Book Review: Disciplines of a Godly Man

Title: Disciplines of a Godly Man
Author: R. Kent Hughes
Publisher: Crossway

Being a man in today’s world is not the easiest of tasks. Being a solid Christian man in today’s world is just about impossible… at least in one’s own power. I had heard about this book from R. Kent Hughes for some time now. I was glad that I finally got the opportunity to take a look at it and see what Hughes had to say about being a godly man in today’s world.

Disciplines of a Godly Man was first published in 1991. In 2019, Hughes put out an updated version which is the one that I got my hands on. I imagine that much of the material is the same, but we can agree that a lot has changed in our world since 1991. I was grateful that this work was updated to help address some topics that today’s man has to deal with.

As I sat down to read this book, I expected to find some solid wisdom for men that would backed up by the Bible. That is exactly what I found and appreciated so much about this book. This is not just some pop-psychology work to help men feel better about themselves. Hughes works to put forth what the word of God states should be a part of Christian men’s lives today.

The version of this book that I had came with a “study guide” embedded within. This was extremely helpful in working through this book. The ending of each chapter contained questions to reflect on what the chapter had covered. The ending also came with application points and resources (other books and articles) that one could go to dive further into the subject of the chapter.

I love the approach that Hughes uses in writing this book. The book was dedicated to his two sons. Hughes speaks throughout the book that his approach to writing this book was one that resembled if he was sitting down talking with his sons about these matters. This helped make this book more personal than just “education” or “instructive.”

Recommendation

I would highly recommend that every man that wants to be a strong and faithful Christian man get a copy of Disciplines of a Godly Man. This is one of the best books that I’ve read on helping men to see what the Bible calls for me of the faith to live like. I look forward to rereading this work many times to come. I’m sure that you will be blessed by it as well.

A copy of Disciplines of a Godly Man was provided by Crossway Publishers for the purpose of an honest review.

Read More

Book Review: Reading the Bible Supernaturally

Title: How to Read the Bible Supernaturally

Author: John Piper

Published by: Crossway

Overview

How to Read the Bible Supernaturally  is a work by John Piper to help readers to read the Bible at a deeper level.  He calls it reading the Bible supernaturally.  This is not something mystical but rather a reading of the text with the intentions of getting all that the author(s) intended in writing it.  The book is laid out in three “parts” or sections.  Each section is broken down into chapters that cover points.  The work is summed up in a conclusion.

Thoughts

Reading the Bible is one of the most important works that a person can do.  The Bible tells us that faith comes into one’s life as they hear the word of God (Romans 10:17).  What that person does with that faith is on them, but without the word of God, there is no hope for that faith to be present.  I appreciate John Piper’s work on helping readers to look at the Bible in a new (yet older) way.  Piper does not share some mystical way of reading God’s word.  He simply points the reader to apply normal reading rules that will help the reader to see all that is present in the text.

I did think that the first half of the book was somewhat slow and detached from the rest of the work a little.  I get (and appreciate) the proposed goal of reading the Bible:

That God’s infinite worth and beauty would be exalted in the everlasting, white-hot worship of the blood-bought bride of Christ from every people, language, tribe, and nation (p 48).

A good portion of the first two parts of the book are explaining certain things before getting to some practical points in part 3.  I think part 3 (the final fourteen chapters of the book) is the real work of the book.

Recommendation

I believe that reading the Bible is one of the most important things that a person can do.  I believe that Reading the Bible Supernaturally is a book that would help someone who is starting to read the Bible or one that has become bored with reading the Bible.  There is not anything majorly new in what Piper shares in this book, but it is some good reminders to go back to some basic tools in order to get the most out of one’s reading of the Bible.

Read More