has so much more to offer than its counterfeits. As Albert Mohler has said, “The biggest problem with prosperity theology is not that it promises too much, but that it promises far too little.”

Even though Your Best Life Now was on the New York Times bestseller list for 200 weeks and has sold millions of copies, here are four ways that it promises not too much, but far too little.

1. Osteen overemphasizes the “NOW”

The title for the book is fitting. This book is about “now”—this moment, this earthly life. That’s fine, I suppose; some of the Bible is about this moment, this earthly life. But the impression that Osteen gives is that all of the Bible is about the now. And that’s not true.

The Bible is about your best life “then.” It’s about the Holy Spirit being given to believers now as a “guarantee” or “down payment” (Ephesians 1:14) of a future life with God—a “then life,” which will last forever. Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). And Paul told young believers “that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 16:22).

Osteen gets this emphasis wrong in so many places and so many ways, especially so as he talks about generosity. Osteen wrongly implies that if you give generously, God—who is watching closely—will repay you back in the “now.” In the Bible, you won’t find this Karma-like view of God, one who only—or even mainly—rewards and punishes in this life (1 Corinthians 15:19).

2. Osteen describes sin as merely mistakes and imperfections

Hey, nobody’s perfect, right?

Whenever Osteen describes sin, this is the extent of his description. For example,

The truth is, we all have areas in which we need to improve . . . . You may not be perfect—nobody is! Sure, you’ve got some flaws—we all do! But to be truly free, you must have a healthy respect for yourself in spite of those “imperfections” (p. 66).

Or when talking about King David, Osteen writes, “David wasn’t perfect. He made mistakes . . .” (p. 192). David made mistakes? I’ll say!

What the Bible actually teaches, is that not only are we imperfect, but apart from Christ, we “were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked . . . . and were by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:1-3).

This is why the real gospel message is better. The real gospel offers hope not for people who need to overcome their mistakes but hope for people who are spiritually dead. In the real gospel, God looks into the blackness of our hearts, the areas that are so dark we might be tempted to think there is no cure, and says, “I fully know your disease and my gospel-solution is more than sufficient to heal you; in fact, I delight to make enemies my sons and daughters.”

3. Osteen teaches that words are more powerful than they really are

It’s true that our words and thoughts have power. Proverbs says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (18:21). But in Osteen’s theology, they are too powerful, that is to say, words and thoughts become god-like, the authoritative determiner of one’s destiny. A positive outlook, he seems to argue, will always lead to a bright future; a negative outlook will always lead to a dark future.

Consider these statements,

“You must conceive it and believe it is possible if you ever hope to experience it” (p. 4).

“If you will change your thinking, God can change your life” (p. 32).

“The truth is, you will never rise above the image you have of yourself in your own mind” (p. 56).

There are dozens of these in the book. In several places, Osteen says that our thoughts can actually “stop God.” He writes, “When we focus on our disappointments, we stop God from bringing fresh new blessings into our lives” (p. 180). Really? We can “stop God”?

It’s the frequency, and the strength, and the unqualified nature of these statements that I find so frustrating, so un-Christian. In real Christianity, God is God, and our thoughts and our words, while powerful, are not God.

4. Osteen is telling the wrong story

I’d love to tell you more about why Your Best Life Now is not a Christian book. I’d love to point out the way Osteen makes moral demands but does so without the gospel as the initiator, the generator of these good deeds.

And I’d love to talk about the way that Osteen uses the Bible, especially the Old Testament, as merely a book of moral lessons for us to follow.

And I’d love to talk about how Osteen is at the top of his own pyramid scheme, how he and his family are the exemplars and the proof texts for his own view of prosperity.

And I’d love to talk about how in several of the passages where Osteen extolls the virtues of “hard work,” what he actually is depicting is an idolatrous worship of success.

And I’d love to talk about how in the Bible the interplay between sin and sickness is far more nuanced and careful than Osteen’s “one-for-one” approach.

