Most books have some stuff before and after the actual chapters of the book. Sadly, most people don’t even bother to read these parts of the book. But this is must-reading. If we want to understand what an author is trying to communicate to us, it is essential that we carefully read the Preface or the Introduction (or both). Here we’ll usually discover what the book is about, what the authors goals are in writing, and we may find some key vocabularly that will help us track along with the author. I always find it interesting to notice who has influenced and helped a writer on his way to completing his book.

In his Preface to The Gospel for Real Life, Jerry Bridges couldn’t be much more explicit about why he is writing:

So preaching the gospel to yourself every day is what this book is about. It is intended to answer three questions:

• What is the gospel we should preach to ourselves?
• Why do we, who are already believers, need to preach it to ourselves?
• How do we do it?

This book is not meant to be a theological treatise. To borrow an expression from the collegiate world, it is intended to be “Gospel 101.”

If you’ve been paying attention at five15 meetings or Sunday mornings, you might think you know the answers to these questions. And maybe you do… partly. But keep reading. We are all like leaky buckets: the gospel slowly drains out of us without our hardly noticing. We need to be reminded, and The Gospel for Real Life is that reminder.

Categories: Summer Reading '07, five15 blog