"Humility"

Subtitle - The Path To Divine Growth And True Nobility

"My one need is humility." - Andrew Murray

In his book "Humility" (written in 1895), Christian author and pastor Andrew Murray dwells heavily on the subject of humility, and comes up with what is considered to be the best treatment of the subject in church history.  Although the book is short (my copy is a mere 102 pages) I must agree that Murray succinctly but conclusively brings humility to the forefront of what it means to be a sinner saved by grace, and one who follows after a Savior who was the very embodiment of humility.  Concerning the importance of displaying genuine humility in order to display a genuine walk with God, Murray wrote, "We can never have more of true faith than we have of true humility."  Regarding the Christian's duty to emulate Jesus in humility before others, Murray stated, "Our humility before God has no value, except that it prepares us to reveal the humility of Jesus to our fellowmen."

After reading through Murray's "Humility" I have learned more about the virtue of humility and of its dominant importance in the reflection of Jesus in the redeemed human soul, than I have in all my years as a Christian before now.  For those who also wish to learn of the lowly state in which we as sinners are to daily dwell while in the presence of an elevated and praise-worthy Master, Andrew Murray's "Humility" would undoubtedly be a useful catalyst in which to insure such a humbling walk with God.

"We must seek humility which will rest in nothing less than the end and death of self; which gives up all the honor of men as Jesus did, to seek the honor that comes from God alone; which absolutely makes and counts itself nothing so that God may be all, that the Lord alone may be exalted."

- Andrew Murray, Humility, Chapter 2, pg 20-21

"The Screwtape Letters"

The 20th century Christian philosopher C.S. Lewis is known world-wide for having written many dearly held books in many important genres of Christian literature; for example he wrote timeless classics in apologetics (Mere Christianity). fiction/fantasy (The Chronicles of Narnia) and in the area of coping with real life suffering (The Problem of Pain).  Lewis also set his pen to write regarding the important subject of spiritual warfare which goes on all around us; that book being "The Screwtape Letters."  In this book, Lewis takes the standpoint of a Senior demon named Screwtape, so as to give us an inside view of what types of spiritual attacks we are succumbed to in our Christian lives.

The book is broken up into 31 letters that Screwtape writes to an underling demon named Wormwood, who he is training and discipling while Wormwood is working on his Christian "patient" to turn him away from God.  Screwtape gives advice to Wormwood so as to get his patient to focus on mundane and worldly distractions and to abandon his faith, and thus ultimately to turn him into a future resident of hell.  Many of Screwtape's suggestions to Wormwood are not meant to get the patient to outright deny God, but rather in a much more subtle way to get the patient to focus on such little petty things so as to slowly turn away from God without even realizing it; for example Screwtape advised Wormwood to get his patient to focus solely on the current physical realities around him rather than on future heavenly glories (letter #2), as well as getting his patient to choose the wrong types of friends to allow into his life who are seemingly innocent yet negatively influential on his faith (letter #10).

C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters" is an excellent resource to better acquaint Christians of the diverse angles and attacks which the devil uses to distract and destroy us, thus giving us a higher knowledge and aptitude in which to resist him and protect our faith in God.

"Be sober-minded; be watchful.  Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." - 1 Peter 5:8

"The Cost of Discipleship"

"The whole Word of the Scriptures summons us to follow Jesus" - so said the 20th century Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his seminal book "The Cost of Discipleship."  In this book, Bonhoeffer lays out the biblical mandate that all professing Christians are to place themselves continually under, in regards to Christ's discipleship, so as to truly be called one of His disciples.  Bonhoeffer first points out the many instances in Scripture where Jesus explicitly calls people to literally follow Him, and not simply to follow His example.  As Bonhoeffer wrote, "Discipleship means an adherence to Christ, and, because Christ is the object of that adherence, it must take the form of discipleship."  Bonhoeffer is then able to elicit a model of how Christians are to take heed of the seriousness of that call, and to answer it wholeheartedly and accordingly in a manner worthy of a Master/Disciple relationship.

Undoubtedly, the most important aspect to take away from "The Cost of Discipleship" is the fact that to follow Jesus Christ is not merely to obey His commandments, but by obeying Him, the disciple will actually partake of His nature and begin to resemble His Master in all aspects and spiritual countenance.  As Bonhoeffer declared, "Christ's followers always have His image before their eyes, and in its light all other images are screened from their sight.  It penetrates into the depths of their being, fills them, and makes them more and more like their Master... That image has the power to transform our lives, and if we surrender ourselves utterly to Him, we cannot help bearing His image ourselves."  This scriptural truth is stated clearly in Romans 8:29, "For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son."

For those who wish to attain and read through material that will make more real and genuine an individual's relationship to Jesus as a true disciple, Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book "The Cost of Discipleship" will greatly assist in just such an important and biblical endeavor in the Christian's life.

"If we answer the call to discipleship, where will it lead us?  What decisions and partings will it demand?  To answer this question we shall have to go to Him, for only He knows the answer.  Only Jesus Christ, who bids us follow Him, knows the journey's end.  But we do know that it will be a road of boundless mercy.  Discipleship means joy."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, Introduction, pg 38

"The Radical Cross"

The book "The Radical Cross" is a compilation of excerpts from many books written by the prolific 20th century author A.W. Tozer.  The excerpts all deal specifically with the nature of the Cross of Jesus Christ and how we as followers of Christ need to bear up and carry our own crosses in order to truly identify ourselves as His disciples.

