69. I Like Church...But

69. I Like Church...But. Dan Lupton. 1996. 208 pages. [Source: Gift] [3 stars, christian living]

First sentence: "Oh, she's the cutest of them all." A PanAm flight attendant responded that way when I asked if she had seen our baby. 

There are eight chapters in Dan Lupton's book, I Like Church...But. Each chapter addresses a "but." 

...But I wish it worked at being a caring family

...But I wish it would capture the heart of the community

...But I wish everyone would feel welcome there

...But I want it to empower people

...But it must model integrity

...But it should serve this broken world

...But where's God?

...I hope it anticipates a great future

Each chapter addresses a problem, a concern, an attitude. Each chapter concludes with a handful of suggestions on how to correct or address it. These are application-geared. 

The book was published in 1996. In some ways the principles behind the book remain to a certain degree timeless. Humans change, for sure, but as Ecclesiastes says, there is nothing new under the sun. The application sections do seem a bit more dated, especially in the how. Should the church be making an impact in local communities? Yes. Are these specific tips helpful still today? Probably not as much. That's just one example. 

The book does share a lot of personal stories or observations. Scripture is used, but it isn't used exclusively, or primarily. 

The book definitely makes the assumption that your church is moderately large to large. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

67. The Steadfast Love of the LORD

67. The Steadfast Love of the Lord. Sam Storms. 2025. 240 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars, christian nonfiction, christian living]

First sentence: It only makes sense that before we dive into an exploration of the steadfast love of God that we define love itself. You may think that's a no-brainer, but the distortions of love in our world today have made this a somewhat arduous task. 

Sam Storms' newest book is about the steadfast love of the LORD. In many cases an example of what you see is what you get. The love of God is a subject that is simple and complex; one could drink of its richness, of its depth for decades upon decades and still find more, more, more. It's a subject worthy of our attention because HIS LOVE is so often unlike our own love. Oh, we try (and try and try and try) to love others, to love as He loves. But GOD's love is so amazingly amazing and extraordinary that it will always be a thing of wonder and awe. 

Here Storms shares in thirteen chapters insights and lessons about the love of God. 

1. Love is Love. Or is it?

2. How Long Will God's Love Last?

3. Sovereign Lord on Bended Knee

4. The Look of Steadfast Love

5. The Touch of Steadfast Love

6. Strengthened by the Spirit to Enjoy God's Love

7. Love in the Most Famous Verse in the Bible

8. When God Loves the Unlovely

9. Overwhelmed by the Floodwaters of God's Love

10. The "Much More" Love of God

11. The Incalculable, Insurmountable, Sin-Killing, Soul-Preserving Love of God

12. Saved by the Love of a Sovereign God

13. The Father's Loving Passion for His People 

Conclusion: May the Lord Direct Your Heart Into the Love of God

Quotes: 

To truly love a person you must say and do all that you can to direct them to beliefs and behaviors that align with their eternal destiny in the presence of God in the new heaven and new earth. That is love.

At no time during his earthly life, at no time during your earthly life, does Jesus cease to be sovereign.

The only sin that can be defeated is a sin that has been forgiven. ~ John Piper

Being right with God must precede doing right for God. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

34. Cries from the Cross

34. Cries from the Cross. Erwin Lutzer. 2002. Moody. 170 pages. [Source: Bought] [5 stars, christian nonfiction]

First sentence: Were you there when they crucified my Lord? As a child I wondered what those words could possibly mean. Obviously, the author of the hymn intended that we answer yes to the question. And yet, what could be clearer than the fact that I was not there when they crucified my Lord? 

Cries from the Cross is a wonderful book--whether you are reading it for the first time or treating yourself to a reread. In this one, Lutzer is examining Jesus' words spoken from the cross. There is a chapter for each of Jesus' seven statements or 'cries.' There's also a preface, introduction, and epilogue that help set the book into context. 

Do you know what Jesus' seven cries from the cross were? Have you considered how they can speak into your life--how they relate to you personally? If you haven't--or even if you have--it's worth pondering (again). I know that 'pondering' or 'meditating' or 'reflecting' takes time and that the average person prioritizes just about everything else over silence or quiet--but at what costs to our souls? 

Here they are in the order in which he writes about them:

• A Cry for Pardon: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)
• A Cry of Assurance: "Today you will be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43)
• A Cry of Compassion: "Dear woman, here is your son...Here is your mother." (John 19:26-27)
• A Cry of Anguish: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46)
• A Cry of Suffering: "I am thirsty." (John 19:28)
• A Cry of Victory: "It is finished." (John 19:30)
• A Cry of Submission: "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." (Luke 23:46)

Lutzer clearly and passionately shares the gospel message--that old, old story--that gospel message that when empowered by the Spirit--through the Spirit--can transform lives and take people out of darkness and into the light.

I love, love, love, love, LOVE this one. It is a thrilling read. This was my second or perhaps third time to read it.

