SACRIFICE
Costly grace and glorious privilege
By Simon Guillebaud
10 publishing. 48 pages. £2.99
ISBN 978 1 909 611 177
This is a small book which packs a huge punch.
The author, a long-term missionary to Central Africa, takes the verses in Romans 12.1-2 and rigorously applies them to any Christian. He tells you clearly and convincingly how to be a living sacrifice for Jesus.
Can we expect Christians to live that kind of life anymore? Guillebaud answers with a resounding ‘Yes!’. He does it by using his own experiences in Africa, and those of martyrs who were known to him, as well as choosing some truly outstanding quotations and examples to push for such a commitment from us modern-age believers.
Some of these struck home to me: Bonhoeffer on cheap grace given the full context (pp.13-14); the extraordinary life of Robert Thomas, who died in Korea before even preaching once but whose Bibles were read as wallpaper and brought numerous conversions; Thomas Merton’s prayer (p.34): ‘I believe the desire to please you does in fact please you (more than anything else)’.
The book is worth the price for these illustrations alone. He pleads for the logical sacrifice of a total consecration to Jesus as Lord. He seeks to exhort us to live a life, like Jesus, of holy living that impacts our culture.
In the past, others have called for a sacrificial faith. This book is such a call to our generation to read, meditate upon and apply. It will not take very long to read but it could change us all for ever. I cannot recommend it enough.
