Book Review: The Treasure Principle

The Treasure Principle: Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving. By Randy Alcorn. Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 2001.

This is a radical, powerful, little book! Alcorn explodes the false notions of money that we naturally acquire and reveals God’s plan for the blessings he entrusts to us. Viewing money from God’s perspective changes everything! It changes our view of possessions. It changes our view of ownership. It changes our view of investment. And most helpful, when we live for the heavenly treasure and not for earthly possessions, it increases our joy, both now and for eternity!

Alcorn grounds his reasoning, examples, and illustrations in Scripture. The book is formed around 6 principles. (1) God owns everything. I’m his money manager. (2) My heart always goes where I put God’s money. (3) Heaven, not earth, is my home. (4) I should live not for the dot but for the line. (5) Giving is the only antidote to materialism. (6) God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving.

There are many great one-liners throughout the book that punch you in the gut and/or drive home Alcorn’s point. One of my favorites is, “Don’t ask how your investment will be paying off in just thirty years. Ask how it will be paying off in thirty million years” (p. 19). That’s revolutionary. That’s biblical!

Read this book. For your joy, for your eternal joy!

Book Review: Going Rogue

Going Rogue: An American Life. By Sarah Palin. New York: HarperCollins, 2009.

Two things are very clear to me after reading Going Rogue.

Number one. I really want to go to Alaska! The beauty of creation, the enormous, breathtaking scenery, the great hiking, and fantastic hunting are all calling me. I want to got to Alaska! (did I say that already?)

Number two. The left wing media was far more corrupt and successful in their depiction of Sarah Palin as an inexperienced, uninformed politician than I had ever imagined. I had come to believe that Sarah Palin would be fit for a position on someone’s administration but not adequate as vice presidential or presidential material. This book opened my eyes and proved me wrong. If she would have been given more platforms and more freedom from the McCain campaign, this would have been clear to Americans.

As a believer, her testimony of faith toward the front of the book was somewhat disturbing. It sounded like nothing more than decisionism. “I made the conscious decision that summer to put my life in my Creator’s hands and trust Him as I sought my life’s path” (p. 22). What made me uneasy was the lack of Christ in this statement of faith. However, I was pleased and refreshed to hear her elaborate further in the book. She affirms that man is fallen (p. 385), and she makes a clearer statement of giving her life to God and depending on His grace (p. 413, “Acknowledgements”). Better, but I still wish she would have spoken directly about Christ’s work on our behalf.

I do have to commend her for taking such a strong stand for life and for her family. She shares a very personal moment when she entertained abortion for a split-second. She’s human. She’s real. And thankfully, she chose life! Throughout her hectic campaign and upsetting issue with her daughter’s pregnancy, she maintained a commitment to her family. Before giving the speech of her life at the GOP convention, she changed her baby’s diaper! She writes, “It’s the kind of thing that keeps you grounded” (p. 240). That’s awesome!

If you are interested in the real Sarah Palin and not Katie’s version, read this book.

Book Review: By Grace Alone

By Grace Alone: How the Grace of God Amazes Me. By Sinclair Ferguson. Orlando: Reformation Trust, 2010.

I love to hear this man preach! When I read pages formed from his pen, I can hear him preaching in the background, and so, I enjoy his books as well.

As believers, we all dwell in a constant waterfall of grace. The grace of God swallows us every minute of our existence. We sing about it. We talk about. We define it. We speak of it often, especially in preaching. As a result, we so often grow accustomed to it! If we are not prayerfully cautious and intentionally meditating upon it, we lose the majesty of it! It becomes mundane, routine, and ceases to amaze us!

That’s why it is always a good thing and never a waste of time to take a fresh look at the grace of God. Ferguson has delivered to us a wonderful opportunity to do so. While Ferguson’s work is filled with Scripture, his means of providing a fresh look at grace is by using an older look at grace as his framework. The chapters are divided according to stanzas from a poem by Emmanuel T. Sibomana (1915-1975), a African pastor.

“O How the Grace of God Amazes Me”

O how the grace of God amazes me!