Quotes:

To stand at the foot fo the cross is to witness the purpose for which God created the world. Here we see the attributes of God on display; and if we look carefully, we will see ourselves, with all of our needs, sins, and self-deceptions. Thankfully, it is at the cross that God chose to remove His wrath from those who would humbly trust Christ as their sin-bearer. (11)

The cross properly understood exalts no one whom it first does not humble; it gives life only to those whom it first "puts to death." The cross exposes the futility of our self-righteousness; it reminds us that we are sinners, incapable of bringing about our own reconciliation with God. Before the cross we can only stand with bowed heads and a broken spirit. (16)

Unless we see ourselves as deserving of the verdict that Pilate gave to Jesus, unless we see ourselves as worthy of hell, we will never understand the Cross. Someone has said that it is difficult for us to embrace the cross in a day when personal enjoyment is king. Contrary to popular belief, the central message of Christianity is not the Sermon on the Mount or Jesus' parables about love toward one's neighbor. The message that changed the first-century world was that human beings are guilty, helplessly guilty of sins for which they cannot atone. The cross shatters all pride and undercuts the ultimate value of self-effort. The cross stands as proof of God's great love but also reveals our own ugliness. (17)

The church can only live and breathe at the cross; without it, there is no life and no reason to exist. Properly proclaimed, it is "the power of God unto salvation." (19)

Jesus' suffering was terrible for the simple reason that our sin is terrible. (20)

No one can experience the eternal favor of God if they bypass the cross. (25)

Christ was forsaken that we might not be; He experienced hell that we might experience heaven. (28)

Forgiveness sounds like a marvelous idea until you are the one who has to do it. (33)

Words of forgiveness came from His lips when the nails were being driven into His body, when the pain was fiercest, when the jolts of anguish were the sharpest; He prayed as the cross was lowered into the hole with a thud. It was then, when His nerves were yet the most tender, when the pain was the most unfathomable, He who was the victim of history's greatest crime prayed for the criminals. He could forgive because He was about His Father's business. (36-7)

God never lowers His standard of justice to the level of our ignorance. Sins committed in ignorance are still sins. The guilt of those who crucified Jesus was real and objective regardless of how much they understood or did not understand. (41)

We have no idea of the greatness of our sin because we do not understand the greatness of our God. But we have fewer excuses today than ever; we have no reason to turn away from the savior who left us powerful witnesses to His authenticity. (42)

The prayer was not for those who did not want to be forgiven, but for those who would seek it. (45)

Are some sins "unpardonable"? The answer is no, for if the murder of the Son of God was "forgivable" for those who sought forgiveness, then all sins can be forgiven. (46)

There is no unpardonable sin for those who come to Christ for forgiveness. For those who refuse Him, all sins are unpardonable. (46)

He who needed no forgiveness died for those of us who are condemned without it. (47)

Although God forgives us because of Christ, it is neither His job nor His obligation to do so. He forgives us because of undeserved mercy toward us whose just punishment is hell. The cross is the bridge of redeeming love; on it, we walk across the chasm to God, who graciously provided forgiveness for those who believe. If we do not understand this, we do not understand the gospel. (47)

At His birth He was surrounded by beasts, and, now in His death, with criminals. Let no one say God has stayed aloof from the brokenness of our fallen world. He descended that we might ascend with Him to newness of life. (54)

Helplessness is not a curse if it draws us to the only One who can help us. Indeed, if we are not helpless, we cannot be saved. (56)

Jesus was numbered with the transgressors so that you and I could be numbered with the redeemed. Though personally sinless, He was counted as a transgressor by both God and man. He got what He didn't deserve, namely, our sin; and we got what we didn't deserve, namely, His righteousness. (66)

Warren Wiersbe points out that this man was not saved at his last opportunity, but at his first opportunity. (68)

The thief's forgiveness reminds us that there is more grace in God's heart than sin in our past. (69)

If we had been there, how close would we have stood to the cross? Nearby or at a comfortable distance? Would we have been intimidated by the mob, or would we have gladly let the angry rabble-rousers know that we were followers of the Man hanging on the middle cross? Would we stand nearby even if the cross cost us as much as it cost Christ? (82)

Christ did not die to make the Father loving, for He loved us from the foundation of the world. (89)

The first purpose of the cross was not for us, but for God. Yes, Jesus shed His blood for us, but it is even more true to say that He shed His blood for the Father. When the blood was sprinkled on the doorposts of the houses in Egypt, it was put there for the benefit of the families, but it was also put there for God. Jehovah said, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Exodus 12:13). (100)

Let us remember that He was forsaken by God that we might be accepted by Him... Jesus went through darkness that we might have light. He was cursed that we might be blessed. He was condemned that we might be able to say, "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). He suffered hell for us so that we can enjoy heaven with Him. (103)

Either Jesus bears our sin, or we do. If the Father turned His face away from His beloved Son when He was regarded as a sinner, we can be sure that the Father will turn away from every sinner who stands before the Judgement Bar on his own merits. We are either saved by His rejection, or we must bear our own rejection for all of eternity. If those who are in hell should cry, "Why have You forsaken me?" heaven shall remain silent, for they receive the just recompense for their deeds. (103-4)

As Matthew Henry put it, "The torments of hell are represented by a violent thirst, in the complaint of the rich man who begged for a drop of water to cool his tongue. To that everlasting thirst we had all been condemned, if Christ had not suffered on the cross." Hell is heightened desires with decreased satisfaction. Hell is the inflamed desires of the body, with no possibility of a drink. Hell is remembering the Living Water we could have enjoyed on earth that would have taken us to heaven. Hell is a lake of fire, a place of endless, unquenchable thirst. Thankfully, Jesus suffered parched lips that we might be able to drink from the wells of salvation. He endured the thirst of hell, so that its fires might be quenched for us. Of those in heaven we read, "Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their Shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" (Revelation 7:16-17). (115)

Jesus drank from the cup of death that we might be able to drink from the cup of life. (116)

If your spirit does not go into the hands of God for sakekeeping, it will go into the hands of God for judgment. (146)

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

28. Remember Heaven

28. Remember Heaven: Meditations on the World to Come for Life in The Meantime. Matthew McCullough. 2025. [May] 176 pages. [Source: Review copy] [christian living, christian nonfiction, 5 stars]

First sentence (from the introduction): Another Christmas just came and went, along with a wonderful week away with our extended family. 

