The author urges readers to take Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes 11:9–10 seriously. Therefore, we must rejoice. We must set aside trivial concerns and enjoy each day as a marvelous gift from God. “Let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth,” writes Solomon. Our task, then, is to savor the small things and delight in ordinary blessings, knowing that God has given them to us for our enjoyment and his glory. Amidst the joy, however, stands the sobering reality that “God will bring you into judgment.” This truth should steady us and remind us that life is fleeting and eternity is near.

One of the great strengths of this book is its emphasis on the goodness of God’s creation (1 Tim. 4:4). Because God created all things good, we are free to enjoy his gifts with gratitude. Ortlund delights in this reality while also warning against the dangers of excess and indulgence. The principle of balance and moderation is central here—something many Christians would do well to consider carefully.

Enjoying God’s good gifts is a foretaste of what believers will experience on the New Earth. Accordingly, the author continually directs the reader’s gaze heavenward. Enjoyment. Delight. Joy in Christ. These themes, which we taste now and will experience fully in the age to come, are woven throughout this excellent little book. Eat, Drink, and Be Merry is a joyful reminder of our rich inheritance in Christ. Our task is to recognize it, revel in it, and ensure that the gospel shapes every attitude and action.

Part one defines contentment as “the inward, gracious, quiet spirit that joyfully rests in God’s providence.” Thus, instead of banking on externals, the person who is content relies on God and trusts in his kind providence. But part one goes one step further by identifying the source of contentment, which is the Triune God, who has been content in himself from all eternity. Entering into this Trinitarian delight becomes the impetus, then, in part two.

Part two describes how readers learn to live as content human beings. While the author offers several biblical principles to lead them on a productive path, this sentence summarizes the essence of the book. He writes, “Through the gospel, God makes himself our treasure. In other words, God makes us content in him.”

Chasing Contentment is a book that will reach across many divides and challenge Christians to assess and evaluate their hearts. The tone of the author is gracious, but challenges appear throughout. There are priceless treasures in this rich resource that await the one who humbly receives and reaps the benefits of life transformation!

The author establishes three fundamental realities that concern the resurrection of Christ. 1) The resurrection is true. 2) The resurrection is good, and 3) The resurrection is beautiful. The three parts of the book are explored in detail and ultimately reveal how the resurrection offers hope to the hopeless.

The Hope of the Resurrection is intellectually compelling, emotionally uplifting, and spiritually encouraging. The author writes in a way that will appeal to the person in the pew but also satisfy the curiosity of trained theologians. In the end, this book offers solid hope, grounded in God’s authoritative word. Schreiner argues:

Only because of the resurrection will our lives conclude joyfully. God will wipe away every tear. Christians will be immortal and dwell with those they love. At the end of history, God wins, death is defeated, and all who believe in Christ will live forever. God will renew the entire world and make it as it was supposed to be. Death will no longer disturb Christians, and they will live in eternal happiness.

The Hope of the Resurrection is a book for our times. Dr. Schreiner’s work deserves serious study and contemplation. Anyone willing to invest in this excellent resource will be rewarded with dividends that will extend into eternity.

The author highlights the central themes of our union with Christ by pointing readers to key texts in Romans 5-6. He underscores the great benefit that believers enjoy, which goes beyond mere salvation. He points to the gospel realities that focus on sanctification, Christian growth, and battling sin with holy passion.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones' students will appreciate relevant quotes highlighting our union with Christ. Wetherell reminds Christians of the hope that we possess in Christ: “He has made us fruitful, pruning what is evil from our lives and producing what is good. He has guaranteed our future, promising to bring us through this life and into the glories of the life to come.”

I especially encourage new believers to carefully study the precious treasures that are explored in this book. My hope is that Saved to Sin No More will encourage Christ-centered passion to reach a crescendo in the lives of many. Soli Deo gloria!

