The Life of God in the Soul of Man {Book Review}

"The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love"
(Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man).

To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" ( Colossians 1:27, ESV).

In a Nutshell

The Life of God in the Soul of Man, by Henry Scougal, is quite possibly the best little book you've never heard of about the Christian life. At least, I had never heard of it until Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth shared the quote in the graphic above. That quote and the title (a sermon in itself) intrigued me enough that I leapt at the chance to review Crossway's new edition. Scougal originally wrote this volume as a letter to a friend; as a pastor and professor, he felt a written introduction to Christian living was the best way he could love his friend.

Henry Who?

Henry Scougal (1650-1678) died at age 28 of tuberculosis, but his life and writings bore fruit for the kingdom of God beyond the number of his years. Knowledgeable in Latin, Hebrew, Greek, and a few related languages of the Ancient Near East, the Scottish Puritan first pastored a church briefly and then accepted a position as professor at King's College, Aberdeen. Given the brevity of his life, he did not leave many publications, and this is the best known of his works. The famous evangelist of the first Great Awakening, George Whitefield, claimed he never understood true religion until reading this book. According to the foreword of this Crossway edition, J. I. Packer attributed the theological foundation of the English side of that glorious revival to Scougal's little book.

For literary context, his dates overlap with fellow Scot Samuel Rutherford, John Bunyan, and John Milton. For historical context, the Authorized Version of the English Bible was published in 1611; we know it by the Scottish king of England who authorized it, King James I. Scougal was born near the end of the Commonwealth period, when Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans governed Britain. Early in his life, the monarchy was restored. The "Great Fire of London" occurred in 1661.

What's It About?

Scougal expresses concern about several misapprehensions of the Christian life: some think it is primarily about behavior, doing right things; some think it is primarily about doctrine, knowing right things; some think it is about emotion, ecstatic feelings of communion with God. Although he gives each of these components their place in due course, he contrasts and summarizes what he calls "true religion" this way:

True religion is quite another thing. Those who are acquainted with it will entertain far different thoughts about it and avoid all false imitations of it. They know by experience that true religion is a union of the soul with God. It is a participation in the divine nature. It is the very image of God drawn upon the soul. In the apostle’s words, it is Christ formed within us. In short, I do not know how the nature of religion can be more fully expressed than by calling it a divine life (Kindle location 137-154).

 

Again a little farther on, he writes, "Religion is a reflection of the divine perfections, the image of the Almighty shining in the soul of man. It is a real participation of his nature. It is a beam of the eternal light, a drop of that infinite ocean of goodness. And those who are endowed with it can be said to have God dwelling in their souls and Christ formed within them" (188).

This life, as he describes it (and I believe his thoughts conform to the Scriptures), is a life of mutual love between God and the Christian and between the Christian and his brother or neighbor; of holiness, since the holy Christ formed in us through the Holy Spirit makes us like the holy God; of humility, as we see our lives in the light of God's perfect holiness; of prayer.

Why Read It?

This wee book concentrates so much treasure into so few pages as to leave me gobsmacked. It would take me volumes to unpack as much truth. It inspires me, challenges me, humbles me, woos me to love God more, and overwhelms me with His love for me. It holds many ideas in common with Jonathan Edwards's much longer work The Religious Affections, but here they are expressed more concisely and poetically. Also, Scougal's book is in its very nature a counterargument to those who misconstrue Puritans as dour, joyless fearmongers. Would such a one as that write this almost mystical passage?

Perfect love is a kind of self-dereliction, an emptying out of ourselves. It is a kind of voluntary death wherein the lover dies to themselves and all their own interests, neither thinking nor caring about themselves any more, and being mindful of nothing other than how they may please and gratify the person whom they love. Thus they are quite undone unless they meet with reciprocal affection.… The God-directed lover has an unspeakable advantage, having placed his affection on him whose nature is love. For if God’s goodness is as infinite as his being, and his mercy saved us when we were his enemies, how can God not but choose to embrace us when we have become his friends! It is utterly impossible that he should deny his love to a soul who is wholly devoted to him and desires to serve and please him. He cannot disdain his own image nor the heart in which it is engraved. Love is the only tribute that we can pay him. It is the sacrifice that he cannot despise.… how happy are those who have placed their love on him who can never be absent from them! They only need to open their eyes and they may behold the traces of his presence and glory everywhere. To be able to converse in an instant with him whom their souls love transforms the darkest prison or wildest desert, making them not only bearable but almost delightful (450-466).

