What I'm Reading

As the title says. I thought I'd share some of the things I have, am, and will be reading. I always like good books, and like hearing what other people are reading. I often have a sizable 'to read' list, most of which I never get to. Nevertheless....

I've made myself a mental note to read (or re-read) at least one book on marriage every year. The divorce rate is sky high these days, inside and outside the church, and it seems to me that if our marriages are to last, we probably need to put some real work in. So this year, I decided to check out Mark & Grace Driscoll's new book on marriage.

 

The intention of the book, I think, was to provide a biblical perspective on marriage that would combat some of the current trends, and encourage believers to build their marriages around the model described in the Bible. As with most books, especially books written by "high profile" people, there has been widespread acclaim, and widespread controversy.

What I liked about real marriage was the emphasis that the Driscoll's put on intentionality. By that I mean that they want people to be 'active' in their marriages - setting goals, praying for each other, encouraging each other, and learning to journey together through thick and thin. There is also a valuable emphasis on actively dealing with past (and current) issues so that your relationship has the 'legs' to endure a few decades. A worthwhile read, and one that I'll come back to, at the very least, to look at their sample questions that get goal setting and intentional conversations started.

I'm currently reading David Platt's new book, Follow Me. No, Platt doesn't want people to emulate him, but Christ. This is a call to really consider the Gospel message and it's implications. I found this a helpful read - it challenged much of the Christian language and practices that I've grown up with, encouraging me to think beyond the (often) simplistic, reductionist language that was used in the past. Like Platt's earlier book, Radical, this book urges Christians to get off their chairs and start really living. I'm close to the end; Platt uses some imagery to talk about weaving threads of Christianity into daily conversations and interactions in an intentional way. Too often, I think, we try to live nice, moral, compassionate lives that often doesn't look much different...



This book has encouraged me to weave that fabric - weave the Gospel into as many conversations as possible so that, eventually, people's eyes might be opened to the work of Christ. An easy-to-read, but also challenging - if we are to actually start living the way Platt suggests we should. His encouragement and exhortations are compelling, and I pray that I will be impacted by this message for many years to come.

 

Finally, I intend to read Mangis' Signature Sins. This is required reading for my spring course at Tyndale, but I'm including it here because I'm particularly interested in this book. I haven't started yet, so I can't really comment on it, but I'll include some comments from the description...

"The topic of sin has been safe for a while. But here, guided by psychologist Michael Mangis, we get specific by learning to know ourselves and our signature sins--the individual and specific patterns of sin in our life that affect our thoughts, actions and relationships.

In these pages, the author empathetically and honestly reflects on the ways we manage our behavior to hide our sin and ignore the true poverty of our hearts. But until we deal with the root of our sin, we will be ruled and fooled by it, and miss the freedom Christ died to bring. Exploring common forms of sin and then discovering how our own temperament, culture, family and gender affect the way those sins manifest themselves in our lives will lead us to a place of real honesty with ourselves, God and others. But the book doesn't stop there; it also shows ways to combat our sin so that we can change our not just our behavior.

Sin is serious and specific, and it doesn't go away on its own. But here is serious--and safe--help for facing sin and finding freedom in Christ."

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Hope some of you might find those resources helpful... feel free to let me know what you're reading in the comments!