Book Review Green

I was in line at Disneyland when I received the news that one of my favorite authors, Jerry Bridges, had passed away. I was anticipating the arrival of his book, the Blessing of Humility to arrive on my doorstep any day. 

Although I know he’s celebrating in Heaven, I can’t help but feel sad the world just lost an amazing man of God.

I had the privilege of hearing him speak at a leadership retreat when I was in college. And just like the title of the book I was about to receive, his life modeled humility.

I’m glad his legacy will live on through his written words!

I read his book, Trusting God when I was in high school. I soaked up every word and learned so much about what it means to truly trust God.

Bridges just had this special knack for portraying the truth of the Bible in a way that allows you to truly understand the meaning of scripture.

I believe his books The Practice of Godliness and The Pursuit of Holiness are staples for every Christian library because they clearly communicate the foundations of Christianity.

The Blessing of Humility

The Blessing of Humility starts by giving a biblical backdrop to what the word humility means. He explains that humility is both a precept and a promise. A precept is a command from God. A promise is “a declaration that gives a person the right to expect the performance of that which is promised.”

 1 Peter 5:5-6 shows humility as both a precept and a promise:

“Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.”

God both commands humility but also promises that he will give us the grace to be humble. We need God’s grace to enable us to act in humility.

The rest of the book teaches how to pursue humility in everyday life. These humble character traits are qualities found in the Beatitudes.

There’s a chapter devoted to each Beatitude, where we learn that a truly humble person:

  • is poor in spirit
  • mourns over his or her sin
  • is meek toward God and other people
  • hunger and thirsts for righteousness
  • is merciful toward other people
  • is pure in heart
  • is a peacemaker
  • considers himself or herself blessed when persecuted or reviled for righteousness’ sake

Bridges makes it clear that our progress in these traits doesn’t determine our salvation or acceptance by God.

He says,

“I can guarantee you that if you are honest with yourself and you let the Beatitudes search you, you will see yourself to be a greater sinner than you thought yourself to be. And when that happens you must flee to the righteousness of Christ to keep from becoming discouraged.”

We grow in humility when we depend on the righteousness of Christ and on the power of the Holy Spirit which enables us to live out the character traits in the Beatitudes.

There’s a discussion guide at the end of the book as well as a free chapter from his memoir God Took Me By The Hand.

If you want to learn how to apply God’s word to your life, this is the book for you! 

I received this book for free from Tyndale Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

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This post is linked up at Quick Lit: https://modernmrsdarcy.com/reading-lately/ and Book Nook.

Jerry Bridges

 

 

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