I
have always enjoyed Kyle Idleman’s books.
There are a number of reasons.
His sense of humor appeals to me.
His writing style is comfortable.
But most importantly, he has an ability to say profoundly challenging
things in an accessible way.
Idleman’s
newest book, entitled AHA: The God Moment that Changes Everything, is
case and point. The book is
humorous. It is an easy read. And he has done a wonderful job reminding us
of how God brings transformation to our lives.
The
book, which is based on the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15, begins with
some thoughts on the whole self-help genre.
Self-help books are everywhere, covering every topic. The very volume of self-help books suggests
that they do not really help much at all. Is our “self” really able to help us
with the problems we face? The main
premise of Idleman’s book is that we need to reject our self’s offer and help
and embrace the provision and power of God’s help.
Like
the prodigal son in Luke 15, almost everyone finds themselves, at times in
their life or in certain areas of their life, in a distant country. There are times when we have walked away from
God, perhaps with our whole life, or perhaps in particular areas of our life
where we do not want to submit or obey to God.
There are, of course, many reasons for rejecting God’s provision and
care. AHA reminds us that God is
often not who we assume him to be. He is
an ever present source of help.
The book is contains three main sections, each section focusing on one part of the transforming work of God in our lives. The first – “A” – stands for sudden awakening. The prodigal son, having rejected his father, spent his inheritance finds himself feeding pigs to make a living. As Luke 15:17 notes, one day, in the midst of that situation, he came to his senses. He came to a realization of where his life was leading. It was not a pretty picture. God has many ways of bringing sudden awakening to us. His uses his Word or the words of others, or perhaps He gives us a taste of the future consequences of our actions. During this time of awakening, we come to the recognition that we cannot turn our lives around ourselves.
The
second step is “”H” – brutal honesty. As
Luke 15:17-19 notes, the prodigal son said to himself - my father’s servants
are better off than I am. He looked into
the mirror at his life and saw that it was profoundly lacking. Such honesty brings healing and drives us to
God for His forgiveness. Of course, we
can find all number of excuses to avoid being honest with ourselves. We can deny the depth of our problem. We can project the reasons we have problems
on others. We can minimize our problems,
convincing ourselves they are no big deal.
But if we avoid those kind of pitfalls, we come to a good but painful place,
and we can be honest about our lives or areas of our lives are deeply in need
of God’s help.
The
last step in AHA – “A” – is immediate action. The prodigal son did not spend weeks
pondering his fate. Luke 15:20 simply
states that after he realized his predicament and was bold enough to be honest
with himself, he got up and went back home.
He acted. Without action, the awakening
God brings to our life amounts to nothing.
How many times have you been convicted by a sermon, only to walk out of
church without doing anything about it?
Passivity, procrastination and a defeatist attitude that convinces us
that it is too late are the enemies of action.
Luke
15 tells us how the story of the prodigal son ends. His father embraces him, forgives him and
celebrates his homecoming. Our story can
end up the same way. No matter how far
we have run, or how long we have run, or how many areas of our life we have
resisted God’s call to holiness, God is still there. His patience and mercy and grace is still
available. And like the prodigal son’s
father, our Heavenly Father longs to embrace us, forgive us and celebrate our
homecoming.
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