The paragraph Nancy Wolgemuth quoted is no less lovely:

Let us consider the love and affection by which holy souls are united with God so that we may see the excellence and happiness that result from it. Love is the powerful and prevailing passion by which all of a person’s inclinations should be determined and on which perfection and happiness depend. The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love (398).

While my edition came from Crossway and included a helpful foreword, a bit of subtle updating of language, and a Scripture index, free versions are available, given that the original is in the public domain. In my opinion, reading Scougal's small book amply repays the investment of time required, and should you disagree, you won't have lost much. 

Potential Pitfalls

Scougal lived and wrote in the seventeenth century. The King James Version (as we call it) was the trendy new Bible translation of his day. Bunyan and Milton were his contemporaries. As such, his thesis is densely and compactly reasoned. His sentences and thoughts are longer than the norm today. This is not really a skimmable book, unless perhaps you're an English professor fluent in Restoration literature. If you read it, and I hope you do, anticipate a slower than average reading speed and plan to go back and reread a section from time to time so you can fully appreciate the flow of his argument. Crossway's headings and subheadings help quite a bit with this.

As the foreword of this edition makes clear, Scougal does not lay out the basics of the Christian gospel in this letter. His friend has already come to faith in Christ and believed Jesus the God-Man lived a perfect life, died the death on the cross which we sinners deserve, rose again bodily on the third day, and now reigns at the right hand of the Father until the appointed time for His return. With the original recipient of this letter having already trusted Christ for salvation, Scougal focuses his encouragement on how to live as a Christian, what theologians call the doctrine of sanctification. That does not in any way indicate a different gospel or alternative way of salvation.

The Bottom Line

The Life of God in the Soul of Man is a beautiful little book on living the Christian life. Henry Scougal was an old soul indeed to have written such a gem of a treatise in his twenties. It is truly too glorious and beautiful and true to take in fully at one reading. This is a book worth returning to again and again and taking into one's heart. I hope you read it too. If you do, and if this review influenced that decision, please come back and let me know how you got on.

N.B.: Crossway Publishing provided me with a complimentary digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Amazon link is an affiliate link.

Another free source of Scougal's book and additional biographical information: https://www.monergism.com/life-god-soul-man

A Learner's Prayer

 
Father of lights,
In whom there is no shadow of darkness:
Thank You for the gift of learning and education,

For Your outbreathed Word in my native tongue,

For literacy to read it,

For its adequacy to equip Your children to walk worthy of You,

For the wise, Spirit-instructed people

You have given the church over the millennia

To help us understand it,

For the abundant wealth of information about a vast myriad of curiosities,

From the deepest depths of the oceans

To the outer reaches of our galaxy and beyond;

From summits, sea creatures, sequoias, and stars,

To subatomic particles, viruses, and genomes;

From the fine arts to Fibonacci sequences;

From cabinet-making to computer science to combustion engines.

 
What a wonderful world You have made for us to explore!
We praise You for the marvelous mystery inviting enquiry,

For the order and structure awaiting discovery,

For all the sparks of curiosity kindling daydreams and imagination.

 
Thank You also for the limits of our comprehension,
For in our finitude we know not even where they are.
If I were the undefeated, undefeatable quiz-show champion,

Knowing one hundred percent of the answers

One hundred percent of the time,

If I knew and understood every book and parchment

In every library

In all of human history,

All my knowledge would be—

And this is generous—

One hydrogen atom

On one water molecule

In one droplet

In the ocean of Your infinite wisdom.

 
You are diamond,

And the sharpest mortal mind cannot scratch the surface

Of Your understanding.

Know-it-alls know nothing in light of You who know all.
 
In the final reckoning,
Eternal life or death rests not on facts we know
But on whom we trust.
Knowledge of You, O God,
Knowledge of Christ,

In whom all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden,

Knowledge worked in Your children by the Spirit of truth—

Who knows the mind of a person

But the spirit who indwells him?—[i]

Personal knowledge of the Triune God is the only knowledge
That breathes life into dead hearts.
 
“This is eternal life:
That they may know You, the living God,
And Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”[ii]
 
To gaze upon Your glory,
To be transformed into Your likeness,
To bear the privilege of making You known—
This is the truest knowledge,
And to revere You is the beginning of wisdom.
 
So I thank You, Lord, for learning,

For books,

For the Book of books,

For education,

For reason and imagination and memory.

Make us faithful stewards of the gifts You have graciously entrusted to us;
Make us humble stewards, always conscious of how miniscule our understanding is
Before the inscrutable majesty of Your glory,
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.

