Saturday, July 4, 2015

Book Review: End of Me (2015)

The End of Me. Kyle Idleman. 2015. David C. Cook. 240 pages. [Source: Review copy]

I definitely enjoyed reading Kyle Idleman's The End of Me. The book is about how important it is to recognize our brokenness and weakness; the book stresses that it is only when we reach the end of ourselves that we reach out to God who is able to make us whole and strong--in Him.

The book challenges believers to closely examine the teachings of Christ, and also to examine his life. Christ taught some revolutionary ideas that we--if we're honest--are reluctant to follow and embrace. Chapter by chapter, he encourages believers to choose to turn their thinking upside down and inside out. To go against their natural instincts and live as Christ lived and taught. Not to do this in their own strength, of course, that would be impossible. But to turn to the Savior, to surrender to God daily and let God use them where they are--in their weakness, at their weakest.

Kyle Idleman stresses several points throughout the book. But one of the most important is this daily need. Every day needs to be surrendered to the Lord. Every day you need to make the choice to live to God and to die to self. Every day has opportunities--opportunities perhaps so small that most people ignore them or discount them. Opportunities at home, in the car, at work, at the store, etc. Often it's in the small moments when we realize how much we've failed to do the right thing, how far we are from where we want to be--need to be.

Also by Kyle Idleman: Gods At War (my review).

Quotes:
Reaching the end of me is a daily journey I must make because it's where Jesus shows up and my real life in him begins.
Getting to the end of me is not an easy journey because me doesn't want to go there. Me doesn't like confrontation, and me is most interested in the promotion and success of me. Me would much prefer to read a book about advancing me, not ending me.
A great part of the upside-down, inside-out message of Jesus is that God doesn't look so much upon the outside, which is so easy to fake. He looks more on the inside, where we are what we are. 
Emptying is never painless, and not everyone is willing to go there. Jesus is eager and willing to fill.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

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