Discerning Reader Blog

Shack Follow-Up

Mark Tubbs — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:31:36 +0000

Since Discerning Reader underwent a bit of a redesign about a month ago (thanks Travis!) I've been keenly watching the most popular reviews counter. No surprise that Tim Challies' review of Wm. Paul Young's unexpected runaway bestseller The Shack is edging up to 12,000 views in December alone. Whether you are a diehard Shacker, a rabid Shack-attacker, or somewhere in between, chances are that you've had a chance to dialogue with somebody about the book and the concepts presented in it. Definite polarization has occurred in the Christian community based upon this book, which means we have yet another opportunity as Christ-followers to extend grace and re-align our beliefs and presuppositions according to the revealed Word of God.

You've heard the saying "No man is an island"? Well, no book is an island either. I wouldn't recommend you derive your theology of the Trinity, the love of God, or your understanding of the purpose of sin, grief, and suffering in the world from The Shack alone. The titles below are a bundle of follow-up non-fiction books that delve deeper into the concepts raised in The Shack. Be challenged, and enjoy!

Crazy Love by Francis Chan, subtitled "Overwhelmed by a Relentless God," is a book that explores what it calls "the radical, unconditional, self-sacrificing love of God." Enough said? If you want more, see the review and/or Francis Chan's website.

Delighting in the Trinity by Tim Chester, subtitled "Just Why Are Father, Son and Spirit Such Good News?" is a three-part exploration of the biblical foundations, historical developments, and practical implications of the doctrine of the Trinity. Tim Chester doesn't speak over anyone's head in explaining the Trinity, and besides, of all the books he has written, it's his favourite.

Shared Life by Donald Macleod, subtitled "The Trinity & the Fellowship of God's People," aims to apply the reality of the Trinity to real human life. Macleod is a master theologian, but you won't find any hoity-toityness here.

When God Weeps by Joni Eareckson Tada & Steve Estes, subtitled "Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty," was written by quadripalegic Tada and pastor Estes to answer the questions, "Can God be trusted when I hurt so bad?" and "What are His purposes in the face of suffering?" Suffice to say that Tada knows whereof she speaks.

Spectacular Sins by John Piper, subtitled "Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ," may sound outside the realm of the present harsh reality of life, but Piper demonstrates convincingly that "the glory of Christ is the great issue of our time, and of all time." Why? Because "If, while I am having a tender conversation with my wife, a man breaks in and kills her and all my children and leaves me wounded on the living room floor, I will need a way of seeing the world that involves more than the tenderness of God. If pestilence takes out tens of thousands of my fellow citizens and half my church, my mental and spiritual survival will depend on more than the precious gifts of God's intimacy." If you prefer a softcover edition, buy it from Desiring God.

From Grief to Glory by James Bruce III, previously subtitled "Spiritual Journeys of Grieving Parents" when published by Crossway, and now subtitled "A Book of Comfort for Grieving Parents" as published by Banner of Truth, Bruce culls the writings of saints through the ages who have experienced the death of a son or daughter. Bruce is one of these saints himself.

Ideally I would also add a book to this list about how The Shack operates as a piece of fiction, and how its genre should inform our reading. But this topic will have to wait for another day. In the meantime, I pray to God - earnestly and hopefully - that you will take advantage of these recommendations and that they will propel you on to higher thoughts of our glorious God.

From all of us at Discerning Reader, have a blessed, grief-enduring, God-exalting 2009, assured of the care of our loving and awesome triune God.

No Problem with Christmas

Mark Tubbs — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:08:58 +0000

No Problem with Christmas

Writer extraordinaire, new long-distance friend, and all-around handsome guy J. Mark Bertrand (author of one of my favorite 2008 releases, Rethinking Worldview) takes on Christmas cynics in a 2007 blog piece entitled "The Problem with Christmas."

Pray do keep a theological encyclopedia and dictionary handy, as you may be adding some new vocabulary entries to your personal lexicon.

Enjoy the musings of a Master's Artist!

Consider This - A Christmas Exhortation

Mark Tubbs — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 02:58:00 +0000

Consider This

At this time of year, we are reminded of something which is true at all times, but which should become much more obvious to us now. This is that the Christian Church is at the center of history, and the Lord Jesus Christ is at the center of the Christian Church.

