19. Good News at Rock Bottom

19. Good News at Rock Bottom. Ray Ortlund. 2025. [March] 160 pages. [Source: Review copy] [5 stars]

First sentence (from the preface): My plan here is to ask of you as little as I can and to give you as much as I can. You have a busy life to live. But right now, while we are together, literally on the same page, let's make the most of it. Here is what I promise you: I will try to explain the gospel of Jesus honestly and helpfully for your needs. I will not lie to you. And I will try to believe the gospel honestly and helpfully for my own needs. Here is what I ask of you: Give Jesus a chance. Allow for the possibility that the good news about him is relevant to what you really, really care about--maybe more relevant that you have ever dared to believe.

Good News at Rock Bottom began its life as a series of talks given at Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee in 2023. The book is about being at ROCK BOTTOM. It is about how there is good news--no, great news, fantastic news--at rock bottom. The book illuminates in particular Isaiah 57:15 though I am not limiting the book's use of Scripture just to one tiny--though important--verse.

There are just five chapters:

Way Up High, Way Down Low

Betrayed

Trapped

Lonely

Dying

The book is about sorrows, trials, tribulations--anything and everything which could lead you--the reader--to being at rock bottom and in need of refreshment [and spiritual healing] that can only come from the Lord Jesus Christ. 

It was a fantastic read--always timely and relevant. I do think it falls close to being a must read. If you yourself are not at rock bottom--at the moment--you probably have been or might soon be. OR perhaps someone you love dearly is there now and you could be an encourager. 

Quotes:

• What helps us most, when we need help urgently, is to discover who Jesus is for people like us. His wisdom is better than our escapism. What we want deep down is Jesus himself, with us, even us. 
• By God's grace, you can bear the burden of the actual life you're living. He is lifting you into your true dignity and destiny. And on your way there, you'll be encouraged by your fellow sufferers as they walk with you...If we savor Isaiah 57:15 for the rest of our lives, it will keep us going.
• God has settled on an arrangement that does two beautiful things at once: it does justice to who God is, and it brings mercy to where we are. The one high and lifted up has mercies for us way down low. And he wants us to be sure of it.
• Let's always leave room for God to exceed our highest thoughts of him. 
• Whatever others might think of you, the risen Christ doesn't despise you.
• There is only one thing more costly than giving our hearts away. And that is not giving our hearts away at all. 
• You are never more like Jesus, never more powerful, than when you forgive the real evil that ruined your life. That merciful you is the most alive you, the most beautiful you, the most consequential you that could exist in this generation.
• Our very efforts to make ourselves more presentable only add another layer of sin on top of the sin we committed in the first place. Everything about us is mixed with sin. If evil were color-coded, like yellow police tape at a crime scene, then everything about us at all levels would glow yellow--including our attempts at proving to God that this time we're serious, this time we really mean it. Our grovelling is why verse 14 is here. God lovingly invites us to come now, as we are, and just collapse in his arms, even with all our mess. 
• The only real barrier between us and the embrace of our Father is our hesitancy is to come. 
• "Church" isn't one more item on our weekend to-do list. It is an island of humanness in a sea of loneliness. It is God's provision for us. It is a major way he cares for us in our suffering. 
• Our loneliness is a sorrow God never meant us to bear. 
• Death is the bottom of rock bottom. Death is the underside of the bottom of rock bottom. And that is why the high and holy one will be so present with you at the moment of your death. 
• If our majestic Lord is present with us at our death, and he will be, then he is surely with us in all our sufferings leading up to death. 
• God has dynamic energy. We have exhausted lethargy. The two go really well together, as long as we don't mind staying low before God. 
• Stake your eternity not on your obedience or your attainments or your virtues, but stake all your hope on the atoning work of Jesus alone. He lived for you the virtuous life you've failed to live, and he died for you the atoning death you aren't even able to die.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

18. Knowledge of the Holy

18. Knowledge of the Holy. A.W. Tozer. 1961/1978. HarperCollins. 128 pages. [Source: Book I Bought] [5 stars]

First sentence from chapter one: What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, justas her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech. She can never escape the self-disclosure of her witness concerning God.