 

---

[i] 1 Corinthians 2:11

[ii] John 17:3

Transformed by Truth {Book Review}

      More than a decade ago, my husband and I had the privilege of walking alongside a small group of bright students through 3 1/2 years of their high school journey. The Tuesday Night Tangent Society members are all grown up now. Some are married. One just completed his M.Div. and was ordained a deacon in the Anglican Communion.

We studied Ephesians, the beatitudes, the life of David, and 1 John. We divided the group by gender for some of the discipleship and prayer. If I had it to do over again, the element I would most like to add is training in Bible study methods. We did try to incorporate those principles in our lessons, to teach by example, but those concepts are so important that they deserve undivided attention. Time spent learning how to study the Scriptures will pay dividends the rest of one's life.

"The goal of Bible reading and study is worship. Not finding more rules to follow. Not finding reasons to feel good about ourselves. The goal is to see God in all his glory and to enjoy him" (p. 150).

Katherine Forster's 2019 release Transformed by Truth (Crossway) is the book I wish we'd had for that group. Forster, a National Bible Bee Champion, writes as a teen for teens, to inspire and instruct them to read and study their Bibles for themselves as a means of knowing and loving God more. That factor sets this book apart from other guides to inductive Bible study like Jen Wilkin's Women of the Word, Kay Arthur's How to Study Your Bible, and Howard Hendricks's Living by the Book.   The principles she communicates are essentially the same as the ones in those books. The writing style, examples, and tone here lend themselves better to a high school or even early college audience. I had considered working through this with 11 year-old and 13 year-old family members this summer, but I think it would be just a smidge over their heads (and therefore frustrating). 

For nearly half the book, Forster lays a foundation: why teen years are not too young to establish a personal Bible study practice, the relational and transformational goal of Bible study, the "big picture" of the Bible as one unified narrative, and the gist of inductive Bible study method. Then she dives deeply into observation, interpretation, and application with ample examples, tips, suggested free online resources, and questions that guide the reader in personal practice of the principles.  (Those would work great in a small group setting.) Throughout, she emphasizes the need to saturate Bible study with prayer.

She does a good job of continually bringing the reader back to the goal of knowing and loving God, even through some academic and seemingly rote exercises:

Remember—the Bible is all about God. The ultimate end of our study should be to see him and delight in who he is. Making lists doesn't seem very worshipful or spiritual; it seems academic. But as you write down everything the text says about God, you'll see more clearly who he is. Aspects of his character that you never noticed may pop out to you. In writing everything down, you'll get a chance to slow down and meditate on God's character and works (p. 127).

 

The end notes and appendix listing recommended resources provide plenty of leads for further learning and do credit to the author's reading and study of her topic. As befits a Bible Bee champion, she also includes an appendix on memorization tips.

In summary, Forster has provided a well-written, accessible guide for teens and those who love them on how to love God more through studying His Word well. (As an added benefit, the same close-reading skills taught here and cultivated in inductive Bible study will improve reading of other material in all aspects of life.) I highly recommend Transformed by Truth to parents, youth leaders, and self-motivated teens. Adult readers will benefit too, even though the examples will not suit them as well. I only wish the target audience were a few years younger, but boys grow quickly, and they will soon catch up to this book. 

********************************

If you’d like to delve a bit deeper before deciding, here are two free sample articles by Forster on the publisher's website:

https://www.crossway.org/articles/help-i-want-to-read-the-bible-but-i-find-it-boring/

https://www.crossway.org/articles/help-i-cant-stay-consistent-with-my-bible-reading-2/

To purchase:

Directly from the publisher: https://www.crossway.org/books/transformed-by-truth-tpb/

Christian Book Distributors: https://www.christianbook.com/transformed-truth-study-bible-yourself-teen/katherine-forster/9781433564055/pd/564055?event=ESRCG

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/transformed-by-truth-katherine-forster/1130073112;jsessionid=2D2441C4FA56D98F394024238CAD9DC8.prodny_store02-atgap18?ean=9781433564055

Amazon (affiliate link; at no extra cost to you, I will receive a tip for the referral): https://amzn.to/2C9Oqz8 

Christian Lament {From the Archives}

How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me? 

How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O LORD my God;

light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, 

lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed over him,"

lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. 

But I have trusted in your steadfast love;

my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 

I will sing to the LORD,

because he has dealt bountifully with me. 

- Psalm 13, ESV

In light of recent world events and the ongoing sorrows of everyday life in this fallen world, we do well to remember that rejoicing is not the only appropriate emotional response to the life circumstances God assigns us.

