Last night while reading Broken-Down House by Paul D. Tripp I had to admit that I fail miserably at what he as "Cruciform Love" (the love we give other that shapes itself, molds itself to resemble in some essential way what took place at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.). It is a willing self-sacrifice for the redemptive good of another. He gives the following practical terms to suggest what it means to be committed to being an instrument of cross-shaped love:

1. Not keeping yourself so busy with you and yours that you have no practical time to love others.
2. Being committed to knowing people, because you can minister only in very limited ways to those whom you do not know.
3. Being willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of others.
4. Being willing to share your physical resources with others.
5. Being willing to live with an open home.
6. Being perseverant and patient even when the love you give is not returned.
7. Actively looking for places where you can function as one of God's tools of love.
8. Resisting the temptation to be judgmental, self-righteous, and critical.
9. Overlooking minor offenses and fighting the temptation to become bitter or cynical.
10. Making life decisions out of a recognition of this inescapable call to love.
11. Being lovingly and humbly honest in moments of misunderstanding; more committed to reconciliation than to being right.
12. Admitting that you are still learning to love as you have been loved.
13. Being willing to own up to your sin and admit your faults.
14. Not judging the success of your life by the size of your house or bank account, or by the quality of your car, but the the quality of your love for God and others.
15. Regularly examining the motivations, desires, and thoughts of your heart in the mirror of God's Word.
16. Moving beyond simply surrounding yourself with people whom you find comfortable and likeable.
17. Being a student of God's Word, a joyful participant in the means of grace, and a committed participant in the fellowship of the body of Christ, so that the love you offer others may be increasingly pure and mature.
18. Being willing to be misunderstood, mistreated, and misrepresented for the sake of incarnating Christ's love.
19. Overcoming evil with good.
20. Not letting race, social class, gender, age, or ethnicity get in the way of a biblical call to Christlike love.
21. Willing to have your schedule and plans interrupted or altered.
22. Willing to grant and seek forgiveness.
23. Paying attention to the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the people God puts in your path, and looking for ways to help them bear these burdens.
24. Believing that God will not call you to a task without giving you what you need to accomplish it.
25. Willing to get up earlier and stay up later.
26. Learning the details about someone's struggle so that you love wisely, while at the same time guarding the reputation of the person you are loving.
27. Weeping with the one who weeps and rejoicing with the one who rejoices.
28. Willing to endure tense and uncomfortable situations lovingly.
29. Not allowing yourself plausible excuses that seemingly free your from love's call.
30. Making a commitment to being a faithful friend.
31. Willing to take on big things, even as you humbly admit your limits.
32. Keeping your promises and being faithful to your word.
33. Being open to correction, loving criticism, and godly rebuke.
34. Believing in the body of Christ and recognizing that you are but one of the tools in God's big toolbox of redemption.
35. Being open to sound counsel and receptive to advice.
36. Willing to go to bed tired and to awake to another day of calling.
37. Hiding God's Word in your heart and keeping his Kingdom always before your eyes.
38. Refusing to become anyone's substitute messiah, but instead to point people to the presence and grace of Jesus.
39. Looking out not only for your own interests, but also for the interests of others.
40. Building relationships, not just for the purpose of being relationally comfortable, but so that those relationship would be a workroom for redemption.
41. Loving people in such a way that they never feel like thy are in debt to you.
42. Remembering that you are more like than unlike the people you are called to love.
43. Understanding that the call to love is a call to both word and deed.
44. Daily remembering Jesus, being in awe of the gift of his love and living thankfully.

Grace

Just started reading Paul D. Tripp's book, Broken-Down House, and as with all of his books that I have read thus far I am enjoying it immensely.

I love his description of Grace. . .

So grace is a story and grace is a gift. It is God's character and it is your hope. Grace is a transforming tool and a state of relationship. Grace is a theology and an invitation. Grace is an experience and a calling. Grace will turn your life upside own while giving you a rest you have never known. Grace will convince you of your unworthiness without ever making you feel unloved.

Grace will make you acknowledge that you cannot earn God's favor, and it will remove your fear of not measuring up to his standards. Grace will confront you with the fact that you are much less than you thought you were, even as it assures you that you can be far more than you had ever imagined. Grace will put you in your place without ever putting you down.

