“Transforming Grace” by Jerry Bridges

This has to be one of the best books I have read this year.  I read Pursuit of Godliness and I loved that book, but this book was fantastic.  I have been reading “A Praying Life” by Paul Miller and to read both of these books alongside each other has been both encouraging and convicting.  I know this is about Transforming Grace, but I need to say one thing about “A Praying Life.”  Paul Miller shows how our prayer life parallels our walk with Christ.  When we pray our prayers show our dependence on Christ and when we don’t pray it’s because we are taking matters into our own hands.

In the same way when we pray we are showing our dependence on God’s grace and when we don’t pray we are showing our dependence on our works.  In reading this book I have been convicted by how much I really am relying on my works for my sanctification (the process of becoming holy) and not Christ.  This book has shown me how skewed my view of grace is and what true grace is all about.  One of my favorite quotes from the book is “God answered my prayer for only one reason: Jesus Christ had already purchased that answer to prayer two thousand years ago on a Roman cross.  God answered on the basis of His grace alone, not because of my merits or demerits.”

I received this book for free from the vendor for the purpose of reviewing.

“Not Afraid” by Eminem

“Yeah, It’s been a ride…I guess I had to go to that place to get to this one / Now some of you might still be in that place / If you’re trying to get out, just follow me / I’ll get you there”

“I’m not afraid to take a stand / Everybody come take my hand / We’ll walk this road together, through the storm / Whatever weather, cold or warm / Just let you know that, you’re not alone / Holla if you feel that you’ve been down the same road”

Eminem is one of the most highly paid hip hop artists on the market.  He recently checked out of rehab to get off of his addiction to sleep medications.  His newest song “Not Afraid” is a song calling people out on their addiction to follow him.  That they are not alone and that they have someone to follow.  That no matter what he is going to be there for them.  It seems like Eminem is getting onto the right track and if I could meet him now there are three things I would love to tell him.

It is only with the gospel that we can clean up.

One of the things mentioned in this song is that he cleaned up for himself, for his fans, but mainly his kids.  He says that he promises to focus soley on his responsibility as a father.  He definitely has a misconception thinking that he is in control of his change, but he’s not.  It is only through the gospel that one can be saved.  It is only because of God’s graces that I can change.  Ya, he might be off of his drug addiction, but why was he addicted to begin with?  It was definitely because there was something that was out of control in his life and he had to fix it with whatever it was and drugs was the easiest thing to get his hands on.  So the first thing I would tell him is that he needs Jesus.  Not because he’s been a bad father, or because he was addicted to drugs, but because Jesus is the only one that can bring true satisfaction in our glorifying Him.

Helping others does not mean not helping yourself

I think Eminem thinks that by helping others he is helping himself, but that is not the model one sees in the Bible (Yes, I know he’s not saved.)  The model we see in the Bible is that while we are being a model to one person we are to be modeling someone more mature than us in Christ.  Eminem seems to be placing him at the top of the list with this song.  In watching the music video at the Bridge he breaks down the walls and mirrors and breaks through to a different world one in which he can fly.  He is the only one flying showing that he is the first to do so.  Who is he following?  So that is why I would tell him that Helping others does not mean not helping yourself.  I need just as much help with my walk as the one I am helping.

You’re not alone

Every Christian has been where he is now.  We have all been enemies of God and the cross and making that first step to know God and Christ is the biggest step one will ever make.  No, it won’t be easy.  In fact, it gets harder, but it’s worth it in the end.  He’s not alone in this world.  People will let him down.  Christians will let him down, but Christ will never let him down.  Christ is the only one that can say “I’ll get you there.”

If you met Eminem today what three things would you tell him?

Blue Like Jazz

I’ve been reading Blue Like Jazz for the past week and it is a completely fascinating book.  Donald Miller has written a memoir of his life, up to the point when the book was published, and his “Non-Religious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality” make sense.  It is the first book I could sit down and read two chapters from different ends of the book and not miss a beat.  He makes quite a few great points in the book and the exerpt I’m going to type I’ve been told, but it never made sense until I read it in BLJ.  To set up the scene Don and his friend Paul are talking about marriage.

“So marriage isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?”  Don asked

“No, it is so much more than I ever thought it would be.  One of the ways God shows me He loves me is through Danielle, and one of the ways God shows Danielle He loves her is through me.  And because she loves me, and teaches me I am lovable, I can better interact with God.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean to be in a relationship with God is to be loved purely and furiously.  And a person who thinks himself unlovable cannot be in a relationship with God because he cannot accept who God is; a Being that is love.  We learn that we are lovable or unlovable from other people,” Paul says.  That is why God tells us so many times to love each other.”

Are we showing the love of Jesus Christ to each other to prove that they are lovable and therefore God loves them or do we blow them off and show God is not capable of loving them?  God does love them, but are you showing it?