“Choose
your foundation carefully. Your identity, purpose, values, priorities, goals,
time, and ultimate legacy will all stand or fall on this foundation,”
introduces Daniel Henderson, in his new book The
Deeper Life. He sets out to show how
to implement a view of God into every aspect of your life.
In the
first half of the book, each chapter addresses an aspect of our longings: Who
is God, who am I, why am I here, what really matters, what shall I do, how
shall I do it, when shall I do it, and how will I finish. “A Deeper Life Story” at the end of each
chapter is a story told by another person about how the principles (the
principles of Daniel Henderson) changed their lives.
In
the second half of the book, “Discovery Exercises” are designed to take the
theological truth that you know and to daily experience it with God. The
written exercises encourage the reader to think and practice biblical truths
into each of the aspects of our longings.
In the appendices, he includes some interesting material that I want to use
in my prayer time, like lists of who Jesus is, attributes of God, Old Testament
names of God, titles and names of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit, and who I am in
Christ.
My
favorite chapter was on biblical time management in When Shall I Do It? The author took a different direction that
seemed contradictory to his previous chapters, and I was delighted. Biblical time management isn’t about
squeezing as much as you can out of every minute or controlling your
calendar. It is walking in the Spirit
with dependence on Him, and being open to “moments”. Necessary errands can become encounters with
eternity if we maximize our moments instead of trying to manage our minutes.
This
book would be more appropriately named The
Christian Life. It’s not about
living a deeper Christian life like I thought when I picked the title. The book tends to be theoretical with an
attempt to be practical, and the author seems to come across exalting himself
with some name-dropping to give himself credibility. But as I overlook that, the author reminds me
that it is good to live intentionally, to set goals, and to live in the moment
rather than managing my minutes.
I received a complimentary copy of this
book from Bethany House in exchange for my honest review.
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