Matthew McCullough shares 'meditations' on WHY remembering heaven helps us to live 'in the meantime' with hope, peace, and joy--even in the midst of troubles and hard circumstances. These meditations are not daily meditations--like a devotional book--but instead a series of longer chapters. Each chapter is a different way of looking at the subject. The book is not meant--and the author discloses this--to be an exhaustive book of reasons to remember heaven in light of our 'groans and moans.' 

A few of his reasons to remember heaven:

• grounds our lives as Christians
• reframes our dissatisfaction in the meantime
• overcomes our feelings of inadequacy in the meantime
• empowers our battle with sin in the meantime
• relieves our anxiety in the meantime
• makes our suffering meaningful in the meantime
• makes our grief bearable
• sets our mission in the church 

I found the book helpful and encouraging. It didn't always go in the direction of my preconceived notions, HOWEVER it always went in a direction that surprised me and ultimately proved engaging. I had not pieced together how HOPE in heaven or 'remembering heaven' could be connected with inadequacy and anxiety. So there were chapters that were JUST the medicine I needed. I think the book will be relevant for just that reason. I think each reader will have his or her own 'favorite' chapter(s) that speak to them in their need. The Holy Spirit is good like that.

I would definitely recommend this one.

Quotes:

• Hope matters. We can't live without it. But what we hope in matters even more. We need a hope strong enough to bear the weight of our lives in the meantime. And that is precisely what we have in the hope of heaven.
• Many Christians simply aren't thinking about heaven at all and, if asked, couldn't say why they should be.
• Meditating on heaven, Richard Baxter argues, is how we use our understanding to warm our affections. It throws open 'the door between the head and the heart.' 
• How we spend our moments is how we spend our lives.
• The only way to long for a place you've never been is to long for the person whose presence makes that place what it is to you.
• Love for Christ anchors us to the future we've been promised, and it reshapes how we live here in the present.
• Pride is the poison our culture doles out as medicine. 
• We are anxious when we feel responsible, as if all the outcomes depend upon us. But God is responsible for this future. Everything depends on him. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

27. Praying the Bible

27. Praying the Bible. Donald S. Whitney. 2015. Crossway. 112 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: Since prayer is talking with God, why don’t people pray more?

Donald S. Whitney argues that Christians struggle with praying because prayer is boring. Why is prayer boring? Because Christians tend to pray for the same old things in the same old way--in other words, their prayers use the same words, same patterns, day after day, week after week, etc. He writes, "Prayers without variety eventually become words without meaning."

Christians tend to treat prayer not as a two-way conversation but as a one-way conversation.

Of course, another reason people struggle--and Whitney acknowledges as well--is distraction.

He has a solution for both 'problems'. That solution is praying the Bible. In this little book, he teaches readers how to pray through the Psalms and passages of the New Testament. Though any passage can be prayed--Genesis through Revelation. His goal is to get you started and the easiest--the best--place to start is the book of Psalms.

To pray the Bible, you simply go through the passage line by line, talking to God about whatever comes to mind as you read the text. See how easy that is? Anyone can do that. Just speak to the Lord about everything that occurs to you as you slowly read his Word. What does the text of Scripture tell us to pray about? Everything, right?  Every person, every object, every issue, every circumstance, every fear, every situation—everything in the universe is something we may bring before God. So every thought that enters your mind as you are reading a passage of Scripture—even if that thought has nothing to do with the text before you at the moment—is something you may bring to God...
If you are praying through a psalm, you simply read that psalm line by line, talking to God about whatever thoughts are prompted by the inspired words you read. If your mind wanders from the subject of the text, take those wandering thoughts Godward, then return to the text. If you come to a verse you don’t understand, just skip it and go to the next verse. If you don’t understand that one, move on. If you do understand it but nothing comes to mind to pray about, go to the next verse. If sinful thoughts enter in, pray about them and go on.
You may read twenty or thirty verses in that psalm, and yet on a given day have only five or six things come to mind. No problem. Nothing says you have to pray over every verse. Nothing says you have to finish the psalm...
Talk to God about the words you read in the Bible, and you’ll never again pray the same old things about the same old things. 

He makes distinctions between reading the Bible, praying the Bible, and studying the Bible. The methods you use for praying the Bible are not necessarily sound methods for teaching or preaching through the Bible.  

Correctly handling the Word of God does not permit making the text say what we want. To understand the Bible accurately—which is essential for right belief and living, for truthful sharing with others, and for authoritative teaching and preaching—we must do whatever is necessary to discover (or “exegete”) the single, God-inspired meaning of every verse before us. The text of the Bible means what God inspired it to mean, not “what it means to me.”
Bible reading is secondary in this process [of praying the Bible]. Our focus is on God through prayer; our glance is at the Bible. And we turn Godward and pray about every matter that occurs to us as we read. Do you see the distinction?

I have enough confidence in the Word and the Spirit of God to believe that if people will pray in this way, in the long run their prayers will be far more biblical than if they just make up their own prayers.