I have read A.W. Tozer's Knowledge of the Holy four times now, I believe. I reviewed it in 2012, 2014, 2017,  2021, 2022,  2025. It is one of my all-time favorite books to read and reread. I always am struck by something new. I always find new quotes to share. 

Can a book be both theological and devotional? It's a tricky combination to pull off, I think. But A.W. Tozer's classic Knowledge of the Holy is one of the best examples I've ever read. It is both theological--of substance and depth--and devotional--written with the pure intent to make your heart love and love greatly your Lord and Savior. Why learn more about God? So you can love him more, so you can worship him in spirit and truth. Tozer is urging readers to meditate on God, to meditate on God's glory--his majesty. He's saying DELIGHT IN GOD.  

It is a short book that I'd recommend to just about anyone. It is a book EVERY Christian needs to consider picking up. Even if you're not typically a reader of theology.

Knowledge of the Holy is very reader-friendly. Each chapter is short--just three or four pages, which is why I think it would be a great choice for a devotional. The content has weight to it--it is a book ABOUT God how could it be anything else? Yet. At the same time, it is written in a style that is simple and straight-forward.  

  

Why read A.W. Tozer's The Knowledge of the Holy?

Because…"It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate. If we would bring back spiritual power to our lives, we must begin to think of God more nearly as He is."

Because…"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."

Because…"Wrong ideas about God are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry flow; they are themselves idolatrous. The idolater simply imagines things about God and acts as if they were true."

Because... "If we insist upon trying to imagine Him, we end with an idol, made not with hands but with thoughts; and an idol of the mind is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand."

Because…"We can never know who or what we are till we know at least something of what God is."

Because…"It is not a cheerful thought that millions of us who live in a land of Bibles, who belong to churches and labor to promote the Christian religion, may yet pass our whole life on this earth without once having thought or tried to think seriously about the being of God."

Technically, all those reasons are reasons to read the Good Book, the Word of God, Holy Scriptures. But I think the Holy Spirit can and will use Tozer's words--long after he's dead--to inspire new generations to seek God.

Favorite quotes:

It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate. If we would bring back spiritual power to our lives, we must begin to think of God more nearly as He is.

Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech. She can never escape the self-disclosure of her witness concerning God.

That our idea of God correspond as nearly as possible to the true being of God is of immense importance to us. Compared with our actual thoughts about Him, our creedal statements are of little consequence. Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God.

Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them.

The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is - in itself a monstrous sin - and substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness. Always this God will conform to the image of the one who created it and will be base or pure, cruel or kind, according to the moral state of the mind from which it emerges.

A god begotten in the shadows of a fallen heart will quite naturally be no true likeness of the true God.

The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him. It begins in the mind and may be present where no overt act of worship has taken place.

The idolater simply imagines things about God and acts as if they were true.

If we insist upon trying to imagine Him, we end with an idol, made not with hands but with thoughts; and an idol of the mind is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand.

The study of the attributes of God, far from being dull and heavy, may for the enlightened Christian be a sweet and absorbing spiritual exercise. To the soul that is athirst for God, nothing could be more delightful.

An attribute of God is whatever God has in any way revealed as being true of Himself.

An attribute, as we can know it, is a mental concept, an intellectual response to God's self-revelation. It is an answer to a question, the reply God makes to our interrogation concerning himself.

The doctrine of the divine unity means not only that there is but one God; it means also that God is simple, uncomplex, one with Himself. He need not suspend one to exercise another, for in Him all His attributes are one. All of God does all that God does; He does not divide himself to perform a work, but works in the total unity of His being.

The divine attributes are what we know to be true of God. He does not possess them as qualities; they are how God is as He reveals Himself to His creatures. Love, for instance, is not something God has and which may grow or diminish or cease to be. His love is the way God is, and when He loves He is simply being Himself.

To meditate on the three Persons of the Godhead is to walk in thought through the garden eastward in Eden and to tread on holy ground.

Because we are the handiwork of God, it follows that all our problems and their solutions are theological.

The fact of God is necessary to the fact of man. Think God away and man has no ground of existence.

