Book Review: By Grace Alone

 

Do you find the grace of God astonishing and amazing or have you begun to take God’s goodness and love for granted? The goal of By Grace Alone is to help the reader see afresh the amazing nature of God's grace. This book is a helpful reminder of the truth of the Gospel. I found it easy to read yet thought-provoking, convicting yet encouraging. Here, for example, are some of the questions with which this book deals:

• Do you deserve to go to heaven?
• Must you strive to do better in order to be accepted by God?
• What is your greatest need?
• What does a relationship characterized by grace look like?
• Does God want what is best for us? How can we know?
• What is the cause of every failure in the Christian life?
• Why is it significant that Jesus was charged with treason and blasphemy?
• Why does the Christian no longer continue in sin? What does this mean? What are the implications of this teaching?
• Why is grace so amazing?

I will not share how he answers all of these questions lest I discourage potential readers from reading the book for themselves. However, I will tell you how Ferguson answers the question, “What is your greatest need?” He says, "Your greatest need is to have your sin and your guilt exchanged for pardon and new life" (pg. 62).

Ferguson does not shy away from speaking the truth in love as he deals with these (and many other) topics as they relate to grace. For example, when writing about how we know that God is "for us" and how that knowledge shapes our actions, Ferguson states:

"After all, if you really believed that the all-kind Creator of the universe wanted to bless and enrich your life, would you not seek Him? For all their protestations that they believe in a God of love, deep down people believe the opposite. They fear that God is out to destroy their lives. They do not trust Him; they do not love Him; they do not obey Him; they do not worship Him; they do not want Him. They too [like Adam and Eve] have exchanged the truth about God for the lie" (pg. 96).

The grace of God is awesomely amazing; we cannot meditate on it too frequently. By Grace Alone is a great tool to help believers reflect on Scriptures about grace and understand them more fully.

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

Book Review: On This Day in Christian History by Robert J. Morgan

On This Day in Christian History is a collection of stories about various "saints, martyrs, and heroes" throughout church history. As its title suggests, each story is told on a date relevant to the event and/or character (i.e. birth, death, sermon preached, imprisonment, etc.). Robert Morgan also selects a relevant verse or two from Scripture to be read following each day's story, one for each day of the year. Additionally, there is an index of selected topics at the conclusion of the book which some readers may find beneficial.

In reading On This Day in Christian History, I learned something about myself: I do not do well with snippets. What I mean is, I, personally, do not enjoy reading a short, isolated devotion on some aspect of history. This book seemed a bit disjointed (and at times, redundant) to me. Perhaps it is because I have a limited understanding of Christian history and so, have difficulty placing individual devotions into the "bigger picture."

That being said, there is nothing expressly wrong with this book. Robert Morgan freely quotes the individuals of whom he writes and frequently makes use of primary sources (though lacking documentation). It reminds me of a textbook approach to history. I did not find the writing style “inspiring” as the subtitle suggested one would. However, my family visited for the holiday season, and my dad enjoyed reading the book each morning while he was here.

In sum, if you like a condensed, matter-of-fact telling, you will probably like On This Day in Christian History. It is clear, concise, and somewhat informative. As for me, I think I'll stick with a chronological approach in the future.

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

Large Family Logistics Sale

If you've been looking to get a copy of Kim Brenneman's new book Large Family Logistics, now may be a great time to pick one up as Vision Forum has them on sale for $10.80 until December 31, 2010. This is a great price as the book is typically $19-$24, depending on where you seek to purchase it. I got my copy just before Christmas (it was on sale for $12 and I had a $10 off coupon!). I've read over half of it and skimmed the rest. It is an excellent resource! I think it would be valuable for any Mom seeking to better organize her household management to the glory of God. I plan to do a comparison of this and Managers of Their Homes in the future (once I complete reading this volume and refresh on the other), but if you are looking for that information now, please feel free to email me, and I'll share my preliminary thoughts. ;)

Happy Reading, Friends!