And I’d love to talk about Osteen’s ambiguous use of the pronoun “you”; Osteen extends the blood-bought promises of God to everyone regardless of whether they have become a Christian or not. The result is that millions of unregenerate people try to live the Christian life without actually having it. Tragic.

And on.

And on.

But as I said above, maybe another day.

This last point (“The Wrong Story”) is my catch-all. When you compare the story that Osteen tells with the story that the Bible tells, they are just not the same. The Bible, though it has much to say to us, is not a story about us, most certainly not a story about one’s best life now. Rather, the Bible is The Story of God and his initiative to create a beautiful world, redeem it from brokenness, and exalt the glory of his grace.

This difference is profound; it’s the difference between Christianity and everything else. It’s the difference between heaven and hell. And it’s the difference between Your Best Life Now and true Christianity.

[Photo @JoelOsteen]

RESISTING GOSSIP by Matthew C. Mitchell (FAN AND FLAME Book Reviews)

Matthew C. Mitchell. Resisting Gossip: Winning the War of the Wagging Tongue. CLC Publications, 2016. 192 pp. $13.99. 

Recently on Tuesdays at our church, over the course of six weeks, a few of us skipped lunch and prayed together. We prayed about evangelism; we wanted to ask God to make us better sharers of the Good News Story of Jesus.

One thing we all noted repeatedly throughout the six weeks was this: because evangelism was something we were constantly thinking about, seeking inroads for, and praying towards, all of us tended to notice more opportunities around us for evangelism. The opportunities were everywhere. 

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As I read Resisting Gossip: Winning the War of the Wagging Tongue by Matthew C. Mitchell, something similar happened. No, I didn’t start gossiping more (I don’t think). I did, however, notice that gossip is everywhere, and not just from other people—from me too. This is one of the great helps of the book: highlighting a sin so common that we hardly notice it. Our inability to recognize gossip is especially tragic, because, as Mitchell writes, “technology has made it possible for us to gossip long distance” (p. 23). Oops, there goes a tweet, a post, a share, a message. Gossip is white noise to us.

What’s interesting about not noticing gossip, however, is that we certainly still notice when it hurts us. (He said WHAT about me!?) Mitchell, a pastor of Lanse Evangelical Free Church, remembers when gossip hurt him. “One time, when the gossip was at its worst,” he writes, “I thought seriously about quitting the pastorate altogether” (p. 17). Maybe you’re not in full-time ministry, but likely you can relate to a time when you were hurt by gossip and perhaps even wanted to walk away from a particular school, job, or church. Sticks and stones can break bones but names can never . . . .

Resisting Gossip is structured in four parts, moving from a definition of gossip (I), to how we resist gossip (II), then to our response when others gossip (III), and finally, what to do when we regret the words we’ve spoken (IV). There are discussion questions at the end of each chapter, a bibliography for further reading, and a bonus chapter for church leaders on creating a culture that resists gossip.

The book is full of stories about the damage gossip inflicts. Of course, to protect the guilty, the names have been changed, except for when Mitchell is the culprit. Even as he encourages us to be changed by the gospel to resist sin, he models this gospel-change that allows him to own his sin. In a more humorous moment (at least for readers), Mitchell recounts a time when an extended family member visited, and through thin-walls and under doors, his gossip leaked. “I complained long and hard to [my wife] about our relative [who was in another room] . . . . It was chilly at our place the next morning!” (p. 83).

My favorite chapter was Chapter 3: A Gallery of Gossips, where Mitchell offers five profile sketches: The Spy, The Grumbler, The Backstabber, The Chameleon, and The Busybody. In a way—and this is in part what I liked so much about this chapter and the whole book—it thoughtfully engages the book of Proverbs, another book with much to say about wagging tongues. “The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts.” (Proverbs 18:8, NIV).