Grace will enable you to face truths about yourself that you have hesitated to consider, while freeing you from being self-consciously introspective. Grace will confront you with profound weaknesses, and at the same time introduce you to new-found strength. Grace will tell you what you aren't, while welcoming you to what you can now be. Grace will make you as uncomfortable as you have ever been, while offering you more comfort than you have ever known. Grace will drive you to the end of yourself, while it invites you to fresh starts and new beginnings. Grace will dash your hopes, but never leave you hopeless. Grace will decimate your kingdom as it introduces you to a better King. Grace will expose your blindness as it gives you eyes to see. Grace will make you sadder than you have ever been before, while it gives you greater cause for celebration than you have ever known.

Grace enters your life in a moment and will occupy you for eternity. You simply cannot live a productive life in this broken-down world unless you have a practical grasp of the grace you have been given.

- Paul Tripp, Broken-Down House, pp. 42-43

Respectable Sins Book Review

I highly recommend Jerry Bridge's book "Respectable Sins". It is a book about sin, but it deals with the sins that we often do not take seriously. Christians have a way of focusing on the sins of society around us while overlooking the sins so prominent in our own hearts and lives.

The book opens by showing us the gospel of Jesus Christ and what God has done for us to help us to be people of holiness. Bridges reminds us that holiness is not something we can obtain on our own since our flesh wars against the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-17). Bridges shows that the way to holiness is not in rules of religion but only by the grace of God given to us freely in Christ (Titus 2:11-14). The problem of holiness is not that we can't obtain it but that we are by nature children of sin who need to be born again by the Spirit (Ezekiel 36:25-27; John 3:3-7).

Secondly, Bridges turns to showing us that sin is not just found in society at large but it can be in our thoughts, our words, and in our actions. It is easy to see sin in others, Bridges points out, but we need to first see sin in us (Matthew 7:1-3). Bridges then takes the light of God's Word and allows us to see that all sin grieves the heart of God (Ephesians 4:29-31). Sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4). The Law of God shows us our sins (Romans 7:7, 14; 1 Timothy 1:8-10; James 2:8-11).

Bridges gives 7 helpful directions with dealing with sin:

1. Address our sin in the content of the gospel - God has forgiven our sin and credited to us the perfect righteousness of Christ.
2. Rely on the enabling power of the Holy Spirit - For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
3. Recognize our responsibility to diligently pursue all practical steps for dealing with our sin.
4. Identify specific areas of acceptable sins.
5. Memorize and apply appropriate scriptures.
6. Pray over the sins we tolerate
7. Involve one or more other believes with us in our struggles against our subtle sins.

After giving these practical steps of dealing with our sins, he writes a chapter about each one of these acceptable sins: ungodliness, anxiety and frustration, discontentment, unthankfulness, pride, selfishness, lack of self-control, anger, judgemental ism, envy, jealousy, sins of the tongue, and worldliness. This is a long list, and to be quite honest, I found that I had need to deal with almost all of them.

One of the ways that I have continued to meditate on the things contained in this book is by using a tree as an illustration. I have always thought of pride being the root of sin. But since reading this book, my thought process has changed. The life of a tree is the root system. Pride is the trunk of the tree not the roots. The root system is ungodliness. It is ungodliness that ultimately gives life to our more visible sins. Christians are ungodly. Ungodliness is defined as living one's every day life with little or no thought of God, God's will, God's glory or one's dependence on God. Whether we like to admit it or not after examining ourselves there is truth in that statement.

I believe this book will be tremendously helpful to Christians of all ages as they read it. It accomplishes several goals if read with humility. First, it brings sins we often neglect to deal with to the front of our minds. How many of us have even thought about our impatience this week? It's a sin we learn to live with. Or how many of us have thought about our lack of self control today? Second, this book focuses on heart issues and not externals. Sins of the heart are serious before the Lord, but we neglect them because no one else sees them. Respectable Sins drives our attention inward to our own hearts. Third, after driving our spiritual gaze inward, Bridges drives our gaze upward to the gospel. This book is gospel saturated and thoroughly explains how the gospel confronts our sins and shapes our lives. Finally, this book helps us to take sin seriously. As explained in the book, our culture seems to brush sin aside with ease. Respectable Sins will help us realize the malignancy of sin.

Respectable Sins is the type of book to keep close by and pull out when you are dealing with a specific sin and need help. It will direct your attention to Christ and offer Biblical ways to confront your respectable sins.

