Daniel Hames has produced another helpful volume in the Union Essentials series, this time focusing on the Christian life.
He addresses those who struggle by viewing the Christian life as a duty to perform, and goes back to first principles. We don’t become Christians by God’s grace and then live in our own strength, rather it is God’s grace all the way (Gal.2v20).
We all too easily forget that the supreme blessing of the gospel is adoption as God’s sons. God is now our Father and the main thing that he wants from us is that we love him (Deut.6v5). As John Owen pointed out, loving Jesus is the most God-like thing we can do, because the Father loves the Son. Now we are called to walk with the Spirit, producing His fruit (Gal. 5v16-25).
It’s not like eating olives
In a brilliant metaphor, Hames shows that the Christian life is not forcing yourself to eat food you hate (in this case olives) but more like being won over by the delights of food you never knew existed in a restaurant.
God changes our desires by giving us a new heart (Ezek. 36v26-27; Jer.31v33). As a result we can lead holy lives, choosing godliness over sin. Hames argues that Christians with a casual attitude to sin or a tendency to despair over failure have lost sight of the cross that shows both the cost and defeat of sin. In Christ we can be content and one day we will be perfect. In the meantime, suffering can help us to grow.
This book would be a blessing to both new and established Christians on how we are now new in Christ. The chapters are short, with questions for reflection or discussion, and it is an easy and uplifting read.
THE NEW LIFE
By Daniel Hames
Union Publishing. 112 pages. £4.99
ISBN 978 1 068 394 621