Another favorite section came near the end of the book as Mitchell contrasts the difference between a distinctively Christian approach to how sin is forgiven and how it is done in every other religious or secular system. He gives the example of a Jewish author who teaches that if you, as a guilty gossiper, find yourself in a place where you are tempted to sin again, and “you do not repeat the mistake [of gossip] . . . not only are you forgiven, but it’s as if you never made the original mistake.” Mitchel writes, “No. This is not how it works! . . . Christians are forgiven and cleansed only because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ” (p. 147). On our own, the scales will never balance. Jesus said, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matthew 12:36). We need a savior who absorbs the punishment for our “careless words” and gives us credit for his perfection.

For sinners like us, it’s speaking gossip that comes easy and resisting gossip that comes hard. But, by the grace of God and for the glory of God, we have to do it. Matthew C. Mitchell’s book Resisting Gossip is a good book to help us recognize and resist this common sin.

[Photo by Josh Felise / Unsplash]

What Does it Mean to “Glorify” God?

Recently at church, we had a dedication service for several children, including our son Judah. Our church gave us the children’s devotional book Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing by Sally Lloyd-Jones, illustrated by Jago. We’ve not completed it yet, but just like The Jesus Storybook Bible—which is also by Lloyd-Jones and Jago—it’s fantastic. (I reviewed the Jesus Storybook Bible here.)

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At times, my family has struggled to have consistent family devotions. There are several reasons for this, I’m sure. In part, our lives are constantly changing—new kids coming and older kids getting older. Also, we’ve struggled because I’ve been more ambitious than was probably sustainable. This led to good spurts but not consistency.

But whatever the reasons were, since we were given this book, we’ve had good success. About three or four times a week, I read one of the short devotionals during dinner. I try to make the reading as interactive as possible, which isn’t hard because the material lends itself to discussion, and . . . well . . .  I have five very “active” kids.

Below is one of my favorite entries so far. It answers the questions “what does it mean to glorify God?” and “why does God even ‘need’ us to glorify him at all?” Obviously, the answers to these questions could get deep fast, but Lloyd-Jones has a way of making the complex simple—for children and adults.

After I read this one, I asked my kids questions like, “What does it mean to glorify basketball?” “And what does it mean to glorify a book . . . and a friend . . . and a sunset?”

Then, when I came back to the question of what it means to glorify God, which according to Lloyd-Jones, means “to make much of Him,” my kids understood. And my heart sang.

*     *     *

GLORIFY!

God tells us to glorify him. “Glorify” means to “make a big deal of.” When someone makes a big deal of you, it fills up your heart with joy.

But why does God need us to make a big deal of him? Why does he need us to get joy?

He doesn’t. In the beginning God the Father and Jesus, his Son, together with the Holy Spirit, were already there—a loving family, glorifying each other in this wonderful Dance of Joy.

No. God didn’t create us so he could get joy—he already had it.

He created us so that he could share it.

He knows it’s the thing your heart most needs to be happy. When God says, “Glorify me!”, he’s really saying, “Be filled with Joy!”

He’s inviting us into his Forever Happiness.

[Photo by Jasper Boer / Unsplash]

ALSO BY SALLY LLOYD-JONES

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HOW TO READ A BOOK by Mortimer Adler (FAN AND FLAME Book Reviews)

Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren. How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading. Touchstone, 1972 (revised edition). 426 pp. $16.99.

In 1940, Mortimer J. Adler published How to Read a Book: The Art of Getting a Liberal Education. Since the original publication, the book has undergone several revisions and expansions, even adding a co-author (Charles Van Doren). And in this time, it’s become a classic—hence, the new subtitle: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading.

I read a lot of books; maybe you do, as well. Thus for me, reading How to Read a Book seemed like a helpful tool to improve my reading of all books, a “sharpen the axe before you cut down a forest” sort of thing.

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Adler writes in the first chapter, “Our subject, then, is the art of reading good books when understanding is the aim you have in view” (p. 10). He goes on to explain, over the next 400 plus pages, how to achieve this understanding, the kind of understanding that allows for critical engagement of the book and author.