The world may seek to ignore us, but their frenzied commercialism only testifies that they and all that they have are as hollow as only a bank vault can be.

The world may try to substitute their own impoverished myths and stories – about reindeer, and elves, and Santas, and snowmen, and what not – but this holidays is ours. They are welcome to watch, and, if they confess the faith and are baptized, to join with us.

The world may seek to redefine what is occurring, talking solemnly of the winter solstice, or ancient pagan festivals. It is all for nothing; this is about nothing other than the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, against which no politically correct imbecility can stand. To such we say, “Consider that the Lord Jesus was born in order to die. In His death and resurrection, He conquered the world. Deal with it.”

That conquest is made manifest, here, in the worship of God’s people.

Douglas Wilson's book of Exhortations can be purchased here.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Tim Challies — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:37:38 +0000

This morning, writing on my blog, I took the opportunity to share my picks for my favorite books of 2008. And I then promptly invested some time in updating Discerning Reader's list of forthcoming titles. So here you have the opportunity to look forward and then to look back.

Click here to view a list of noteworthy forthcoming releases.

Meanwhile, here are my top 7 of ‘08. In each case I’ve linked to my review of the title. With the exception of the final title, they are in no particular order.

Don’t Stop Believing by Michael Wittmer looks at rigid conservatism and loose postmodernism, attempting to find a third way that cuts through the middle, holding fast to sound Christian theology while also emphasizing love and action.

Crazy Love by Francis Chan, though targeted primarily at a younger audience, is a powerful challenge to those “who are bored with what American Christianity offers. It is for those who don’t want to plateau, who would rather die before their convictions do.” It is a call to emphasize obedience far higher than comfort.

The Reason for God by Tim Keller is Keller’s long-awaited major release—one of two this year. It is written specifically to challenge postmodern skeptics. It carefully and patiently answers the objections of their skeptical friends and does so with grace and in a way consistent with the Bible.

Christless Christianity by Michael Horton shows that much of what passes for Christianity today is really anything but; it is Christianity without Christ. This book is a call for the church to return to its biblical foundations and to remain true to those convictions. It is a clarion call and one that Christians would do well to heed.

Unpacking Forgiveness by Chris Brauns deals with a tough subject and one which we all have opportunity to practice. He eschews the easy, pat answers and looks to the Bible to provide God’s wisdom on how and when we are to forgive. Relying on his experience as a pastor and on his deep knowledge of Scripture, he provides what is a logical, well-illustrated book on the subject.

Love or Die by Alexander Strauch focuses on Revelation 2:2-6, verses where Christ praises the church at Ephesus for their love and discernment but exhorts them to be marked by love. Strauch turns these verses on the reader, encouraging Christians to view love as a distinguishing mark of the Christian. Had Carson not written his book (below) this would have been my top pick.

And here is my favorite book of the year:

Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor by D.A. Carson

is D.A. Carson’s tribute to his father, a pastor who labored for many years in relative obscurity. Tom Carson was an ordinary pastor, a man who struggled with depression and who saw his ministry bear visible little fruit, but he was a man who remained faithful and who served the Lord with all his heart. This is a must-read book for anyone in ministry.

Discerning Reader Update - December 2008

Tim Challies — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:12:06 +0000

It has been too long, I think, since we gave a "state of the nation" update to the readers of this site. Let me remedy that today by telling you what has been happening and what will be happening at Discerning Reader.

We recently completed a complete overhaul of the behind-the-scenes software. This also involved moving to a new web host. This new software gives us all kinds of great new abilities and makes all of the day-to-day tasks much easier. We are still learning to use it but can already see that it will bring us many benefits. Now that the software has been updated, we can see that we should also make a few design updates. We hope to complete that before the calendar ticks over to a new year. We anticipate making only small design changes with nothing too major or structural. Still, these designs should help with the site's readability and functionality.

Beginning in 2009, we hope to update the site on a more regular basis. It has been our habit to add new reviews on Tuesdays. Beginning next year we hope to add other content throughout the week. We cannot promise daily content, but do hope to update more regularly, at the very least. This should allow us to fill out some of the existing sections and to generate some great new content.

And this is where we are. We thank you for supporting this site with your visits. We are as commited to this site as we've ever been and look forward to serving you in 2009 and beyond.