My Bible reading lately has been in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Lamentations, and a bleak stretch it is. Israel has persisted in disobedience and idolatry for so long and to such an extent that God sends Assyrian and Babylonian forces to conquer them and carry most of the people away into 70 years of captivity. Jerusalem is besieged and sacked, the temple is destroyed, and the Glory has departed.

In the face of such catastrophe, faith does not demand that we put on a plastic smile when our hearts are breaking. God does not desire us to be false with Him. Grief is a spiritual discipline, too, and at times the only right and appropriate response.

Godly grief expresses itself in the laments of Scripture. Job's speeches and Lamentations fall in this category, and individual or corporate lament is the largest subcategory of the Psalms (which fall under the broader heading of lyric poetry). Scholars estimate that at least a third of the Psalms express lament; a few examples include Psalms 13, 22, 40, 59, 74, 88, and 109.

The Thomas Nelson Study Bible describes Biblical lament this way:

In the lament psalms, we hear the strong, emotional words of sufferers. These are words written by real people in very difficult situations. Sometimes the forcefulness of the psalmists' complaints against God is shocking. But these godly sufferers know that God will not be angry with their honesty, for even when they scream at God, it is a scream of faith (887).

These are the prayers for the sleepless nights and weary days, for the seasons when we feel like Bilbo Baggins, "too little butter spread over too much bread," for the days which seem more Romans 7 than Romans 8, for hospital rooms and funeral homes. The sheer multitude of laments in Scripture bears witness that hardship is a commonplace in life in a broken world, yet God desires to fellowship with us in the midst of suffering as we cry out to Him. What is more, they offer us a guide for how to do so and give us words when we have no words.

Although no strict pattern applies to every lament, common elements include

• an initial cry to God,
• the list of complaints,
• a profession of reliance on God,
• a presentation of reasons God should intervene (such as past covenants, promises, and actions that shape the psalmist's expectations of the future),
• specific requests for deliverance and action, and
• a resolution to praise (TNSB, 887, and Leland Ryken, How to Read the Bible as Literature, 114-115).

These elements may occur in any order or repeat, and some may not appear at all. Psalm 88 never turns the corner from lament to praise, which gives me comfort and confidence that I don't even need to pretend to or force an emotional pivot point before God.

However, Israel incurs God's displeasure and discipline when they whine and complain. What's the difference between grumbling and lament?

In my understanding, there are at least four areas of difference:

• Audience: Grumbling speaks about God to other people; lament addresses God directly in prayer. This resembles the difference between gossip and conflict resolution.
• Content: Complaint disputes God's previously revealed character; lament seeks to reconcile God's character with circumstances that seem to contradict it.
• Attitude: Grumbling stems from a heart of unbelief; lament worships in wounded faith.
• Result: Whining produces rebellion; lament limps forward in obedience as best it can.

Amid all the disasters and crises in the daily news and the personal trials facing friends, family, and ourselves, it comforts me to know that I can pour out my heart like water before the Lord (Lamentations 2:19) and mourn with Him as well as dance for joy. Learning about lament set me free to do that, even writing my own laments from the patterns above, and I have found the Psalms to be helpful guides to prayer in times of trouble. May you also find blessing in these thoughts as you grow in relationship with God in the hard times as well as the glad.

Recommended Resources:
My review of Mark Vroegop’s book Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy
Leland Ryken, How to Read the Bible as Literature

Michael Card, A Sacred Sorrow

Michael Card teaching on lament as worship in 7 parts

Nightingale Songs

Our Father in heaven likes songs so much that He filled the earth with birds. Each one has its own special song to sing. When the sun peeks its head up each morn, they all sing together to make a chorus of beautiful music.

The cardinals sing a song of joy:
“Sunny day! Come and play. Cheer! Cheer! Cheer! Cheer!”

The wren sings a song of love:
“Ooh la la! My Cherie, won’t you come and be my bride?”

The blue jays sing a song of warning:
“Look out! A person! A dog! Beware! Beware!”

The chickadees can hardly sing for chortling:
“Tee hee! Tee hee! Giggledy ha, ha, ha, ha!”

The mockingbirds sing songs of echo:
“Cheer! Cheer! Be my bride! Beware! Beware! Teehee! Tee hee! Ha ha ha!”

They sing, and they sing,
Songs of cheer and love and warning.
But when the sun ducks its head below the western hills
And the winking moon awakes in the east,
The daybirds cease their melodies.
The cardinals sing their young a lullaby.
The wren stops his wooing and tucks himself into his empty flower pot.
The blue jays let the owls take their turn as sentry:
“Whoo! Whoo! Whooo goes there?”

