I had heard him say that before about other books, but when he commends a book he is usually right. Unfortunately though, my towers of ‘should read’ and ‘must read’ Christian books were so high they were causing a health and safety hazard! I took one look at the out of date cover, and foolishly doubted his high praise. So the book was put to one side like the others…that is until the same book, with a new cover, arrived on my desk again recently. When I mentioned to my brother that I was going to give it a go, he augmented his praise for its content, but warned me of its challenge, but, even so, I wasn’t prepared for what I was about to read…
Nothing less
You know whenever an author presents the challenge of ‘nothing less than unconditional surrender’ on the first page that he is serious and you are in for a white knuckle ride, that leaves your hair windswept and your heart racing. Spiritually speaking, this is what William MacDonald’s book, |True Discipleship|, does. For many EN readers they will remember the book (and its naff cover!) from its release in the early 1960s, but the message of this book is so important it is well worth a re-visit.
Sold out
MacDonald sets out to challenge the ever-growing caution of being so ‘sold out’ for Christ that one might be labelled a ‘fundamentalist’. He does so strategically and methodically, dismantling the weak yet frequent arguments we often use when settling for mediocrity in our Christian lives.
I was made to re-evaluate my commitment to both gospel projects and people by MacDonald’s call to invest in things destined for heaven; for, as he puts it, ‘the only way we can lay up our treasures in heaven is to put them into something that is going [there]’. MacDonald’s message is not simply about time and money though — he wishes to challenge attitudes too. One cannot fail to be stirred by the examples of disciples such as C.T. Studd or John and Betty Stam, among others, who had clearly adopted the mentality of ‘all of Christ, none of self’. It is spicy stuff when MacDonald turns his thoughts to that of martyrdom. We live in an age of the suicide bomber, so perhaps martyrdom is discarded as something just for those who are misguided or mentally unstable, but MacDonald urges his readers to think again. While, he concedes, ‘not all are required to lay down their lives as martyrs…each of us can have the martyr spirit, the martyr zeal, the martyr devotion’. It’s sobering stuff and left me with much to contemplate.
Page by page MacDonald uses the Bible to impose tough questions upon his reader’s life: I found myself having to stop after each paragraph or two to consider the implications of the teaching I had just read. My knuckles were getting whiter and my heart racing harder, as the truth and necessity of the teaching became clearer and clearer.
Every Christian becomes a disciple the moment they are born for a second time. However, not every disciple allows the supernatural power of a Holy God to rule supreme in their lives. We need to hear the message of this book loud and clear as we devote ourselves to him, permitting him to take hold of us, change us and use us for his purposes. I commend MacDonald for his skill in biblically challenging us in the quest to be ‘Christ-like’ while realising ‘he’s not there yet’ himself.
Unsettling ride
May I challenge you — will you get a copy of this book from your local Christian bookshop, strap yourself in for an unsettling ride, but one which I hope will do you the spiritual good it did me? Perhaps you have the dreadfully-covered book from back in the 60s — why not dig it out, dust it off and read it again, or pass it on to a friend? With the helpful study guide at the back of this book it’s ideal to study with a friend, or in a prayer triplet. Go on, I dare you!
True Discipleship by William MacDonald is published by Gospel Folio Press, ISBN 1 88270191 7, £4.99 (Amazon). If you wish to buy copies in quantities of ten or more, there is a discount provided by http://www.10ofthose.com
Jonathan Carswell,
Hamilton Road Baptist Church, Bangor, Northern Ireland
