Operation Actually Read Bible

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Book Review: Don't Follow Your Heart

Don't Follow Your Heart. Jon Bloom. 2015. Desiring God. 196 pages. [Source: Downloaded for Free]

First sentence: Follow your heart is a creed embraced by billions of people. It's a statement of faith in one of the great pop-cultural myths of the Western world--a gospel proclaimed in many of our stories, movies, and songs.

Premise/plot: The premise of this one is simple: The Bible is clear: we must follow God's heart, not ours. It may be a simple premise, but, it probably won't be popular. This is a book of thirty-one devotions urging you to follow Jesus and die to self. A book reminding us that we have a BIG, BIG sin problem, and that our hearts are not trustworthy and honest.

My thoughts: I am not a big devotional reader. Usually. But now and then I come across one I can't help recommending. This is one of those meaty devotionals packed with meditations that will help you to preach the gospel to yourself daily.

It was a well-written book that made me think.

What are the satanic strongholds that spiritually imprison people, the strongholds that we seek to destroy? Arguments and opinions? Where is the battle raging? In our thoughts.

When we are angry, discouraged, depressed, anxious, self-pitying, fearful, or irritable, it is likely because we are believing something very specific. To battle sin is to battle unbelief--or destroy arguments.

Meaning comes from God, and we receive it through his word.

The gospel we need won't be viewed in our mirrors. For that, we need to look through a window. And that's what the Bible is. The Bible is not a mirror; it is a window. It is through the Bible that we come to see reality.

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

My Year with Newton #2

Today I am continuing to share my reading experience with John Newton. I have completed John Newton's sermon series on Handel's Messiah. I am moving on to his LETTERS.

Today's letter is titled "Indwelling Sin and the Believer" and dates from 1772.

The more vile we are in our own eyes — the more precious He will be to us! A deep repeated sense of the evil of our hearts — is necessary to preclude all boasting, and to make us willing to give the whole glory of our salvation where it is due!

But though my disease is grievous, it is not desperate; I have a gracious and infallible Physician. I shall not die — but live, and declare the works of the Lord.

If the evils we feel were not capable of being overruled for good — He would not permit them to remain in us. This we may infer from his hatred to sin — and the love which He bears to his people.

Though sin wars in us — it shall not reign in us. And though it breaks our peace — it cannot separate from his love.

When they were wandering — He brought them back. When they were fallen — He raised them. When they were wounded — He healed them. When they were fainting — He revived them. By him, out of weakness, they have been made strong. He has taught their hands to battle, and covered their heads in the day of battle. In a word, some of the clearest proofs they have had of his excellence — have been occasioned by the mortifying proofs they have had of their own vileness. They would not have known so much of him — if they had not known so much of themselves!

Whoever is truly humbled — will not be easily angry, nor harsh or critical of others. He will be compassionate and tender to the infirmities of his fellow-sinners, knowing that if there is a difference — it is grace alone which has made it! He knows that he has the seeds of every evil in his own heart. And under all trials and afflictions — he will look to the hand of the Lord, and lay his mouth in the dust, acknowledging that he suffers much less than his iniquities have deserved.

Monday, September 5, 2016

Book Review: The Lion First Book of Bible Stories

The Lion First Book of Bible Stories. Lois Rock. Illustrated by Barbara Vagnozzi. 2012. Lion Hudson. 96 pages. [Source: Library]

The Lion First Book of Bible Stories contains eighteen stories. Eleven of the stories are taken from the Old Testament. (Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Esau, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David and Goliath, Jonah, and Daniel.) Seven of the stories are from the New Testament. (These all focus on Jesus and his disciples. There is a balance between his teaching, his storytelling, his miracles.)

The length of each story is good: not too long, not too short. I'd say the average is between six and eight pages per story. The book has a lot of text. But the amount of illustrations balance out the text and perhaps will help keep children engaged.

The writing is good. The narrative style is light and entertaining. Nothing stilted.

I think there are strengths and weaknesses in this one. On the one hand, this retelling of Jonah is complete. It tells the WHOLE story. The Jonah-was-a-prophet-who-really-never-got-it story. Not all story book's capture that aspect of Jonah. The fact that Jonah was forgiven by God but didn't want anyone else--especially especially Israel's enemies--being forgiven by God too. On the other hand, I think some of the stories miss out on some important truths. For example, I think God's grace was completely absent from the story of The Garden of Eden. Grace is to be found--in several places, in several ways--in Genesis 3. Yet this retelling one only sees a harsh, angry God.