The darkness wraps the land like a blanket,
And the nightingale takes up her song.

She sings a song of darkness.
She sings a song of loneliness.

She sings, “O God my Maker!
O Lord! O heavenly Father!”

She asks, “How long?
How long will the dark night last?
How long until the sunshine of Your face returns?
How long must I sing this lonely tune?
How long?
How long?”

She cries, “Why?
Why did the sparrow fall today?
Why did the bobcat slash?
Why did You let that hailstone strike?
Why?
Why?
Why?”

All the tears her eyes can’t cry pour forth from her throat.
At last, Venus the morning star gleams in the east.

The nightingale asks, “Maker God,
Send back Your light.
Send out Your truth.
Show us Your goodness.
Shine with Your grace.”

The first bluing of the sky begins to lighten.
Morning draws near.

The nightingale breathes out the last of her melody,
“Good night.
Good morning.
Let me rest now in peace, for You are near.
The darkness will lift.
The sun does come again.”

The sun stretches sleepy arms above the eastern trees.
The cardinals wake and sing their song of cheer.
The wren returns to his wooing.
The blue jays take up their watch again.
The chickadees laugh.
The mockingbirds mimic.
The owls tuck heads under wings and fall asleep.
The nightingale, her song drained dry,
Rests in God her Maker till darkness falls again.

Sun shines.
God smiles over all the many songs He hears,
But He draws closer than close to the nightingale.
He shelters her under His wing, close to His heart.
He treasures her brokenhearted song
And comforts her sorrow

With Himself.

Mundane

The difference between the ordeal of Sisyphus—
Pushing, pushing, pushing the boulder uphill;
Then the rolling, rolling, rolling back down
Just as he neared the top—
And the sacrament of the ordinary—
Performing the endless everyday
In the grace,
Through the power,
For the glory of God—
Is a Savior,
A surrender,
A sacrifice of praise.

An altar stands irrevocably,
The narrow gate of transformation,
Between meaningless mundane misery
And duty infused and illuminated by
The beauty of the Almighty.

Flourish {Book Review}

“Does it spark joy?”

This question seems to be everywhere lately, thanks to organizing maven Marie Kondo’s book and Netflix series. We could perhaps rephrase it, “Does it help me flourish?”

Flourish—The OED defines it this way:
(of a living organism) grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly congenial environment

Lydia Brownback’s new book Flourish: How the Love of Christ Frees Us from Self-Focus seeks to help readers grow in Christ in a healthy or vigorous way. She does not look to the state of our junk drawers and closets for this, however. She asserts that the biggest obstacle to our flourishing is self.

We want to see how wrong teaching about God can give us wrong ideas about God and how these wrong ideas keep us from flourishing (12).

Any teaching that sets self-love as the highest good is false teaching, and we are susceptible to it because it appeals to that deep yearning for affirmation we feel at our very core. That’s why it hooks us. It just feels so right. And there is an inescapable link between self-love and self-focus. Self-love and self-focus are really just flipsides of the same coin. They always go together. That’s why self-love, the sort that the apostle was writing about, directs our energies, thoughts, plans, choices—and even our theology—inward, making ourselves the center of all things (13).

This challenging book considers six manifestations of self-focus, and I expect that readers will find that at least one of them resonates (more than one for readers like me). The chapters discuss the traps of self-consciousness, self-improvement, self-analysis, self-indulgence, self-condemnation, and self-victimization. Some of those labels are fairly self-explanatory (see what I did there?), whereas a couple may seem less obvious. A substantial discussion guide appended to the end of the text provides guidance through relevant Bible texts for each subject and invites the reader’s personal application of the ideas.

On self-consciousness, Brownback writes:

Whatever the issue—our appearance, our family, our home, our kids—we quench the joy of our faith and mar our witness of Christ if we live self-conscious lives. It seems counterintuitive, but happiness comes not from being thought well of but by thinking less of ourselves altogether(20). 

It is trust in the Lord that frees us from the snare of self-consciousness. If we shift our gaze away from ourselves and up to the Lord, we find that he is trustworthy and faithful to be all he has promised to be and to do all he has promised to do. 

Something amazing happens as our trust grows: our thoughts are a lot less self-oriented, and there’s new joy in living. We taste the freedom that comes from living under the gaze of One. He loves us, and we have nothing to prove because Christ proved everything for us (25).

