Short Booklog

Alex and Brett Harris have a message for their generation:

Most People don’t expect you to understand what we’re going to tell you in this book. And even if you understand, they don’t expect you to care. And eve if you care, they don’t expect you to do anything about it. And even if you do something about it, they don’t expect it to last. We do.

Their powerful message is captured in these words and put succinctly in the title: Do Hard Things. They are spreading the message of “A teenage rebellion against low expectations.” The Harris brothers are challenging and exhorting their generation to rise above the ridiculously low expectations the world has for the average teenager.

This book is filled with real life examples of young people doing hard things and in ways small and large refusing the norms of society and accomplishing great things. Their focus is not just to do things that are hard, but to do worthy things that are hard.

This book is primarily written to teens, but all ages will benefit from this message. Adults also shrink back from right and worthy things because they are hard. I enthusiastically recommend this book.

The Five Books of Moses

The Five Books of Moses by F. B. Meyer is classified as a devotional commentary. Meyer goes chapter by chapter through the first five books of the Bible. Each chapter gets roughly one to one and a half pages in the book.

The comments are not thorough and exhaustive, but they are worthwhile. Meyer touches on the major points in the chapters. In keeping with his usual style, he provides many practical comments.

Reading this book together with the Bible is a good way to use it. If you are reading through the Pentateuch, you could read Meyer’s comments on the chapter you just read and work through the whole that way. I have found this book helpful in this manner.

A Hunger for God by John Piper is a study of fasting and desire for God. Piper takes the principles of fasting from the Old Testament and weaves them together with the teaching on fasting in the New Testament. This book answers a lot of questions about the why’s of fasting. He enumerates the blessings of it and sounds many needed warnings also.

I recommend this book to get a better grasp of this subject. The chapter on Isaiah 58 is convicting and clarifying. There are practical implications for all believers. I believe every Christian should find it helpful.

If You Could Ask God One Question is a practical and helpful book. It is outreach oriented and apologetically engaged without the high technical aspect of some apologetics works. Technical works certainly have their place, but this book fills in an under-supplied area.

This could be given to a lost friend or coworker without worrying that it would be inaccessible or irrelevant to them. It is not a stand-alone evangelistic book but could probably open a door for further conversation. It could help to break the ice with someone you have been wanting to witness to but can never seem to turn the conversation to weightier matters.

The book deals with many common questions people have in relation to God and the Bible. The answers are not exhaustive but are well done. This helps to keep the book concise and more likely to be read. The style is conversational and interesting. Christians would be benefited by reading it to think about these questions and their answers.

The life of Arthur W. Pink is a most interesting study. Ian Murray’s book is probably the definitive work on Pink though a few other books exist that have merit.

You might call his life a rise and fall. Through his preaching and writing, his popularity grew, but so did his opposition and detractors. When the door of public preaching finally closed to him, he poured all of his energies into his writing. Ironically, his writing is why we know who he was today. He also has more recognition and fame after his death than he did during his life.

Pink was exemplary in his discipline and study. He felt it was his job and that he should go about it as the farmer or banker to their tasks. His long hours and much study did cost him in the terms of fits of illness that sidelined him for periods of time. Once recovered, he would be right back at his work.

The last chapter of his life is a rather dark one. He sought seclusion in Scotland and seems to have had little personal interaction, fellowship, or relationships. His writing in those years is often characterized by a harsh tone and cynicism. This is especially seen in his correspondence of those later years.

This is a new edition of Murray’s biography that is expanded to include new material he did not have when he wrote the first one. It is certainly worth reading. Pink is a model in some ways and a warning in some others. I am thankful though, for I have certainly profited from his writing.