Book Review – Only True Hope

Book Review: The Heart of Anger by Christopher Ash and Steve Midgley

May 22, 2023May 22, 2023 by Roger E. Bayramian Comment Closed

I have a confession; I did not want to read another book on anger. I bought the book "The Heart of Anger: How the Bible Transforms Anger in Our Understanding and Experience" by Christopher Ash and Steve Midgley on Kindle and hesitated to read it. My resistance was that I had read many books on anger and thought, how can another book help me? Eventually, I decided it was time to start reading this book, and I was pleasantly surprised (and humbled) at how much I had to learn about anger. The book is broken up into four parts. First, the authors look at the biblical portraits of human anger. Second, they look at the characteristic of God's anger, and thirdly, they talk about how to defuse human anger. Lastly, they address finding joy in the peace of Christ. If you have read a biblical counseling book, you will recognize the focus of this book on the heart. The heart represents...

Book Review: It Will Cost You Everything

January 23, 2023January 23, 2023 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

When I was in seminary many years ago, there was often a critique of churches that taught "cheap grace" or "easy believism." The claim was that some were teaching that the only thing people had to do was to make a "profession of faith," ignoring a life of discipleship which included obedience and holiness. Although God's grace is freely given to the one who trusts Jesus, Christians are called to respond to a life of obedience and holiness. Is there a cost in following Jesus? Steve Lawson attempts to answer this question in his book "It Will Cost You Everything: What it Takes to Follow Jesus." The primary focus of this book is to walk through Luke 14:25-35 which he calls a "hard saying of Christ." In this text, Lawson wants to distinguish between true and false believers. Lawson began this book with an analogy of his life when he received an offer of a scholarship to play college football. The scholarship...

Book Review: Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God

October 15, 2022October 15, 2022 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

I was recently at a counseling conference, browsing through the bookstore. One of the newer books displayed was Tim Challies' new book, "Seasons of Sorrow: the pain of loss and the comfort of God." I was looking for a book I could read during my flight home, and this book was my companion. Every person will face pain and loss in this world, and there are different responses to those events. Suffering is part of living in a sinful post-fall world. All of us will suffer in this lifetime (Christian and non-Christian). The question is when and to what degree. All will suffer in this life, but not all will respond the same to suffering. I think suffering leads us to a crossroads in life. One path is to turn away from the Lord and focus inward, allowing the devastation to shape one's thinking and identity in life. The other path leads to the Lord, where the truth of Scripture and...

Book Review: Work: It’s Purpose, Dignity, and Transformation

June 20, 2022June 20, 2022 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

I've been workin' on the railroad,All the live long day.I've been workin' on the railroad,Just to pass the time away.Can't you hear the whistle blowing? Rise up so early in the morn.Can't you hear the captain shoutin'"Dinah, blow your horn?" I do not remember when I first heard these lyrics, but I think this song captures the thought of how much time we spend working. Everyone has one hundred sixty-eight hours in a week. If you work 40 hours (not including commute time), you spend 23.8% of your weekly hours working. For most of us, work is not optional but is a necessity of life. How should we think about work? Is it just a job to make money, or does it make a difference in the world? Is it where I find my identity, or is it a necessary evil? Should I leave my job and pursue a different one that pays more or gives me more satisfaction? What if...

Book Review: Redeeming Your Time by Jordan Raynor

May 20, 2022May 21, 2022 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

I learned about Jordan Raynor's new book Redeeming Your Time through my job. We have book clubs a couple of times a year in which we read and discuss books. There were various books to choose from, and the title of this one caught my attention. If there is one thing about my life right now, I am busy and need more time! The book contains seven purposeful, present, and wildly productive principles. These are taken primarily from the life of Jesus, which Raynor then derives principles and practices for greater productivity. I appreciate that he begins by setting the tone that he wants Christians to have "grace-based productivity" instead of "works-based productively." He means that our true identity and worth are not found in what we do but in who we are in Christ. He also guards against legalism by offering many different ways to put the principles into action, without saying his methods are the best. Therefore, the reader...