In Christ,

Tim Challies

P.S. - The Upcoming Releases page has been updated with many of the notable books coming our way in 2009. That site will be updated throughout the year as we scour web sites, catalogs and other sources of information.

New Reviews: How Much Is a Whack?

Mark Tubbs — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:24:00 +0000

However much a 'whack' constitutes, we've got a whack of recent reviews for you to peruse.

Founding Editor Tim Challies was the only contributor this week, with six new reviews of a diverse array of books.

Most notably, Howard Publishing, Simon & Schuster's Christian imprint, has released uber-famous pastor-author Rick Warren's Christmas-themed evangelism hardcover, The Purpose of Christmas. Tim's take on the book is that while it could have been an excellent resource, and still may prove a blessed vehicle of conversion for some nonbelievers, it crashes and burns with Christian clichés and lack of profundity or nuance.

Second, Tim weighs in with a favorable review of Missional/Reformed (or Reformed/Missional) pastor-author Tim Keller's second offering from secular publisher Dutton: the sensationally-titled The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith. In it, Keller liberates the word 'prodigal' from its unfortunate semantic baggage, producing a reading of the Prodigal Son parable that will force both believers and nonbelievers to re-evaluate their faith - or lack thereof.

Still on the Christian author 'A' list, we turn to Reformation Trust's reprint of R.C. Sproul's Five Things Every Christian Needs to Grow, a useful primer on basic Christian disciplines. Incidentally, the cover art looks like my 5th birthday cake.

No less worthy of the 'A' list in Tim's opinion is Chris Brauns' Unpacking Forgiveness: Biblical Answers for Complex Questions and Deep Wounds, a biblical but controversial exposition of the Bible's teaching on forgiveness. Brauns' teaching runs counter to much evangelical thought, but Tim appreciates Brauns' reticence to fall back on easy answers, and recommends Unpacking Forgiveness for every Christian's bookshelf.

From the New York Times Bestseller List, Tim took the opportunity of a flight to read through Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time, the story of adventurer Greg Mortensen as told to author David Relin. While Tim more or less enjoyed the story, he was a bit put off by its humanistic emphasis.

Somewhat lesser known than Warren, Sproul, or Keller (and possibly even Mortensen!), Michael Horton nonetheless occupies the front ranks of Reformed authors. In Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church Horton laments the 'silliness' of many Westerners' approach to the gospel. Horton is sounding alarm bells reminiscent of Francis Schaeffer's warnings of 'accommodation' and C.S. Lewis' caution against 'weightlessness.'

A week before, Trevin Wax reviewed Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony by Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon, a look at Christianity's role in the betterment of the world - a betterment, assert Hauerwas and Willimon, that looks very different than the world's understanding of betterment.

Also the week before, Leslie Wiggins recommended women read Nancy Leigh DeMoss' second book in the Revive Our Hearts Triology, Surrender: The Heart God Controls. A warning: Leslie's devotional review is a beautiful piece of writing, so you may feel you don't need to invest in the actual book!

I (Mark Tubbs) also reviewed a book recently - a speed read in the days before the Canadian federal election. Radical Tories: The Conservative Tradition in Canada, by the late journalist Charles Taylor, was named one of the Top 100 Canadian Books of all time by the Literary Review of Canada (a fully warranted honour), but contains political ideas about being a conservative pertinent to all cultures and countries.

Last, but certainly not least, Tim reviewed the long-awaited, critically-acclaimed, hot-off-the-presses ESV Study Bible. Rather than reproduce his careful reviewing work here, I will commend his thorough review to you.

New Reviews: Better Late Than Never

Mark Tubbs — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:15:00 +0000

I've been remiss in not posting this DR review update until this weekend - Thanksgiving weekend in Canada, as it happens. Aren't you thankful the update is posted now?

In the past couple of weeks a couple of reviews didn't get 'frontpaged' because they were already in the DR database, sans actual review: Martha Peace's The Excellent Wife, reviewed by Leslie Wiggins, and Steve Keels' Transparenting: Mentoring the Next Generation, recommended by Scott Lamb. Locate copies of both and let your family life be enhanced by sound biblical teaching.

I (Mark Tubbs) have only generated one review in the recent past, an engaging biography: Agape Leadership: Lessons in Spiritual Leadership from the Life of R.C. Chapman by Robert L. Peterson and Alexander Strauch, a condensed 'taster' of the longer, more in-depth Robert Chapman: Apostle of Love.

