Made for More

Made for More, Emily Cobb

Do you ever find yourself wondering, "Is there more to this life?" When you talk to your neighbours, family members and colleagues, do you hear the same question in their never-ending search for satisfaction? As the next holiday is booked, or pleasure found in kids’ achievements, or the next recipe is mastered, is there a voice that says, "Surely there is more?"

For those of us with a Christian faith, the answer is yes. For while this life can be wonderful, exciting and interesting, we know this isn’t all there is. In fact, it's this certainty that helps us find joy and purpose in this life, not only in the pleasures and satisfactions, but also in the challenges and sorrows. We want our friends to know this truth too, to understand we are made for more than this life offers: a relationship with the living God.

So it's with great thankfulness that we can welcome Emily Cobb's book Made for More to the marketplace.

She starts by raising the question of longing, and observes that sadly the busyness of life prevents us from really searching for meaning:

“Most of the time I don’t notice it—as life has grown busier, responsibilities greater and I’m immersed in so much noise, my longings often get drowned out. Maybe that’s true for you too; the busyness, the chaos and even the delights of life suppress any deep sense of a longing for more. But if we unplug for a moment, and press pause on the busy, what drives who we are? What deep burdens and desires of our heart bubble to the surface? 

What do you long for?” (p8)

She states her own perspective: that it's a real relationship with God, who can be known, that gives life meaning, and that is what we are all longing for.

Cobb proceeds to logically and clearly present the gospel in concise, pithy chapters. She starts with creation, acknowledges sin and what went wrong, and then clarifies how God has always had a plan to deal with our longing. I appreciated how she faces head on our rebellion at being told we are sinners:

“You may feel like a pretty good person, and on the whole I think a lot of people on earth seem like fairly decent people. You may love others, you may care for the sick and downtrodden, you may work hard, you might even take that extra change back to the checkout if they give you too much. So this whole thing of you and me being sinners doesn’t sit well with you. Surely sinners are murderers and people like that, people who do really terrible things—not ordinary people like you and me. 

But the Bible defines sin differently. It says that every single person (apart from one) who has ever walked the earth is a sinner. Sin isn’t a specific action. It’s an attitude of the heart that de-thrones God and puts ourselves centre-stage.” (p29-30)

From this we move to four different emphases on Jesus: he is the son, the life giver, the saviour and the King. In doing so, Scripture is used to explain and expand. Included is how Jesus was obedient even though he was tempted (Matthew 4), and that he gives life using the example of the bleeding woman (Luke 8:43-48) and the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-42). The account of Mary leads into a clear explanation of Jesus’ death, why it had to happen and what it accomplished. These finish with a discussion of the realities of heaven and hell, under the banner of explaining why Jesus hasn’t returned yet: God is giving more people more time to come to him. Very helpfully, she openly acknowledges that we would prefer not to talk about hell, but we need to face its reality.

After laying this groundwork with explanations, engaging examples, and many Bible references, Cobb calls on the reader for a response. With a somewhat risky but helpful illustration, she likens what she’s presented to something a salesman at your door might offer and your various responses: usually disregard, but sometimes interest because you can see that what’s on offer is something you might actually need. She gives a fair summary of people’s reactions to the message of the gospel: avoidance, shutting down discussion, unwillingness to change, or a real desire to know more. Winsomely, she is respectful of all four options. She then guides the reader who wants to respond through the process of repentance, putting faith in Christ and notes the costs of following Jesus, all the while encouraging that it’s worth it.

In the final chapter, the reader is guided through the results of living the life you were made for including: you aren't alone (you have the Spirit), you’re a new person, you’re forgiven, and you no longer need to fear death. Life changes for you as you get to know God more (through the Bible), he hears you (through prayer) and you have a new family (through church). Now you can live your life with purpose.

At just on 100 pages this book is an easy read. The chapters are succinct, but without skimping, so that anyone who is searching can find answers to their main questions.

