When I moved into my new house nearly a year ago, I was promised a library as a house warming gift. It was the loftiest of the gifts I had been given but it was also given out of a genuine desire to bless me – because honestly as practical as housewarmings need to be and as lovely as my waffle iron is – nothing could ever bless me more than a library. My entire life I’ve dreamed of having one or being Belle so I could live in the Beast’s library and while my modest library has yet to be built – the promise of one has sparked an unhealthy new habit, or rather, encouraged an already existing habit:

BUY ALL THE BOOKS.

So over this past year I slowly and surely have been building my library via Goodwill or Savers finds or the occasional new book purchase and in that journey I have found some absolute treasures, classics, and maybe ones that just looked cool. Since one of my 2019 goals was to read 52 books – which is low for me but that’s okay, grace and all that – I figured I’d also bless you all with a review of the books I read.

 

I found this gem of a book while scanning the shelves of Goodwill. I’ve never read Elisabeth Elliot but I do have Passion and Purity which is popular among many Christian women so obviously I picked it up and then never read it, again, haven’t read it yet. The Liberty of Obedience however was only 94 pages and it’s title included my word for the year!

Though small and so unassuming, this little book packs a punch and I’m so thankful I started out 2019 this way.

The book is a series of reprinted articles that Elliot wrote for The Sunday School Times and they address the differences between western culture and that of the Auca Indians in Ecuador where she lived and served as a missionary.

“For a whole year, Elisabeth Elliot watched and learned and had nothing to say…This year of observation and enforced silence stripped her of everything but the barest of essentials and the simplest of truths.” – blurb from Vine Books.

Living in other cultures forces you to confront truth about the Gospel. You learn quickly, even in other western cultures, the differences between truth and assumed truth. In each of the chapters – Elliot examines different facets of assumed truth and compares them to what she learned in Ecuador but ultimately puts it all to the test against Scripture. Reading this book was a jarring way to start the new year – but one full of blessing as I examined four different areas of assumed truth and let Scripture and the knowledge of someone else’s counter-cultural experience challenge my beliefs.

I’m not doing marks out of 5 or 10 because that’s so subjective for each genre of book. Instead, you’re getting scales of recommendation and I would highly recommend this book. It’s small, easy to read, and it’s also impactful. Even if you’re strong on all the areas she addresses, it can still be a good exercise to sit back and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal if you’ve let culture shape your view and understanding of these Biblical truths.

So there’s my Goodreads review. But because this is my blog and it’s purpose is to make the most of the life God has for us while we wait for His glorious return – I’m breaking down each chapter and talking about how and why it impacted me – so if you’re not into reading – here’s a biased summary.
 

The first chapter addresses, “The Appearance of Evil” which I always applied to – if a guy and girl have a sleepover – it’s the “appearance of evil” because people could assume they’re having sex. Since having that assumption as a young girl, I have slept in a chalet in New Zealand with two boys and a girl and guess what – nothing untoward happened. I’ve also slept in tents with boys and surprise, surprise, still nothing happened. Turns out – sex doesn’t just magically happen – it’s a choice and you don’t have to choose it. Now I’m not saying – guys and girls should have sleepovers all Willy Nilly – I’m just saying these things don’t just automatically happen because of “the appearance of evil” – they happen because people choose them. So already, I knew my understanding of that phrase was going to drastically change while reading this chapter since honestly – it was so limited to begin with.

In her intro to the chapter, Elliot writes “What looks like a sin in one context may look like a virtue in another.” And later on continues, “Clearly, it is not possible to behave in a way which would be understood by all, let alone accepted by all. God alone, who is above all and in us all, judges rightly, and therefore it is before Him that we stand or fall…We may find ourselves on the wrong side of some man-made fences, but this is a part of the risk of following Him…”

In her chapter, Elliot looks at the Biblical basis for that scripture which is often interpreted as I did above – don’t do anything which people might consider a sin. But the scripture that “truth” is based off of is 1 Thessalonians 5:22 which the NIV translates as “reject every kind of evil.” But because we don’t proof text and we look at context, the larger passage seems to be looking at the prophetic.

“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.”- 1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5:19-22‬. ‬‬

So in the context of this passage, “Abstain from all appearance of evil (KJV translation of verse 22)” seems to be pretty strongly talking about prophecies. Hold onto the good and true prophecies and reject the ones that speak evil. This may seem obvious in context but so often people take that small verse out of its proper place and apply it to a whole host of things that frankly DO NOT MATTER.

This all isn’t to say – that we can do whatever we want. Our lives should look different – we have the Holy Spirit working inside of us. However, it is saying – God is the one who determines what’s good and what’s not, not our societies. So instead of constantly assuming everyone should live the way we do and judging others for their definitions of modesty or answers to baiting questions on homosexuality (I got you, Lauren Daigle) or whatever else it may be – let’s allow God to be the judge of someone’s behavior and let’s take an honest look at ourselves and our hearts and live according to the will of Christ. “Decisions must be made in the integrity of the heart before God – with an unselfish attention to our brother’s good and the glory of God.” – Elliot.

So chapter one – stop being Pharisees and instead allow Christ to be your judge and the judge of your brother. Live your lives to honor God and bless others. Don’t deliberately be contradictory or rude but also don’t blindly submit to the rule of man – you are only accountable to God.

Honestly, that in and of itself is enough for one day but guess what – three more chapters of pure gold!