Sin has many manifestations but its essence is one. A moral being, created to worship before the throne of God, sits on the throne of his own selfhood and from that elevated position declares, "I AM." That is sin in its concentrated essence; yet because it is natural it appears to be good. It is only when in the gospel the soul is brought before the face of the Most Holy One without the protective shield of ignorance that the frightful moral incongruity is brought home to the conscience. In the language of evangelism the man who is thus confronted by the fiery presence of Almighty God is said to be under conviction.

The Christian religion has to do with God and man, but its focal point is God, not man. Man's only claim to importance is that he was created in the divine image; in himself he is nothing.

Unbelief is actually perverted faith, for it puts its trust not in the living God but in dying men.

For every man it must be Christ or eternal tragedy. 

Abounding sin is the terror of the world, but abounding grace is the hope of mankind.

The Christian witness through the centuries has been that "God so loved the world . . ."; it remains for us to see that love in the light of God's infinitude. His love is measureless. It is more: it is boundless. It has no bounds because it is not a thing but a facet of the essential nature of God. His love is something He is, and because He is infinite that love can enfold the whole created world in itself and have room for ten thousand times ten thousand worlds beside.

God cannot change for the better. Since He is perfectly holy, He has never been less holy than He is now and can never be holier than He is and has always been. Neither can God change for the worse. Any deterioration within the unspeakably holy nature of God is impossible. Indeed I believe it impossible even to think of such a thing, for the moment we attempt to do so, the object about which we are thinking is no longer God but something else and someone less than He.

In God no change is possible; in men change is impossible to escape. 

God never changes moods or cools off in His affections or loses enthusiasm. His attitude toward sin is now the same as it was when He drove out the sinful man from the eastward garden, and His attitude toward the sinner the same as when He stretched forth His hands and cried, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

God will not compromise and He need not be coaxed. He cannot be persuaded to alter His Word nor talked into answering selfish prayer. In all our efforts to find God, to please Him, to commune with Him, we should remember that all change must be on our part. "I am the Lord, I change not."

We can hold a correct view of truth only by daring to believe everything God has said about Himself.

We do God more honor by believing what He has said about Himself and having the courage to come boldly to the throne of grace than by hiding in self-conscious humility among the trees of the garden.

Hell is a place of no pleasure because there is no love there. Heaven is full of music because it is the place where the pleasures of holy love abound. Earth is the place where the pleasures of love are mixed with pain, for sin is here, and hate and ill will. In such a world as ours love must sometimes suffer, as Christ suffered in giving Himself for His own.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

17. A Collection of Blessings

17. A Collection of Blessings. Helen Steiner Rice. 2009. 160 pages. [Source: Bought] [nonfiction, poetry, christian poetry, 3 stars]

First sentence: As the New Year starts and the old year ends

There's no better time to make amends

For all the things we sincerely regret

And wish in our hearts we could somehow forget--

This is a paperback collection of poems by Helen Steiner Rice put together by the Helen Steiner Rice foundation. Her poems evoke warm, cozy, comfy feelings. The literary equivalent perhaps of a nice cuppa. (cup of tea). The subject matter varies to a small degree but all well within a narrow framework of spirituality--prayer, sorrow, joy, forgiveness, repentance, peace, love, etc. There is some repetition which I don't look down upon since rhyming can be tricky and when you find a satisfying rhyme, well, it's hard to not repeat it in other poems. To be fair, the first time I came across the lines, I was like THAT IS GOOD. The second or third time I was like, okay, okay, still true, still relevant. And to be fair, this is a collection. I doubt her intent was for anyone to read a couple dozen of her poems within a twenty minute period. 

The poems in the collection are arranged somewhat thematically with special poems for special occasions being first in the book. The book is not unlike a Bible Promise book in its topical approach or its general vibes. 

God speaks to us in many ways,

Altering our lives, our plans, and our days,

And his blessings come in many guises

That He alone in love, devises,

And sorrow, which we dread so much,

Can bring a very healing touch...

For when we fail to heed His voice

We leave the Lord no other choice

Except to use a firm, stern hand

To make us know He's in command...

For on the wings of loss and pain,

The peace we often sought in vain

Will come to us with sweet surprise,

For God is merciful and wise....

And through dark hours of tribulation

God gives us time for meditation,

And nothing can be counted loss

Which teaches us to bear our cross. (23)

Happiness is something we create in our minds--

It's not something you search for

And so seldom find.

