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Thursday, December 2, 2010

Book Review: "Think"




God uses Piper to stir my affections afresh. Through Piper's writing, I am encouraged to study harder, think deeper, and to pursue God with greater intensity. Piper's latest book Think is no exception. It is written for those who thrive on thinking and for those who would rather not think much at all.

As usual, Piper has written a deep, thought-provoking, immensely helpful book. He discusses the importance of reading and of taking time in reading to ask questions and of working hard to understand. 

"If you cannot embrace the pain of learning but must have instant gratification, you forfeit the greatest rewards of life. So it is with reading the Bible. The greater riches are for those who will work hard to understand all that is really there" (pg. 47).

Furthermore, Piper expounds upon the role of thinking in coming to faith and in loving God.

"…we cannot love God without knowing God…If we do not know anything about God, there is nothing in our mind to awaken love" (pg. 90).

This book is filled with Gospel-truth. In it, Piper talks about saving faith at length because "you can have a zeal for God and not be saved" (pg. 162).

In Think, you will also find tools to counter the "true for you, but not true for me" relativist sentiment that is so prevalent in society today as well as other challenges (i.e. anti-intellectualism and avoiding knowledge that puffs up) . I wish I had had this book before I headed off to college!

"The aim of this book..." Piper says, "...is to encourage serious, faithful, humble thinking that leads to the true knowledge of God, which leads to loving him, which overflows in loving others" (pg. 20).

Do you find that Christ is supremely valuable in your life, more to be treasured than everything that the world offers? Would you give up everything just to be with Him? Can you say with Paul, "I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" (Phil. 3:8 as quoted by Piper, pg. 71)? If not, grab this book. Meditate on the Scripture and the Biblical truth found therein. Let it stir you afresh.  It is an awesome read!

*Many thanks to Crossway for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion!

2 comments:

Trisha said...

Discovered you through Becky's blog, and I'm glad I did. This book is on my wish list, and I'll have to exercise much self control to not buy it right now. You've reviewed several books I've been looking at, and your book recommendations include some of my own favorites as well.

Thanks, too, for the caution about Guthrie's book. We're using the Advent book she edited.

Becky said...

Thank you, again, for an excellent book review.

It is always a pleasure for me to "read" you. Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog too.

Much love,