Thursday, June 30, 2016

Grace, by Randy Alcorn

At a conference a debate arose about "what belief, if any, was unique to the Christian faith."  C.S. Lewis chimed in: "That's easy.  It's grace."  Grace.  Amazing Grace.  Grace that is greater than all my sin.  There's no question that grace is central to the theology and experience of the Christian life.

Randy Alcorn has been chewing on grace and has gathered his own ruminations, as well as those of many other Christians, in a new 203 day devotional, Grace: A Bigger View of God's Love.  (Why 203 days?  That's 29 weeks.  If there's a significance to the number of days, I totally missed it.)  Each day's reading consists of a verse (or two or three) of scripture, a paragraph or so from Randy, and a quote from a pastor or writer.  The reading is certainly short enough to read over your morning cup of coffee and have plenty of time left to reflect.

I like Alcorn, and have enjoyed his thoughtful and challenging work through the years.  While I welcomed the opportunity to reflect on grace, and to be reminded of God's amazing grace and love for me, I was a little disappointed in this book.  I picture him gathering quotes about grace over the years, and when he has another book manuscript due he puts them together, slaps together some comments, and ships it off to his publisher.  There are certainly worse ways to spend five minutes each morning, but Grace wasn't all that amazing.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

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