[BOOK REVIEW]: Let God Change Your Life

There’s a funny section in Mary DeMuth’s e-book The 11 Secrets of Getting Published where her friend, Leslie Wilson, rattles off cliche after cliche in a humorous effort to tell aspiring writers that they need to avoid cliches like the plague MTV avoids good TV.

Maybe this is harsh, but I’m thinking of lending that e-book to Greg Laurie. (1) It’s not that he resorts to cliches as they’re generally understood, but, if you’ve been in a church long enough, what you read in Let God Change Your Life will sound all too familiar. 

The Secret Pastor Story Book

My friends and I used to joke with our pastor about supposed “pastor stories,” the ones that always begin with, “I heard this story one time…” and then conclude with something outrageous, miraculous, or humorous occurring to that person.

It’s my belief that these stories are compiled in a secret pastor book, the location of which is only given to pastors once they’ve agreed to keep it a secret from us commonfolk. (Think National Treasure, but with Nic Cage playing Billy Graham. On second thought, don’t).

In other words, there seem to be certain “stories” that have likely made the rounds at every church. Laurie intersperses his chapters with these stories. You don’t even get halfway through the book and you’re already confronted with the tragic decision that the bridge operator must make… Do you know this story? If so, then I don’t think the book is for you.

Who is This For?

And maybe that’s the point. Maybe I’m not the audience for this book. (2) I have been fortunate enough to have been prayed over for the entirety of my life by a tireless, endearing grandmother, cared for by a loving family, and comforted in a number of churches where God’s grace was ever-real. I’ve been in church a long time and have read many a Christian non-fiction book. (3)

But there are those whose lives are on the brink, who know nowhere else to turn, who have never experienced the hope of Christ, the love of God, or the sacrifice of Jesus. There are those who have never heard the story of the bridge operator, a story that may finally make real to them the immense sacrifice that was made for them. There are those who don’t have a clue how to find God, follow God, or be faithful to God.

This is who Let God Change Your Life is for: new believers and curious seekers. It’s also for the forgetful followers, i.e. those who may have made a decision to follow Christ at church camp decades ago, but who never took the next step in establishing a committed relationship with Him.

Consider getting Let God Change Your Life for a friend who has not spent considerable time in a church or is unfamiliar with most Christian non-fiction. The “stories,” brief expositions of Bible passages, and straightforward style contained in the book may be just the kickstart your friend needs to start getting serious about their faith.

If cliche is the overuse of an idea, may the Gospel become the greatest cliche of them all (that still keeps its meaning firmly intact). (4)

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1 Yes, I get the irony in sending The 11 Secrets of Getting Published to a guy who’s already been published… multiple times.
2 I’m far too used to thinking that everything is about me.
3 I would argue that this might make me less appreciative of the boundless grace of God, but that’s fodder for another post.
4 But that’s just my two cents, and the pigs may fly before the cows come home.