It’s aimed at women. The biblical examples often use women, and the formatting and publishing look have a softer feminine feel. So, while the content is entirely suitable for men, and I’m not always convinced about the need to separate readers, this will be a book that women will probably give to other women. I can think of several women in ministry who will use it as a resource. Cobb has a chatty, open writing style and her illustrations will connect with various ages and stages, from teens right through to mature readers. In addition, her stories about herself have an honest humility that resonates.

This is a great primer book about the gospel to have on hand to give to your enquiring friends. When they start to wonder “Is there more to this life?”, you can, with conversation and this book in hand, answer convincingly, “yes”.


This review was also published on TGCA. 

Get Real

Get Real, John S. Leonard

This great offering from New Growth Press has been sitting unread as an eBook on my iPad for way too long.   I wish I’d read it sooner.

Leonard has written an excellent book which looks at the pitfalls of so called ‘traditional’ evangelism, and he presents a better way forward.   Many Christians are uncomfortable and awkward with evangelism.  They think they have to follow a set way, explain the gospel completely as soon as given the chance, and then often feel ill-equipped to do so.  Rather than a challenge to learn tracts or evangelistic presentations, Leonard challenges us to think about our whole life as evangelism, a life lived under the grace of God and one which is appealing to unbelievers.  I know that much of what he has to say is not actually new thinking, but it definitely was a helpful reminder of the things that matter when you seek to share your faith. 

He starts by reminding the reader again of the gospel we share, how it is grounded in grace, all of it and how that defines all of our lives:

We must realize it is all Jesus and nothing of use and give him all the praise and glory.  The Christian life is lived – from beginning to end – by grace.  If we are going to share this message with others, we must first know it for ourselves (p22).

Then the bulk of the book: A Real Approach to Sharing the Gospel, deals with many different areas of how we share our faith.  Some of the highlights along the way were:

• Be normal but a bit crazy.   That is, be a normal person, don’t be weird: be honest about your struggles and weaknesses, don’t present a false front of faith.  But at the same time, be a bit crazy in your life of faith – because how you live and what matters to you (time priorities, money priorities, etc) will seem a little crazy to others.
• Be more than a friend – be a support to people.  Get to know people well, ask questions and care about them.   Become the person they will seek out in times of crisis, and the one to whom they will ask when they need answers.   Obviously this takes time and care.  
• Keep evangelising Christians – for they keep needing to remember they are saved by grace not works – and disciple non-Christians – that is, show how we live, what matters, what we prioritise.   You don’t just keep repeating the gospel to unbelievers, you show them how you live it out and how all of the bible can apply to life.  That means the moment of conversion is just one step along the path of becoming disciple of Christ.
• Sow widely.  Be available to a wide number of people who come across your path.  Go through the same checkout to get to know the same person.  Talk to your hairdresser.  Smile at people on the bus and on the plane.  Ask shopkeepers from other countries where they are from and about their families, and then remember the details for next time you go in.   Stop seeking to be efficient in the self-check and the do-it-yourself section – but allow time to talk to people.   If you are clearly available to talk, people will talk to you.
• Change your testimony to include all the ways God has worked in your life since you came to faith.  How he has changed you as an employee, a parent, a spouse, a child.  Don’t stop your account when you became a Christian – for many of us, that story is now very old and God has proven his faithfulness and grace countless times since then in ways which are much more relevant to people you talk to.   Talk of what he has done and is now continuously doing in your life.
• Raise curiosity – challenge people’s views with an idea, but stop talking when you can tell they aren’t interested.   Much better to leave them wanting more and thinking about what you said.
• Pray with your eyes open ­– People can be uncomfortable if you pray with your eyes closed, especially when you meet in public.  They feel self-conscious and awkward (let’s be honest, lots of Christians do too in public places!)  Why not just say you are going to pray but tell them it will look like a normal conversation, so no-one is embarrassed by it?

That is really only a taste of all the very helpful things Leonard had to offer here.   If you want to think about how to share your faith, but living a life of faith by grace this is the book for you.  Leonard will challenge you to be open and real with all people, to listen well, to speak less, to gently challenge where appropriate and to be available.   Highly recommended.  