It's just waking up and beginning the day

By counting our blessings and kneeling to pray.

It's giving up thoughts that breed discontent

And accepting what comes as a gift heaven-sent.

It's giving up wishing for things we have not

And making the best of whatever we've got.

It's knowing that life is determined for us

And pursuing our tasks

Without fret, fume, or fuss...

For it's by completing what God gives us to do

That we find real contentment and happiness, too. (28)

I LOVED some of the poems. I liked many more of them than loved. A few I didn't quite care for--a few I found could be interpreted/misinterpreted as being theologically questionable. Still, for the most part, I enjoyed this old-fashioned poetry book. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Sunday Salon #8

Bible reading 

1611 KJV

• Job 16-42
• Ecclesiastes
• Song of Songs
• Romans 12-16
• 1 Corinthians

NASB 1977

• Psalms 90-118
• Exodus 5-40
• Leviticus 1-12

KJV

• Proverbs 25-31
• Ecclesiastes
• Jeremiah 1-31

ESV

• 1 Kings 13-22
• 2 Kings 

NKJV

• Deuteronomy 1-27

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

16. Psalms for My Day

16. Psalms for My Day: A Child's Praise Devotional. Carine Mackenzie and Alec Motyer, Illustrated by Catherine Noel Pope. 2019. 96 pages. [Source: Bought] [4 stars, devotional, children's book]

First sentence: The book of Psalms is the largest book in the Bible.

Psalms for my Day uses a new translation by Alec Motyer. Selected psalms have been illustrated alongside light devotions. Each day's devotion has a prayer to pray. The book also includes a sprinkling of quotes by Alec Motyer. 

Readers should also know that this translation uses Yahweh. 

The psalms include the following:

• Psalm 1
• Psalm 8
• Psalm 13
• Psalm 19
• Psalm 22
• Psalm 23
• Psalm 24
• Psalm 25
• Psalm 27
• Psalm 29
• Psalm 32
• Psalm 34
• Psalm 37
• Psalm 40
• Psalm 46
• Psalm 51
• Psalm 63
• Psalm 67
• Psalm 72
• Psalm 73
• Psalm 78
• Psalm 84
• Psalm 95
• Psalm 100
• Psalm 103
• Psalm 107
• Psalm 117
• Psalm 121
• Psalm 133
• Psalm 139
• Psalm 150

I love, love, love the book of Psalms. While there are many, many, many, many storybook Bibles to share with children--of all ages, there are few that celebrate the Bible's songbook: Psalms. I think this book would be a good one to share before/during/after family devotions. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

15. Truth Unchanged, Unchanging

15. Truth Unchanged Unchanging. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. 1951/1993. Crossway. 128 pages. [Source: Bought] [4 stars, apologetics, lectures, christian nonfiction, 1947]

First sentence: What is man? Any true consideration of man and his problems in the modern world must answer that question. If the basic idea of what man is is a mistaken one, so of necessity will be the view of his troubles and what can be done for him. 

Truth Unchanged Unchanging began its life as a series of lectures given by Martyn Lloyd-Jones in 1947. It was first published in book form in 1951. Crossway republished it in 1993. The lectures have an apologetic vibe. The lectures address basic questions that "universal man" is asking and seeking answers to. It is very much written with a twentieth-century view, and perhaps slightly older than mid-century philosophy. That is not at all to say--not even a little bit--that the answers are any less relevant or any less true. Just that the specific questions and the arguments against Christian answers will have shifted and changed. Particularly the arguments against. The suppositions/presuppositions will have perhaps changed as well. Again, Lloyd-Jones' arguments FOR Christianity are ever-relevant, ever-true. At the end of almost every chapter, his writing becomes more emphatic, more persuasive. He always ends his arguments strongly. 

Chapter titles include:

• What is Man?
• What is Wrong with Man?
• Sincerity versus Truth
• The Simple Gospel
• Is the Gospel Still Relevant?