Without the Scripture to shape our prayers, we are far more likely to pray in unbiblical ways than if we pray the thoughts that occur to us as we read the Scripture.

The book is practical. He has a plan in mind for you to put this into practice.

With the Psalms of the Day you take thirty seconds or so to quickly scan five specific psalms and pick the one that best leads you to prayer on that occasion. While reading five psalms a day is a great practice that many enjoy, that’s not what I’m advocating here. What I’m suggesting is that you take half a minute to quickly scan five psalms and pick one of those five to pray through. Here’s how it works. The first psalm is the one that corresponds with the day of the month. 

Day of the Month	Psalms to Skim
1	1, 31, 61, 91, 121
2	2, 32, 62, 92, 122
3	3, 33, 63, 93, 123
4	4, 34, 64, 94, 124
5	5, 35, 65, 95, 125
6	6, 36, 66, 96, 126
7	7, 37, 67, 97, 127
8	8, 38, 68, 98, 128
9	9, 39, 69, 99, 129
10	10, 40, 70, 100, 130
11	11, 41, 71, 101, 131
12	12, 42, 72, 102, 132,
13	13, 43, 73, 103, 133
14	14, 44, 74, 104, 134
15	15, 45, 75, 105, 135
16	16, 46, 76, 106, 136
17	17, 47, 77, 107, 137
18	18, 48, 78, 108, 138
19	19, 49, 79, 109, 139
20	20, 50, 80, 110, 140
21	21, 51, 81, 111, 141
22	22, 52, 82, 112, 142,
23	23, 53, 83, 113, 143
24	24, 54, 84, 114, 144
25	25, 55, 85, 115, 145
26	26, 56, 86, 116, 146
27	27, 57, 87, 117, 147
28	28, 58, 88, 118, 148
29	29, 59, 89, 119, 149
30	30, 60, 90, 120, 150
31	Psalm 119

And if you will take thirty seconds to review five psalms every day, it is uncanny how one of them will express something that is looking for expression in your heart.

I love how Whitney guides you through this method. I love how he encourages you to try it. I definitely got a Green Eggs With Ham vibe! His passionate pleas to actually pray were compelling and persuasive.

I also love how he quotes some great theologians throughout the book--men, for the most part, who have learned that praying the Bible is transformative in their lives.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

25. Sing

25. Sing!: How Worship Transforms Your Life, Family, and Church. Keith and Kristyn Getty. 2017. B&H Books. 176 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: We are a singing people because it is how God has created us. It’s what we do. And when we do, we’re simply joining in with what the rest of creation is doing.

It's September. The year isn't over yet. But I'm thinking Sing! may be my favorite book of the year. We'll see. What is it about? Why should you read it? Why should you read it with others? I hope to do the book justice and answer your questions.

Intended Audience: Any believer. Also: Pastors. Elders. Worship Leaders. Band Musicians. Fathers and mothers. Sunday school teachers. Song writers. Anyone who has ever suffered at any time. Anyone who has ever struggled with depression at any time. Anyone who wants to be happy.

What is it about? It's about singing. It's about congregational singing in local churches. It's about singing at home with our families. It's about individual and corporate singing. Chances are you haven't thought of singing as a spiritual discipline. Yet IT IS. So just as you'd read a book about how to pray or how to read the Bible, the Gettys have given us a book on how to sing.

Why was it written? The Gettys' five point aim in writing Sing!

1. To discover why we sing and the overwhelming joy and holy privilege that comes with singing.
2. To consider how singing impacts our hearts and minds and all of our lives.
3. To cultivate a culture of family singing in our daily home life.
4. To equip our churches for wholeheartedly singing to the Lord and one another as an expression of unity.
5. To inspire us to see congregational singing as a radical witness to the world. 

Why should you read it? God designed us to sing praises. Singing praise to the Lord is one of God's ultimate purposes for our lives. Singing is so intimately connected with joy; we are to delight in the Lord and find our satisfaction, our happiness IN HIM.

What did I love about it? I loved, loved, loved everything about this one. I thought it was packed with truth and insight. I thought it was biblical. I thought the authors were persuasive. I loved the passion and enthusiasm. I loved the organization and layout. I loved how practical it was. Also how concise the book was. And I really LOVED the discussion questions. There's also four additional bonus tracks--chapters.

Some of my favorite discussion questions:

1. How has singing played a role in your spiritual development?
2. Can you recall an example of a memorable occasion where you enjoyed singing in church? What about that event made an impact on you?
3. What is the link between thankfulness and singing?
4. What psalm or other Scripture passage resonates with you as your “Song of Salvation”? Why?
5. What song would you consider to be your personal “testimony” song?
6. Is there a hymn, or hymns, from your past that acts as a “milestone marker” for your walk with Christ? Why is it still significant and how does it speak to your heart today?
7. What modern song (new to you in the past few years) has connected with you in such a way that you believe it may become a “milestone” hymn for you in the future?
8. If you grew up in a Christian home, what songs from your childhood do you most remember? What hymns do you know? What Bible verses and stories do you know because of songs? What hymns do you want to pass down to your children?
9. If I were a visitor to your church and knew nothing of the gospel, what would your church music (selections, presentation, and congregational engagement) convey to me about your faith and understanding of the gospel?
10. Do your favorite songs that you love to sing give a broad and deep picture of the character and nature of God? Can the same be said of how we think about God and how we pray to Him? 