More from Paul David Tripp

I was greatly encouraged by what Paul Tripp has to say regarding Accountability in his book Instrument's In The Redeemer's Hands.

The concept of accountability tends to carry negative connotations. Yet the biblical picture is very loving in at least two ways. First, as we help restore people to where God wants them to be, we are called to "carry each others burdens" (Gal. 6:2). We are also told to fight the deceitfulness of sin by "encouraging one another daily."(Heb. 3:13). We must love people enough to do more than expose wrong, pronounce right, and walk away. Accountability requires a willingness to roll up our sleeves and get alongside people as they fight the war between sin and righteousness.

Yet as people step out in faith, they are often still confused and afraid. They have committed to a new and better way, but they are not yet ready to be on their own. The disciples provide a wonderful example of this phenomenon. They had been with Jesus for three years and seen the glory and power of his presence. They had learned much about the kingdom of God, but in many ways they were still wobbly and uncertain. In his last few moments with them before the cross, Jesus recognized that they were not ready to be on their own. (John 16:12-16). Their fear and confusion at his crucifixion (which Jesus had warned them was coming) reveal what spiritual babies they were. Confused and afraid, they hid together, wondering what to do next. Even after they saw the resurrected Christ, they were still asking wrong questions (Acts 1:7-11). But Jesus didn't leave his wobbly disciples alone. He sent the Holy Spirit to guide, teach, encourage, warn, convict, and strengthen them.

God calls us to the same ministry by the power of the same Holy Spirit. He calls us to stand with people as they step out in faith, obedience, and courage. This is the ministry of accountability. It is not about lying in wait to catch them doing wrong. The purpose of accountability is to assist people to do what is right for the long run. It provides a presence that keeps them responsible, aware, determined, and alert until they are able to be on their own. It directs eyes that have just begun to see, and strengthens weak knees and feeble arms. We seek to encourage flagging faith and to keep God's goals before people's eyes. We help them to understand when they need to flee from sin and when they are called to stand and fight.

By contrast, accountability is not about being a private detective, trying to do the work of the Holy Spirit, being someone else's conscience, forcing someone to obey, chasing someone who is running, or looking for someone who is hiding. Accountability provides loving structure, guidance, encouragement, and warnig to someone who is fully committed to the change God is working in his life. The person who makes accountability work is always the person being held accountable. He doesn't see our presence and help as scary or intrusive. He doesn't run and hide from it. Rather, he is glad to know that as others stand with him, God stands with him. Accountability works because he is a seeker, not a runner. The runner doesn't need accountability; he needs rebuke. Accountability is help for those who are committed to change.

Accountability provides help on a practical level in way like these:

1. Accountability provides structure.
   
2. Accountability provides guidance.
3. Accountability provides assistance.
4. Accountability provides encouragement.
5. Accountability provides warning.

Accountability brings ongoing help to the person who is fully committed to the "put off/put on" process.

Holding Hands Holding Hearts

I am convinced this is the best book I have read on Christian dating for adults that I've read so far. It takes Biblical principles of a healthy marriage and work backwards to a healthy Biblical dating relationship. The foundations for a healthy, godly marriage begin while dating. Here are some points I gleamed from this book:

• The intimacy of romance - both physical and emotional intimacy - is one that binds two people tightly together. If we don't treat our own and other's hearts carefully, there will be a lot of pain and bleeding. A broken heart is no small matter, as so many of us know from experience. This is the cause of untold pain in our world today, and Christians need to respond to affairs of the heart with respect, with care, and with the wisdom that God is able to give. According to the Bible's perspective, if you are dating you are not just holding hands, you are holding hearts. (14 &15)
  
• Godly friends on both sides should be aware of the relationship to give counsel, to pray for blessing, and to provide accountability. If the woman is living near her parents, it would be even better for a man to approach her father first, or if that is not possible, to approach his or her pastor for godly counsel and support. The point is that when a man is out with a Christian woman, he must remember that she is someone who belongs in a community, a family, and a church (117).
• Here's another question related to first dates: "Is it okay for a man and woman to hang out together a lot when they have no romantic interest in one another?" First of all, if you are part of a nonromantic male-female couple, who enjoy each other's company and are emotionally connected, and yet neither of you has romantic aspirations for the relationship, you are the first one of these we have ever encountered in years of experience with Christian singles. For this reason and others, we recommend against the practice of adult men and women "just hanging out together." (121 & 122)
• Jealousy, in proper proportions, is a biblically approved attitude toward one's potential spouse, and in the real world the casual guy or gal friend is no help to a healthy romance (122).