Quotes:

Man cannot rehabilitate his true self. He cannot find God. Man can lose his own soul, but he can never find it again. He can kill and destroy it, but he cannot create it anew. And were it not for one thing he would go inevitably to the eternal fire of Hell. But, thank God, there is that one thing. "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10). Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, came down to earth and lived and died and rose again in order to save. He has borne the punishment that we deserve on account of sin and for spoiling and marring the image of God upon us. But more, He restores our soul to us. He gives us a new nature and fills us with power that will enable us to express this new and true self even as He expressed it Himself. (35)

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Sunday Salon #7

Bible reading 

1611 KJV

• Ezra
• Nehemiah
• Esther
• Job 1-15
• Acts 19-28
• Romans 1-11

NASB 1977

• Psalms 56-89
• Genesis 18-50
• Exodus 1-4

KJV

• 1 Kings 17-22
• 2 Kings 
• Proverbs 1-24

ESV

• 1 Samuel 25-31
• 2 Samuel
• 1 Kings 1-12

NKJV

• Leviticus 23-27
• Numbers
• Psalms 90, 95

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

14. Happy Lies

Happy Lies: How a Movement You (Probably) Never Heard Of Shaped Our Self-Obsessed World. Melissa Dougherty. 2025. 272 pages. [Source: Library] [5 stars, christian nonfiction]

First sentence (from the introduction): The year was 2011. I had a sweet, energetic one-year-old girl, and I wanted to have spiritual answers ready for her when she grew up. 

I have been counting down the days until this book released. I watched her announcement video on YouTube and I knew I *had* to read the book. This book is about NEW THOUGHT, not to be confused with NEW AGE. Once you start learning about what New Thought is, you see traces of it literally anywhere and everywhere. Because it is so pervasive, because it in some ways likes to fly under the radar, because it is easy at masking itself, cloaking, if you will, I think everyone should read this book. One thing I appreciated about this one was the Melissa wasn't just using straw man arguments, she was going out meeting people, attending church services, talking to pastors and leaders. She was letting 'the other side' if you will have a voice too. She also seemed to be doing it in a compassionate, genuine way instead of a mockery ha, ha, ha way. 

The chapter titles:

• What You Don't Know Can Hurt You: How New Thought Hides in Plain Sight
• New Thought, Old Lies: The Roots of Today's Toxic Positivity
• The Teachings: Some Terminology and Beliefs of New Thought
• True for Me: Relativism and New Thought
• Identity Crisis: What Do You Do When You Don't Feel Like You?
• Loving Ourselves to Death: Self-Help and New Thought
• Dreams Come True: Toxic Affirmations and the Law of Attraction
• Prosperity Now: New Thought and the Word of Faith Movement
• A Different Gospel: New Thought and Progressive Christianity
• The Schuller Secret: New Thought and the Church Growth Movement
• Beyond the Happy Lies: Finding True Wholeness in Authentic Christianity
• Call to Action

Quotes:

• Love and truth go hand in hand. To love Jesus is to love truth. He testifies in John 18:37 that this is why he was born: 'to testify to the truth.'
• Deception isn't supposed to be obvious. It's supposed to be beautiful. New Thought is incredibly adaptable to its hosts. It looks enticing, feels good, and tricks people into pursuing their own glory, thinking it's God's will. 
• This is the purpose of false gospels: make evil look good and good look evil. We should wholeheartedly oppose these false gospels. 
• Charles Spurgeon is often attributed with saying, "Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right." 
• If we want to grow in our ability to spot counterfeits and lies, we need to read God's Word regularly so we can develop a solid theological and biblical foundation. 
• New Thought makes itself look like the more open-minded, tolerant, loving, and true way to view Jesus, the gospel, and the Bible. 
• New Thought also equates "God" with "love." "God is love" (John 4:8) is taken quite literally. 
• New Thought also equates what's true with what's loving. The term fundamentalist is often used as a derogatory term referring to those who believe in what they would consider negative attributes of God mentioned previously. 
• In New Thought, the Bible is just one of many spiritual books containing truth....The Bible was written with the ancient, limited perspective of the original authors. We've grown and spiritually progressed, meaning we can understand the deeper significance of the Bible far better today. A core belief is that Christianity tries to suppress spiritual truths, especially about our divine potential. They keep people captive to only one perspective on Christianity and humanity and one proper way to interpret the Bible.
• [a Prayer] Lord, in a world filled with distractions, doubts, and deceptions, help me to anchor my faith in your unchanging truth. Grant me discernment to recognize falsehood and the courage to reject it. In moments of doubt, remind me of the words of Jesus and your love for me. Strengthen my faith so that I may never waver but instead hold fast to the truth revealed in your Son, Jesus Christ. I ask for your protection against the lies and deceptions that try to lead me astray. Help me to be vigilant and steadfast, knowing that the truth you offer is the source of my hope and salvation. Empower me to share this truth with others, that they, too, may come to believe in you, the one true God. 
• New Thought strips sovereinty from God and hands it to humanity. God wants to humble us. Satan wants to put us on a pedestal. God says die to yourself. Satan wants you to live for yourself. God alone says he is the Great I Am. Satan says you are the Great I Am. 
• We ought to call out bad theology. It's not divisive to do so. It's divisive to teach bad theology.
• True freedom lies in submitting to what God says, not in shaping God to fit our preferences.
• Scripturally speaking, the church is to: 1. Pray (Acts 2:42). 2. Teach biblical doctrine and equip the saints for ministry, helping them discover and utilize their spiritual gifts for the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-12). 3. Provide a place of fellowship for believers to encourage and love one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11; 1 John 3:11). 4. Help those in need (James 1:27). 5. Spread the gospel. In Matthew 28:19-20 we are given the famous Great Commission. Jesus instructed his followers to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey his commands. In Philippians 1:18, Paul says he is grateful that the gospel is being spread, even when it's done with false motives. 
• New Thought makes your enemy look like your best friend. The devil is full of dark schemes designed to look like false light. Be strong in the Lord and wear his armor to stand against the devil's schemes.
• Know your Bible and speak the truth. When a massive group of people believes in lies that comfort them, the only explanation is that the Father of Lies is behind it. Satan's ultimate weapon isn't power. It's deception. If Satan's primary tactic in spiritual warfare is spreading lies, then our most effective defense in the battle against him is the opposite: spreading truth. 
• Truth is not simply whatever works. This is a philosophy of pragmatism--a concept New Thought is in line with. 
• Truth is not simply what the majority believes. The majority of people can believe potatoes are secretly undercover aliens that are going to take over the world, but that doesn't make it true.
• Truth is not what makes people feel good. Bad news can be true.
• Truth is not simply a belief. A lie believed is still a lie. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

13. Christ Crucified

13. Christ Crucified: A Theology of Galatians. Thomas R. Schreiner. 2024. 176 pages. [Source: Review copy] [christian nonfiction, theology, bible commentary, 4 stars]

First sentence: Galatians heralds the truth of the gospel, and this gospel stands as the authority over all people everywhere.

Who is this book for? Who is this book not for? I feel that the casual bible reader with little to moderate experience with scholarly deep-dives will struggle with this book. Primarily for two reasons: first, Galatians is a weighty book to unpack. It covers some of the same topics as Paul's letter to the Romans, however, it is less general, more specific, and more layered. You have a LOT of decoding context to do before you even get to the theological bits. Second, the book is scholarly. This in and of itself is neither good nor bad. It is what it is. This is not something that can be read, understood, comprehended, mastered by a casual read-through. It requires YOU the reader to engage in complex, weighty theological ideas and concepts so that you can keep up or follow along with the author. If your understanding begins to weaken, if things begin to slide right on over your head, there is no "catching up" and "muddling through" and hoping that the next chapter will clarify. For those more experienced with [weighty] theology and are used to reading scholarly books--textbooks even--then this one will prove an easier go. 

One thing that I was able to appreciate was its clarity. You might be confused. Didn't I just say this one was too complex for the average reader? (And I am definitely in that grouping with this one. I struggled.) The book is clearly laid out and organized. It tells you what to expect in each part or section, each chapter. Each chapter has a CONCLUSION which sums up the main points of the chapter. If nothing else, the conclusions help clarify some of the arguments. If not for the conclusions, then I might have given up all hope of finishing this one. 

