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Five "Musts" of the Christian life
Book by Meyer, F. B
- GenresChristian
128 pages, Paperback
First published May 16, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 24, 2025
I found a lot of truth in the first 5 chapters of this short read, but the latter 5 seemed to drag on. Good read, but that old english didn’t make it easy for me to want to pick up the book every day.
October 25, 2020
You could read this book for free on google play books.
a short book asking us to evaluate our holistic life. this book not heavy at all, like the subtitle, its refreshing with many examples yet stabbing our heart.
a short book asking us to evaluate our holistic life. this book not heavy at all, like the subtitle, its refreshing with many examples yet stabbing our heart.
July 2, 2023
Excellent job in describing the spirit, soul and body - the relation to one another and with God. Also, the chapter describing Pentecost really brought it to life. The “This is not that” overview of the Holy Spirit and the early church vs todays church is 100% spot on….
September 5, 2018
[Note: This book was provided free of charge by Aneko Press. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]
I must admit that before reading this book I did not know who the author was and had never read any of the 40 books he wrote during the course of a long life spent as a minister in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was focused on the holiness of believers, and it shows in this book. Although this book is a relatively obscure one, it is certainly a classic in the tradition of the publisher's reprints [1]. And in reading this book it is definitely a worthwhile (and short) volume, even if it is not a book I would consider perfect. It makes for a very thoughtful and thought-provoking Pentecost book in particular, which would likely be the ideal time of year to read this book and ponder on what it is saying. Even so, it is not as if there is a bad time to read a book like this one dealing with matters of Christian faith and practice.
At just over 100 pages, this book is like many in its series in being somewhat short, which seems to have been more frequent in the time the book was written than today. The book consists of a foreword, none chapters, and then a short biography of the author, which did a good job in fleshing out his life and career, which I thought useful in understanding and appreciating this work. The author begins with a discussion of five things Christians "must" do in the first five chapters, saying that Christians must experience the "new birth" (1), must sacrifice (2), must appreciate the decreasing of the self (3), must serve (4), and must worship and experience the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit (5). After that the author spends more time talking about the Holy Spirit (6), telling the reader to reckon on the faithfulness of God (7), fellowshipping with Christ in service (8), and increasing in our knowledge of our savior (9). There is a great deal to celebrate here and the author includes a few pictures to make his work easier to understand that give a visual understanding to the reader of the points the author is seeking to make in the book.
Although this is a short book, the author's approach to making his point is one that involves piling up a bunch of comparisons (some of them more valid than others) and short stories, often about other well-known ministers of his time like Spurgeon, Moody, and so on, in order to argue for some point. At times the author makes statements that do not appear to hit the mark, and I found his argument about human beings being tripartite beings to be somewhat cringeworthy, although it is a common argument. That said, although some of the remarks made by the author do not appear to make the point the author intends, there is still a lot here to appreciate, and overall this is a book I would recommend to readers who want to read more about the author's thoughts on the Holy Spirit and its workings, especially when it comes to pointing out some of the theatrical aspects of Pentecostal practice that can be imitated by others for their own glory and that do not have a place in sound and humble worship practices. There is a lot that one can gain from reading a book like this, even if the author's approach to writing is not necessarily the same approach I would have.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
I must admit that before reading this book I did not know who the author was and had never read any of the 40 books he wrote during the course of a long life spent as a minister in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was focused on the holiness of believers, and it shows in this book. Although this book is a relatively obscure one, it is certainly a classic in the tradition of the publisher's reprints [1]. And in reading this book it is definitely a worthwhile (and short) volume, even if it is not a book I would consider perfect. It makes for a very thoughtful and thought-provoking Pentecost book in particular, which would likely be the ideal time of year to read this book and ponder on what it is saying. Even so, it is not as if there is a bad time to read a book like this one dealing with matters of Christian faith and practice.
At just over 100 pages, this book is like many in its series in being somewhat short, which seems to have been more frequent in the time the book was written than today. The book consists of a foreword, none chapters, and then a short biography of the author, which did a good job in fleshing out his life and career, which I thought useful in understanding and appreciating this work. The author begins with a discussion of five things Christians "must" do in the first five chapters, saying that Christians must experience the "new birth" (1), must sacrifice (2), must appreciate the decreasing of the self (3), must serve (4), and must worship and experience the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit (5). After that the author spends more time talking about the Holy Spirit (6), telling the reader to reckon on the faithfulness of God (7), fellowshipping with Christ in service (8), and increasing in our knowledge of our savior (9). There is a great deal to celebrate here and the author includes a few pictures to make his work easier to understand that give a visual understanding to the reader of the points the author is seeking to make in the book.
Although this is a short book, the author's approach to making his point is one that involves piling up a bunch of comparisons (some of them more valid than others) and short stories, often about other well-known ministers of his time like Spurgeon, Moody, and so on, in order to argue for some point. At times the author makes statements that do not appear to hit the mark, and I found his argument about human beings being tripartite beings to be somewhat cringeworthy, although it is a common argument. That said, although some of the remarks made by the author do not appear to make the point the author intends, there is still a lot here to appreciate, and overall this is a book I would recommend to readers who want to read more about the author's thoughts on the Holy Spirit and its workings, especially when it comes to pointing out some of the theatrical aspects of Pentecostal practice that can be imitated by others for their own glory and that do not have a place in sound and humble worship practices. There is a lot that one can gain from reading a book like this, even if the author's approach to writing is not necessarily the same approach I would have.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews