Collect the set
This book is presented in ‘The Christian’s Pocket Guide to …’ series. I have only read one of the other ones – Alec Motyer on Loving the Old Testament and if these two are representative of the series, then I would say that Christians who want to be fully informed about their faith should collect the set!
Lindsay Benn (teacher, grandmother, bishop’s wife and member of St Botolph’s, Barton Seagrave)
A CHRISTIAN’S POCKET GUIDE TO SUFFERING
How God Shapes Us Through Pain and Tragedy
By Brian H. Crosby
Christian Focus. 82 pages. £4.99
ISBN 978 1 781 916 469
Buy online from Amazon
Don’t let the smallness of size lull you into thinking this will be an easy read. I am a speed-reader and found it a challenge to read the book carefully in order to engage with its detailed biblical content. It is packed tight with a biblical theology of suffering. It needs digesting very slowly! I don’t think this book is for a new Christian who is in the midst of suffering, but it could be sensitively worked through with an older Christian by reading it together. It could be used as a study guide on suffering if the participants were willing to put in some serious effort!
A full grasp of the theology of suffering should lead us to trust God more and drive us closer to him. Make sure you persevere with the book and get to Chapter 5 – ‘Finding Hope in the Midst of Suffering’ – an enormously helpful look at 20 passages on suffering, drawing out the main points in order to give us a God-dependent hope and a right perspective on suffering. The final chapter – ‘Ministering to Sufferers’ – powerfully demonstrates the need for truth and love to go together hand in hand.
Par for the course
Paul wrote: ‘all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted’ (2 Timothy 3.12). As Brian Crosby writes: ‘suffering is par for the course, the norm. We should therefore expect it and prepare for it.’ This book is a good place to start.
