Jason A. Gagnon

The Challenge of an authentic Christian Life

Reviewed: 11-14-19 Listener received this title free

I've read two other books by Matthew the Poor- (Words for our Lives and Words for our Time) and this one is a little different than the others. It is a set of essays, rather than transcribed talks. What is lost of the intimacy from the talks is more than made up for in the robustness and thoroughness in the essays presented here.

The focus in this book is on being a Servant of Christ and His Church. And to be a christian servant, the focus is on service in love, as love. And it's hard.

This book is a challenge- it challenges those of us who like to read books and fill our heads with Christian ideas, but filling your heads with Christian intellectual knowledge is not the same as filling your heart with Christian service. He challenges us to pray, fast, read the scriptures and the patristic fathers, and to put God and others before ourselves.

There are long sections on various stumbling blocks of the Christian life, and these are written with the wisdom that comes from having witnessed them - Abba Matthew has seen people go astray, even when they think they are serving the church, and his warnings are worth heeding.

I'll come back to this book again, in a couple of months. It is full of hard and practical advise, and after I've lived with it a few months it will be good to re-explore.

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