The book wasn't just about singing in church--at church. It was about singing seven days a week and really living out what you're singing. 
Favorite quotes:

• We are commanded to sing the Word of God—the truth revealed in the Scriptures, the story of redemption. Fundamentally, we’re to sing about God, revealed in Christ and supremely in His suffering and His glory, since that’s what the Word of God is all about (Luke 24:26–27).
• The songs we sing should not brush along the surface, or pluck phrases out of context, or focus exclusively on ourselves, or describe Jesus in a way His Word does not (or, still worse, to speak in contradiction to His Word). Every part of a lyric should link together to bring a wonderful, thoughtful, deep expression of Scripture to every singer. 
• Worship comes as a response to revelation. Praise is prompted by—compelled by—the revelation of something glorious. And the gospel is the revelation of the most glorious truth in history. 
• Singing gives voice to a heart that deeply knows the gospel of grace. It is the overflow of a heart captivated by the gospel. In as many voices that join together to sing there are as many hearts that are called to know Christ as Lord and Savior. From that place there is a genuine and rich overflow of praise.
• People say you are what you eat. Well, songs are food for the soul. What you sing, and don’t sing, changes you. Your heart and mind require a good, balanced diet of gospel truth that will build you up for your working week, your times of trial, and for each season of life.
• If we are to be prepared to live for Christ in the whole of life, we need to be singing about the whole of life.
• If our songs are not giving us a balanced, rich, nutritious diet, we will not be spiritually healthy people. 
• Our singing can prepare us for every season of life, and sustain us through every season of life. We don’t need a musical escape from our lives; we need to gaze on the Savior of our lives—our refuge and help and comfort. 
• We need to make singing Bible truths second nature to our children, a “second language” in our homes. Sing about those truths when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. Sing with your kids as you put them to bed at night, or you sit down for dinner, or as you drive in the car with a CD on. Sooner or later, they’ll start singing unprompted. Join in with them.
• Songs help us train children in the “language” of the Christian faith. What we want to teach our kids travels deeper inside them when we sing it rather than only speak it to them. 
• While our faith must be taught, it is also “caught” in our homes, through what our kids see and hear from us. And singing is catchy. So sing with your kids. You don’t need to be able to sing well. Our singing always remains more important than the sound it makes.  
•  There may never be a perfect day to start singing truths with your kids. But there is today. They are not too old. They are not too young—we have been surprised that even our two-year-old knows several songs well.
• Our singing casts a light after we are gone. We each bear responsibility in the singing legacy we leave behind us. We should sing with a mind toward those younger than us who are listening in and learning from us.
• Someone took the time to share hymns of faith with us and we are to be faithful in doing the same. 
• As you stand and sing in your church this Sunday, you do not know who is listening, and you can never imagine what the Lord might be doing. 
• As you wake each day, and as you walk through your day, we pray that the lyrics and melodies of your faith will ring around the spaces where you live your life.  

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

23. A Book of Comfort For Those In Sickness

23. A Book of Comfort for Those In Sickness. Philip Bennett Power. 1876/2018. Banner of Truth. 97 pages. [Source: Bought] [5 stars]

From the introduction: AMONGST the many wonderful truths which are spoken of God in the Bible, one of the most wonderful and beautiful is that He is a ‘God of comfort.’

A Book of Comfort For Those in Sickness is a gem of a book. It was originally published in 1876, it has since been reprinted a few times--most recently in 2018 by Banner of Truth.

Whether your sickness or suffering leaves you in bed or a not-so-easy easy chair, this book is for you.

There are twelve chapters:

Is God a God of Comfort at All?
Hindrances to Our Believing that God is a God of Comfort
Helps to Our Believing That God is a God of Comfort
Comfort In Pain
Comfort as to Our Being Useless
Comfort in Felt Unworthiness
Comfort To Counter Envious Thoughts About Others
Comfort In Our Being a Trouble to Others
Comfort In Death That the Affliction Will Be Long
Comfort in the Thought That We Shall Have to Be Alone
Comfort In Our Fears that We Shall Dishonor God At the Last
Comfort in the Thought of Our Departure Hence

While a few chapters really stick out as being MARVELOUS AND all kinds of WONDERFUL. Each chapter is a gem. A few chapters would even be super-relevant even if you weren't enduring pain and suffering.

I have lived with chronic pain for over twenty years. Some days are more painful than others. Some days I am more functioning than others. But pain is a constant in my life. A pain-free day is something that just doesn't seem possible this side of eternity. If by pain-free you mean totally and completely free from pain everywhere. This pain has filled me with hope and longing--longing for more of Christ, longing for his Coming, longing for the days when there will be no more pain, no more tears, no more suffering, no more trials, no more temptations.

I found this book to be EXCELLENT. I loved, loved, loved it.

From chapter one, "Is God a God of Comfort At All?"

• Some people speak of God as though there is no comfort in Him at all; and that Jesus is to comfort us by enabling us to escape from God.
• (1) Get firmly convinced that God, God Himself, God the Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Father, is a God of comfort.
• (2) Do not look anywhere else for your prime and first comfort. I do not deny that there is much comfort in friends, in happy feelings, in books, in many of the surrounding circumstances which prove alleviations in illness, but I want you to gather in your thoughts, and feel that the only sure comfort is with God.
• (3) Expect comfort from God. Man’s expectation is generally a prelude to God’s action. We must first open our mouth, and then he will fill it.

