I know…it’s been quite a while since I’ve made time to write here. I’ve missed it, but life had more pressing things over the past few months. I don’t know how regular I can be, but I would like to check in more often. Thanks to those of you who have said you missed it. It’s nice to be missed. 
I do love to read, and I love to pass along my love of books to you. There are very few books that I whole-heartedly recommend, but Miraslov Volf’s Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace
Volf is a professor of theology at Yale Divinity School, but this is not an intimidating read. Each of the two sections, giving and forgiving, begins with discussing how God does each. He reminds us that God is neither a negotiator nor a Santa Claus. God gives because that is His nature, and He delights in giving to us so that He can also give through us. He uses the visual of God pouring gifts out to us and makes the point that the flow of giving was never intended to stop there…it should flow through us and on to those around us, who in turn give to those around them, and all of it flows around and then back to us to begin again. He often refers to the necessity of living within a giving community of givers (the body of Christ), not only so that we encourage one another in the grace of giving but so that we pour those gifts onto others outside the body so that they, too, will come to know God through us. This picture is one that has me captivated. Certainly it is of the ideal…the one that God intended and not the one that we as sinful humans are able to create perfectly…but the ideal is the goal.
The second half of the book deals with forgiving, and for me there were ideas here that might be called transforming. I was especially impressed with his discussion of the relationship between forgiving and repentance. Does forgiveness precede repentance? I had never considered it, but his reasoning seems sound.
I can not recommend this book highly enough. It is not expensive and not so “theological” that those of us without a degree in theology can’t understand it. If you read it, please come back here and leave a comment. I would really like to know what you think.
Encourage one another,
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi from Israel! I have not read the book but here are a couple of ‘my random thoughts’ to go with yours….
OK, first off..forgiveness, I believe is a choice each of us has to make for each situation that ‘requires’ that the choice be made.
Second…making the choice sometimes ‘takes time’. There are things that have to happen within each of us after great hurts before we can sometimes confront what the offense actually is and how it has affected us. Sometimes, forgiveness comes only with time.
BUT…whatever the circumstances, we should be willing to step back and employ the ‘do unto others’ command by Jesus. This for me, is the important first step.
Forgiveness does not mean or require that you expose yourself to continuing abuse by another person…forgiveness is the absence of malice. Sometimes we have to leave the ‘offender’ in the hands of God, because what goes around most certainly always comes around.
thanks for the book review. i will run right out and get it.