The Air I Breathe - Louie Giglio

Published by Multnomah Books/WaterBrook Multnomah: Colorado Springs, CO/New York, 2003.

This short book (even shorter than I realised as a section at the back is made up of 'group study questions' rather than being part of the book proper) is all about worship - what it is, why God is worthy of it, and some ways in which a person can engage with worship in their day to day lives. Louie Giglio is a fairly well-known speaker in Christian circles, and although he is not known as a singer he writes as the head of sixsteprecords, a worship-centric music label in the USA. Not that worship is about music per se.

The book is intentionally a fairly easy read rather than a dense theological tome, and as such some of the insights Giglio shares are not 'new'... but they are good reminders. "We may say we value this thing or that thing more than any other," Giglio writes, "but the volume of our actions speak louder than our words. In the end, our worship is more about what we do than what we say." (page 13). He reminds the reader that worship is a heart-attitude rather than lip-service. "That means we have to be careful about what we're saying...what we're singing. And who we're singing to. Sometimes we would be better off saying nothing than standing there lying to the face of God. Our worship would honour Him more if we just stopped singing and realigned our heart with His." (page 118-119).

One insight that I appreciated and have been pondering on for a while comes from the fact that God is absolutely worthy of our worship. I realise that God is bigger than we will ever truly understand, and had 'known' that He was therefore 'worthy' of worship from that vantage point. But Giglio adds to that fact the insight that, in being worthy of worship, and in knowing He is worthy of worship, therefore: "He knows the best thing He can give us is Himself. So in calling us to prize Him above all else, God is both gaining the praise that is rightfully His alone and causing us to gain the greatest treasure we will ever know." (page 31).

Giglio also suggests a "30-day worship challenge", where the reader reads a passage from the Psalms each day, identifies an attribute of God from the passage, and focuses on that throughout the day. Since reading that section of the book I have been attempting to do that, and would recommend it as a good way to help refocus on our King.

Worth reading.

Completed 9 December 2021.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Various Picture Books

Image
As I said in my review of Peter Rabbit's Storytime Collection , I am wanting to find a way to acknowledge the books I read to Ezekiel without adding individual picture books to my reading list - I feel that would dilute it a bit much. So in this post, I've decided to look at a group of picture books all together. I've picked five picture books that I like (with a notable and noteworthy exception), and also asked Elise for five picture books she is  enjoying reading to Ezekiel. It's interesting (and helpful for this list) that our lists haven't overlapped at all this time around. So, here are ten picture books (plus one bonus 'book') that Ezekiel has been exposed to in the first 7ish months of his life: Karl's List Bunnies on the Bus - Philip Ardagh and (illustrator) Ben Mantle. Published by Walker Books Ltd: London, 2020 (2019). This is one of my favourites among our current picture books. A group of bunnies hijack a bus and hurtle through the town on th
Read more

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Image
Published by Allen & Unwin: Crows Nest, NSW, Australia, 2008. Book snobs, block your ears. *whispers* I think the movie was better. Okay, book snobs, you can unblock your ears now. *waves to get the attention of book snobs* To be honest, a huge reason why I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society at this moment in time was that I thought it would be funny to have two books with ridiculously long titles appear back-to-back in my list. For anyone who thought that there were super-deep reasons why I picked the books that I did, I hope this helps you see the error of your ways. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (which I am refusing to shorten for the rest of this review) still tells the same story as that in the movie adaptation (also called  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ), but does so in a less gripping (though still interesting) manner. This is for a few reasons: firstly,  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society book is e
Read more

In a Free State - VS Naipaul

Image
Published by Picador: London, UK, 2001. First published 1971. An odd book, containing three different narratives (along with separate prologue and epilogue narratives) all on the theme of feeling displaced in a different culture and environment.  The first main story is told from the perspective of Santosh, an Indian servant who moves to America, only to find himself questioning his life choices. The next story follows a West Indian man who travels to England to support his brother, only to become disillusioned and eventually murder someone.  The third main narrative - which is the longest and also the titular 'In a Free State' - follows follows two English expats - Bobby and Linda - as they road trip south through a progressively more war-torn African nation. On the way we learn a lot about each character - mostly through their conversations - and witness their interactions with each other and those around them. As with many of the  Booker books I have read, there is an occasi
Read more