Every Sunday
it is easy to be a Christian. We arrive at a building and we join with other
Christians and we worship God. However, Leslie Hardin reminds us that our faith
isn’t just a Sunday experience. In his book, The Spirituality of Paul, Hardin
is showing us that we not only partner with the Holy Spirit on Sunday, but
rather we must as effective Christians not only to minister to others, but even
to ourselves, we must partner with God daily.
Hardin takes
you through the practices of Paul and they include: Imitation of Jesus, being
devoted to Scripture, prayer, discipleship, Proclamation of the Gospel,
corporate worship, being holy, using our spiritual gifts, building each other
up, and the fact that all Christians do suffer.
My favorite
chapter was devotion to scripture. I find a lot of people who preach the other
topics; but rarely do I hear ministers speak on being devoted to scripture. However,
equally, the other chapters are very enlightening.
Finally
Hardin wraps the entire book up with a chapter called The Shape of Pauline
Spirituality. Today much of what Paul wrote has become the cornerstone of
Christianity—and we often forget that Paul was merely a human.
"Paul had a reputation in the first
century as someone who had a weighty and forceful media persona, but who was
soft and unimpressive in reality…. Yet here was a man who, when he patterned
his life after that of Christ Jesus, with the help of the Holy Spirit, turned
the world on it head for the glory of Jesus. This gives hope to us who read him,
who take him seriously, and who want to be spiritual like Paul was."
I received this book free from the publisher to review. It
did not have to be a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR,
Part 255.
