Proclaimer Blog
You lift me up (when you lost weight anyway)
My second book reading week book was You lift me up by Al Martin. This is a relatively short and concise book (happened) from retired pastor Albert Martin. It's in the mould of Dangerous Calling by Tripp, but – being written by someone of an earlier generation – there is less chat and fluff; it gets to the point more directly. I rather like that. I confess I sometimes weary of books with too much padding, hypothetical couples at the start of every chapter and so on. There is none of that with Al Martin. Straight to the point, and how!
This is not a book for the faint-hearted. A wise pastor told me once that it was always easier to knock down a congregation than build them up, and this book contains a lot of knocking down. It's not a comfortable read. Speaking personally, they were knock downs that I probably needed, but I am all too aware that it is relatively easy to make sin-aware Christians feel rather broken. Here is a typical example:
Furthermore, we must not kid ourselves that we are maintaining the habit and spirit of secret prayer without keeping some account of ourselves. You might be shocked if, after reading these pages, you said to yourself, 'I purpose to spend half an hour in prayer for the needs of my own soul. I am going to try to give myself to earnest prayer that God would search me and try me to the end that Christ will become more precious to me, that sin will become more odious, and that my pursuit of universal holiness will be intensified.' You may find that the spiritual muscles essential for an half-hour of concentrated prayer have so atrophied that you find yourself prayed out after 17 minutes! It may shock you to recognize this very tangible evidence of incipient backsliding. God can use the clock to bring you into touch with spiritual reality!
Gulp!
There's quite a lot of this kind of thing in the book which will make the ostensive soul rather downcast. That's a pity because his spiritual warnings are – for the most part – bang on the money. I guess what I am saying is that you need to have a certain disposition to be able to read this book and make the most out of it. If you are particularly sensitive and an easily damaged flower, this book may be too much for you at the moment. Wait until God has stiffened you up a bit before attempting!
However, many of the pastors I know are too tough, and this is just the book for them with apposite warnings about devotional life, drawing distinctions between work and home, acting well as father and husband.
And being overweight. Yes, there is a lot for Mr Chubby Preacher. Two chapters in fact (compared to one on prayerlessness!). I can't help thinking that his well placed concern for physical well being is overly concentrated on this one aspect (with just a line on smoking and a short paragraph on cholesterol). It does seem rather out of place – worth discussing, of course, but the volume of words attached to this one subject rather diminishes some of the other equally (more?) important things he has to say.
Here are some other highlights:
- I like the way Martin addresses the temptation to confuse giftedness with godliness. This is a message for many of us: "How much backsliding and even ultimate apostasy begins in the ministry when we start trading off a good conscience before God for apparent giftedness and usefulness in the service of God?"
- In promoting general reading as part of the minister's discipline: "My brother preacher, your sanctified, elastic and fully active mind is the grand workshop for your sermonizing. If it becomes overstretched and dull through mental burnout, if it becomes void of fresh raw materials through limited acquisitions, or worn out because it is given no rest or refreshment, then your people will suffer."
- A particular focus on physical rest: "Beware of seeking to serve God in the office and functions of the ministry as though you were a disembodied spirit, rather than a creature of flesh and blood."
- The recognition that preaching is a physical not just a spiritual discipline:"The old masters understood that preaching was not just a mental exercise united to one's organs of speech. Rather, they understood that preaching worthy of its name engaged the whole of the preacher's redeemed humanity, and the entirety of that humanity brought to its most intense and vigorous mental exercise – mentally, emotionally, physically,
This is a good book for preachers if you're not (1) of too sensitive a disposition and (2) you work out some of the solutions for yourself. In other words, it will do a wonderful job of showing you your faults, but you may need to turn elsewhere to be fully encouraged in the sanctifying work of Christ to help you change.