She contrasts the bondage of self-improvement with the freedom of true Christian transformation:

The way out of the bondage of self-improvement is to recognize that in Christ, there is none of that old self left to improve. We can simply let go of all that. This is what it means to “die to self.” It’s not about fixing our bad habits; it’s letting go of everything about ourselves—the good, the beautiful, the bad, and the ugly—and cooperating with God’s Spirit as he begins the lifelong process of making us resemble Christ himself.

How about those bad habits we want to change? Frustration will be replaced with peace and joy when we begin to live out of our changed status. We went with Christ into his death, but then we were raised with him from the dead, which gives us a whole new reality from which to frame our goals (39).

Regarding self-analysis, she addresses the compulsion to “take our emotional temperature all the time” and the restlessness of constantly adjusting our circumstances to manipulate our feelings into something like happiness. She writes, “Self-analysis is good and right when we do it under the light of Scripture. It’s destructive and sinful when the aim of all that internal rooting around is merely personal happiness” (51). Again, “A life curved inward, analyzing and evaluating every mood change and desire, is a stunted, joyless life” (55).

The chapter on self-indulgence may be the most counter-cultural for American readers. She tries to trace the fine line between necessary and restorative self-care and pleasant but potentially selfish self-indulgence. She challenges readers to observe their attitudes when a particular treat is denied them, whether that be chocolate or a favorite beverage or “me time” or a vacation. She does not pull punches in tackling the idea that a vacation is a fundamental right or need. (She does not oppose embracing travel opportunities or making family memories through time away from home. The point is whether that truly falls into the need category.) Further, she asserts that love of comfort, expressed through whatever one’s pet indulgence is, can be an idol. Like all idols, in looking to it for life we find captivity or worse, but for the grace of God. She writes, “Our comforts become a prison of our own making…. We need to keep in mind that our particular indulgence isn’t the idol; comfort is. Indulging is merely the way we worship the comfort god” (68-69).

The self-condemnation chapter also resonated with (i.e., convicted), this oldest-child perfectionist. Counterintuitively, perhaps, Brownbeck writes, “Scripture is where we learn that failing to reach personal goals isn’t necessarily sinful, but having a perfectionist spirit that demands it is” (76). Stop a moment and reread that. I’ll wait.

She shines the light of the gospel of Christ on the tendency to obsess over faults and failures, real and imagined:

Whether our struggle concerns real sin or the personal failures we define as sin, self-condemnation inhibits us from finding comfort in the gospel. Instead we berate ourselves and become critical and judgmental, not only toward ourselves but toward others too. Such misery is caused not primarily by anything we are doing or failing to do but by our inward curve.

Past sins can dominate our thoughts as we rehearse over and over what we did or said and the hurt we caused. Allowing such thoughts to dominate inhibits us from comprehending how thoroughly the gospel deals with sin and guilt. If we’d only look away from that—away from ourselves altogether—and direct our gaze to Christ in his Word, we’d see that Christ’s sacrifice trumps our sin in every respect. Jesus didn’t die on the cross for any sin of his. He took on himself our sin—yours and mine—and bore the guilt of it so we don’t have to. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). Quite frankly, if God has forgiven us, who are we to condemn ourselves? Christ died for all the sin—past, present, and future—of those who are united to him by faith(75-76).

That chapter also spends some paragraphs on discernment of whether a choice on a debatable matter is sin, looking less at the action than at the motive, and on the popular notion of self-forgiveness.

The final chapter considers ways in which self-victimization can curve a life inward and subtly deny the gospel. Gently, Brownbeck cautions against finding one’s core identity as a victim of past abuse to the neglect of the present/future riches of identity in Christ; using “victim” in place of “sin;” and believing that wounded (traumatized) people can’t live effectively now until dealing exhaustively with their past.

She does not deny the real trauma and profound wounds that too many have experienced in this broken world. She does, however, lift the reader’s eyes toward Jesus as the ultimate victim and our example in how to respond to being victimized ourselves:

Grasping the magnitude of sin—both ours and others’—is vital to getting unstuck from past trauma and flourishing as disciples. One way to strengthen our understanding of sin is to realize that Jesus himself was a victim of sin, and we are the ones who victimized him. All sin deserves death, and Christ experienced this in full on the cross, but the horrendous death he suffered was for our sin, not his own.

If we miss this, we’re likely to become bitter, angry, depressed, discouraged, or downright hopeless. We can flourish instead when we understand that Jesus “did” victimhood for us. When he was scorned, mocked, and rejected by loved ones, he didn’t grow bitter. When he faced the anguish of the cross, he didn’t sink down in despair. When he grew weary from the endless demands on his time and energy, he didn’t insist on personal space. When he saw people he loved suffer from the sins of others he loved, he didn’t lash out. Instead he prayed. He sought his heavenly Father. He forgave. He healed. He loved. And he grieved (97).