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Book Review: Miracle Man

Miracle Man. John Hendrix. 2016. Harry N. Abrams. 40 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Ages ago, in a dry and dusty land, the people were in need. The land was a sick place, in need of healing. The land was a blind place, in need of sight. The land was a thirsty place, in need of water...the kind of living water that would last forever.

Premise/plot: Miracle Man is a picture book for readers of all ages. It is the story of Jesus. It begins, not with his birth, but with his ministry. The book ends on the verge of the greatest miracle of all: his resurrection. Readers see the empty grave clothes, the stone rolled away, and read the words, "But God's Son, Jesus, the Miracle Man, had in store one last glorious miracle...."

My thoughts: I thought the storytelling was excellent. No story book--or picture book--will ever take the place of Holy Scripture--but writers can creatively craft a narrative worth reading and sharing.

I definitely enjoyed this one. It was one of those books that I wanted to reread a couple more times before turning back into the library. One of those books that I wanted to get everyone in my family to read so I could talk about it with someone.

Text: 5 out of 5
Illustrations: 4 out of 5
Total: 9 out of 10

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Week in Review: August 28 - September 3

ERV

Luke
John
Acts

ESV

Genesis
2 Corinthians
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude

Wycliffe New Testament, 1388

Matthew 1-18

Friday, September 2, 2016

Book Review: Unashamed

Unashamed: Healing Our Brokenness and Finding Freedom from Shame. Heather Davis Nelson. 2016. Crossway. 192 pages. [Source: Review copy]

Is Unashamed by Heather Davis Nelson a must-read? I'm tempted to say yes. I think the author is right in saying that everyone experiences shame in one way or another. In the book, she defines shame, differentiating between shame and guilt. She explores and discusses various types of shame. She openly talks about how past shame can be burdening down our lives and contributing to our ongoing sense of shame now. In other words, you can't bury your shame deep enough that it will stop affecting you. Ignoring it won't cure it. And she does this all through a biblical perspective. That's what I appreciate most. That's what I need--some big doses of the gospel. Jesus is front and center in this one, right where he belongs. And this book will likely touch many lives because of how truthful and forthcoming it is. It goes uncomfortable places, to be sure, it asks you to acknowledge things that you perhaps would like to keep hidden and buried forever. But there is the reminder that you are not alone, that you never have to be alone again. That shame--past, present, or future--is not your identity.

This is a book I think deserves to be read at least two or three times. Perhaps not every single chapter. But selectively. I think it would be a great book to read with a friend or in a group setting.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: Shame: Everyone Has It
Exchanging Shame for Beauty
Living Shamelessly Through Christ-Formed Community
Clothed in Christ: Body Shame
United to Christ: Social Shame
Free in Christ: Performance Shame
Response to Shame
Shame in Marriage
Shame-Free Parenting
Shame and the Church
Conclusion: A Shame-Free Destiny

Quotes:

Poor theology always leads to sinful practice, and sinful living is always rooted in poor theology--misunderstanding and misbelieving who God is, what the Bible teaches, and who Christians are.

I live my life according to a never-ending shame narrative. It must be interrupted by a better, truer narrative: a story that we've been telling alongside the stories of shame--the story of God's goodness, of his pursuit of wayward and shafe-filled and shaming people.

When we grow weary of fighting against shame, we often let it take up full residence in our lives, putting down roots into our identity so that we see ourselves as nothing but shameful.

We don't see shame as foreign, but as inherent to us... Shame is a foreign body. We are not to grow comfortable with our shame, or adapt to it through hiding and blaming. Shame's ultimate origin is no less dark than the Accuser of our souls himself, Satan.

We are to rewrite our shame stories moment by moment.

As someone created in the image of God and for the purpose of reflecting who God is, I am created to live before God alone. By his judgment, I stand or fall. And because my life is hidden with Christ, I stand!

Shame thrives in secrecy. It gains momentum in our heads as it spins around and around like a pinball, seizing our thoughts and then our emotions. It tells us to go far away from others, especially God.

We fight shame best when we talk to someone trusted about a shameful feeling, experience, or thought.

Freedom comes as I fix my eyes on Jesus, realizing that the cross is the focal point where my sin is forgiven and my shame is covered.

There was joy set before him, and so I can run freely after him in hope that his joy will also be mine one day.

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Quotes from the Cloud #28

This year, I hope share weekly posts of quotes. These quotes are from authors I'm reading and enjoying from the Clouds of Witnesses Reading Challenge.

All theology begins with God and ends with God, or it is not true biblical theology. Much that passes for theology today is simply the educated man trying to explain God through his own logic and reason. ~ A.W. Tozer