Woke Church by Eric Mason

The word “Woke” means to be aware, to understand some issues on a deeper level and to be ready to  be involved.  The intent of this book is to encourage the church to use the mind of Christ to be fully aware of the issues of race and injustice that are present in our country today.  The theme of justice is present throughout the Bible and Jesus himself calls us to look at Scripture through the lens of justice.  The author, Eric Mason makes this statement, “Justice points to the extrinsic execution of the heart of God and righteousness means intrinsic impact by the heart of God.”  In other words your heart needs to be changed by God for justice to be done.  Legislation does not change hearts, only the gospel of Jesus Christ can do that.

There is so much we can learn from listening to another’s story especially one who is from a culture different from ours. The church needs to lament its lack of attention to the issues or race and injustice and reclaim its prophetic voice in these issues.

I highly recommend this book for those who are serious about getting involved in their local church to begin to address these issues. As the church of Jesus Christ, Christians need to be leaders in confronting racism and injustice.

I received this book from Moody Publishers in exchange for this honest review.   

Your Future Self Will Thank You by Drew Dyck

I really appreciated this book about self-control and the author’s use of both Scripture and scientific studies to address the issue. As the author states, self-control  is not about the individual, it is about the individual surrendering to God’s purposes for them. The real purpose of self-control is the aim to love God and love others.

There is a lot of helpful and practical information about what Scripture says about fighting our flesh and Satan along with the spiritual disciplines of fasting and prayer.  There is also a chapter on disciplined living in an age of distraction which I thought was also very timely.

Another chapter dealt with how to break a habit and make a new one.  As the author notes habits help us translate what we believe in to how we behave. At the end of each chapter there is a section entitled “self-control” training in which the author shares some personal examples of how he applied the information in the chapter.

In conclusion, self-control is foundational. It leads an individual to live a life that blesses others and glorifies God.

I received this book from Moody Publishers in exchange for this honest review.