The Next Story - Book Review

I finished the Christian Audio version of The Next Story by Tim Challies about a week ago.  It took me longer than normal to get through this audio book, but not because of the book.  My phone's ability to read the memory card, where I put my audio books so I can listen to them while on the road, stopped working.  I had to listen to this entire book during spare moments of time in the morning and afternoon.

The Next Story attempts to combine a discussion of technology with the elements of true spiritual discernment.  In other words, Tim Challies helps his readers "think through" technology.  Instead of simply purchasing and using new technology with possibly only a thought as to its price, he urges an evaluation of technology's history, usefulness, affects, side-affects, and connection to the gospel.

I found this book to be very helpful in my own life.  There were aspects of technology that I had never considered; aspects concerning its affects on my brain and its affects on my spiritual life.  I especially enjoyed the flow of thought from discerning and understanding technology and its history in the first part of the book to the connections between our communication and our modern technology from a Biblical perspective in the second part of the book.

If you want to be a person who really thinks about their technology and doesn't simply consume and incorporate new technologies into their life without thinking, then this is the book for you.

Challenging Words for a Pastor

I am in the middle of receiving a triple (or potentially quadruple) punch combination from some of the books that I have been reading lately. I am being hit with various forms of the question, "What are you doing with your time?"

The first punch came from the book Worldliness by CJ Mahaney and friends. It may have been several small punches combined, but I definitely received a wallop from this book. Especially the chapters dealing with various forms of media consumption. If you haven't read this book, I highly recommend it ... if you want to get smacked in the face with some serious truth and relevant questions.

The second punch is coming from my current Christian Audio book titled, The Next Story by Tim Challies. This book is dealing with the advances of media and technology and what affects it is having and could potentially have. It is a challenging book, and as he moves past the interesting, intellectual and instructional portions of the book, he brings it home with some penetrating questions that you can tell come from a heart that is also dealing with these same questions.

To let you know a little better how the Lord is working on me, allow me to share a couple of quotes that might put it into perspective. The first quote is one that really reveals my heart's condition as it has been for quite a while. It confronts laziness, which I have confronted within myself many times over. I currently feel like I am winning the battle against laziness (maybe), but this quote puts to words my own thoughts better than I could voice them.

Some pastors and preachers are lazy and no good. They do not pray; they do not read; they do not search the Scripture…The call is: watch, study, attend to reading. In truth you cannot read too much in Scriptures; and what you read you cannot read too carefully, and what you read carefully you cannot understand too well, and what you understand well you cannot teach too well, and what you teach well you cannot live too well…the devil…the world…and our flesh are raging and raving against us. Therefore, dear sirs and brothers, pastors and preachers, pray, read, study, be diligent…This evil, shameful time is not the season for being lazy, for sleeping and snoring.

In this quote, in the battle against laziness, I am also challenged to consider how I am battling that laziness. Is it right to simply fill that time with activity, even good activities? What should I devote myself to as a Pastor? If I find that I am not lazy, but instead busy, is that actually a good thing? Consider this next quote, by Eugene Peterson, and you will understand where I am at in this internal inquisition.

The adjective busy set as a modifier to pastor should sound to our ears like adulterous to characterize a wife or embezzling to describe a banker. It is an outrageous scandal, a blasphemous affront…. [It is] a blasphemous anxiety to do God’s work for him.

I am busy because I am vain. I want to appear important. Significant. What better way than to be busy? The incredible hours, the crowded schedule, and the heavy demands on my time are proof to myself — and to all who will notice — that I am important.

How can I lead people into the quiet place beside the still waters if I am in perpetual motion? How can I persuade a person to live by faith and not by works if I have to juggle my schedule constantly to make everything fit into place? (The Contemplative Pastor)

Both of these quotes came from a blog titled Dash House. His whole blog post is worth the read and a bit better put-together than mine. The post is titled, The Pastor who jogged while mowing his lawn, and you can click here to read the whole thing.

If you made it through this entire post, then I will ask you a couple of questions.  The first question is, "Are you struggling with laziness?"  The second question, the potentially more challenging question, is, "Are you struggling with that other form of laziness called busyness?"

[HT: Tim Challies]

Reading Classics Together (With Tim Challies)

Tim Challies, over at Challies.Com, used to do a series of blog posts titled "Reading Classics Together."  While doing these posts, he would invite his readers to... well... read a classic together.  I always wanted to follow along with his posts, but I never had the book and/or I didn't have the time to add  another book onto my current reading list.

A couple of days ago he posted again that he was going to start another classic.  He posted a poll for his readers to decide which classic to read, and the one that was decided upon was Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen.

At first I was disappointed because I just don't have the funds to purchase another book, but at the end of his post he had a link to reformedaudio.org that has a free pdf version of the book and a free audio book version of the book.  (Click here to go to the Machen page to download the audio book or the pdf.)

Challies is planning on starting this book on June 2.  To read more about Reading Classics Together, go to his site and read this post.

Sexual Detox

I finished listening to Christian Audio's release of Sexual Detox by Tim Challies a couple of weeks ago, so I would like to take a moment to recommend this book to everyone that comes by this blog.

The subtitle to the book is "A Guide for Guys Who Are Sick of Porn".  So one might think that this book will only be beneficial to someone who is or has struggled with porn, but I want to recommend it, not just to those guys, but like I said, to everyone who comes by this review.  I really believe that this book would also be beneficial to the wives, friends, parents, pastors, etc. of those who have struggled.  I say this for two reasons:  One, this book offers a very accurate view of one who is struggling with porn and everything else that might go along with it.  Two, the "detox" part is also a detoxification of all of the sexual philosophies that are taught in the media today, the scope of which includes much more than porn.

In the book Tim Challies does an excellent job of reorienting the reader to a Biblical view of sex. God created sex.  It was His idea!  He has also given restrictions and guidelines, but these are for our good and ultimately for our highest enjoyment of sex!  (I never thought I would type that phrase in a book review...)

This book was read by the author, which I always feel adds an extra element to the reading of the book.  I love audio books, mostly because it gives me something valuable and useful to do during my morning commute, but I really love it when the author read the book.  It makes it feel more like someone is sitting there with you, sharing something that God has laid on their heart.

Go by Christian Audio and download a copy of this book.