It loosed me from my bonds and set me free!

What made it happen so?

His own will, this much I know,

Set me, as now I show, At liberty.

My God has chosen me, Though one of nought,

To sit beside my King In heaven’s court.

Hear what my Lord has done

O, the love that made him run To meet his erring son!

This has God wrought.

Not for my righteousness, For I have none,

But for His mercy’s sake, Jesus, God’s Son,

Suffered on Calvary’s tree—Crucified with thieves was he—

Great was His grace to me, His wayward one.

And when I think of how, At Calvary,

He bore sin’s penalty, Instead of me,

Amazed, I wonder why He, the sinless One, should die

For one so vile as I: My Savior He!

Now all my heart’s desire Is to abide

In Him, my Savior dear, In Him to hide.

My shield and buckler he, Covering and protecting me;

From Satan’s darts I’ll be Safe at His side.

Lord Jesus, hear my prayer, Your grace impart;

When evil thoughts arise Through Satan’s art,

O, drive them all away And do you, from day to day,

Keep me beneath your sway, King of my heart.

Come now, the whole of me, eyes, ears, and voice.

Join me, creation all, With joyful noise:

Praise Him who broke the chain Holding me in sin’s domain

And set me free again! Sing and rejoice!

The book is worth the poem.

For each chapter, Ferguson elaborates on the theology and biblical references within the poem. It is a beautiful, encouraging reminder of the richness and glory of God’s grace to us in Christ!

By Grace Alone will remind you of grace, and hopefully, leave you amazed again!

Book Review: The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture. By Randy Pausch. New York: Hyperion, 2008.

Occasionally, professors are requested to give a “last lecture,” that is, to consider what are the most important ideas, concepts, or things to share in light of one’s demise. Randy Pausch, professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, except for Randy, this was to be his “last lecture.” Randy was diagnosed with terminal cancer. His lecture “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” makes up the bulk of the book The Last Lecture.

When I know that a man is speaking his final words, my ears perk up and he gains my full attention. When one knows he is dying, he speaks of the things he believes to be most important. For Randy, he spoke a lot of family. His faithfulness to his wife and children are to be highly commended. This man loved his family, and it shows through in his words and his actions throughout his life, not just in his final days. (Some of his words about his family ripped my heart out! p.193)

The book is also filled with great advice for life. For example, Pausch writes, “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer” (p.149). That’s great advice, especially for the college students he taught. (see also, “earnest is better than hip,” p.133).

The thrust of the book, though, which was Randy’s chief advice was to dream big and work hard to achieve those dreams (my paraphrase). Life is short but it can be very meaningful if we go for the gusto, live large, and appreciate all that life has for us.

As a Christian reader, this was a heart-breaking read because the after-life was not given even a tiny thought. There was not even a false view of the afterlife presented. There was nothing, which may have been Pausch’s view. He spoke of having a conversation with his minister who only advised him to make sure his house was in order so that his family would be taken care of. What? No Gospel urgency? No getting your soul in order? No. None whatsoever. There was the mention of thankfulness for prayers and for people’s faith. But Randy gave no personal faith in Christ whatsoever.

He was a good man in the world’s way of thinking. He worked hard. He had a great career. He loved and provided for his family. These are all good, applaudable attributes. But in the end, life was nothing more than living out your dreams, and in so doing, finding some kind of fulfillment and satisfaction. Then it’s over, and that’s that. In his words, “The dreams will come to you” (p.206).

But that’s not that. When this life is over, we then stand before God, and we will stand empty, void, and guilty if we stand there without Christ! The most important thing in this life is to embrace Christ. He not only fills and satisfies in the here and now, but also forevermore! Should we as believers be given the opportunity to give a “last lecture,” we should cry to the top of our lungs, “Lay everything down and cling to Christ! He alone saves. He alone satisfies! He alone completes. This life and the life that is to come.”

You learn a lot about a man from his last words. And for me, Pausch’s last words were terrific in what he had to say, but just as terrifying in what he did not have to say!