In this post, I’m not going to do a full review. A review of any classic, let alone one on reading books, seems beyond my ability. Harry Callahan, played by Clint Eastwood, famously said, “A man’s gotta know his limitations.” Instead, what I want to do is simply share with you a few of the key questions that Alder believes a reader must be able to answer about a book before he or she can say they have reached understanding of the book’s arguments. You can find these questions below.

But before I share them with you, let me explain what Alder believes these questions are for. Alder argues that if you, as a reader, are able to answer these questions, then—and only then—can you say, “I understand this book.” And he argues that understanding must come before we can say whether we agree or disagree with it, like or dislike it . . . and make a hundred other informed observations. Without this understanding, a reader’s judgments remain superficial.

I found his list of questions very helpful for writing book reviews. Sometimes, I fear that my reviews become too fixated on things that either thrilled or annoyed me. These types of observations, while interesting and maybe even helpful to others, should be secondary to the primary task, namely, the task of engaging the author’s main argument.

I know many of you might not ever write a book review, but maybe there are some books, take the Bible for example, where you want to grow in your ability to understand. If so, these questions certainly will prod you in the right direction.

*     *     *

I.  The First Stage of Analytical Reading: Rules for Finding What a Book Is About: What is the book about as a whole?

1.       Classify the book according to kind and subject matter.

2.       State what the whole book is about with the utmost brevity.

3.       Enumerate its major parts in their order and relation, and outline these parts as you have outlined the whole.

4.       Define the problem or problems the author has tried to solve.

II. The Second Stage of Analytical Reading: Rules for Interpreting a Book's Contents: What is being said in detail, and how?

5.       Come to terms with the author by interpreting his key words.

6.       Grasp the author’s leading propositions by dealing with his most important sentences.

7.       Know the author’s arguments, by finding them in, or con­structing them out of, sequences of sentences.

8.       Determine which of his problems the author has solved, and which he has not; and of the latter, decide which the author knew he had failed to solve.

III. The Third Stage of Analytical Reading: Rules for Criticizing a Book as a Communication of Knowledge: Is it true? and What of it?

A. General Maxims of Intellectual Etiquette

9.       Do not begin criticism until you have completed your out­line and your interpretation of the book. (Do not say you agree, disagree, or suspend judgment, until you can say “I understand.")

10.   Do not disagree disputatiously or contentiously.

11.   Demonstrate that you recognize the difference between knowledge and mere personal opinion by presenting good reasons for any critical judgment you make.

B.  Special Criteria for Points of Criticism

12.   Show wherein the author is uninformed.

13.   Show wherein the author is misinformed.

14.   Show wherein the author is illogical.

15.   Show wherein the author's analysis or account is incomplete.

(Adler, How to Read a Book, pp. 161-2)

[Photo by Patrick Tomosso]

ANSWERING JIHAD by Nabeel Qureshi (FAN AND FLAME Book Reviews)

Nabeel Qureshi. Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward. Zondervan, 2016. 176 pp. $14.99. 

 

Last summer, I met a Muslim mother. I’ll call her Asah. Asah had a young daughter who had recently become a Christian. As we talked, I was fascinated by what Asah told me about her daughter’s faith in Christ. She said something like, “I don’t want my daughter to have to be a Muslim. I want her to be free to choose, to make up her own mind.” Then she added, “I’ll be happy with whatever religion she chooses.”

The conversation was surreal and made me realize that Christianity is not the only religion that faces challenges with both nominalism and syncretism. Nominalism is when “followers” are followers in name only. Syncretism is the blending of orthodox religious beliefs with various other worldviews—in this case, the blending of Islam with the tenets of pluralism.

On the other end of the spectrum from Asah, however, are the radicals, the extremists, the mujahideen, the men and women who wear vests fitted with shrapnel and C-4 that explode in crowded markets filled with people shopping for dinner. On this end of the spectrum are the jihadists. 