Appropriate to the current economic climate, Jacob Hantla has reviewed Mark Zandi's Financial Shock: A 360º Look at the Subprime Mortgage Implosion, and How to Avoid the Next Financial Crisis. Behind the extra-long subtitle, and despite the unfortunate fact that Zandi misjudged the timing of the current financial episode, is a simple and helpful guide for those who are looking for an economist's recommendations to weather the economic storm.

Jacob also reviewed John Frame's classic Apologetics for the Glory of God and C.J. Mahaney's newest book, Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World. He recommends reading both for the purpose of equipping the Christian against the arguments and enticements of the world.

Also salient to the current socio-political scene is James Anderson's review of Francis Beckwith's book Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice. Beckwith, a former evangelical professor who recently converted to Roman Catholicism, makes the simple but convincing case, in James' opinion, that abortion is morally wrong in every respect.

Two books on the subject of the preached Word were reviewed last week. Tim Challies is an Albert Mohler aficionado, so it's no surprise he enjoyed and recommends He Is Not Silent: Preaching in a Postmodern World, while Trevin Wax describes Mark Dever's approach to evangelism in the Reformed tradition (with a Southern Baptist flavor, of course) in Dever's book The Gospel and Personal Evangelism.

Trevin also recently read and reviewed a relatively unknown historical book, Prayin' to Be Set Free: Personal Accounts of Slavery in Mississippi, a collection of first-hand accounts from former slaves discussing the life of slavery, the American Civil War, and life after Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.

Tim reviewed two other books last week. Death by Love: Letters from the Cross by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears, is Driscoll's best-ever book, in Tim's opinion. Meanwhile, Tim deems novelist Anne Rice's spiritual autobiography Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession "interesting enough," but hampered by weak theology and a slow start.

Enjoy perusing the reviews of the above-mentioned books. We'll be back with another batch of reviews in just a couple of days, on Tuesday, October 14th: Canada's federal election day.

BlogThru: Future Grace (Chapter 5)

Mark Tubbs — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 06:56:00 +0000

Two weeks ago Leslie Wiggins of Lux Venit and I began a month-long series on the 31 chapters of John Piper's book The Purifying Power of Living By Faith in Future Grace, better known as Future Grace. My deepest thanks go out to Leslie for her patience while I sought to apply faith in future grace to work situations last week. We now move on to Chapter 5, "The Freest of All God's Acts."

Be Free, Stanley, Be Free

In my four-year old son's runaway favourite motion picture, the animated feature Cars, the spooked protagonist Lightning McQueen rampages through the sleepy little town of Radiator Springs, believing the Sheriff chasing him is shooting at him. Sheriff's car, unused to high speed chases, is actually backfiring embarrassingly. As McQueen tries to outrun Sheriff, he knocks over a tower of tires, destroys the firehall flowerbed, somehow attaches himself to the statue of the town founder Stanley, and drags the statue free of its moorings. The conical base of the road-surfing statue furrows the pavement the length of Radiator Springs until McQueen suddenly throws on the brakes, flinging the statue into overhead electrical wires, which in turn catapult Stanley into the night air. On his way up, the resident hippie VW cab Fillmore is heard to say, "Be free, Stanley, be free!" In a moment that could only happen in movies, Stanley plunks down squarely onto his original base outside the firehall.

In this post, before I grapple with the nitty-gritty of Piper's chapter, I want to reiterate via paraphrase a conversation on a DR reader's blog that touched on the issue of God's nature: is God a risk taker or not? Those who have read Wild At Heart by John Eldredge, or DR's review of it (total disclosure: I did not write the review in question) will be familiar with this line of thought and its extreme version, Open Theism, which posits that God does not actually know the future but makes extremely well-informed guesses.

The conversation came about because the blogger mentioned he appreciated reading DR's review after having read Wild at Heart and being captivated (pun intended) by the book. This blogger was convinced of the need to hold said book up to the light of Scripture, and found the book wanting. Soon, a Wild At Heart apologist had posted in response, declaring that the blogger's first impulse to love the book had been the correct reaction because "God is a risk taker." The blogger responded with Scriptures pointing to the omniscience of God and the sufficiency of Scripture. Unable to resist, I weighed in, pointing out a helpful article by John Piper (yes, him again) and Robert Reymond's excellent discussion of the dynamic way God works in the world and in time in the book What Is God?

