Leaning on the second Bookend

In this book the authors give us two things that are essential to the christian life, they call them bookends. The first book end on which we are to lean all that is our life is: The righteousness of Christ. The second is: The power of the Holy Spirit.

This last chapter in the book deals with leaning our "books" on this second bookend, rather then relying on ourselves and our own abilities. We could just read this book, agree that our existence as followers of Jesus is reliant on the righteousness of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, and become relaxed about it so as to fall back into shifting our dependence on ourselves - our own abilities, self-righteousness, intelligence, strengths, and will power, and reading this book will have been a vain exercise.

On page 136 it says: ....... we're to see " the immeasurable greatness of His great might" (Eph.1:18-19). We're to see this with the eyes of our hearts in a way that it touches our emotions, motivations, and decision-making. It's seeing a seeing so deep, it shifts our dependence away from our own strength and onto the strength of the Spirit of God.

This chapter gives three focal points for shifting and keeping our dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit.


1. Our desperate weakness:

We must see that we are but dust, our frame is weak.

2. The reliable power of the Holy Spirit:

We are kept by the Spirit till the day of Christ.

1 Thess. 5:23- Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord.

2Cor. 3:18 - And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the image from one degree of glory ro another. For this comes from the Lord who is Spirit.

3. Rejection of self-reliance:

Self-reliance is dangerous. We must reject it!

The gospel is all about what Jesus has done on our behalf and nothing to do with us.

The gospel should humble us. Humility is what will kill self-reliance.

The quote in the book from John Stott really stood out to me as he described the best place to find humility as we battle the great evil of self-reliance:

Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have an inflated view of ourselves... until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross that we shrink to our true size.

We will lean on the Power of the Holy Spirit if we keep the gospel before us.

Words from an old hymn race through my mind as I think through this chapter.

Near the cross! O Lamb of God, bring it's scenes before me; help me walk from day to day with it's shadow o'er me.
In the cross, in the cross be my glory ever, till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river.

I have enjoyed reading this book and I am thinking I need to read it again someday soon.

I'd love to hear any thoughts that this book provoked for some of you, and perhaps some things that stood out to you in this final chapter.

Thanks for tuning in! May the Lord cause His grace to shine on you and bring you nearer to Him.

For those just tuning in, if you would like to catch up, you can here.