Letting go of a victim identity isn’t to deny what’s happened to us. Victimization is very real, and the scars remain. But they can be just that—scars. Scar tissue is present, but it’s no longer a wound that needs constant attention. We learn to live with it, and often we find that it becomes a testimony to God’s faithfulness. The same can be true of our sin scars. And no matter what we’ve suffered, the best is still to come (98).

In summary, Lydia Brownback’s latest book provides a helpful, biblical mirror to show us where we have the spinach of self-focus in our spiritual teeth. As with Ms. Kondo’s work, this is not a book for those who want to walk away unchanged and unchallenged, but it would make a good guide for those who want to get their eyes off themselves and turn them more fully toward Christ. The discussion guide/homework makes it well-suited to use in a small group setting, especially for a group that has been together long enough to share areas of struggle with honesty and trust.

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N.B.: My copy of this book is a complimentary PDF provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest and timely(ish) review. Page numbers are from that edition. Also, the product link is an Amazon affiliate link. Purchases made through that will drop a few virtual coins in my tip jar.

In His Image, by Jen Wilkin {Book Review}

Jen Wilkin's newest book, In His Image, continues the consideration of God's attributes which she began in her book None Like Him:10 Ways God Is Different from Us (and Why That's a Good Thing). The earlier book focused on characteristics of God which are unique to Him and not transferred ("communicated") to believers in Christ; attributes like omniscience, omnipresence, and self-existence fall in that category. In His Image, on the other hand, examines God's communicable attributes, characteristics like kindness and holiness which God does work into Christians through the sanctification process as we are conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29).

Many books already exist on the attributes of God. A. W. Tozer's The Knowledge of the Holy and Arthur Pink's Attributes of God are notable among them, and Wilkin acknowledges her debt to previous writers. What sets Wilkin's book apart? First, her engaging, clear, contemporary writing style and knack for apt illustrations mean that here the cookies are most definitely on the bottom shelf. She communicates rich, challenging content without lofty, hard-to-understand style. Second, her decision to place the incommunicable and communicable attributes of God in separate volumes adds clarity and, I suspect, has a teaching benefit in keeping the categories clearer for readers. Third, each chapter closes with Scripture references and reflection questions. This book and its companion volume are excellently suited for use as small-group or one-on-one discipleship materials, or in a book club focused on Christian books. The general index, Scripture index, and blank pages for notes and reflection also suit such a purpose.

Perhaps most distinctive, however, is Wilkin's thesis.The first chapter explains in her own words:

My explicitly stated intention for this book is that we learn to identify God’s will for our lives. Our inclination is to discern God’s will by asking, “What should I do?” But God’s will concerns itself primarily with who we are, and only secondarily with what we do. By changing the question and asking, “Who should I be?” we see that God’s will is not concealed from us in his Word, but is plainly revealed.

The Bible plainly answers the question “Who should I be?” with “Be like Jesus Christ, who perfectly images God in human form.” God’s will for our lives is that we conform to the image of Christ, whose incarnation shows us humanity perfectly conformed to the image of God. In this book, we will consider how we can demonstrate a resemblance to our Maker. But since the Bible’s answer to “Who should I be?” is “Be like the very image of God,” we must ask, “Who is God?” (pp. 21-22).

If I have ever encountered God's attributes or the question of finding God's will expressed and organized in quite this way before, I don't recall it. The way Wilkin lays it out here, however, is so clear and consistent with Scripture that I wonder why I didn't see it before. Christians are called and enabled to be holy, loving, good, just, merciful, faithful, gracious, faithful, patient, truthful, and wise because the triune God is, and the Spirit of God dwells in us.

Here are a few more quotes to whet your appetite and nourish your soul:

• "God’s discipline is his justice without wrath, for the purpose of training us in godliness" (64).
• "Abundance. Initially, grace is unasked for and undesired. God in his sovereignty extends grace to us before we can even contemplate its possibility or its worth. Eternally, grace is unearned and undeserved. We grow to recognize it for what it is, and we even become increasingly bold to ask for it in greater measure. But the moment we begin to ask out of a sense of entitlement, we contaminate grace. To demand it is to defile it." (87).
• "The Bible is our great Ebenezer, a memorial stone to the faithfulness of God, carefully recorded and preserved for his children. When we grow forgetful of God, or when we question whether God has forgotten us, we can turn there to gaze on his steadfast love to all generations" (100).
• "Every entertainment of temptation questions the goodness of God" (103).
• "Becoming better people is the process of reflecting with increasing clarity and fidelity the very face of God. God’s will for our lives is that we be restored to mint condition. God’s will for our lives is that we become living proof. Everything we say or do will either illuminate or obscure the character of God. Sanctification is the process of joyfully growing luminous. Through Christ and by the Spirit, we have regained access to God’s presence. And the result is the glorious reclamation of the image of God in man" (153).

