Over the next three months, the Summer Reading Challenge is in effect. The idea here is to challenge you to use your summer months constructively and to broaden your horizon a little bit. This summer: I want to introduce you to my friend John Owen. If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ve seen him from a distance. This summer, you get to get acquainted.

Why would we pick an old dead guy? Here are a few reasons:

• We live in a day and age that has all but forgotten the meaning of sin. We need to be instructed and reminded.
• The Puritans were notable in their understanding of how the heart works and how seriously they took sin.
• Owen stands out among the Puritans as clear, compelling, and thorough on this topic and many others.
• Owen is also quite gospel-centered and often reminds us of our need for a Savior.

A couple of tips on reading Owen:

• Read aloud if can.
• Read with a pen in hand. (See my May 16 post.) Star stuff, underline, and write notes and questions in the margin.
• Read slowly and re-read.

So, here are the details. There are two parts to this, and you must do BOTH to complete the Summer Reading Challenge.
1. Choose one of the following:

• Read “Mortification of Sin” (pp. 1-86) of Temptation and Sin by Owen. OR:
• Read ALL of Sin and Tempation, by Owen, edited by James Houston.
• JUNIOR HIGH OPTION: Read ALL of The Enemy Within by Kris Lundgaard.

2. Read at least one chapter per week of John Piper’s Seeing & Savoring Jesus Christ.

You have to be done by the retreat: August 24. If for some reason you can’t come on the retreat, that’s fine. Just see me or email me before the retreat to tell me that you finished.

Final bit of motivation:
“John Owen’s treatises on Indwelling Sin in Believers and The Mortification of Sin are, in my opinion, the most helpful writings on personal holiness ever written.” —Jerry Bridges.

So, who’s in?

Categories: five15 blog