Slave by John MacArthur

This book is about what John MacArthur calls "the hidden truth about your identity in Christ." He says that being a Christian is all about being a slave of Christ. His argument is that multiple translations of the Bible have mistranslated the word doulos. Where many translations use the English word servant or bond-servant, MacArthur says the current translation would be the world slave. Using the word slave can help us better understand our relationship with God as our master, controller, and owner, and us as His slaves, absolutely submissive and totally obedient.

I enjoyed the first couple of chapters of this book. I thought he drew great parallels between slaves during Roman and Bible times and Christians as slaves of Christ. However, my interest began to wane as the book went on. I thought it was hard to stay connected with his train of thought because he quoted multiple other texts, making his book somewhat choppy. I do not feel like I gained any additional information in reading the second half of the book as what I learned in the first half. I was hoping that his approach would be a more practical approach – what it practically looks like to be a slave to Christ in our daily lives. I was a little disappointed with this book.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

A Time to Dance by Karen Kingsbury

From my perspective as a newlywed, this book is a great reminder of what can happen in a marriage if you stop tending to it. The story is of John and Abby Reynolds, their marriage that has fallen apart, and the façade they parade in front of their children along the way. Although their love story is like that of a fairytale romance, John and Abby have become so consumed with themselves that they have stopped loving each other they way they once did.

Much of the book is devoted to John and Abby’s individual thoughts—their memories of how they fell in love, milestones in their family, and the emotions they work out in their heads as they process their marriage having fallen apart. I found myself wanting more dialogue in the here-and-now instead of daydreams of the past, although their love story was quite sweet. While reading the book, I did want to know what would happen in their family and if or how things might be resolved between the couple, but this book didn’t have the strong sense of suspense as other books by Karen Kingsbury. The book’s message, however, was powerful: that love endures all things and God’s design for marriage is that it should be for forever.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”