And it’s these two extremes which leave me—and millions of other people—with questions. Is there such a thing as “peaceful Islam”? Surely, there are peaceful Muslims; I know them. And if there are peaceful Muslims, who are the “real” Muslims, that is, which Muslims are authentic to the faith expressed in their canonical texts?

Answering Jihad

Last Sunday, a man in our church handed me a copy of Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward by Nabeel Qureshi. He told me that he was on the “launch team” for the book and he’d like me to read it. As a pastor, I have a stack of books a dozen high which I am to read. But after I looked at it closer, Answering Jihad didn’t go to the bottom but moved to the top.

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I had heard of Qureshi because of his book Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, which has received much attention (becoming a New York Times bestseller, for example), but I didn’t realize his erudition, his impressive educational resume. Qureshi is a speaker with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, holds an MD from Eastern Virginia Medical School, an MA in Christian apologetics from Biola University, an MA in religion from Duke University, and is pursuing a doctorate in New Testament studies at Oxford University.

Why This Book—Now?

In the preface, Qureshi tells some of his own story. After the 9/11 attacks he was forced to think about his Muslim upbringing like never before. In the end, Qureshi saw himself with only three options: apostasy, apathy, or radicalization. He chose apostasy and embraced Christianity. Although outspoken about his faith, until a few months ago, he never desired to address jihad publicly because the issues are so charged. “For the sake of keeping my message and intentions clear,” he writes, “I had decided to answer such questions on an individual basis rather than publishing a book on the matter” (p. 9).

But on November 13, Paris was attacked. Then on December 2, there were shootings in San Bernardino. Then on December 7, Donald Trump proposed a temporary ban on all Muslim immigration, specifically in light of the over four million Syrian refugees seeking asylum in the West. Then on December 15, Wheaton professor Larycia Hawkins was placed on administrative leave over her controversial actions and statements about Islam and Christianity. Now, Qureshi felt he had to write a response, to chart a “better way forward, a way that upholds both truth and compassion” (p. 11).

Answering Jihad is structured in a Q&A format around 18 relevant questions. The questions are broken into three parts. In Part I: The Origins of Jihad, he answers questions such as “What is Islam?”, “What is Jihad?”, and “Was Islam spread by the sword?” In Part II: Jihad Today, he answers questions such as, “What is radical Islam?” and “Who are al-Qaida, ISIS, and Boko Haram?” (Aside: After reading the scope of the violence, especially done by Boko Haram, I wrote in the margin of this section, “No words.” There really aren’t.) Finally, in Part III: Jihad in Judeo-Christian Context, he answers questions such as “How does jihad compare with the Crusades?” The book also has several appendices.

The Main Point

The rise of radical Islam is the result of a complex blend of 50 years of geopolitics, but Qureshi argues, radical Islam is not a “new” Islam, but rather a reformation to the original of the original, a return to the roots. Thus to the question, “Is Islam—true Islam—a religion of peace?” Qureshi says no. True Islam, the Islam most consistent with its canonical texts, is not peaceful. Therefore, as part of a better way forward, Qureshi advocates seeing a distinction between the teachings of Islam and Muslims themselves, who for various reasons may (or may not) hold to some (or all) of the violent aspects of Islam. Obviously, this is controversial and offensive to many. But in the context of his detailed, historical overview, this conclusion seems fitting.

I appreciated many things about the book, including how quickly the book was published. It has the contemporary relevance of a blog post yet the quality ensured by the gatekeeping of traditional publishing, which typically takes as long as 18 months. You don’t publish this book in a month or two without a team of motivated people and a gifted author who has thought deeply about the topics for a long time. Additionally, I appreciated how Qureshi rejects endless equivocation. In a fuzzy culture of supposed tolerance, he draws conclusions and makes recommendations, all without feeling like he has an axe to grind. If anything, the prose feels understated and calm, in an appropriate way.

