By J. I. Packer

So I read this book while on vacation. It’s one of many books that someone recommended to me years ago and I put on the shelf. I certainly regret that decision.

Now I realize I’m a nerd and I recommend books to everyone. It’s annoying and I know it. I’m just that guy and, well, I’ve accepted and embraced it. So I know many of you will read this post and be tempted to shrug and say, “There he goes again.” And you’ll be right, sort of, but this time is different.

While I understand that my proclivity (big word inserted to confuse you and weaken your defenses) for this type of behavior makes me something like ‘the boy who cried wolf,’ please believe me when I say this time is different. Oh I know, you’ve heard it all before, but I mean it more this time. Seriously, please listen to me.

BUY THIS BOOK!

And after purchasing it, read it carefully and thoughtfully. Grab a pen, sit in a quiet place, and read. Read it slowly. Read a little each day. Underline as you read. Think as you read. Meditate on what you read. Make notes as you read. Ask questions as you read. Digest as you read. Learn as you read.

Why do I care so much? Because I agree with the conviction that led Packer to write.

“The conviction behind this book is that ignorance of God – ignorance both of his ways and of the practice of communion with him – lies at the root of much of the church’s weakness today” (12).

I would apply his introductory comments even more directly adding that this ‘ignorance’ is at the root of most Christians’ weakness today. We don’t know God. Therefore, we don’t walk with God. Therefore, we don’t live for God. Therefore, we don’t glorify God.

I’ll let Packer make his own case for this work (the emphasis added through the italics is mine).

“Knowing about God is crucially important for the living of our lives. . . . Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul” (19).

“Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God. . . . Its purpose is to clear one’s mental and spiritual vision of God, and to let his truth make its full and proper impact on one’s mind and heart. . . . God help us, then, to put our knowledge about God to this use, that we may all in truth ‘know the Lord’” (23).