'let us exalt His name together!'

Psalm 34v3

Mersey Street Presbyterian Church

Belfast, Northern Ireland

I can say without hesitation that this is the best Christian book I have ever read. Every Easter, in the 2 weeks coming up to ‘Good Friday’ I re-read this book, one chapter (about five minutes’ worth) every night. FS Leahy presents 13 meditations on the sufferings of the Redeemer. The title comes from a hymn with these words: The cross He bore is life and health, Though shame and death to Him; His people’s hope, His people’s wealth, Their everlasting theme.

The goal of the book is to make the Cross our theme as we meditate on what the Saviour endured for our salvation. The author says “It is my conviction, and at times my sad experience, that as the cross goes out of focus in the Christian life, coldness and backsliding set in.”

One of the strengths of the book lies in the choice quotations selected from other writers. Speaking of Jesus, he cites RW Dale ‘While He came to preach the Gospel, His chief object in coming was that there might be a Gospel to preach.’ Referring to the healing of Malchus’ ear he quotes Amy Carmichael ‘The last thing the Lord Jesus did before His hands were bound was to heal.’ Of Jesus’ work on the cross, he refers to the words of Luther ‘He died for me; He made His righteousness mine and made my sin His own; and if He made my sin His own, then I do not have it, and I am free.’

FS Leahy is very gifted in combining simplicity with depth. For example, he speaks of the angel coming to Christ in Gethsemane, strengthening Him (Luke 22:43). What comfort this must have brought our Saviour, as heaven had seemed silent in the face of His prayers! His Father sent an angel to strengthen Him. But he goes on to tell us of the reason the angel came. The strengthening was to enable Jesus to face further and even greater anguish. He was ‘strengthened to suffer’.

This book will enrich your understanding, deepen your love and cause you to worship our Saviour.

The Thought of God
published by the Banner of Truth Trust.

What do you look for when you go to buy a Christian book? A book you’ve seen advertised? A book by an author you’ve read before? Let me share with you three qualities I sometimes look for - brevity, spirituality and depth. The Thought of God has all three. Most chapters are only 5 or 6 pages long so can be read at one sitting - it’s brief enough to allow you to work through it a chapter at a time. It’s a spiritual book because with each chapter your mind and your heart will be lifted to heaven. Finally, we live in a day of superficiality and haste. When all around us are coming to the shore, dipping their feet in the water and running back to the beach satisfied, this book encourages us to run to the water, and to plunge into it until it surrounds us and overwhelms us; it’s a book with depth, where the thought of God is carried to its logical conclusion.

This book is simple enough for any Christian, yet profound in its treatment of subjects like ‘The Surpassing Love of Christ’, ‘The Management of our Pride’, and ‘The Happiness of Heaven’. Don’t get stuck in a rut in your Christian reading, don’t be the victim of good marketing for a bad book. Buy books that will become your friends which you will go back to again and again.