I think many readers, especially Christians, will find Answering Jihad accessible, thoughtful, and a help as we seek to “love God and love people” in a complex and sometimes violent world. It’s not a book on public policy, though it can and should certainly inform those who craft it. “My suggestion,” he writes, “is that we engage Muslims proactively with love and friendship while simultaneously acknowledging the truth about Islam. This is not the final step in answering jihad, but it is the correct first step” (p. 148). And it’s a step I, personally, want to continue to take. 

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[Photo Maryam Abdulghaffar / CC BY]

The Owlings by D.A. DeWitt (FAN AND FLAME Book Reviews)

D.A. DeWitt. The Owlings: A Worldview Novella, Book I. Theolatte Press, 2014. 98 pp. $10.99. 
___. The Owlings: A Worldview Novella, Book II. Theolatte Press, 2015. 142 pp. $10.99. 

In the evenings, after dinner and before bedtime, a few nights a week I read to my family. Last year we read three of the seven books in The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.

If that sounds idyllic, just know that between most paragraphs, and certainly most pages, my wife and I have to parent. And by “parent,” I mean we have to tell our kids to stop talking or jumping or punching or playing with my iPhone. For reasons like these, I’d say that one out of every five reading nights ends prematurely with a frustrated Dad. Regardless, we pushed through the back of the wardrobe and explored almost half of Narnia. By years end, we hope to battle through to The Last Battle (pun intended!).

Our family, however, needed a break from Lewis. And last fall, when a friend of mine shared on Twitter that one of his friends just released the second book in his series of children’s books—books the author called “worldview novellas”—I was intrigued. So I bought both books, and last week our family finished them.

The books are The Owlings, Book I and Book II by D.A. DeWitt. DeWitt is the dean of Boyce College (the undergraduate school of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary). At Boyce, he teaches courses on worldview, philosophy, apologetics, and C. S. Lewis. He has written several books, most recently, Christ or Chaos (Crossway, 2016). He also blogs regularly at Theolatte.com. (I’d encourage you to check him out; I enjoy his weekly “Weekend Worldview Reader” email).

In Book I, we meet a boy named Josiah who has lost his father. He and his mother live on a farm. My children giggled each time Josiah’s mother calls her son, “Sugar booger,” which she did frequently. Josiah and his friend and neighbor, Addi—with the help of four talking owls—work through the prospect of moving, a significant challenge for a young boy. In Book II, more characters are added, including Matt and Megan, and a bully named Cody. (After all, what would a childhood be like without a bully?!)

Each book engages a different aspect of an atheistic worldview. In Book I, the issue is naturalism. Josiah has a substitute teacher named Sam (after notable atheist Sam Harris), who teaches the class that “Nature is all that there was, is, and ever will be”—an allusion to Carl Sagan’s famous quote. Through a family struggle, Josiah meets four talking owls who help him learn that there is more to our world than nature; preeminently, there’s a Creator who cares deeply about his creation.

In Book II, the issue is—what might be called—scientism. In this view, science is not so much “helper of man,” but rather a god. This story takes place during a field trip to a local museum. It’s here that the museum’s director, Dr. Russell (who is named after famous atheist Bertrand Russell), repeatedly seeks to teach the students that “What science cannot teach us, we cannot know.” Again, with the help of the owls, Josiah learns the limits of scientism, even as he seeks to solve the case of who stole his lunchbox.

From a literary standpoint, I don’t think The Owlings is on the same plane as The Chronicles of Narnia—but what series is?! However, considering my children’s level of enthusiasm, I’d say The Owlings certainly generated more healthy discussions among them. DeWitt plans to write five books in the series. I’m sure our family will be reading each as they are released.

 Books by D.A. DeWitt

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DO MORE BETTER by Tim Challies (FAN AND FLAME Book Reviews)

Tim Challies. Do More Better: A Practical Guide to Productivity. Minneapolis, MI: Cruciform Press, 2015. 120 pp. $12.99.

I want to do more—better. Don’t you?

