VOICES:
Who am I listening to?
By Andy Prime
Christian Focus. 121 pages. £5.99
ISBN 978 1 527 102 989
The reality of the Christian life is that there is a constant battle for our affections; there are a multiplicity of ‘voices’ all demanding our attention, attempting to persuade us to make decisions that take us in one direc-tion or another. This short book from the 9Marks ‘First Steps’ series is written to help and encourage new Christians to listen first and foremost to their heavenly Father, in every area of life.
Andy Prime has a particular heart and concern for those who have recently come to Christ from a socially disadvantaged and unchurched background. Throughout the book he uses the story of Gary, a guy in his late thirties who’s grown up in a council estate in a broken family surrounded by alcoholism, gambling and drug addiction, who was saved through the witness of a good mate, and is now facing the daily battle of living the life of a Christian, which is radically different to the life he is used to.
Grounding the book in the story of one person forces the reader to engage with the reality of the everyday battle of the Christian; at various points in each section, we are encouraged to stop and think about how Gary’s life should change if he chooses to listen to God, rather than the voices of the world.
Gary’s personal situation and experience will not be familiar to everyone – it was not for me – but that doesn’t detract from the principles that Andy is laying out. In fact, because Andy lays Gary’s life bare (the illustrations from his life are not sugar-coated), it soon becomes painfully obvious where the comparisons can be drawn; ultimately we all have voices that we listen to that take us away from God and we all need to guard our hearts against them.
Punchy and easy to read
The flow of the book is punchy and very easy to read; the danger is that one could skip through it quite quickly, but to do so would mean missing a lot of the material. The book is short, but is certainly not light on biblical content, and Andy helpfully punctuates each section by encouraging the reader to stop and think about specific points raised – it would be ideal material to read with someone else, or in a group setting, to actually carefully think through the implications.
Andy works methodically through the first nine chapters of Proverbs, where Solomon is addressing his son and teaching him to choose wisdom over foolishness. He demonstrates that the path of wisdom is the only one that will lead to life and shows that although foolishness can look attractive and is seductive, the end result can only be death.
Andy doesn’t pull any punches and makes it very clear that failing to listen to God’s voice above all others is the equivalent of adultery; he challenges the reader to consider how they are going to apply wisdom to every area of their life, all of the time. He compels us to be disciplined in habitually reading the Bible, in regularly soaking up God’s word, in order to learn wisdom and use it to guard our hearts from wickedness and protect us from the temptations and voices of the world around us.
Ultimately Andy reminds us to trust God by pointing us to Jesus on the cross, an act that on the outside looks foolish and weak, but is shown to be the final and fullest demonstration of God’s wisdom and strength.
Selling the book short
Andy’s hope for this book is that it would be useful for the new Christians in his community (a housing scheme in Edinburgh) and ones like it around the world. I think he sells it short: I’m a middle-class southerner who’s been a Christian for more than 30 years and there were a number of moments reading through this book that made me stop and think about where I personally prefer to listen to something else other than God. Daily life is a battle against sin, and this has reminded me of the necessity of persevering regardless, in the strength and hope that comes from trusting in the wisdom of Jesus my saviour.