What I did read and understand--there were some bits--I found thought-provoking. I appreciated that he was trying to put the book into context and piece together WHAT Paul's opponents actually-actually believed instead of just diving into the Scripture itself. If Paul is arguing THIS in response, can we figure out more clearly WHAT position(s) were being held. At one point it was like theological algebra--solving for x. The discussion on circumcision, for example, brought up some points that I had not considered. 

I decided to rate four stars because I think most likely what is here is solid theologically, I just couldn't quite understand it well enough to fully engage and benefit from it. Perhaps ministers and teachers could benefit more from it because it was written more on their level. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Sunday Salon #6

Bible reading 

1611 KJV

• 1 Chronicles
• 2 Chronicles
• John 18-21
• Acts 1-18

NASB 1977

• Psalms 19-55
• Ezra
• Nehemiah
• Esther
• Genesis 1-17

KJV

• 1 Samuel 16-31
• 2 Samuel 
• 1 Kings 1-16

ESV

• Judges
• Ruth
• 1 Samuel 1-24

NKJV (audio)

• Exodus 14-40
• Leviticus 1-22

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

12. The Indigo Heiress

12. The Indigo Heiress. Laura Frantz. 2025. 416 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars, christian fiction, historical romance, clean historical romance]

First sentence: Amid the timeless silence of the verdigris parlor, Juliet remained seated in her Chippendale chair...for the third hour.

Premise/plot: The Indigo Heiress is set a few years previous to the American Revolution; it is set in Virginia AND Scotland circa 1774/75. Juliet Catesby and her sister Loveday star in this historical romance. Juliet has always felt that her sister Loveday was absolutely wonderful, beautiful, striking--everything a man could ever hope to have in a future wife. She's always felt a little less so in comparison. However, when a Scottish merchant, Leith Buchanan, comes a-calling [from Scotland] it is HER he wants. Though perhaps not the stuff of fairy tales. He is a widower looking for a marriage of convenience. He's looking for a good mother for his children, yes, but he's also thinking of how the marriage can benefit him and his business. The two have a mutual attraction that is obvious to everyone but themselves. How could she ever love him? How could he ever love her. Thus, of course, being "the last to know" in a predictable way.

I *do* have a weakness for marriage of convenience stories. 

I definitely have a SUPER strong weakness for Scottish romantic leads.

I do LOVE historical romance.

I have loved so many of Laura Frantz' previous books.

I will say that this one suffers a bit here and there with pacing issues. I also either blinked and missed it OR the book lacks a little in the villain backstory development. In other words, I'm not sure I picked up on *why* the villains were the villains and why they were choosing to act that way? It was a little melodramatic at a point or two in a way that I never require. Still, I enjoyed it a great deal. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

11. C.S. Lewis at War: The Dramatic Story Behind Mere Christianity

11. C.S. Lewis at War: The Dramatic Story Behind Mere Christianity. Focus on the Family Radio Theatre. Paul McCusker screenplay. 2013. Tyndale. 2 Discs. [Source: Inter-Library] [4 stars, audio book]

What is it about? It opens with a radio broadcast being interrupted to announce that war has been declared against Nazi Germany. A few minutes later, listeners hear C.S. Lewis' lecture--or guest lecture--being interrupted to deliver the same news to students. So, essentially it is focused on World War II, and, the effect of the war on the British home front. Particular attention is paid to the BBC and to C.S. Lewis. It is a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the creating of Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters.

Further thoughts: Though I am not typically a fan of audio books, I have a harder time listening than reading, I thought the format of this one worked well. Why? Because the heart of the story is about RADIO BROADCASTS, so it makes perfect sense to LISTEN to the story in such a dramatic, polished way.

Would I recommend listening to this? Yes! I really loved it. I found myself listening to this one several weekends in a row.

Who would I recommend it to? Anyone who has read C.S. Lewis. This includes anyone who has read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Screwtape Letters, or Mere Christianity. Anyone who is interested in history and world war II. Anyone who enjoys fiction or nonfiction set in the UK. Anyone who is interested in the history of radio.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

10. Found: God's Will

10. Found: God's Will. John F. MacArthur Jr. 1972/1998. 64 pages. [Source: Bought] [Five stars, christian nonfiction, Christian living]

First sentence: As I travel around, one of the questions I am asked most often is "How can a Christian know the will of God for his or her life?" Most of us acknowledge that God has a plan for the life of every believer, but often we have trouble in finding just which way this play goes at a particular juncture.