Book Review: Leading Your Child to Jesus

Leading Your Child to Jesus, David Staal

This is a really helpful book. It helps you to think about how speak to your children about matters of faith, your own faith and conversion, God's plan of salvation, and how to help children pray to God to accept him as their Saviour and Lord.

It is short (122 pg) and only has 6 chapters, all of which are very readable. It is full of stories and anecdotes, as well as a biblical foundation and helpful suggestions and information.

Staal is the director of the Children's Programs at Willow Creek. He starts off by making clear that children can enter into a saving relationship with Jesus (something many would personally testify to) and that as as parents we need to commit to becoming comfortable at speaking simple, personal faith explanations. The rest of the book goes on to give help on how to do this.

Some of the things I found helpful:

1. It was eminently practical. In Ch 2: Share Your Story, he makes the point that our personal stories of conversion are likely to resonate with our children more than any other. Therefore, we need to be prepared to share them at any time. He then leads you through thinking about your own conversion: what you were like beforehand, what happened to you when you were converted and how your life has changed since then. He helps you to think about how to make it age-appropriate to children, and finally to trim your story down to four sentences. I now feel I could explain my conversion at age 17 to my 5-year old in a way he would understand.
   
2. As the previous point suggested, throughout the book, he has exercises to do to practice yourself. I normally never do theses types of exercises in Christian books, they often seem a bit contrived to me. However, I did most of them in this book. And I found a number of them very helpful: such as thinking about what each of your children currently understands about God and Jesus, or how I would explain in a few sentences the key points of the gospel.
3. It encourages the need for a response from a child to the gospel, in prayer. He gives us (parents) the tools to help our children through this in a simple yet effective way, which he terms the ABC prayer: A (admit sins and ask for forgiveness), B (believe in Jesus and that he died for your sins) and C (choose to follow Jesus the rest of your life). This section also had some helpful guidelines for judging whether your children are really ready to pray such a prayer.
4. The reminder that children believe what they are told, especially by their parents, so these early years (0-5) give a great opportunity to lay a spiritual foundation. He had a number of tips on how to make the things of God a part of everyday life.
   
5. His final chapter acknowledged that some parents reading the book may themselves 'not have a story', that is they themselves have not made a profession of faith, and then addresses the need to look into the things of God themselves and make a decision. I thought this was a really helpful issue to address, rather than assuming that all readers have committed their lives to Christ.

He had a few suggestions towards the end about how to reach young children with the gospel, which were all helpful - talking to them about God, talking about 'God made the animals', etc. We have done this with our children, and it becomes second nature after a while. Some other things we have done to make an obvious God part of our lives are:

• pray with them even as babies as we carried them to bed, it has set up an expected pattern into childhood that we always pray at the end of the day
• say grace with them as soon as they are starting solids, our 15 month old puts her hands together now as soon as she gets in her highchair
• pray for ambulances, fire engines and police cars when they have their sirens on. It always seemed a bit macabre to me to get kids excited about sirens when they actually signify a crisis. We always now pray as we drive when we hear an ambulance.
• we have made up little photo books called "God loves me" and "God made me", for our children, godchildren and nieces/nephews. The "God loves me" has photos of all family members on consecutive pages, with the writing on the opposite page, "God loves me", "God loves Mummy & Daddy", "God loves Nanna & Grandad", etc. As we live interstate from all family, it has been a wonderful way of teaching the family names to them, but more so, teaching them that God loves everyone. The book ends with "God loves everyone" and John 3:16 printed out. The "God made me" one, has the immediate family and then "God made trees/dogs/birds/flowers, etc", the things that children see regularly. At the end that one has "God made everything" and "God has made me His"
  

What other things do you do to teach your children about God and Jesus daily?

One question this book raised for me is that he talks more about Jesus, whereas I tend to talk more about God. eg. I say to my children more that "God loves you" rather than "Jesus loves you" - is this a cultural thing do you think or is more going on here? Have you ever thought about this?

Anyway, this is a helpful, easy to read and very practical book - and about a topic very close to many of our hearts.