To sum up, I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend In His Image to anyone wanting to know God more, searching for God's will for her life, or looking for a substantial but not overwhelming discipleship resource. The two-volume set of None Like Him and In His Image would make an excellent graduation gift with lasting impact. Readers already familiar with older classics on God's character will also benefit from Wilkin's clarity and emphasis on application, which is to say, the call to grow more like Christ.

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Crossway provided me a complimentary PDF copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The links in this post are Amazon affiliate links.

All Grace, Abounding Grace

And God is able to make all grace abound to you,

so that having all sufficiency 

in all things

at all times,

you may abound in every good work.

2 Cor. 9:8, ESV

One of the most helpful repeated ideas I've heard from John Piper is his prayer acronym APTAT, which he calls "practical help for praying for help." To sum it up, the letters stand for the following:

• A - Admit your weakness and helplessness apart from Christ, in life in general or in a specific challenge.
• P - Pray for God's help.
• T - Trust a specific promise from God's Word that applies to that circumstance or to your life as a child of God.
• A - Act in obedient faith, expecting God to keep His promises and answer your prayers.
• T - Thank Him for coming through for you.

One of Piper's favorite promises (and mine) which has met his need and calmed his soul in a wide variety of situations is Isaiah 41:10:

fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Here are a few of my favorites as well:

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you (Isaiah 43:2).

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Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
as long as I live (Psalm 23:6, CSB).

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We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).

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...he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper;

I will not fear;

what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5b-6).

Another promise has been my frequent spiritual address of late, and that promise is 2 Corinthians 9:8:

And God is able to make all grace abound to you,

so that having all sufficiency 

in all things

at all times,

you may abound in every good work.

As some of you already know, context is key in the interpretation of Scripture. The context of this promise in the Bible's second letter to the church at Corinth is giving. Paul holds up the example of the beleaguered and poor Christians of Macedonia, who "gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the [Jerusalem] saints" (2 Cor. 8:3-4). He challenges the Corinthian church to follow their lead and the pattern of Christ Himself and to give cheerfully and bountifully. In case they might feel that they have no financial margin for such a gift, Paul assures them with the above promise. God supplies the gifts for the good works He appoints.

The most obvious application of this promise is likewise in our giving. When a material need in the kingdom of God presents itself—whether that be a loved one struggling to make ends meet, a missionary in need of support, disaster relief, a refugee crisis, or a ministry which feeds me day after day and needs sustenance to carry on—if I sense the Spirit calling me to give, but the numbers just don't work out, this is a perfect promise to pray and trust. "He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness" (2 Cor. 9:10). The ministries of people like George Mueller, Hudson Taylor, and Edith and Francis Schaeffer were built on God's faithfulness to this promise. If the Lord wants me to contribute to meeting this need, He will provide something to give; if not, despite my best and most prayerful efforts, I can pray that He raises up others and trust that prayer is the "good work" He intends for me right then.

In addition, the evidence in the text implies that this promise exceeds mere material grace for monetary good works. Paul goes out of his way to pile up adjectives of completion: all, all, all, all, every. He adds to that words of plenty: abound, sufficiency, abound. "All grace," "all sufficiency," "all things," "all times, "every good work"—if Paul takes such pains to emphasize the breadth of God's generous enabling, why would we limit the application to financial giving?

Be encouraged, dear Crumbles. If you, like me, wake up most mornings with no need of anyone to convince you to admit your helplessness and pray for God's help, here is a promise to trust. Whether you are overwhelmed with your own financial need, the pressures of shepherding a struggling child, seemingly intractable health problems, caregiving demands, temptation that seems impossible to resist for one more day, conflict and stresses at work, or marital difficulties, God is able. He is able to make all grace abound to you in your need. He is able to supply you with all sufficiency in all those things at all times. He is able to make you abound in every good work, and that includes the daily and mundane every bit as much as the lofty and exotic. He does not stint in His grace to us so that we might not lack in the overflow of His grace to others. He will give what we need to do what He wills as we rely on and abide in Him.

Courage, dear hearts!