Being a Dad Who Leads by John MacArthur - 143 Pages

Short, solid, simple. The first part of the book focuses on the direct instruction to fathers from Ephesians 6. From there MacArthur exposites applicable passages from from the Proverbs and I Thessalonians in his straightforward, accessible style. This book, though short, was a great reminder and encouragement to love and lead in a way that reflects my Heavenly Father.





"Ultimately, the Christian husband loves his wife not for what she can do for him, but because of what he desires to do for her"



"If you really love your wife, you're going to hate anything that defiles her."



"It's quite true that saving faith is child-like in the sense that it involves humble, unquestioning trust (Matthew 18:3-4). But faith cannot exist at all where the truth of the gospel is unknown (Romans 10:14). Authentic faith comes with spiritual understanding (I John 5:20). Don't assume your child's earliest signs of interest in Jesus signify full-grown saving faith. I've known countless people who 'invited Jesus into their hearts' as toddlers only to fall away from Christ before faith could come to full fruition. Again, both Ephesians 6:4 and Deuteronomy 6:7 employ expressions that underscore the need for persistence in the nurture and admonition of our children."



"As a father, then, you are the guardian of your children's minds."


"A father is to face life with courage.  He is to believe certain truths and take a stand on them."

Disciplines of the Christian Life by Eric Liddell - 159 pages

Eric Liddell, Olympic Gold Medalist and missionary martyr, is one of my heroes. In this short book he lays out his philosophies of pursuing holiness. The emphasis here is on obedience. As he states early on, "One word stands out from all others as the key to knowing God, to having his peace and assurance in your heart: it is obedience."

I think his focus on obeience could have been balanced with more discussion of the Grace of God as a motive for obdience, however since I find it easier personally to drift towards antinomianism, Liddell's emphasis was appreciated. 

Liddell's book is divided into Three parts: The Life of Discipleship (a brief description of what Discipleship looks like), A Year of Discipleship (a list of daily scripture readings centered around monthly themes), and The Disciple and the Church (A brief description of the role and relationship of the individual disciple to the people of God and the ordinances of the Church).

Although I did not agree with every thing (eg. Infant Baptism), this is a helpful resource and great reminder to run the race as if to win it.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - 268 Pages

Before Fahrenheit 451. Before 1984. There was a Brave New World. First published in 1932, Alduous Huxley's classic is terrifyingly prophetic. Where 1984 was all about controlling the masses with force, violence, and pain, a Brave New World looks past that to a world controlled and numbed into passivity through base sensuousness and sterile civility. The disassociation of sex from monogamy and childbirth is hauntingly similar to the trajectory our culture is currently rushing along. Well written. Engaging. Haunting. Here's a gist of the message from this excerpt where one of the world controllers is reviewing a paper that was submitted for publication approval: "He sat for some time, meditatively frowning, then picked up his pen and wrote across the title-page: 'The author's mathematical treatment of the conception of purpose is novel and highly ingenious, but heretical and, so far as the present social order is concerned, dangerous and potentially subversive.  Not to be published.'  He underlined the words.  'The author will be kept under supervision.  His transference to the Marine Biological Station of St. Helena may become necessary.'  A pity, he thought, as he signed his name.  It was a masterly piece of work.  But once you began admitting explanations in terms of purpose - well, you didn't know what the result might be.  It was the sort of idea that might easily decondition the more unsettled minds among the higher castes - make them lose their faith in happiness as the Sovereign Good and take to believing, instead, that the goal was somewhere beyond, somewhere outside the present human sphere; that the purpose of life was not the maintenance of well-being, but some intensification and refining of consciousness, some enlargement of knowledge.  Which was, the Controller reflected, quite possibly true.  But not, in the present circumstance, admissible.  He picked up his pen again, and under the words 'Not to be published' drew a second line, thicker and blacker than the first; then sighed, 'What fun it would be,' he thought, 'if one didn't have to think about happiness!'"

When Sinners Say I Do by Dave Harvey - 183 Pages

	This book has one note - but it is a strong and beautiful one. Harvey takes the couple back to the Gospel and shows over and over again how it is the only effective weapon against the greatest enemy of every marriage - our sin. A great read and resource that I have used not only in my counseling sessions with couples but in my own marriage as well.

There is no problem or trial or sin in marriage for which the Gospel is not a sufficient remedy.  That sounds utterly foolish in today's world, but the humble couple willing to listen to the wisdom of God will gain greatly from this Gospel-centered book.