Found: God's Will may be a short book, but it's a relevant book with substance. The premise is a simple one,

"Let's begin with a simple assumption. Since God has a will for us, He must want us to know it. If so, then we could expect Him to communicate it to us in the most obvious way. And how would that be? Through the Bible, His revelation. Therefore, I believe that what anyone needs to know about the will of God is clearly revealed in the pages of His Word. God's will is, in fact, very explicit in Scripture."

The chapter titles: "Is God a Cosmic Killjoy?", "The Crucial First Step," "The Fizzies Principle," "The Priority of Purity," "Silencing the Critics," "Facing the Flak," and "You're It."

MacArthur argues that God's will is simple and easy to understand. There are five things that are God's will for every one. First, God wills everyone to be saved. If you are saved, if you are trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation, you are in God's will. Second, God wills everyone to be filled with the Spirit and to live in the Spirit. Third, God wills everyone to be sanctified. It isn't enough to profess your belief, one must live by it. Fourth, God wills everyone to be submissive. Every one has to submit to someone--authority is God-given authority unless submitting means violating God's direct commandments. Fifth, God wills everyone to suffer. To suffer?! Is suffering really God's will for believers?! Surely we're misreading this last one, right?! Nope. Read the Bible. It's there in black and white. (And perhaps red.) If you're saved, spirit-filled, sanctified, submissive, and suffering...then you are living in accordance with God's will and the rest is up to you.

Quotes:

• The doctrine of salvation is unpopular because it includes the recognition of sin. Nobody likes to admit sin. And many people resist the idea that they need to be saved.
• There is a world out there that needs Jesus Christ. God wants them to be saved, and you and I are the vehicles for the transportation of the gospel. That is God’s will.
• When you were saved, the moment you received Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit came to live within you. There is no Christian who does not possess the Holy Spirit.
• So many times we ask for what we already have! We pray for the Holy Spirit, and He is already here.
• Let me share how I study the Bible and how the Bible has come alive to me. I began in 1 John. One day I sat down and read all five chapters straight through. It took me twenty minutes. Reading one book straight through was terrific. (The books of the Bible weren’t written as an assortment of good little individual verses. They were written with flow and context.) The next day, I sat down and read 1 John straight through again. The third day, I sat down and read 1 John straight through. The fourth day, straight through again. The fifth day, I sat down and read it again. I did this for thirty days. Do you know what happened at the end of the thirty days? I knew what was in 1 John. You might say, “My, are you smart!” No, I am not smart. I read it thirty times. Even I can get it then!
• The more you study the Word of God, the more it saturates your mind and life. Someone is reported to have asked a concert violinist in New York’s Carnegie Hall how she became so skilled. She said that it was by “planned neglect.” She planned to neglect everything that was not related to her goal.
• Some less important things in your life could stand some planned neglect so that you might give yourself to studying the Word of God.
• The more you would study the Word of God, the more your mind would be saturated with it. It will be no problem then for you to think of Christ. You won’t be able to stop thinking of Him.
• The only way you can be saturated with the thoughts of Christ is to saturate yourself with the Book that is all about Him.
• Evangelism involves living a godly life in the face of an ungodly world.
• And that will bring persecution, because the world does not like Jesus.
• The Bible never sees a Christian at any time who doesn’t suffer—because anybody who lives a godly life in the world will get the flak that the world throws back.
• One of the problems of evangelism today is that Christians are not willing to stand nose to nose with the world and tell it like it is concerning Jesus Christ.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Sunday Salon #5

Bible reading 

1611 KJV Bible

• Psalms 120-150
• Proverbs 
• 1 Kings 12-22
• 2 Kings
• John 6-17

NASB 1977 

• Job 32-42
• Psalms 1-18
• 1 Chronicles
• 2 Chronicles

KJV Journal the Word LP

• Deuteronomy 28-34
• Joshua
• Judges
• Ruth
• 1 Samuel 1-15

NKJV

• Genesis 41-50
• Job
• Exodus 1-13

ESV

• Deuteronomy
• Joshua

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible