Three books to change your world

With the year quickly coming to a close I’d like to recommend three books which tie in with what we’ve been looking at recently in church.

You Can Change – by Tim Chester Don’t be fooled by the title, this is not a book that gives you a quick 5 step program to becoming the world’s happiest and most successful person. It’s much better than that. This book is about transformation of sinful behaviour and negative emotion through the wonder of the Gospel. Chester is so helpful in this book because he gets you to think about what’s underneath and driving sinful behaviour, and then showing how powerful and fulfilling Christ is to win us over to change. He even suggests as you read through the book you pick out an area of your life that you know is a problem and then he workshops that area right through the book…..it’s extremely helpful. He gets far beyond the guilt and shame that are so ineffective in seeing us live differently and at the same time he so helpfully shows how good Jesus really is so you wan to change.

So forget your new years resolutions….this book, if read and understood will bring great blessing for you and others.

Breaking the Idols of your Heart – by Dan B. Allender & Tremper Longman III

This book is different because each chapter starts with a well written fictional scenario and story which the second half of the chapter then analyses. The story continues to build as the authors look at issues of power, relationships, pleasure etc. Allender is the story teller, and Tremper is the theologian and it works really well. It deals with very believable situations for both men and women in their work, marriage and social settings and faithfully exposes what is going on largely through teaching from the book of Ecclesiastes. It’s very gospel focussed and will get you thinking more deeply about the why of your worries and stresses and distraction in life.

Counterfeit Gods – By Timothy Keller

It’s hard to be disappointed by anything Keller has written. He’s so good at nailing our problem and revealing the wonder of the solution in Jesus. If you love quotes, there are scores of them here that bolster his thesis that our great problems and our sinful behaviours are driven by the conveyor belt of idolatry which resides in our hearts which only Jesus can replace. Keller is anti-moralistic and anti-religious because he is so gospel focussed. He really does believe that Jesus is better than anything this world can ever offer and your heart rejoices as to why as you read through these chapters.

Hear about it from the author here.