The authors, Rick and Sharon Phillips, also include some specific suggestions for how Christian men can put the principles of Ephesians 5:22-28 and 1 Peter 3:1-7 into action in a dating relationship (77 &78):

• Commit to take the lead in the godliness of your relationship. Take the lead in establishing boundaries that will keep you from sexual sin. Treat her as the precious sister in Christ that she is.
• Decide in advance whether or not you are willing to love a woman in the self-sacrificing, nurturing way the Bible describes. Until you are ready to faithfully hold a woman's heart in your hand, do not enter into a dating relationship.
• Ask her the kinds of things she likes to do and be eager to spend time doing them.
• Be willing to talk about the relationship. Initiate honest dialogue about how you feel. Do not resent her desire to have the relationship defined, but protect her heart by making clear the appropriate kind of intimacy to go along with that commitment.
• Pay attention to her heart. Ask her about her burdens and cares. Seek ways to minister to her and to make her cares your own. Instead of being critical of her, speak words of encouragement and support.
• Do not be shy in administering the Word of God to her.
  
• If something about her bothers you, think about how you can encourage her in that area.

The authors also give suggestions as to how submission and respect look in dating relationship for a woman (85-87):

• A woman should allow the man to initiate the relationship. This doesn't mean she does nothing. She helps! She makes herself accessible to him and helps him to make conversation, putting him at ease and encouraging him as opportunities arise.
• A godly woman should speak positively and respectfully about her boyfriend, both when with him and when apart.
• She should give honest attention to his interests and respond to his attention and care by opening up her heart.
• She should recognize the sexual temptations with which a single man will normally struggle. She will dress attractively but modestly, and will avoid potentially compromising situations. She must resist temptation to encourage sexual liberties as a way to win his heart.
• The Christian woman should build up the man with God's Word and give encouragement to godly leadership. She should allow and seek biblical encouragement from the man she is dating.
• She should make "helping" and "respecting" the watchwords of her behavior toward a man.
  
• She must remember that this is a brother in the Lord. She should not be afraid to end an unhealthy relationship, but should seek to do so with charity and grace. Should the relationship not continue forward, the godly woman will ensure that her time with a man will have left him spiritually blessed.
  

Book Review: A Woman After God's Own Heart

"But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:42)

I enjoy reading books that help me grow in relationships. A Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George is just one of the many books I have read that have encouraged me to strive even more. In this book Elizabeth George shares insights based on her own life and from Scripture on how a woman is to pursue her relationship with God, her husband, and her children. She also shares how this relationships play out in a woman's home and how it ministers to others.

Women today are are under an enormous amount of pressure to have it all, do it all, and be all that is expected of us. It's easy in our stressful, frenetic world to lose sight of the important things like family and our walk with the Lord. I think many of us desire to be a woman after God's own heart, if we just knew how. Each chapter in this book describes a special kind of heart; a praying heart, a heart devoted to God, an obedient heart, a heart that encourages, a heart that values you being a mother, a heart that seeks first things first.(the list goes on and on) and each chapter spoke to me in a special way. She holds out the hope that even in the midst of our fast-paced modern lives, it actually is possible to be the kind of woman God wants us to be.

The most important thing this book teaches (married or single) women is that God wants us to put HIM first at all times.

Elizabeth Prentiss: 'More Love to Thee.' by Sharon James

I just finished reading a new biography of Elizabeth Prentiss: 'More Love to Thee.' by Sharon James. In case you are not familiar with who Elizabeth Prentiss was, she wrote the hymn "More Love to Thee" in 1856:

More love to Thee, O Christ, More love to Thee!

Hear Thou the prayer, I make on bended knee.

This is my earnest plea: More love O Christ to Thee;

More love to Thee, More love to Thee!

Once earthly joy I craved, Sought peace and rest.

Now thee alone I seek; Give what is best.

This all my prayer shall be: More love O Christ to Thee;

More love to Thee, More love to Thee!

Then shall my latest breath whisper Thy praise.

This be the parting cry my heart shall raise;

This still my prayer shall be: More love O Christ to Thee;

More love to Thee, More love to Thee!

