© 2009 David C. Cook, Colorado
Springs
The second of Chan’s books is arguably the best of the
three. In this volume, Chan tackles a subject that has divided the church for
centuries—God, the Holy Spirit. The author reminds readers that while most
Christians of the evangelical stripe have no issue with God, the Father
(Creator of all things), nor God, the Son (Savior of the world), we have a
great amount of difficulty wrapping our minds around the Spirit of God who
indwells us.
After addressing the extremes—the Holy Spirit is some
magical power that expresses Himself the same way all the time in every
Christian (represented by the strictest of Pentecostal believers) versus the
Holy Spirit is there, but you don’t give more than a passing nod lest you
become too charismatic (or “a charizmatick” as my mother-by-law would put it)
as represented by my own Baptist upbringing. Both of these views is inadequate
because they are reactionary to one another. Historically, my Baptist roots would
warn me not to put too much emphasis on the spiritual side of
things—accompanied by shallow emotionalism and “getting carried away.” On the other end of the spectrum, those who
are reacting to my conservative reaction are so “spiritual” that they neglect
the practice of real worship.
Chan’s book is a much needed call to remember that we are
one with the Spirit when we are one with Christ. It is a balanced view of what
we should view as living the Christ-filled life. This is a must-read for anyone
who wants to (1) learn more about who the Spirit of God is and what He does;
(2) make the Christian life their path; or (3) truly follow Jesus in daily
Christian living. After all, we cannot do what we are called and expected to do
in our own strength—we must have the Spirit.
Read this book. (five out of five reading glasses)
—Benjamin Potter,
May 23, 2012
[This is a review of the Nook version of this book.]
No comments:
Post a Comment