The second chapter is more of a follow-up on the first and address the idea of “worldliness” and what it really means to follow Christ. Elliot talks about how as Christians we are to give up worldly things to follow Christ but what does that mean? Most Christians today would define “worldly things” as drugs, sex, alcohol but Elliot argues that even marriage is worldly.

She defines worldly as all that is temporal and therefore worldly people are those who are occupied with that which is temporal. She even says, in a line that honestly made me cheer out loud, “Marriage is referred to as a “worldly distraction,” that is, it is a temporal institution, and not to be the ultimate object of our concern.” Insert praise hand emoji! A Christian woman just told me marriage isn’t the ultimate object of my concern and honestly, that’s the kind of truth I needed to start 2019 with.

But Becca, marriage is good. Yes it is, but you know what I’d rather be concerned with? Following Christ. I’d rather set my sights on what isn’t temporal but eternal – and Christ is eternal. If He blesses me temporally, I will thank and praise Him – but it is not my ultimate object of concern. So caveat – if you know me, please don’t ask me about whether I have a boyfriend or how that’s going. Instead, ask me what God has been teaching me and what He’s doing in my life. And maybe someday, that may involve Him bringing me a spectacular, kind, loving gentleman but until it does – let’s not make that a matter of conversation.

So while all things are worldly – not all things are sinful and since everyone has their own set of struggles – we can’t yoke people to our own personal interpretations. For many, alcohol is a real struggle and for them it is wise to abstain. However, alcohol is not sinful. If you personally feel like you need to abstain so you don’t fall into sin – by all means do so! But we can’t hold that over other people’s lives. Instead, Elliot encourages us to be compassionate, kind, humble, meek, patient, forgiving and loving toward others. Because those things, they come from above. Let us do everything in the name of Jesus to bless and love one another – not for our own gain and not to judge someone else.

Chapter three is all about service. Elliot shares about how many people wrote her because she was a missionary and they were disillusioned with their lives, thinking God didn’t call them to serve in the ordinary. “Those who emphasize their inabilities do an injustice to the grace of God, which has dispensed gifts to all.” We are all given gifts and have our specific call. Not one is higher than the other – in God’s eyes they are all important. Elliot also reminds us – “What sorrow, frustration, and sickening failure result from the attempt to do a job for which one was never fitted.”

In today’s “share the best highlights of your life” kind of social media – it can be exhausting to compare your call to someone else’s. I have friends that serve as missionaries overseas. I have friends church planting in big cities. I have friends (okay, I just know them but it counts) that run their own non-profits or write books and go on police raids to help human trafficking victims. And then there’s me.

I live in New Hampshire. My life is rather mundane. I’m not doing what I expected I would be doing at 27 BUT – I am doing what God has called me to do. It’s not particularly exciting – I co-lead a community group on campus. I help with youth group. I pour into the lives of young women around me and sometimes I get burned for it. (Turns out when you co-lead with a charming Cedric Diggory Hufflepuff, your Ginny Weasley/SPEW Hermione can be a tad overlooked). But I wouldn’t change my seemingly boring life for anything because it is the one God has called me to. But if I’m being honest, it’s a struggle. I see women on Instagram doing what I wish I could do and doing it so well. I see women with followers galore and likes upon likes and then there’s me and the temptation to compare is strong and the temptation to despair is there. BUT when I remember the truth of Scripture – none of that matters.

We all have gifts and they are purposefully different because we were created by God who makes no mistakes and we were created for community. One of the great blessings of leading a CG with Cedric Diggory is, our gifts are so different that we compliment each other. Where I’m weak – he’s so gifted and vice versa. And then when you widen our leadership to our dear friends we add in even more gifts that compliment ours and we’re left with a pretty rad leadership team. The same thing is applied to our group of youth leaders. Teamwork really does make the dream work, especially in the body of Christ but only when we’re living in the call that God has given us and not trying to be someone else.

The last chapter is called, Maturity: The Power to discern. It’s about the idea that we don’t always know the difference between what is right and wrong and we can’t always tell what sin is but loving God leads to maturity. “We should remember that while knowledge may make a man look big, it is only love that can make him grow to his full stature.” She then goes on to talk about how maturity comes from grappling with Scripture and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Yet, many Christians just readily adopt and adhere to the policies of their group. “But no policy can encompass in advance the difficult paths through which God may lead a soul to maturity…No two persons are subject to the same tests.”

We therefore can’t just adopt someone else’s belief systems. Instead, if we are to mature in Christ – we must become more like Him. “We have much to seek and much to learn.”

Elliot ends the book reminding the reader that above all we are to love others and love God. She includes a poem by Frederick W. Faber that says,

For the Love of God is broader,

Than the measure of man’s mind;

And the heart of the Eternal

Is most wonderfully kind.

But we make His love too narrow,

By false limits of our own

And we magnify its strictness,

With a zeal He will not own.

I’m thankful I got to start 2019 with a reminder that I am not God.

I’m thankful I started 2019 with a reminder that I don’t have it all figured out.

I’m thankful for the reminder that all I am called to do is to love God with all my heart, mind, and soul and to love others more than I love myself.

I feel like today, more than ever – this kind of relationship with God is needed. As our world and society face so many questions and so many traditions and “truths” are being questioned – instead of responding in hate and holding fast to what you’ve always believed or by going the other way and falling to the whims of the world – seek God. Seek His heart. Read His word. And please don’t forget what He’s called us to do. He’s called us to love the world His way.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:4-7‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