Let sorrow do its work, send grief and pain;

Sweet are Thy messengers, sweet their refrain,

When they can sing with me: More love O Christ to Thee;

More love to Thee, More love to Thee!

This is one of my favorite hymns and it was interesting to read about the woman that wrote it and to learn more about her life. Elizabeth Prentiss was a frail woman who suffered intensely from chronic insomnia all her life. She was the daughter of a pastor and in 1845 married a pastor. Elizabeth was a mother to 6 children,within a period of three months she lost her second and third child--one as a newborn, one at age four. In spite of the trials in her life, she was dedicated to Christ and sought to live a life of joy serving her husband, children and others.

Elizabeth had this to say of the lessons God taught her:

-The most difficult circumstances are ‘God’s school’ to teach us more about
his grace.
-The very busy times are precisely those times when we need—and can
find—God’s strength.
-The worst of tragedies can draw us closer to God.”

One of my favorite quotes was this one: "Much of my experience of life has cost me a great price and I wish to use it for strengthening and comforting other souls."

Lost in the Middle - Book Review

It has taken me several months, but I have finally finished reading Paul Tripp's latest book Lost in the Middle. Tripp does a marveolous job of explaining what it feels like to enter this phase of life. He understands that “the struggles of midlife are a window to deeper, more fundamental struggles”. He identifies common themes that mark the road through midlife such as an awareness of mortality, the increasing tally of regrets and the loss of dreams once held dear. Instead of simply identifying these markers, he leads the reader through a biblically informed interpretation of these challenging situations. The real life stories that are woven into each chapter make this book so engaging and makes the advice dispensed in the book more memorable and applicable. I think “Lost in the Middle” has valuable lessons for readers of all ages. Many of the examples may be more applicable for those in midlife but the insightful interpretation of these life experiences and the biblically informed advice are lessons for a lifetime. I love how Tripp defines midlife near the end of the book. . .

Midlife is a crescendo. The music of redemption has been playing in your life for a long time, and even though you didn't know it, it was moving toward this passage. Perhaps you have been lulled to sleep a bit by its familiar themes, unaware that the music was beginning to build. Now you are in the middle of God's redemptive symphony, and the drums are
beginning to roll, the cymbals are starting to crash, and the
instruments are beginning to blare. This crescendo of redemption needs everything that has gone before it in order to build to this moment. You are in redemption's front row and you are experiencing its music at its most powerful. You are hearing the rolling timpani of God's love, the crashing cymbals of his grace, and the blaring trumpets of his rescue.
The music isn't a dirge; it is alive and celebratory. You are in the middle of a crescendo of redemption, and all that has come before has been necessary to get you to this powerful moment of divine grace.

Don't shut your ears to the music. Stop and hear. Your life is not over. You are not imprisoned in your past. This moment of pain is actually a moment of redemptive crescendo, and it is meant to make you hunger for the final crescendo that will roll on for all of eternity. Let the music of redemption get your attention more than the sounds of your regret. Let the song of God's grace command your ears more than your cries of disappointment. Let the crescendo of God's love overwhelm the sad music of your fear. Stop and hear redemption's symphony as it comes to a powerful crescendo right in the middle of your own story.

No one captures this crescendo of God's grace better than
Paul does in his letter to the Ephesians: For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and
established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen (Ephesians 3:14-20) - pgs. 345-347

For all the sad words of tongue and pen,

The saddest are these: "It might have been."

- John Greenleaf Whittier

I thought I would share some thoughts from the book I'm currently reading, "Lost in the Middle - Midlife and the Grace of God" by Paul David Tripp. I currently finished reading Chapter 4, where Tripp talks about living with regrets. As I read this chapter I realized that I too live with regrets. Those regrets may be things like my relationship with God, my relationship with people, how I have raised my children, or my job. The list could go on and on. But it hit me as a read this chapter that God did not create us to live in regret. In fact, as Tripp says "God made a world of remarkable unity, harmony, peace, and love, where no regrettable thing would interrup the tranquility he had created. There was work, but it was never done begrudgingly or irresponsibly. There were relationships, yet they were never marked by selfishness, disloyalty, or anger. There was a heartfelt worship, service, and obedience to God, but never a moment or rebellion or idolatry. Imagine with me for just a moment what it would be like to live in such a place. What would it be like never to feel regret, never to experience remorse, and never to lug around the heavy weight of guilt? Don't let yourself think that what I am describing is totally unrealistic. In fact the world was once this way." (pg.107)