Now let's tie some loose ends together. What was the point of telling the story of Stanley from Cars and summarizing the comment thread from a DR reader's blog? Simply this: when we attempt to release God (as if we could) from the moorings of His own self-disclosure and self-revelation, we do violence to the character of God, and the Scriptures in which He has shown Himself. Even one of the current presidential nominees is on record as stating there are many ways to God, which is tantamount to universalism and denies the "one way" teaching of Jesus Christ. It goes without saying this nominee's claim of God's universal election has no scriptural basis and no effectual power. We cannot release Him from the moorings of His character by wishful speaking: "Be free, Lordy, be free!" His moorings are His character as revealed in His Word, and His Word is Truth.

That said, "God's grace toward sinners is the freest of all God's acts." Far from being frustratingly reigned in from extending universal election because He made rules He cannot break,

Right at the center of God's self-revelation is the declaration that he is free in the way he dispenses his grace. And this freedom belongs to the very essence of what it means to be God. God is gracious to whom he will be gracious. He is not limited by anyone's wickedness. He is never trapped by his own wrath. His grace may break out anywhere he pleases. Which is a great encouragement to the worst of sinners to turn from futile hopes and put their trust in future grace.

Canadian singer Roch Voisine asks (not of God) in one of his songs, "But how can you be so free?" We might well ask this of God. Note especially in the above quote that "He is never trapped by his own wrath." Rather, God's character allows him - nay, motivates him - to be the freest being of all. Risk taking on God's part is not a logical outcome of His character; electing grace is. God is free to explode in grace towards repentant sinners due to the riches of his grace (Eph. 2:6-7). Jerry Bridges further explores God's unsearchable riches in his book The Gospel for Real Life - highly recommended.

I realize, as Piper does, that this discussion begs the question, "But how can electing grace be a totally free kind of grace? If it's sovereignly extended to only those God chooses, it's not free, is it?" Well, Piper says, that's because it's conditional. As one of his subtitles in the chapter puts it, God extends "Free, Unmerited, Conditional Grace." While grace cannot be earned or merited, it still comes on conditions of repentance. "Whoa," you may be saying, "there's the condition - repentance." But it's tacitly not a meritorious condition because Scripture makes it plain that even the repentance itself is a gift of God's grace, which in turn guarantees the freeness of grace. "God's freedom is not reduced when he makes some of his graces depend on conditions that he himself freely supplies." At the end of the day, God is God and will be gracious to whom He is gracious. O how marvelous, how wonderful, is God's sovereign grace extended to sinners!

Please read Leslie's reflections on this chapter.

BlogThru: Future Grace (Chapter 4)

Mark Tubbs — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:20:00 +0000

Last week Leslie Wiggins of Lux Venit and I began a month-long series on the 31 chapters of John Piper's book The Purifying Power of Living By Faith in Future Grace, better known as Future Grace. We now move on to Part 2, "Free and Future Grace," beginning with Chapter 4, "The Life That's Left Is Future Grace."

One Life to Live

All of us have only one life to live, and I'm not talking about the ABC soap opera. Furthermore, as John Piper says at the outset of Chapter 4, the only life we have left to live is future life. As such, all promises of God are future promises, and all expectations of God are future expectations. The Christian life is lived in the current moment, but as every future moment becomes the present moment, God's future grace promised becomes present grace endued. And that is a splendid promise in itself.

However, many of us live in the present moment as though present grace endued cannot strengthen, never mind future grace promised. This Piper answers with a startling statement: "You can't be a Christian without faith in future grace." He clarifies: "Our standing as Christians is as secure as God's supply of future grace," meaning that the same faith that justifies both sanctifies us and empowers us to put one foot in front of the other. For support, Piper turns to the New Testament example of the Church in Macedonia, who gave freely to the poor of the Church in Jerusalem not out of wealth, but despite extreme poverty. How did they know that God would provide for them once they turned over their meagre riches to support the Church in Jerusalem? Only faith. And yet, full of faith. Faith is sometimes all we have, but faith is all we need.