Justin Whitmel Earley’s book, The Body Teaches the Soul: Ten Essential Habits to Form a Healthy and Holy Life is the most recent book in a growing body of literature. Here, as the title suggests, we are confronted not only with the challenge to pursue a healthy life; we are called to a life of holiness. The combination of these themes makes Earley’s book stand out above the rest.

Christians have a nasty habit of pitting the secular against the sacred, thus buying into a sort of “evangelical gnosticism,” a theme the author explores in some detail. The habits commended in this volume are:

1. Breathing
2. Thinking
3. Eating and Drinking
4. Sleeping
5. Sickness and Pain
6. Exercise
7. Sex
8. Technology
9. Worship
10. Death and Resurrection

Each chapter contains guides readers on a journey that challenges them to a life of health and holiness. For my money, the chapter on worship is especially noteworthy. The author alerts readers to the importance of worship, reminding them that “our bodies are fine-tuned to worship.” Central to this chapter is a critical observation, namely - “Everything that is biological is also theological.” Highlighting this theme should be revolutionary for many, as they have been accustomed to emphasizing the spiritual over the physical, thus taking the gnostic bait once again. Chapter ten also emphasizes physical discipline and spiritual discipline, the sum total that equals holistic worship.

One critique of this volume, despite its many praiseworthy elements, is the author’s encouragement for readers to engage in Lectio Divina, the Latin term for “spiritual reading.” This novel approach to interpreting Scripture is highly subjective and is leading the unsuspecting down paths that are not biblical. This ancient practice that many contemporary Christians are utilizing is a dangerous departure from biblical hermeneutics and should be avoided. Or as David Helms implies, it leads us away from the right meaning and right application of a text instead of toward it.” See Tim Challies’ excellent article, A Danger of Lectio Divina for a more comprehensive critique.

Overall, though, The Body Teaches the Soul is a solid offering that I encourage Christians to study and apply to their lives.

The Loveliest Place by Dustin Benge offers a perspective on the church that is encouraging, edifying, heartwarming, and most of all - biblical. The author writes:

This book has one aim: to set before you a thoroughly biblical portrait of the church that derives its life from the sweet fellowship of the Father, Son, and Spirit, creating a community of love, worship, fellowship, and mission, all animated by the gospel and empowered by the word of God.

Benge maintains that the church is beautiful because God is beautiful. He utilizes the exegetical thunder of John Gill who shows an allegorical portrayal that exists between Christ and the church. Benge observes:

The church is beautiful because the lens through which Christ regards her is his cross - the focal point of blood, righteousness, forgiveness, union, justification, regeneration, and grace. His cross makes her beautiful. His perfection makes her beautiful. It is his sacrificial, substitutionary, sinless blood that washes her garments as white as snow. The cross of Christ makes her beautiful not only inwardly by justification but also outwardly through sanctification. From giving second birth to final glory, the righteousness of Christ creates a beautiful church.

This stunning portrayal of the church sets the stage for the remainder of the book, where the author presents a series of descriptions including the church as our helper and beautifier, a pillar and buttress of truth, and feeding the flock, to name a few.

To say that The Loveliest Place is breathtaking would be an understatement. Dustin Benge has wonderfully captured the essence of the church in a short book that is eminently readable, accessible, and biblical in every respect.

Lincoln treats listeners to a musical cacophony that is sure to please many kinds of music lovers - especially fans of sweeping Stratocaster guitar licks that have made him a household name. The album begins on atriumphant note with Brewster's version of Joy to the World. The arrangement is fresh and pulsates with the vitality that Isaac Watts surely meant to convey.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing is a reverent rendition that moves with a majestic series of notes and a killer guitar solo. I can see Charles Wesley slouching down in his chair and smiling to himself, caught up in the truth the song intends to convey:

Christ by highest heav'n adored/Christ the everlasting Lord/Late in time behold Him come/Offspring of aVirgin's womb/Veiled in flesh the Godhead see/Hail the incarnate Deity/Pleased with man to dwell/Jesus, our Emmanuel/Hark! The Herald angel’s sing/Glory to the newborn King!

