On December 23rd, of last year, Tim Challies posted an article entitled: Meeting My Book.

In this article he explained that his new book, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment, was about to hit the bookstores and he had received a “skid’s worth” of pre-ordered books which were awaiting his signature and subsequent mailing. That’s Tim, at the right, signing my book! If you want to see how many books he signed just click on the link above and take a look. There were several speculations on the total number but regardless of the exact amount I’m sure it led to writing cramps.

I received my copy in the mail last Saturday. I was shocked to see that the postage was $2.13. That is quite an expense if you multiply it times the number of books he had stacked on the kitchen table. However, I have no doubt that his book will exceed his hopes in the market place and the Lord will reward him many times over.

I have been a long time reader of Challies.com and have personally profited from much of what Tim has written about over the years. Tim’s site has become a valuable resource when it comes to discussing current trends and doctrinal matters. I enjoy interacting with the other readers and have learned a great deal on a regular basis. Phil Johnson of Pyromaniacs links to Tim in this way: Tim (”The World’s Most Famous Christian Blogger”®) Challies. Phil hit it on the head! The introduction on the back of Tim’s book says this about him:

Tim Challies, a self-employed web designer, is a pioneer in the Christian blogosphere, having one of the most widely read and recognized Christian blogs. He is also editor of Discerning Reader, a site dedicated to offering thoughtful reviews of books that are of interest to Christians.

Tim once announced that his goal was to read one book a week but he usually posts reviews for more than 60 books in a years time. I have found his reviews to be beneficial and have purchased several books because of his reviews and have yet to be disappointed.

Many of the readers of Tim’s blog have been with him from the beginning stages of his book. Tim has posted excerpts and asked for opinions along the way. He acknowledges them in his book by saying:

All of those who have made my blog (challies.com) a part of their lives. Without the interest in that web site, this book would not have come about. I have enjoyed getting to know many of you either face-to-face or online. I am indebted to you for your support, your input, and your prayers. As you no doubt realize, there were several occasions on which I used you as a testing ground for my ideas. I know this book is better because of your feedback.

I must admit that I didn’t know what to expect from this book. I knew that Tim was a good writer but writing a book is certainly different than writing a book review. Because Tim is so well read himself (by this I mean that he reads a lot) I was nervously expecting his book to be a hodge-podge of quotes and ideas strung together from various sources. I am glad to report that this is not the case. Tim does quote a number of sources but his references are balanced and not over-bearing. It is obvious that this is Tim’s work and not just a rehash of sewn together ideas from other books.

Before I get to the meat of the matter I will say that I enjoyed and appreciated much about the structure of the book. I’ve always enjoyed footnotes as opposed to endnotes. There is also an appendix, which is somewhat of a bibliography, listing resources for discernment. I believe this is more “user friendly” than a bibliography but I would have enjoyed a listing of all the websites, referenced throughout the book in footnotes, listed along with the books. A general index and a scripture index are included as well as a study guide. I read through the study guide but I didn’t take the time to answer all the questions. Each chapter ends with a “Key Thought” which summarizes the content of the chapter. I thought this was an excellent addition.

In his book, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment, Tim defines discernment as: the skill of understanding and applying God’s Word with the purpose of separating truth from error and right from wrong.

It is obvious that Sola Scriptura reigns throughout this book! From the beginning through the end it is emphasized that knowledge, wisdom, understanding and discernment are gained from the Word of God. Here is one example of how this point is driven home throughout the book:

When we have rejected the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture, we allow Christians to depend on things other than the Bible as their guide to matters of life and faith. In particular, people begin to depend upon mysticism, upon ways of supposedly knowing God apart from the Bible. They look inward for intrinsic wisdom rather than outward to the Bible for its extrinsic wisdom. They forsake biblical reason in favor of feelings, voices, visions, or other subjective means of supposedly knowing God. This is a deadly error, for spiritual discernment must be founded upon God’s objective revelation of himself in Scripture. We can only judge between what is wrong and what is right when we know what God says to be true. We can know this only from Scripture. (p.47)

Many years ago I read Gary Friesen’s book Decision Making and the Will of God. It was published in 1980 and I read it when it hit the shelves so that tells you how long ago it was! I had only been a Christian and a preacher for a couple of years and there was much about God’s Will and decision making that I needed to learn. It was a confusing time for me and I must admit that I made many wrong decisions in my life and ministry that I can now attribute to poor theology and poor teaching. Mr. Friesen’s book was met with some reservations and I’m sad to say that I listened more to those who disagreed with his understanding than with those who agreed. Of course, my circle of peers and mentors leaned more towards the subjective than the objective. For this reason I can relate to what Tim says:

Many who profess to believe in Christ affirm Christianity as a collection of truths, and even very important, life-altering truths, but not as Truth; not as a worldview that encompasses all of life. (p.94)

He goes on to say:

This is why we must determine whether something is good or evil, right or wrong, based on the objective, unmoving standard of the Bible rather than on our subjective, constantly-shifting feelings and preferences. (p.95)

I could write more and go on and on about how much I enjoyed and benefited from this book but perhaps it would be better at this point to simply recommend that you read it for yourself. The above picture of the book links to Tim’s website where you can follow his links to obtain a copy for yourself. I highly recommend that you do so.