So what happened? Satan entered the Garden and the beauty of the regretless world was destroyed. There is no longer unity, harmony, peace and love. However, as Christians we are not without hope. In the midst of this fallen world in which we live there is a deep and abiding longing for a better place, a place where failure gives way to victory and sin gives way to righteousness. Where is that hope? That hope is found in Christ. Look at the words of Paul in Galatians 2:20 ; "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Paul is essentially saying that he is a child of God and being a child of God he is victorious. Paul's potential is as great as Christ's grace and Christ's power. The same is true of me! I have no reason to live a life of regret.

By living a life celebrating eternity I can continue to live in this fallen world. It is only the hope and promise of a resurrection out of this life and of an eternity to follow that makes it possible for me to continue to live in this fallen world. May my life echo the words of Peter. . .

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

Book Review: Feminine Appeal

Seven Virtues of A Godly Wife and Mother by Carolyn Mahaney

Feminine Appeal is based around what Carolyn Mahaney calls the seven feminine virtues listed for us in Titus 2:3-5: Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

Mahaney breaks each characteristic in the verse into a chapter of it's own to discuss ways to cultivate it--loving one's husband, loving one's children, being self-controlled, being pure, working at home, being kind, and being submissive to one's husband. Mahaney carries out the command in the first part of the quoted passage: that older women teach younger women how to behave in a way that promotes the gospel by showing how it transforms lives - - through this book.

But why would a divorced mother be reading a book pertaining to the seven virtues of a godly woman and mother? First, as a mother of teenagers I still have much to learn and improve. Secondly, I am an older women that is to teach younger women how to live a life that promotes the gospel. Thirdly, I doubt I ever remarry but if it is God's will I want to be a godly wife the next time around.

This was an excellent book that will be helpful for both young women looking to live out their faith in their lives, and for older women who want to take up the challenge to provide both good teaching and good example to younger women.

Book Review: Humility: True Greatness by C.J. Mahaney

I have just finished reading Humility: True Greatness by C.J. Mahaney. I was amazed that this 170 page book could be packed with so much wisdom and biblical insight. Mahaney teaches why humility is important, what it looks like, where it comes from, and how to cultivate it in our lives. This book is biblical, helpful, and practical and it's also devastating for our pride when we heed its message. Mahaney never seems to stray too far from the heart of gospel. The book is divided into three parts which made it much easier to follow for me. The first two sections I have previously written about. The third part of this book book becomes extremely practical. Mahaney offers seven chapters of helpful suggestions which flesh out the biblical truth he has been teaching. Mahaney begins this practical section with this piercing comment: “It’s possible to admire humility while remaining proud ourselves. I’m very aware that it’s possible for me even now to be teaching on humility while neglecting pride in my own heart. And at this moment you may be deceiving yourself into thinking that you are making progress against pride simply because you are reading a book about humility.” Ouch! What a good reminder that we don’t grow through insight but through applying insight. While these seven chapters are an exposition of Mahaney’s “life list” of ways he cultivates pride. They are not to be followed legalistically but as wise suggestions. He encourages us to develop our own list and to purposefully put it into action.

How to Weaken Pride and Cultivate Humility (pg. 171-172)

1. (Always)Reflect on the wonder of the cross of Christ.
2. Begin your day by acknowledging your dependence upon God and your need for God.
3. Begin your day expressing gratitude to God
4. Practice the spiritual disciplines - prayer, study of God's Word, worship. Do this consistently each day and at the day's outset, if possible.
5. Seize your commute time to memorize and meditate on Scripture.
6. Cast your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.
7. At the end of the day, transfer the glory to God.
8. Before going to sleep, receive this gift of sleep from God and acknowledge His purpose for sleep.
9. Study the attributes of God.
10. Study the doctrines of grace.
11. Study the doctrine of sin.
12. Play golf as much as possible.
13. Laugh often, and laugh often at yourself.
14. Identify evidences of grace in others.
15. Encourage and serve others each and every day.
16. Invite and pursue correction.
17. Respond humbly to trials.