Miraculum is a 6-minute Christmas feast for the ears. The tune makes eager listeners wonder when Lincoln will release a solo instrumental album. This is Lincoln Brewster at his best - a blues influence, laced with arpeggios that has a Keaggy feel to it.

The rest of the album is musically rich, doctrinally sound, and points listeners to the birth of our Savior. This is Christmas music at its finest!

McCullough guides readers down the pathway to hope by first acknowledging the reality of death. He establishes this trajectory early in the book:

Before you long for a life that is imperishable, you must accept that you are perishing along with everyone you care about. You must recognize. that anything you might accomplish or acquire in this world is already fading away. Only then will you crave the unfading glory of what Jesus has accomplished and acquired for you. And you need to recognize you are going to lose everything you love in this world before you will hope in an inheritance kept in heaven for you.

One of the great strengths of Remember Death is facing the subject without equivocation. McCullough writes, “Death is an intrusion into the perfect world of the Creator designed by that same Creator to make a point. Death is a punishment for human pride. It exposes our foolish confidence in our freedom to be whoever we want to be.” But the reader is never left dangling. At every juncture, hope is offered and the vista of heaven is on the horizon.

Ultimately, death reveals what awaits each one of God’s elect, a heavenly home, where sin is extinguished forever. The author returns to this theme throughout the book by directing the reader’s attention to the Word of God, his promises, and the triumphant gospel of Jesus Christ.

Remember Death is a much-needed antidote to the pragmatism and man-centeredness that pervades the church. I commend it without reservation.

This short picture book for children is a tender tale of a girl named Pippa who encounters the beauty of God’s creation. The Scriptures announce, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Ps. 19:1). Getty’s book is a creative expression of this great reality. Parents will be delighted to help cultivate young minds with this helpful tool.

Crabtree’s little book is barely 100 pages but is filled with biblical wisdom, practical encouragement, and even contains some much-needed admonition. The book revolves around the author’s definition of gratitude:

Gratitude is the divinely given spiritual ability to see grace, and the corresponding desire to affirm it and its giver as good.

Crabtree builds an unshakeable edifice around this definition by demonstrating the need for gratitude, the wisdom of gratitude, and the end result of gratitude. A chapter that is especially helpful, Portrait of a Grateful Heart helps readers understand the need to be utterly transformed by Christ. In other words, what we truly need is not merely to be thankful; our hearts must be transformed by Christ. The author adds, “Our hearts pivot on the word of Christ. Either they swivel toward him in wonder and gratitude and affection, or they swivel away from him in stubborn, truth-suppressing pride or apathetic indifference.” In the end, gratitude toward God reveals that a person has a regenerate heart, one that has been transformed by the Holy Spirit.

The author reveals the dangers of ingratitude. Indeed, “the very dividing line between glory and dishonor is whether a person gives thanks or not.” He adds, “Thanklessness is at the root of homosexuality, covetousness, envy, murder, and a whole array of foolish and faithless derailments, as clearly stated in Romans 1:21-32.” The entitlement mindset, which has American young people in a death grip is laid bare in this chapter as the author compares the thankful person with the ingrate.

In recent years, a growing number of books and resources have focused on the subject of gratitude. Crabtree’s book is unique in that his encouragement is intimately connected to the Word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. A person may grow in his or her ability to express gratitude but such an exercise falls dreadfully short if it fails to acknowledge the supreme gift Giver, namely, the Creator of the cosmos. In other words, a person may express gratitude but prove to be an ingrate if God is not honored, acknowledged, and glorified.

Practicing Thankfulness, while challenging throughout, is a deeply warm and practical book. Sam Crabtree writes with the heart of a pastor and one who has not yet arrived. Readers will be enriched, educated, and moved to action. They will grow in their ability to practice gratitude, which will pay rich dividends to everyone in their circle of influence. Most of all, God will receive the glory and they acknowledge him for every good gift - even small packages.