From chapter two, "Hindrances To Our Believing that God is a God of Comfort"

• The brighter any truth of God, the more does Satan endeavour to gather about it such mists as will obscure it, if indeed he cannot extinguish it altogether.
• We must not be always suspecting God. If He says one thing to us, we must not think that He means another.
• The past is dead and gone, and let the dead bury their dead. We cannot alter the bad and foolish past. It will always remain what it was. But what we are concerned with is that it should not carry itself on into the present, that it should not hurt us now, that it should be indeed ‘a past.’ Now, say to yourself: That is a bad old habit of mine, not looking to God. I must break with it altogether. Let Him now make all things new with me.
• A discouraged man is always a weak man. This Satan knows very well, and therefore, he puts all sorts of discouragements in the way of our going to God for comfort.
• I do not believe that God is well pleased with a man’s spending all his time in self-condemnation. 
• I think God might well say to us, ‘What! all looking at self, and never a look at Me! What! look at Me, and never a bit of comfort out of it!
• Are your sins of more importance than My grace? are they to occupy all the ground, and no room to be left for Me to act in comfort and blessing, the way in which I love to act?’
• He will be more glorified by your being comforted than by your continually refusing to be comforted, or crying out that you are unworthy to be comforted.
• Self-condemnation is very good in its place, but it is very bad out of its place; and it is out of its place, when we make it so big that it can blot out the comfort of God.
• We may put a penny piece so close to our eyes as to hide out the sun itself; and we may put our little selves into such a position as to blot out God.

From chapter three, "Helps To Our Believing that God is a God of Comfort."

• We must keep close to thoughts of God. We must meet Satan’s dark thoughts and suggestions about God with bright thoughts about Him.
• I consider then God’s character as my great help to believing Him to be a God of comfort.
• Bathe your thoughts then in God. Be rich in God – poor in yourselves, but rich in Him.

From chapter four, "A Comfort in Pain"

• WE must not undervalue pain. It is a folly to say that we should be above being moved by it – that, as it is only for a time, we ought not to make anything of it.  So far from making nothing of pain, I make a great deal of it. I believe it to be a very real trouble, a very great trial, something which makes a great demand upon my faith and patience, and all my powers of body and mind too. I consider it an insult to anyone suffering pain to make light of his suffering.
• Be persuaded, then, that God does not make light of your pain. I am comforted in my suffering in the thought that God knows all about it, and feels for it too.
• Sympathy is a great balm; and you have the sympathy of God.
• Therefore, be comforted in every pain with the thought that it has not escaped the observation of God, but has been noted by Him, has been felt for by Him. ‘My groaning is not hid from Thee.’
• Pain is no vulgar thing when we bring it into connection with the sympathy of God.
• Then, we come to the thought that Jesus suffered pain. Put that down as a second comfort; put it down as a great comfort.
• Christ (God and man) in His human nature, made of nerves and flesh and blood, just like yours, every nerve the same, every muscle the same, actually felt great pain; probably greater than any you have ever felt. 
• No doubt you have no pain but that He felt one like it, probably that very pain in its highest form upon the cross. I think it will help you to bear your pain, and will comfort you in it, if you come into fellowship with Christ in regard to it.
• Another comfort in pain is the thought that all this shall have an end.
• Every pain borne, is one pain less to bear.
• And God would have us think of the end. He sets all the future blessedness before us, telling us of it before we attain to it, in order that it may cheer and encourage us on our way.
• But no pain is aimless, if only we will see that it has a design. God means it to work blessing. He means that it should leave something behind it.
• In pain, if properly borne, God can be pleased. But perhaps our pain may be so sharp, or may have worn us down so much that we cannot get the mind to work actively;
• it is a comfort to think that God does not require us to think. He is no hard taskmaster. He only wills us to resign ourselves into His hands.
• We may do that, and lean back in our chairs, or on our pillows, and feel that we are pleasing Him, though we can have no active thoughts about Him.

From chapter five, "A Comfort To Our Being Useless"

• Many of the most pitiable forms of illness and suffering will be found not on beds at all, but on sofas, in arm-chairs. 
• Yes! many of the sick ones who may claim this book as their own are even walking about, but they are hit sore, and can do nothing that looks worth much.
• God has not taken away all opportunities of usefulness from you by setting you in a useless place.
• God has something for you to do, and to be, in His kingdom.
• Sometimes, we must look at things in relation to God and man; and sometimes to God alone.
• Your patience, your resignation, your glorifying God in the fires, your word of good to others, all are useful, inestimably precious in the sphere of His kingdom in which He has now appointed you to act.
• Sick man, you have a place of usefulness for God, not the old place, but His place – the place which is best in the eyes of the all-wise One.
• Under any circumstances you may be of great use by being contented and cheerful in your trouble.
• Those around you will see that God sustains you, and will bless Him and glorify Him, and perhaps learn to trust Him too.

From chapter six, "A Comfort in Felt Unworthiness"

• ‘He is empty, then there is room for Me, and Mine – I will fill him.’
• Christ will fill you with Himself, and when the Father sees the Son in you – all the Son – His own beloved Son, and not a bit of your own poor fallen self, and your own poor perishing things, He will be well pleased.
• You shall never learn anything bad about yourself, without learning something correspondingly good about Christ.
• Humble yourself – the lower the better; but always, with Christ before you. Humility without Christ will make you weak; with Him, it will make you strong. Our own unworthiness would crush us.

From chapter seven, "A Comfort to Counter Envious Thoughts..."

