RIGHT WITH GOD
By Michael Reeves
Union Publishing, 64 pages, £3.99
ISBN 978 1 739 706 210
Many of us regularly face an overwhelming pressure from many directions; things vying for our attention, energies, and mental effort.
Our joy in Christ can often be a casualty of this fast-paced living. Carving out an hour where you can sit, read and reflect on Right with God will do you lots of good; it did for me.
Michael Reeves has developed a familiar pattern in his books, using stories of the reformers – especially Martin Luther – to illustrate and apply gospel truth. I haven’t yet read a book by him that hasn’t been refreshing and simple. This book is no exception, engaging the heart and leading it to joyful ground in the doctrine of justification for sinners through the blood of Jesus.
Reeves has a particular gift for presenting doctrine in fresh and highly accessible ways. For example, when speaking to the common problem of ongoing sin in the life of a Christian, he writes that ‘current sin can and will hamper my enjoyment of the Christian life, but it can never alter my identity in Him’ (p.27). It’s not dry or cold but does what all good doctrine should: it engages the heart, showing these are truths not for theological textbooks but for the battleground of Christian living.
Similarly, even as we so often stand on the great truth of salvation by ‘faith alone’, Reeves so helpfully explains that faith is simply the vehicle through which Jesus’ righteousness is given to us. Brilliantly fresh distinctions like this helped me to remember that the answer to feeling insecure in God’s love isn’t more faith, but a greater understanding of what’s already mine through faith.
All of this is coupled with brilliant one-liners and turns of phrase that are easily digestible but packed with theological gold, such as that Christians ‘will grow more Christlike over time, but never more righteous’ (p.33). It is these simple, liberating gospel truths that marked this book and made me want more of Jesus and, I’m sure, will do the same for others who read it.