How often do we place faith in God contingently? "I will trust you, Lord, when you put enough money in my bank account to stop me worrying." Like Gideon, we lay out our fleeces, when we should be prostrating ourselves on our faces! But Macedonian, expectant faith is not arrogant, it is confident:

We are gathered together because of the grace of our God and Father, visited upon us through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, and made our possession through the ministry of the Word. Amen.

All that we do flows from His grace; we deserve nothing through what we have done in preparation, or anything we have done as a result of grace...

We are here in Jesus' name, not in yours, and not in ours. We are here because He is good, not because you are, and not because we are. We are here because He is the Lord, and we are not. Bow down to Him now. (from Douglas Wilson's Exhortations)

Conscious of Christ as their supreme possession, the Macedonians confidently, faithfully, and humbly disposed of their possessions to provide for the temporal needs of the Jerusalem Church. The lesson here is that we are grace to others when we are nourished by the grace of God through His Word. In other words (the Apostle Paul's words, actually), grace be to us today, and grace be with us tomorrow. Amen.

Leslie has posted what she has learned in Chapter 4 here.

BlogThru: Future Grace (Chapter 3)

Mark Tubbs — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 20:52:00 +0000

Leslie Wiggins of Lux Venit and I are completing Part 1 of 10 in a month-long series on the 31 chapters of John Piper's book The Purifying Power of Living By Faith in Future Grace, better known as Future Grace. Join in, won't you? It's still early days yet.

God Meant What He Said

I don't know how many times I've heard people say, "I know the Bible says, 'Be holy, as I am holy' (I Peter 3:15, echoing Leviticus 11:44), but God can't have really meant that." I've heard the same logic applied to Christ's words in Matthew 6:34,"Do not be anxious about tomorrow," and Luke 12:22, "Do not be anxious about your life," and Paul's words in Philippians 4:6, "Do not be anxious about anything." But if there are three things that we feel we have a right to worry about, they are these exact three things, are they not?

Let's look at the grammar quickly (I can't help it; I teach high school English). All three injunctions are delivered in the imperative tense; they are commands. Incidentally, in a more recent Piper book entitled What Jesus Demands from the World, Demands #14 and #15 are, respectively, "Do Not Be Anxious About the Necessities of Daily Life," and "Do Not Be Anxious About the Threats of Man." In these chapters, Piper further unpacks a topic he can only spend a relatively brief chapter on in Future Grace.

So he commands and demands we not be anxious. But surely these commands and demands don't rank up with the Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule, and the Great Commission? We need to be careful here. Much like the narrative segments (i.e.,"Jesus Feeds the Ten Thousand") and the chapter divisions that editors have imposed upon the text in sincere efforts to aid the reader, our conception of the relative importance of these passages have been somewhat skewed by such quick-reference nomenclature. Can we really parcel out what is more important than what? Wouldn't it be far more biblically faithful to take all Christ's commands - and by extension, all apostolic commands - at face value? With relativistic thinking removed, we end up with the injunction "Do not be anxious" at the same level as "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:5, revisited and clarified by Jesus in Mark 10 and Luke 12). Not only are they on the same level of importance, Piper would contend, but they are one in the same command. Since anxiety is at its core a type of unbelief, the injunction to love the Lord your God with all your being implies the eradication of anxiety by believing and trusting in Him; namely, placing faith in future grace.

Leave It with God

One of the sections in the third chapter that affected me greatly was under Promise #3, anchored by Matthew 6:27-28: "And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span? And why are you anxious about clothing?" This is when the rubber hits the road. We can have all our theology down, but when the temptation to anxiety creeps up, we need to be ready to deploy the promises of God. Here is Piper: "This is a promise of sorts - the simple promise of reality: anxiety will not do you any good. It's not the main argument, but sometimes we just have to get tough with ourselves and say, 'Soul, this fretting is absolutely useless. You are not only messing up your own day, but a lot of other people's as well. Leave it with God and get on with your work.' Anxiety accomplishes nothing worthwhile." Even in an age in which pragmatism is practiced almost religiously, it's amazing how we (myself very much included) can succumb to anxiety, although it's ultimately impractical.

I hate to leave this discussion dangling, but we've still got 28 chapters to go. In the meantime, please read Leslie's Scripture-saturated discussion of Chapter 3 and check out a highly recommended book, Edward Welch's Running Scared: Fear, Worry, and the Rest of God.