Book Review: Redeem Your Marriage: Hope for Husbands Who Have Hurt through Pornography by Curis Solomon

April 18, 2022April 18, 2022 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

I recently had the opportunity to read a new book by Curis Solomon called, Redeem Your Marriage: Hope for Husbands Who Have Hurt through Pornography. His wife, Jenny Solomon, also wrote a companion book called Reclaim Your Marriage: Grace for Wives Who Have Been Hurt by Pornography. Solomon is a biblical counselor and serves as the Executive Director of the Biblical Counseling Coalition. The topic of pornography is important for biblical counselors to address. Unfortunately, the message in our culture seems to be that porn is no big deal, and my experience in the church is that many people struggle but few people talk about the issue. This new book by Solomon felt you were sitting with a friend over coffee who offered hope and wisdom to deal with this common struggle with sin. I appreciate the transparency from his own life and how he held the tension of calling pornography evil while not condemning the one struggling. Instead, he...

Book Review: When Home Hurts by Jeremy Pierre and Greg Wilson

September 15, 2021September 15, 2021 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

How should the church handle domestic abuse? What steps can a church take to help those affected by abuse? In their new book, When Home Hurts: A Guide for Responding Wisely to Domestic Abuse in Your Church, Jeremy Pierre and Greg Wilson provide a new resource to help church leaders deal with domestic abuse. In this book, Pierre and Wilson provide a practical resource for the church to help care for those affected by abuse. They deal primarily with male abusers while giving counsel in the appendix for cases of female abusers. The authors divide the book into three sections: 1) How to Understand Abuse, 2) How to Respond After the Initial Disclosure, and 3) How to Care in the Long Term. In the first section, they discuss the dynamics of abuse. They explain the experience, "Abuse occurs as a person in a position of greater inﬂuence uses his personal capacities to diminish the personal capacities of those under his inﬂuence in...

Book Review: The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification by Walter Marshall

July 26, 2021July 26, 2021 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

Last year I bought a book on Kindle because the title intrigued me. I forgot about the book and a couple of months ago I listened to a podcast that was discussing the book. The podcast interviewed Dr. Bruce McRae who translated the original work from 1692 into modern English. The book is called "The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification" by Walter Marshall. Marshall was an English non-conformist Puritan Pastor who lived from 1628-1680. If you have ever read the Puritans, you will understand why this work was translated into modern English! Professor John Murray said the book was "the most important book on sanctification ever written." Bruce McRae introduced the book by talking about the importance of sanctification. He defined sanctification as "the lifelong process of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ." He said that there is confusion over sanctification when these questions are asked, “How Christians become holy? Where does the power for godly living come from?” He...

Book Review: Saints, Sufferers, and Sinners by Michael Emlet

June 18, 2021June 18, 2021 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

If someone asked, "who are you?" how would you answer? Every person answers this question about their identity. We receive our first identity from our parents on our birth certificate. Our identity includes our gender, race, and first and last name. Our identity shapes how we view the world, think about ourselves, and relate to other people. The Bible uses a variety of identity language to describe believers (i.e., sinner, saint, child of God, forgiven, and redeemed). As described in the title of his new book, "Saints, Suffers, and Sinners: Loving Others as God Loves Us", Michael Emlet uses three terms to describe a Christian's identity. The three identities saints, sufferers, and sinners are not separate categories but are true realities of all believers. These three categories are woven together in each believer. These realities teach us how God loves us and how we should reciprocate that love to others. Emlet calls these "signposts for wise love." He emphasizes the order of...

Book Review: Reset by David Murray

May 18, 2021May 18, 2021 by Roger E. BayramianNo Comments

I enjoy reading books because it helps me slow down and think. I recently came across “Reset: Living a Grace-Paced Life in a Burnout Culture” by David Murray that helped me to think more deeply about slowing down. At the beginning of the book, Murray says, "Slow your pace or you'll never finish the race." The Bible calls believers to run the race (1 Cor. 9:24-27) and Murray addresses the problem of allowing the race to turn into burnout. He wrote this book primarily for those who are exhausted and weary in a culture of burnout. Although he writes primarily to Christian pastors and leaders, the principles of this book can be used by anyone who feels the effects of exhaustion. There is a funny illustration, but a little too true about life today. "Doing, doing, doing; producing, producing, producing; more, more, more; longer, longer, longer." Murray focuses on grace as the motivating factor for all of life. If grace does...