Joined-up Life by Andrew Cameron Part 1

In the month of December we will be revisiting the very popular posts by Annabel Nixey on Andrew Cameron's book Joined-Up Life. It's been on my list of books to read for a while now, so this might just be the inspiration I need to take it off the shelf and dive in. 

I hope that the books this year have inspired you and helped prepare you to share Jesus. We have some great books lined up for next year, so keep an eye out for your emails, subscribe if you haven't already done so, and tell your friends about Equip Book Club. 

Merry Christmas, Rachael Collins.

This is exactly the kind of book I would never choose to read (no offense, Andrew),

Reason # 1: It’s thick (at least thickish in my opinion @ 317p given I'm not a huge reader)

Reason # 2: It’s on ethics 

In my head:

Ethics = secular humanism x dry/boring

‘I don’t need a book on ethics – I’ve got the Bible!’

However, just starting to read this book, my view is beginning to change. Reading this book is helping pull ‘ethics’ off my shelf of irrelevancies, dust it off and give it some blood & guts. The kind of blood & guts that might actually make ethics helpful in my day-to-day life. The kind of blood & guts that will point me to Jesus and make me love him more.

Here’s an example of what I mean:

Reading Part 2 (‘Unawareness’) made me aware that I’m not an ethical island – standing simply on biblical truths (or even sinful lies) in my decision-making. Rather there are lots of subtle, but strong undercurrents tugging me around…desires, the tug to belong, etc.

The trouble is how do I slow my life down and gain the kind of self-awareness that will help me see these currents and see if they are flowing to Christ?

So this is my prayer…that our love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that we may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory & praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-10)

NEXT WEEK: The Hunt for the Virtuous Woman. We’ll be following the author’s advice and picking out connected chapters to read, namely chapters 5 & 31.

About this month's contributor, Annabel Nixey

I'm a Sydney-bred, Canberra-newbie who's still getting used to the idea of four distinct seasons (yes, in winter it is chilly!). My favourite genres are… for movies - period dramas, for books - biographies and for coffee - tea. I love trying new recipes and the occasional crafty exploit.