J M Boice & P G Ryken
Christian Focus Publications
160, £7.99
ISBN: 978-1-78191-205-8
Star Rating: 5
When this book first arrived, its unassuming size and presentation meant that I allowed the busy-ness of life to delay my reading. This was a mistake. When I finally did open it, I read each chapter with joy.
Originally part of various lunchtime talks given by the two authors, they translate well onto the page. They retain the challenge of the gospel they present to seekers after truth, but at the same time give the Christian a heartwarming, spiritual uplift.
Each chapter is self-contained and relatively short, which will encourage people in their reading. The overall theme (and a tempter for fans of Haydn’s ‘The seven last words of our Saviour on the cross’) is based around the words of Christ on the cross and after the resurrection. They help enormously in bringing the reality of those events to the reader’s mind.
As I thought about what I had read and how powerful the chapters are, I was reminded that Wilde said to the artist, Whistler, ‘I wish I had said that’; and Whistler replied, ‘You will, Oscar, you will!’
I wish I had written these chapters, and I wish I had given the talks that inspired them. Given the sad lack of appetite for Christian books in the church today, I think I might just do what Whistler predicted that Oscar Wilde would do!
For the Christian, this is an excellent book to have placed on your gift pile: ideal to warm your heart and bring you spiritual light in a darkening world. For those you know who are sincerely seeking the Lord, this will challenge them with the truth and encourage them to place their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dominic Stockfold
Teddington