Martyn Lylod-Jones wrote the following about the surest way to pursue humility: There is only one thing I know of that crushes me to the ground and humiliates me to the dust, and that is to look at the Son of God, and especially contemplate the cross.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Nothing else can do it. When I see that I am a sinner. . . that nothing but the Son of God on the cross can save me, I'm humbled to the dust. . . Nothing but the cross can give us this spirit of humility. (pg.66)

Grasping Pride

I have currently started reading Humility: True Greatness by C.J. Mahaney. I have wanted to read this book since a friend of mine read it a couple of months ago. Although I am just beginning the book I have already come to realize that in order to be humble I must first grasp what it means to be proud. If you are like me, you will not readily admit to being proud or prideful. As Mahaney points out "none of us are immune to the logic-defying, blinding effects of pride. Though it shows up in different forms and to differing degrees, it infects us all. It's not if pride exists in my heart; it's where pride exists and how pride is being expressed in my life. But what exactly is pride. Mahaney explains it like this,"Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence upon Him." Talk about stepping on toes, more like stomped on them and twisted on top of them . Ouch! . "Pride", John Stott writes, "is more than the first of the seven deadly sins; it is itself the essence of all sin." Jonathan Edwards called pride "the worst viper that is in the heart" and "the greatest disturber of the soul's peace and sweet communion with Christ." Edwards also ranked pride as the most difficult sin to overcome and "the most hidden, secret and deceitful of all lusts."

Proverbs 8:13 says: "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate." Why does God hate pride? Mahaney explains it like this,"Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence upon Him." John Calvin wrote, "God cannot bear with seeing his glory appropriated by the creature in even the smallest degree, so intolerable to him is the sacrilegious arrogance of those who, by praising themselves, obscure his glory as far as they can." There are numerous warnings from Scripture about pride and through these scriptures we can find an expression of God's mercy that is intended to lead us to the path of humility. Mahaney points out that true greatness as biblically defined is serving others for the glory of God.

As I've read the first 59 pages of this book I have reason to be discouraged and to stop reading, but even more I have reason to be encouraged to finish reading this book because I know and believe "the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." For there is motivation and purpose to be found in humility. We only have to read Isaiah 66:1-2; Thus says the LORD:" Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, And all those things exist," Says the LORD. " But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word.

Book Review: Becoming a Titus 2 Woman

Peace does an excellent job of showing women our responsibility that is in found in Gods word. It is refreshing to find a book that deals with the often neglected mandate of the older women teaching the younger women on matters of God, husband, and children. She not only shows us clearly our responsibilities, but shows us how to biblically approach and love the younger women. We have watered down God's standard for women and even discounted the things He established because it doesn't fit the norm of society or what society tells us. It's my prayer that as Christian women we would mentor the young girls that we are in contact with daily.

"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." Titus 2:3-5

Girl Talk Review

"The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things-- that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed." ~ Titus 2: 3-5

From the moment I started reading "Girl Talk" I did not want to put it down. Carol Mahaney & Nicole Mahaney Whitacre wrote in straight from experience regarding the biblical Mother/Daughter relationship. Though the book was candid and humorous, the central message was straight from scripture. The first half of the book takes a look at what the Bible says about mother/daughter relationships. The second half of the book explains how a mother can teach her daughter to speak the language of biblical womanhood. I wish I had known about this book ten years ago. Every mother should have this book on her book shelf.

My Thoughts: Stop Dating the Church

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. - Ephesians 5:22-32

For sometime now I have struggled with my commitment to the church, hence the reason I purchased this book. Through this book Harris challenges Christian community to stop dating the church and to become committed. Throughout the book Harris speaks about having a passion for the church and explains that when we, as believers, don't have a passion and commitment to the church we being cheated out of God's best for ourselves, the church and the world. Harris speaks of why we need the local Church and shows what passion in action looks like. This was something that was like a slap in the face, making me say, "that's me. I've lost the passion." His illustration of what passion in action looks like was when someone is passionate about an organization or club, they do a number of things: they join, make it a priority, find ways to serve, give, connect with people and they share their passion with others. This is what passion for the church should be. Harris also gives a wonderful explanation of the church of heaven's perspective from Ephesians 5:22- 33. He then gives a helpful and practical list of ten things that matter in a church. All ten things point to a church that is Christ centered. In the same chapter he talks about when it's time to find a new church home. Harris also gives advice on how to make the most out of Sunday by preparing our hearts and minds all week for worship on Sunday. No matter what you may think your commitment level is currently, this is an eye-opening and challenging book