Tozer takes a very in depth look at Jesus' Cross and presents a portrait that is odious and even other-wordly, in comparison to how the Cross is often portrayed in contemporary religion.  The reason Tozer's description of the Cross is so vastly different than what most Christians today are used to, is because he recognizes it for what it has always been, an instrument that was caused by the evil of our sin and which brought about the abolition of sin through the excruciating suffering of the holy Son of God.  Tozer put it in these words, "Though the cross of Christ has been beautified by the poet and the artist, the avid seeker after God is likely to find it the same savage implement of destruction it was in the days of old.  The way of the cross is still the pain-wracked path to spiritual power and fruitfulness."

As soon as you see the true nature of the Cross that Jesus bore for us, Tozer then convicts the reader in strong and firm words the importance of each Christian to take up their own painful and self-denying cross as their Master did.  As Tozer noted, "In every Christian's heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne till he puts himself on the cross; if he refuses the cross he remains on the throne.  Perhaps this is at the bottom of the backsliding and worldliness among gospel believers today.  We want to be saved but we insist that Christ do all the dying.  No cross for us, no dethronement, no dying.  We remain king within the little kingdom of Man-soul and wear our tinsel crown with all the pride of a Caesar; but we doom ourselves to shadows and weakness and spiritual sterility."

For those who wish to attain a more deep, intense, and realistic representation of the Cross of Jesus Christ, as well as to learn how to properly bear your own, the "Radical Cross" by A.W. Tozer will provide the answers to those two categories of utmost spiritual significance.

"The cross not only brings Christ's life to an end, it ends also the first life, the old life, of every one of His true followers.  It destroys the old pattern, the Adam pattern, in the believer's life, and brings it to an end.  Then the God who raised Christ from the dead raises the believer and a new life begins.  This, and nothing less, is true Christianity."

- A.W. Tozer, The Radical Cross, Section 1, Chapter 1

"The Incomparable Christ"

It is very rare to read a book in which literally every sentence of every page is devoted to the examination, promotion, and the exaltation of the exquisite personality and unrivaled character traits of Jesus Christ.  That was precisely the goal of J. Oswald Sanders in his book "The Incomparable Christ."  Published in 1952, Sanders book has since been used as an endearing devotional to increase one's view of the whole and complete Man that Jesus embodied as He lived among men 2,000 years ago.  Sanders sifts through nearly every moment of Jesus' life, from His birth, to His teaching ministry, to the cross, to the resurrection and His ascension.  Along the way Sanders points out the much to be heeded and sought after spiritual disciplines and divine idiosyncrasies that made Jesus the kind of Man He was; the only perfect Man to walk the face of the earth.

Concerning the perfection of Jesus' integrity, Sanders wrote, "The character of our Lord was wonderfully balanced, with neither excess nor deficiency... It stands out faultlessly perfect, so symmetrical in all its proportions that its strength and greatness are not immediately obvious to the casual observer.  It has been said that in Jesus' character no strong points were obvious becomes there were no weak ones."

For me personally, the book "The Incomparable Christ" has immediately become one of my all-time favorite books.  It is one which I believe every Christian ought to read, as this book will not only strengthen your faith in Jesus, but it will also deepen your attraction to Him as the only perfect Man to have existed amidst the fallen race of humanity.  And as such a Man, Jesus is the archetype of whom all men ought to uphold as the quintessential model of what God initially created man to be.

"Jesus is the peerless teacher of the ages.  True, He lived in an age when many outstanding teachers had exercised far-spreading influence, but in solitary splendor He towers above them all."

- J. Oswald Sanders, The Incomparable Christ, Chapter 16, pg 164

"A User's Guide To Bible Translations"

Subtitle - Making The Most of Different Versions

This book, written by Baptist minister David Dewey, is a manual to help people understand the history of each English translation of the Bible and to know the purpose and layout of each version.  Dewey traces the history from the first English translations of the Bible by John Wycliffe and William Tyndale in the 14th and 16th centuries, all the way up to current translations as the New International Version, the New Century Version, and the English Standard Version.  Dewey also points out the different styles of translation, such as form-driven versions (word-for-word translations, i.e., the NASB), meaning-driven versions (thought-for-thought translations, i.e., the NLT), and paraphrase versions (freedom-of-language translations, i.e., the J.B. Phillips translation and The Message).

Dewey's purpose is not to state which versions are better than others, because that will be determined by which type of Bible translation each individual Christian would be better served by.  New Christians might be better served by thought-for-thought translations because of their use of contemporary language in making hard-to-understand verses more clear.  Whereas mature Christians may be better served by word-for-word translations which, although more difficult to read, are closer to the original Hebrew and Greek wording.  Another group of Christians that would benefit from Dewey's book are those who have been reading a particular version for most of their lives and simply want to switch to an alternative translation for the purpose of refreshing their Bible studies or to gain a wider grasp of the Scriptures through different English renderings.

"All the arguments in the world about the merits and demerits of this translation or that version matter not one bit unless we are regularly feeding, alone and with others, on the precious Word of Life - and then applying it to our lives."

- David Dewey, A User's Guide To Bible Translations, Chapter 12, pg 204