The problem, however, is that my ambition often leaves me feeling like King Solomon described in Psalm 127: with vanity-ache. Rising early, going to bed late, eating the bread of anxious toil—it’s no way to live. Solomon writes, in contrast to this, God “gives to his beloved sleep” (v. 2).

And it’s here that Tim Challies begins Do More Better: A Practical Guide to Productivity, with the encouragement that if a man as busy as King Solomon could figure out how to live a productive but not anxious life then by the grace of God, so can you.

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For those who don’t know, Challies is a husband, father, pastor, author, and has about a half dozen other important roles, such as co-founder of a publishing company (Cruciform Press) and host of a very popular Christian blog (Challies.com). And when I say “popular,” that’s an understatement. His blog had just under 16 million pageviews in 2015. For comparison, mine had less than 16 thousand.

Yet for all this, Challies maintains that he’s no productivity guru.

That’s okay by me, though. He’s certainly a practitioner, and his aim in Do More Better, as he writes, is to “open up [his] life and to let you in a little bit” (7). In other words, Do More Better is decidedly not a bloated textbook of source material  with footnotes. Rather, as the subtitle says, it’s a practical (and we might add “personal”) guide to productivity.

Do More Better has ten short chapters, and begins by stressing the importance of knowing your purpose; you can’t be truly productive without it. Then, Challies talks about how to find your particular purpose and mission, that is, how to find the sphere of responsibility that God has called you to be productive in. The book concludes by exploring tools for collecting your tasks, planning  your calendar, and gathering your information. There are two bonus chapters, one on taming your emails and another with 20 tips for increasing your productivity.

What is Productivity?

Let’s talk for a moment about definitions. Challies defines productivity in this way:

Effectively stewarding your gifts, talents, time, energy, and enthusiasm for the good of others and the glory of God.

When defined in this way, Challies underscores that productivity is first a theological issue. Thus, productivity is not merely a good thing that Type-A personalities kick-start in the early morning hours. Rather, because productivity is about “stewarding your gifts . . . for the good of others and the glory of God,” then to be unproductive is a sin of omission that must be forgiven and forsaken. In short, every Christian, not just go-getters, must strive for productivity.

Drop and Give Me 20

Speaking of striving, be aware that Challies isn’t writing to simply relay information. Get ready to work. To see what I’m talking about, consider how the opening paragraph to Chapter 4 ends: “And that means you are ready for your next assignment” (35).

Assignment? Wait—what?

The assignment he’s talking about is related to identifying your specific purpose and mission, and the responsibilities associated with it. He’ll metaphorically hold your hand through the process, of course, but in this way Challies is more personal trainer than author.

Just as it will do an athlete little good to know the proper form on squats (inhale on the way down, exhale on the way up; flat back; eyes up; and keep your knees from extending beyond your toes—by the way), so it will do the reader little good to burn through this short book without application. Remember, it’s not receiving good coaching that matters. It’s good coaching followed that matters. And by way of encouragement, I can say that I was helped as I completed the assignments.

Small Book, Big Strengths

There are many things I appreciated about Do More Better. Here are a few of them.

First, I appreciated the simplicity. For example, if you have ever found yourself staring at a “To do list,” remember, you can only do four things with each task: delete it, do it, defer it, or delegate it (p. 59).

Second, I loved the bonus chapters, especially the one on taming your email. My approach to my inbox didn’t seem so silly until Challies proposed this: “Imagine if you treated your actual, physical mailbox like you treat your email” (p. 109). If every time you received a letter or piece of junk mail you just peaked at it and stuffed it back in the mailbox, the result would be both humorous and sad.

Finally, my favorite aspect was the distinctively Christian approach to productivity. For example, note this comment about delegating tasks to others.

