Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Longing for More by Timothy Willard

Devotion books can be tricky for me to review because while the first book I published myself was a devotion book, I have little use for them in my day to day Christian walk.  It often feels like crawling into the head of another believer and trying to get close to God that way.  Unfortunately, I often had that feeling while reading Longing for More:  Daily Reflections on Finding God in the Rhythms of Life by Timothy Willard.

What drew me to this book was the subtitle being about the "rhythms of life".  My own personal growth as of late has focused on finding rhythms that God intends for my good, such as regular periods of rest, prayer, study, work, etc.  I was hoping to use this devotional to gain greater insight there.  This was not the case.  Each week focuses on a topic and there are enough readings for 52 weeks, but so many of the readings seemed to merely be the author's thoughts and not great insight.  Some of those thoughts are beautiful and poetic, but not particularly deep or revealing.  I laughed at the one that suggested that beauty will save the world.  Really?  Jesus' death on the cross is beautiful?  Perhaps only in the most esoteric sense.

There seems to be a trend in writing where Christian books, and especially devotionals, are merely a pseudo-memoir.  This may be helpful for some, but the most this book ever elicited from me was a "Meh."

I can recommend this devotional for someone who is looking for this sort of thing.  If you are looking for short quips about life or scripture, this will work.  If you are looking for something meatier, keep looking!

I was provided this book free of charge by Bethany House in return for my honest review.

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