10 Things Jesus Never Said

Book Review

Matthew 11:28 - 20. "Come to Me, all who are labored and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and I will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

I love reading. I go through periods when I can sit and devour material. When I get in a funk and have only read news, facebook and twitter, ( and not my Bible enough) I realize that my soul is not being fed. I need to be refocused. So I find  (or as I like to think - God refocuses me and finds what I need to read at the time) a book and author that help me refocus. I consider it fellowship with another believer. Another person that has failed and will make mistakes but also gives me comfort and can share the knowledge and wisdom they have found with me. Now saying that, one has to be discerning and read these things in the light of scripture. If the author says something that doesn't seem quite right I pray that God will lead me to recognize this and that I will give grace to the writer as they are human too. Yes, I have read some doozies. Even had an entire book study on one that I look back at now and think was terrible and it is still in Christian bookstores today.

Having said that, I recently read "10 Things Jesus Never Said" by Will Davis Jr. I enjoyed it very much. It is based on Matthew 11:28 - 30. He writes a chapter on each of the 10 things and follows with comments on how this verse (and command) can relate to how Christians have misconceptions about Christ and ignored his teaching.

Thing # 1 You are never too far gone to be saved.                                    Thing #6 Its all up to you

Thing #2 i am so disappointed in you.                                                        Thing #7 You don't have to forgive someone who really hurts you

Thing #3 This wouldn't happen if you were a better Christian                    Thing #8 You missed my will for your life

Thing #4 Its Ok not to love certain people.                                                  Thing #9 I've given up on you

Thing #5 Everyone should believe or act like you do.                                 Thing #10 This is a Cross you must bear.

Mr. Davis makes his case through scripture and by sharing antecdotes of true stories. It is  a very easy read. I like his style and easy flow.The "thing" that hit me the most was everyone should believe and act like me. He does a good job of pointing out the predjudices we have as  Christians.

He also tears through the belief of crosses to bear and how we have misinterpreted that to just accept our faults and failings and never change. No, Jesus' cross to bear has nothing to do with US. We are so self centered that everything has to do with us. The cross represents the greatest gift to humanity. When Jesus made this statement, He hadn't been crucified but the cross was identified with death. We need to die. He follows this with the statement that to gain ones life one must lose it. You see, to follow Christ means to lose ones life and live for Christ. This verse has nothing to do with living with suffering and just chalking it up to "oh well, I must bear this burden of suffering for Christ."

 I highly recommend this book for those of us that often get down in the dumps about where our Christian walk is at this time. I was in a slump when I picked it up. I was frustrated that I wasn't growing, that I needed a jump start of joy. It did that and I followed it up by reading 2 more books by Will Davis Jr that I will have to review soon. The bad part about getting old is that I forget what I read and by writing this down, I have a quick review of this particular book. I am so blessed to have a dear husband that loves to read too. He reads the same books over and over again. I get a kick out of that - but he gets something new out of them each time he reads them!