Most productivity gurus will encourage you to be as selfish as you need to be, to get rid of anything that doesn’t interest or excite you. But as a Christian you can do things that do not perfectly fit your mission but still do them out of love for God and with a desire to glorify him. (p. 42)

Here, as throughout, the book is in stark relief to a selfish, secular approach to productivity. Every aspect of our lives, including our productivity, is to be bounded by godliness. For, what profit is it to us if we achieve massive levels of productivity without glorifying God? Any attainment in God-dishonoring productivity is like running the race backwards—really, really, really fast. Ultimately, you won’t win; instead, you’re productively running in the wrong direction.

If there had been more space, I would have liked to see a little more discussion of Sabbath and contentment. God has appointed limits to our productivity, limits for our good. Also, more critique of the idols of achievement would have further highlighted a distinctively Christian view. The book, however, is purposefully  short. I appreciated this, and I think you will too.

I highly recommend Do More Better. It will help you discover God’s purposes for your life and move productively towards them.

OTHER BOOKS BY TIM CHALLIES

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THE JESUS STORYBOOK BIBLE by Sally Lloyd-Jones (FAN AND FLAME Book Reviews)

Sally Lloyd-Jones (Author), Jago (Illustrator). The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2007. 352 pp. $17.99.

 

My children and I love Disney-Pixar movies. We’re not alone. Probably half a billion people across the world feel the same. 

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The brilliance of the these movies—movies such as Toy Story (which I know is now 20 years old) or more recently Up (2009), or even more recently, Big Hero 6 (2014)—is the way the producers craft the story to engage both children and adults without alienating one or the other.

The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones has this same brilliance. Whether you have been a Christian for many years or you are just being acquainted with the faith, it would be a great resource for you. Oh, the children you know will love it, too.

The rest of this “book review” is not really a review at all. It’s a modified version of an email I recently wrote to a friend. Let’s call her Sarah.

Backstory: My wife and I met Sarah a few months ago. We had a great conversation with her about the Bible. As the conversation went on, we realized that Sarah didn’t really know much about Christianity, and what she did know—as is true of so many people I meet—was all wrong.

Sarah had assumed the Bible was, as Lloyd-Jones writes, “a book of rules, telling you what you should and shouldn’t do.” So, I asked Sarah if we could send her a book to help her get a better sense of what the Bible is really about.

She said, “Sure.”

But before the book arrived, I sent Sarah the below email to explain why I would send a children’s Bible to an educated, non-Christian adult.

*     *     *

Sarah,

Thanks for emailing! Apparently, I’m slow at responding. Sorry.

Okay, so here’s the deal on the book we were talking about. I just ordered it, and it should get to you in a day or two. However, let me give you a heads up so that you are not confused when it arrives. I’m sending you a children’s Bible. Yes, you read that correctly. It even has tons of pictures!

I hope you chuckle at that and are not offended. I know you are very intelligent and educated. The children’s Bible I’m sending, though, is actually not your typical Bible for kiddos. It’s actually very, very good, and it’s very well written. In fact, I have used it many times with adults at my church and they have appreciated it each time. (It’s also, by the way, the Bible we read as a family, and even though I’m a pastor and very familiar with the Bible, I often get a lot out of it, too.)

Anyway, the main reason I’m sending this book is because it’s the best resource I know for capturing the overarching narrative of the actual Bible, namely, a story about a rescue mission to broken people, not mainly a collection of stories designed to teach morals. There is a huge difference.

One of the phrases that the author (Sally Lloyd-Jones) uses repeatedly to describe God’s love is, “Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love.” I think that’s a pretty good description of one of the main themes of the real Bible.

As you and I discussed in person, the Bible is a BIG book, and it tends to overwhelm most people, at least at first. Reading this could be a helpful way to investigate Christianity in a few hours without having to slog through the whole Bible—of course, I’m a proponent of reading the Bible straight up, 100-proof style . . . but maybe not yet. Or maybe next? If so, I can help start you on that process, as well.

Again, I hope you chuckle and are not offended with my selection. Thanks for emailing. Now I’m back to work.

Thanks,
Benjamin

Benjamin Vrbicek | Teaching Pastor
Community Evangelical Free Church