• When I think how I am to be comforted under these circumstances, I ask myself, ‘Who has appointed me my present lot? Who has sent me my illness? Is God in this matter? Have I distinct views upon this subject?’
• It is very unsafe to survey the lot of others, except in the light of God.
• O my God, I will behold Thee in the sanctuary, not in the glass of my poor evil heart, where I would distort Thy image, but where Thou showest Thyself, and I believe that Thou art good, and good in the highest way to me. 
• But that would not be enough. I must believe that infinite wisdom has been at work, to give me the thing best for me.
• Why it is best for me I know not; enough that, if it come from God, it must be so.
• I am comforted, because Thou who art all-wise and good hast settled my lot for me.
• We stand before Him in our individuality; and He deals with us one by one. Therefore, if I believe in God, I comfort myself, in the assurance that I have the lot that is best for me. Why it should be best, as I have said, I cannot tell; that I must leave to God.
• I comfort myself, O my God, with the belief that Thou appointest what is best for me – for me!
• Very often, we have to hunt for our blessings to find them. They are none the worse for that;
• In sickness, little mercies are as sweet and as really great to you, as very great things are to other people in health. 
• Ask God to show you the good things incidental to your lot. Believe that there are some, and look for them.

From chapter eight, "A Comfort In Our Being a Trouble to Others"

• Very often, our illness makes us sad on account of dear ones on whom we are made dependent, upon whom this illness must exercise some pressure.
• To you, my sick friend, it may be a great burden even to hold up a book; it may tire you very much to walk a few steps; you cannot talk for five minutes at a time. But you must not measure your friends round about you by yourself. You and they are under different circumstances altogether;
• Now, love makes no account of trouble; on the other hand, it rejoices in opportunities of showing itself, and counts many a thing which is troublesome in itself, no trouble at all because of the one for whom it is done.
• God will reward those who minister to us, for what they do for His sake.
• There is One who notes all they do, and who in His own time and way will reward them.
• Faith is not always wanting to know.
• God has appointed you to be the one to depend, even as He has appointed your kind friends to be the ones to be depended on.

From chapter nine, "A Comfort In Fear That The Affliction Will Be Long"

• The first grand comfort will come from living by the day.
• God meant us to live by the day. It was sin that brought in ‘trouble about the future,’ and distrust of God; and conjured up all sorts of fears and doubts and disbeliefs, to people the long weary time that it brings before the mind.
• God has mercifully cut up life into short pieces, into days; if He had not done so, we must have been overwhelmed.
• ‘God is often better to us than our fears,’
• From the habit of being on the sofa, or in bed, or being confined to the house, all these trials will be far less than they would have been, if they came only at intervals, and for short periods.
• It is also a comfort to think that, no matter how long our trial may be, it will never be too long for God’s intention.
• Comfort yourself also with the assurance that the trial will not be too long for your blessing.
• God will not send trial without the intention of blessing; therefore, where the trial is great, we may be sure that the blessing intended is great also.
• Your trial cannot be longer than the lasting power of God’s faithfulness, and mercy, and patience, and power.
• Believe that long afflictions have their peculiar meaning and blessing.
• But come what may, my God will be faithful to me all through; and will hold me by my right hand, even to the end.

From chapter ten, "A Comfort in the Thought That We Shall Have To Be Alone"

• Strengthen yourself in the honour of being in some small measure even as Christ was.
• Human applause did not carry Jesus through anything; what He did, He did without it; and we may do the like.
• Your circumstances are like His, He will make you, in your measure, like Himself.
• Depend upon it, however little sympathy you may have, you have more than He had; however often you may be misunderstood, you are not misunderstood as often as He was.
• Though we cannot enter into the depths of His suffering in any one form of it, still we can be in fellowship with it as regards ‘kind,’ and to be in fellowship with Him will brighten any lonely hour.
• Encourage yourself in the thought of ‘a presence’, and that presence – your Father’s. And that presence you will never have without His voice speaking to you, and without your voice being drawn out to respond to His.
• Our bodies, no doubt, are kept in the chamber of weakness; but our bodies are not ourselves.

From chapter eleven, "A Comfort In Our Fears That We Shall Fail and Dishonor God at the Last"

• The unknown we almost always fear. And yet, with the unknown before us, we must always live.
• There are two ways of meeting the unknown – either by not thinking about it at all, or by thinking and leaving it all to God.
• God sees the future both of our weakness and of our temptation, and when they come, we shall find that He has come with them.
• The Word of God is intended to be, not a fear-creating, but a fear-dispelling Word.
• No doubt it warns us about ourselves – our own weakness, and nothingness, and entire liability to fall – but this is only to prevent our being set on the wrong basis of self and our own strength.
• One of the uses of ‘the Word’ is to lift us out of self-strength, to put us on new standing-ground altogether, to take us out of the land of fears, and set our feet in the land of faith.
• We must leave the future to God – our future must be a God-made, God-wrought one.

From chapter twelve, "A Comfort in the Thought Of Our Departure Hence"

• One great comfort will be to believe that the best arrangement is made for everything connected with it. 
• Not arrangement by ourselves, or any near and dear to us, but by the One who from the beginning has arranged all things.
• He who is so active in all things connected with life, is equally active in all things connected with what we call Death.
• We are going to our Father. We are provided for by our Father. Our Father is in all. We are going to a place, to friends, to life. A home, and not a grave, is the true ending of our earthly life; we depart not to be, as we say, ‘dead,’ but really to live.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

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

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

9. People Pleaser

People Pleaser: Breaking Free From the Burden of Imaginary Expectations. Jinger Duggar Vuolo. 2025. 224 pages. [Source: Library] [3 stars, christian nonfiction, christian living]

First sentence: The apartment was clean and cozy.

