PRONE TO WANDER
Grace for the lukewarm and apathetic
By Natalie Brand
Christian Focus. 96 pages. £6.99
ISBN 978 1 527 102 088
‘When we are lukewarm and backsliding it can feel as if God doesn’t want us back; as if He is not fighting for us. But His fight was at Calvary and this is where we should look.
Whether you are a Christian struggling in the faith, or someone who doubts whether they have ever belonged to Christ, the cross is the only means of returning to God.’
In three short sentences, Natalie Brand hits the emotional reality of the spiritually depressed and the joyous gospel hope; this is the message of her new book, Prone to Wander: Grace for the Lukewarm and Apathetic. This is an excellent book that succinctly gets to the causes (and related emotions) of backsliding and the only true remedy of the gospel. She carefully holds out the staggering and bloody truth of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, and yet balances the picture with the tender love God has for His people; He’s the shepherd searching for the lost sheep. In fact, throughout the book she bangs that same drum, rightfully so – that God is a rescuing God. He hunts us down in the midst of our backsliding; we are ‘hunted by the same grace that saved’.
Her message is made clear in three parts: Why We Stray, Gospel Comfort, and Practical Self-Care.
A gift for those leaving home
While it is aimed at the spiritually discouraged, let me take a small excursion and suggest (plead!) that this book be given to all Christian young people leaving home for the first time. Brand’s first part on Why We Stray is valuable to young people learning to take responsibility for their faith outside the watchful eye of parents.
So many young people fall from the faith not deliberately, but because they lack knowledge of red flags to look out for; they are too reliant on feelings. Instead, give them tangible guideposts by which to evaluate their faith. Brand’s red flags include: running away (when a fun distraction turns spiritually toxic); drifting (‘Oh, we missed CU again … by the time the alarm bells go off we have drifted quite a distance from the shore’); the easy ride (pitching our tents too close to the world); lust (love of sin calls faith into spiritual question); sorrow and disappointment (learn to suffer well).
For the spiritually discouraged
Part 2 is a true balm to the spiritually discouraged. While these chapters are equally accessible and well-written, its greatest strength is the large number of Bible references. Brand’s decision to include so much Scripture serves to prove her main point: ‘Returning to God from backsliding is basking in a gospel that is not about us or how big our sin is, but how big God’s grace is in Christ Jesus’ (p.39). One should be encouraged by the joy that motivates Christ’s sacrifice on the cross – the rescue plan of a tender loving Shepherd, inaugurated by God the Father.
Brand ends the book with five brief chapters of practical self-care tips. I’ll refrain from rehashing those tips here; suffice to say Part 3 is as useful as Parts 1 and 2. I whole-heartedly suggest you get a copy of this book to read for yourself. Let it be a balm for the broken, and an encouragement to those feeling firm in their faith. Walk away from it humbled, and reminded that God rescues us from our sin and continues to keep us close to him as we navigate this sin-filled world and our sin-filled hearts that are, truly, prone to wander.
