Book Review: The Saving Life of Christ by Major W. Ian Thomas

The other day, Resurrection Sunday morning to be exact, I scanned my bookshelf and really wanted to find a book that pointed me to the Saviour, to God Himself, and not to just something about him. Not sure if that makes sense or not...I wanted something that would just simply speak of God...not just about Him. I picked up a book by Major W. Ian Thomas called "The Saving Life of Christ." I remembered a friend recommended it, I bought it...and never read it.

The intro piqued my attention when it said the following, "I can honestly say that I had never once heard from the lips of men the message that came to me then...but God, that night simply focused upon me the Bible message of Christ Who is our Life...The Lord seemed to make plain to me that night, through my tears of bitterness: 'You see, for seven years, with utmost sincerity, you have been trying to live for Me, on My behalf, the life that I have been waiting for seven years to live through you."

Wow! So true...how many of us try to live the Christian life as if it were up to our skill, brains, ability...and not Christ's? The forward, written by Alan Redpath (Pastor, Moody Church) said this also that touched me..."To so many people, the Lord is in danger of being no more than a patron of our systematic theology instead of the Christ Who is our life. There is such a tendency to departmentalize Christian living and to regard our devotions as one department and then to live for the rest of our time almost as religious pagans."

I've developed a love for the reformed bapist movement...but the one critique I have is that we need to be careful to get so into our theology that we forget the "Theos" of the theology. Let's make a covenant to continually guard against this and to always strive to know Him...not just about Him...after all, it makes all the difference in the world.

More later as I read the book...