The Prodigal God

Witwiwo:

What: The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith

Author: Timothy Keller

When: Earlier this month

How Long: 133 pages, 1 week.

Where: In my bed.

What I used as a Bookmark: The tag from the Walk In Love t-shirt I bought a few months back.

Why (/Expectations): I had thought it was an interesting title, supposing it was a fresh take on the famous parable. And the speaker at Summer Conference said it would be the best book I read this year, so my expectations were pretty high.

Two Sentence Synopsis: Timothy Keller takes a fresh look at the famous parable, which he renames the "Parable of the Two Lost Sons." Discussing both sons, but paying special attention to the older brother, Keller applies their attitudes to our own attitudes and explains how they relate to the Christian walk. [my bad on 2 epic-long sentences]

My Favorite Part or Quote was: "What makes you faithful or generous is not just a redoubled effort to follow moral rules. rather, all change comes form a deepening understanding of the salvation of Christ and living out the changes that understanding creates in your heart. Faith in the gospel restructures our motivations, our self0understandnig, our identity and our view of the world. Behavioral compliance to rules without heart-change will be superficial and fleeting." (pages 118-119)

How Fun It Was: Not really "entertaining," per sé, but it wasn't boring or unfun.

The Positives: It is a fairly fresh look at the well-studied parable, and Keller does a good job of relating it to readers today. He also skillfully incorporates examples from well-known literature to bolster several of his points.

The Negatives: The first portion of the book, explaining the parable, was a little old for me. That could just be because I've heard a lot of different messages on it recently, but almost the first half was fairly old news.

The Theology, Philosophy, Morality or Application: Impeccable. Keller presents good Biblical exposition and exegesis, and offers a clear and strong challenge for the modern Church to accept the Father's invitation to come and feast.

One thing I learned: Fond memories are no place on which to rest hope. In a quote from Lewis: "the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers." (page 94)

The ending: That is, the last two chapters, were actually my favorites and the most insightful.

Go/Borrow/Buy/Don't: It's definitely worth the borrow, and I'm glad I bought it, but I wouldn't recommend everyone follow suit.

Just Do Something

Witwiwo:

What: Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will
-or-
How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, etc.

Author: Kevin DeYoung

When: Last week.

How Long: 122 pages, 6 days (gimme a break, a chapter or two a night!)

Why (/Expectations): I'd heard about the book through Josh Harris, and his intro made it sound great. Plus the concept of God's Will is always interesting to everyone, so I was expecting a lot from it.

What I used as a Bookmark: A direct deposit notification from Winthrop.

Two Sentence Synopsis: Keving DeYoung explains how we often go about looking for God's will in the wrong way. Then, he illustrates how the Bible demonstrates we should search for God's Will, by just doing something.

My Favorite Part or Quote was: "Men, if you want to be married, find a godly gal, treat her right, talk to her parents, pop the question, tie the knot, and start making babies." (pg. 108)

How Fun It Was: Eh, he had a good bit of humor throughout, enough to keep the book from being dry, but it was by no means a "funny" book.

The Positives: Kevin does a good job of clearly and kindly poking holes in our notions about God's will and how we need to be looking for it. He uses a fair number of passages to illustrate it as well. And on of the biggest positives is it's short!

The Negatives: While he does use a good number of passages and stories from the Bible, I think he could always benefit from more. Not that he needs to explain every example, but maybe provide a list in the notes or something like that.

The Theology, Philosophy, Morality or Application: Excellent. Each of the verses/stories he used were well explained and exposited. Someone could say he used just random verses, but a general knowledge of the Bible (I think) makes it clear that what he is saying is accurate.

One thing I learned: Endnotes are often annoying to look back at. Also, God's will is surprisingly easier to follow than I previously thought.

The ending: Actually pretty interesting. He interviewed his grandfather to show how his long life followed God's will without being worried if he was following God's will.

Go/Borrow/Buy/Don't: I'd say buy it for sure, read it, and then let a friend borrow it. It's definitely worth the purchase.