Jinger Duggar Vuolo's newest book is about breaking the habit of being a people pleaser; it is about her journey of breaking free from that specific issue. It is a personal book with personal stories but with practical applications for everyone. Long story short, don't do it: seek to please God by serving others instead.

There are twelve chapters:

• Confession: I'm a People Pleaser
• New Tools
• We Need Each Other by Beautiful Design
• Desperate Is Not a Good Look
• Trading Down
• The Critics
• I Can't Let You See Me Mess Up
• Arguments Are Not Rejection
• It's Showtime!
• The Solution May Surprise You
• It's Just Us Now
• Yours To Give

There are discussion type questions at the end of each chapter. I do think she wrote with the best of intentions to help people pleasers like herself break free from that mindset, that burden. 

I realized fairly early on that I am not a people pleaser--at least not of the traditional, average sort. I don't regret my time reading the book. But I think I could have gotten more out of it if I had actually been a people-pleaser. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

3. The Lord of Psalm 23

3. The Lord of Psalm 23: Jesus Our Shepherd, Companion, and Host. David Gibson. 2023. 157 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars, christian nonfiction, christian living]

First sentence from the introduction: Some texts of Holy Scripture are hard to preach on or write about, not because they are especially difficult for the pastor or theologian to understand but because they are already so profoundly precious to the hearer and reader. I suspect this is more true of Psalm 23 than of any other part of the Bible.

The Lord of Psalm 23 could be classified as a weighty devotional or a light commentary. It isn't properly either absolutely. It approaches all six verses of the psalm and invites the reader to take a closer, deeper look to the psalm, to perhaps see it with fresh eyes, though the author is not pushing a "new" or "improved" way of reading it. He breaks the psalm into three main sections: The Sheep and the Shepherd, The Traveler and the Companion, The Guest and the Host. He also encourages readers to link the psalm with the exodus story or exodus theme which is prevalent throughout the Bible--but certainly appears 'again-again' throughout Israel's songbook--the Psalms. 

I enjoyed reading this one. 

Something to think about:

Some of us want Jesus to protect us from our enemies with his rod, but we don't want Jesus to protect us from ourselves with his staff. We like the idea of Jesus coming down hard on others; we are less enamored when he reaches us personally and directs us somewhere we don't want to go. But what is my greatest enemy right now as I type these lines? It is my own sinful heart. My love of myself, my self-pity, my distorted belief that the path of righteousness might not be the path of happiness. "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,/ Prone to leave the God I love," the hymn says. Oh how I need Christ's staff in my life to continually pull me back to him. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

60. Bible Translations for Everyone

Bible Translations for Everyone: The Guide to Finding a Bible That's Right for You. Tim Wildsmith. 2024. 192 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars, christian nonfiction, books about the Bible]

First sentence: Have you ever struggled to follow along when someone else read aloud from the Bible because the words in your Bible didn't match up exactly with theirs?

What you see is what you get, this one promises to be a widely accessible [aka understandable] introduction to Bible translations with the goal of getting YOU the reader fitted with the translation that is right for YOU. It does this by talking in basic, simple terms about the field [or mechanics] of translating, but mainly it just introduces YOU, the reader, to a dozen or so Bible translations. It provides mini-introductions to the translations, which are part history and part translation philosophy. There are photographs to keep things lively on the page, if you will. 

The chapters:

The Basics of Bible Translation

The Earliest English Bible Translations

King James Version (KJV)

Revised Version (RV) and American Standard Version (ASV)

Revised Standard Version (RSV)

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

New International Version (NIV)

New King James Version (NKJV)

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

New Living Translation (NLT)

English Standard Version (ESV)

Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

A Few More Translations We Need To Talk About (Message, Legacy Standard Bible (LSB), Common English Bible (CEB), Modern English Version (MEV), Revised English Bible (REB). 

Catholic Bible Translations

Finding a Bible That's Right for You 

Tip of the iceberg. Granted this book is written for beginners. Granted this book is super practical in wanting to connect contemporary readers with translations they can find easily, readily because they are still in print. Granted this one is to appeal to the widest, broadest audience possible. So many translations not covered, not mentioned. So much history skipped--in my opinion.

I really WISH that he had talked about the Berean Standard Bible. It is in the public domain. It is new. It fills the void left behind by the disappearance of the NIV 1984. It is SUCH a readable translation. He could have used this opportunity to point people to a new truly wonderful translation, to build up a readership. I also would have LOVED to see the BSB in his charts to see where he would rate it on the spectrum of translation philosophy.

His thoughts on the Message were interesting to say the least.

I can understand *why* he went with the newest edition of each translation. But choosing the NRSVue over the 1989 NRSV was a definite choice, and may not be doing the NRSV any favors. Same with the NASB 2020 over the NASB 1995. Except that the NASB 2020 does have readers who love it. I still think the NASB 1995 might have a larger readership, but, again this book is for beginners. 

I will say I liked the idea of having a "team" of translations. I'm not sure it would work for me since I lean so heavily towards word-for-word instead of thought-for-thought. (With the exception of NIV 84). 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible