If you've never read one of John Piper’s devotional books, you’re missing out. The 31 meditations in Pierced by the Word cover a variety of topics — some practical, others theological. From drinking orange juice to battling lust, from thinking about suffering to thinking about politics — each devotional reading stresses the importance of living by faith and living for Christ.

Your soul will be nourished by this book, as it stresses the importance of personal prayer and emphasizes the glory of the Gospel. I recommend that you get this or another of Piper’s devotional books, and read it as part of your spiritual diet. It will help you fight the good fight of faith.

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Over time I have come to the conclusion you can’t go wrong reading anything John Piper prints out. This was reaffirmed as I read his small little book Pierced by the Word: Thirty-One Meditations for Your Soul this week. This is God-centered theology in bite-size meditations that take you by the hand and heart to the piercing words of the text of Scripture. It is very brief but incredibly fresh, insightful, penetrating, and full of practical chapters that will awaken a desire to know this Christ who is so sufficiently satisfying.

This is food for the soul solid food that is for the Christian pursuing ways to draw closer to God. As a devotional, this work dishes out pastoral thoughts in chewable form. Each chapters reading is about 2-3 pages long you’ll want to mull over and meditate over it a bit before moving on for sure. You will read in these pages deep truths that will prod you to live a life that is spent on God.

Piper’s meditations on scripture cover all of life including parenting, fighting lust and anger, embracing the pain of shame, gaining assurance of salvation, praying, fighting for joy and a other topics of interest. In each topic God is shown to be the supreme reality. This is an easy read and would make a great gift to a new believer, a non-reader, or something to introduce Piper to someone. It is a little less daunting than some of Piper’s longer and meatier books. ( )

Very brief but incredibly insightful and penetration meditations on Scripture that will awaken you to a fresh desire to know God in Christ well. ( )

Leitura iniciada em 12/11/2007.