You may have noticed some books on the shelves of the welcome desk in the foyer. These are resources we would like to highlight to the congregation for a period of time.
This semester’s books have been selected to fall into five categories. Categories and titles include:
Theology: Christ's Prophetic Plans by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue.
Sanctification: Living Life Backwards by David Gibson.
Christian Biography: George Muller by Roger Steer.
Church History/Cultural Evaluation: Reforming Fundamentalism by George Marsden.
The Church: Word-Centered Church by Jonathan Leeman.
The purpose of highlighting these resources is simply to put biblically solid, Christ-exalting, affection-fueling resources in the hands of the members at Summit Woods for their personal growth in the Lord, to equip them to do the work of ministry, and for use in discipleship relationships.
Perhaps you’ve been looking for a new book for yourself to read in your devotional time, or perhaps you’ve been wanting to get together with a brother or sister in the Lord and desire to encourage them in their walk with the Lord – these resources are there to be readily available for you in addition to the books provided in the resource room.
Today's highlight is Living Life Backwards by David Gibson.
From the title alone, it might be difficult to guess what this book is about. Philosophy? Self-help? In reality, the book is about another, more familiar book by title of Ecclesiastes.
Living Life Backwards: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End is Gibson's extended meditation on "taking the one thing in our future that is certain - death - and letting that inform our journey before we get there." The end goal of the book is to help readers "pay attention to our limitations as human beings and receive life as a wondrous gift from God - freeing us to live wisely, generously, and faithfully for God's glory and the good of his world." Where does Gibson derive these lessons? From what he openly confesses is "that strangest of Old Testament books."
How does Ecclesiastes teach us about death, and thus, about how to live in preparation for it? Gibson says that "Ecclesiastes makes a very simple point: life is complex and messy, sometimes brutally so, but there is a straightforward way to look at the mess. The end will put it all right. The end - when we stand before God as our Creator and Judge - will explain everything."
During our Sunday morning sermon series on Revelation, we have been studying how God brings about His final judgement and salvation to usher in the new heavens and earth. In other words, we have been studying the end and how to live in light of it. Gibson's book Living Life Backwards would be a wonderful addition to your personal study of how to live now in preparation for the life to come, as well as a means of devotional introduction to an Old Testament book far too often misunderstood and ignored.