Book Review: Twelve Extraordinary Women

I just finished reading John MacArthur's book Twelve Extraordinary Women and I wanted to do a review on it.  I enjoyed reading it and would definitely recommend it to anyone.  The writing is very clear and concise, which makes it easily understandable for just about anyone.

MacArthur takes a look at twelve women in the Bible who lived extraordinary lives because "their faith and their hopes were absolutely and resolutely Christ-centered." (page 199)  It really wasn't because they were anything other than ordinary women, but God used them in extraordinary ways because they chose to follow Him above all else.

This book looks at the lives of women like Sarah who followed her husband so willingly, but was not without mistakes.  Her choice to offer Hagar to Abraham was getting ahead of God's plan, but God still used her to bring about the birth of a great nation.

There is also a chapter on Rahab who was a pagan prostitute, but when she was presented with the love of God, she chose to follow Him and ended up marrying into the genealogy of Christ.  She completely turned away from her sinful past and joined the Israelites, which was only possible because of her obedience.

I have always been fascinated by the story of Ruth, which is also studied in this book.  She, like Rahab was from a pagan nation, but after her husband died, she chose to stay with her mother-in-law, Naomi, and serve the true God.  You also see her obedience to Naomi which lead to her becoming part of the bloodline of Christ as well.  There is more to Boaz, her eventual husband, than meets the eye, but you will have to read the book to find out what is so special about him.

Another one of my favorites is Anna, the Prophetess.  She lived at the Temple and served God day and night.  She was there when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple shortly after He was born, and she was able to see the Messiah with her own eyes, which was something she had hoped for for many years.  In Anna, we see great dedication to the service of God.  She was married for only seven years when her husband died and she never remarried.  She was now over eighty years old and still serving God faithfully.

Twelve Extraordinary Women takes an in depth look into the lives of many women, such as these.  MacArthur studies the culture surrounding the women, which helps to shed light on their lives in a more complete way than their stories alone could do.  This book is challenging to us as Christians, in that it shows us how we should be living and tries to help us to apply the honorable characteristics of these women in our own lives.  MacArthur has also written two other books along the same lines, Twelve Ordinary Men and Twelve Unlikely Heroes.  I hope to have the time to read both of these in the near future as well.

The Fruit of the Spirit--Love

A couple of weeks ago, Pastor Howard talked a little bit about the Fruit of the Spirit and how Christians should be producing this kind of fruit in their lives.  I thought it would be good for us to take a closer look at each individual fruit and what it should look like in our lives.  So let's start by listing the Fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law." (NKJV)

LOVE

When I think about love, my mind automatically goes to 1 Corinthians 13.  Let's look at part of that chapter and see what it has to tell us about love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (ESV)

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

I want to break this apart and look at each characteristic of love.  Love is patient and kind.  I won't go into too much detail on these because they will be covered as other Fruits of the Spirit, but someone who loves does not get easily frustrated with others.  He responds kindly to those he comes in contact with.  

Love does not envy and is neither proud nor arrogant.  Covetousness or envy is something that is spoken against in the Ten Commandments.  A person who loves is content with what he has and doesn't desire the things or accomplishments of others.  He is also humble and doesn't go around talking about himself and what he has done.  He knows that all of his accomplishments are due to the help of God.  He does not think himself better than others.

Love is not rude.  That means that he shows due respect to others because everyone deserves to be treated with respect.  I think rudeness also includes course speech.  A person who loves others will be careful to make sure that his words and actions show his respect for others.

Love does not have to have his own way.  A loving person accepts the fact that his idea isn't always the best, that other people's opinions matter.  Love is not irritable or resentful.  Once again, I think this goes back to respecting others and their opinions.  A person who loves others is not irritated by those who do not agree with him, but is willing to work with that person anyway.  He does not hold a grudge.  He forgives and moves on not keeping a count of the ways others have done him wrong.

Love is not joyful of wrongdoing, but rejoices in truth.  The loving person is happy when he sees others do right and speak the truth, not when they lie or do things they know are wrong.  He is grieved by sin.

The Amplified Bible translates verse 7 this way, " Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]."  Nothing can break down true love, it gives everyone the benefit of the doubt,  its hope does not waver, and it can endure anything.  I think this verse is a beautiful picture of Christ and His love for us.  God continues to love us, even when we fail.  He gives us the benefit of the doubt when we repent that we will truly turn away for our sin.  When Christ died on the cross for our sins, he endured great suffering and agony all because he loved us.  How can anything we could ever face in life compare to the sorrows He suffered on Calvary, yet He endured because of love.  Romans 8:38-39 say this, " For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

That is the kind of love we should be striving for.  We should love others with the love of Christ.  What are some areas where you could use a little bit of work when it comes to loving others?  Ask God to help you work on these areas of your life.  Remember, you can't do it on your own, but all things are possible with God! (Matt 19:26)

35 Reasons Not to Sin

I came across this blog a while back that included a list of reasons not to sin.  It is definitely food for thought.  I had never thought about it in these terms, but these reasons made sense.  I will link to the blog here, but I will also copy the information below.  Think about these reasons and see what they mean for your life.

35 Reasons Not To Sin

• Because a little sin leads to more sin.
• Because my sin invites the discipline of God.
• Because the time spent in sin is forever wasted.
• Because my sin never pleases but always grieves God who loves me.
• Because my sin places a greater burden on my spiritual leaders.
• Because in time my sin always brings heaviness to my heart.
• Because I am doing what I do not have to do.
• Because my sin always makes me less than what I could be.
• Because others, including my family, suffer consequences due to my sin.
• Because my sin saddens the godly.
• Because my sin makes the enemies of God rejoice.
• Because sin deceives me into believing I have gained when in reality I have lost.
• Because sin may keep me from qualifying for spiritual leadership.
• Because the supposed benefits of my sin will never outweigh the consequences of disobedience.
• Because repenting of my sin is such a painful process, yet I must repent.
• Because sin is a very brief pleasure for an eternal loss.
• Because my sin may influence others to sin.
• Because my sin may keep others from knowing Christ.
• Because sin makes light of the cross, upon which Christ died for the very purpose of taking away my sin.
• Because it is impossible to sin and follow the Spirit at the same time.
• Because God chooses not to respect the prayers of those who cherish their sin.
• Because sin steals my reputation and robs me of my testimony.
• Because others once more earnest than I have been destroyed by just such sins.
• Because the inhabitants of heaven and hell would all testify to the foolishness of this sin.
• Because sin and guilt may harm both mind and body.
• Because sins mixed with service make the things of God tasteless.
• Because suffering for sin has no joy or reward, though suffering for righteousness has both.
• Because my sin is adultery with the world.
• Because, though forgiven, I will review this very sin at the Judgment Seat where loss and gain of eternal rewards are applied.
• Because I can never really know ahead of time just how severe the discipline for my sin might be.
• Because my sin may be an indication of a lost condition.
• Because to sin is not to love Christ.
• Because my unwillingness to reject this sin now grants it an authority over me greater than I wish to believe.
• Because sin glorifies God only in His judgment of it and His turning of it to good use, never because it is worth anything on it’s own.
• Because I promised God he would be Lord of my life.