Old Books Worth Reading: The Search for Significance

I like old books. This last week I spent an hour on a porch in a Thai restaurant carefully thumbing through my yellowed and cracking pages of an original William Cullen Bryant poem collection. It reminded me that there were some books in my collection that needs more frequent attention. So I am starting a series on old books that are worth reading (again). This book isn't so old, but for many it will seem old. Written in 1990 its past the twenty year mark. 

It's still in print for good reason. If there is anything many Christians struggle with it is a sense of worthlessness. Sin leaves its ugly mark not only in pride as we are often reminded, but also in its twin cousin shame. 

Shame is a debilitating and even deadly disease. Thousands die from it every year by their own hands. Just as difficult a reality is that millions live a walking death underneath its shadow year in and year out. They are the approval addicts and the ones stuck in the performance trap this book speaks about. 

I first found the book in the bottom of a garage sale book box. I looked at the cover (not the one pictured...the first edition) and was pulled in. Billy Graham said every Christian should read it after all. Well, some of you would put it down right then. But for me, I thought his opinion was worth a fifty cent stab in the dark. I read the book three times. 

And so, I recommend it to you. I recommend it to all Christians who ever hear their own thoughts label them worthless, stupid, or not good enough. I recommend it to all Christians who ever wonder how in the world they could be worth the death of Christ. I recommend it to all Christians who have worked hard and long attempting to gain enough approval to finely approve of themselves. And, I recommend it to me. I am going to read it for the fourth time. Feel free to tell me what you think.