Reviewed by Dr. Scott Kaufman, Director of Healthcare Ministries:

 Living the Cross-Centered Life:
Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing

 (C. J. Mahaney. Foreword by Dr. R. Albert Mohler. Colorado Springs, Colorado: Multnomah, ©2006, 166 pp., List price: $12.99)

Author.  C. J. Mahaney is a noted pastor, speaker, and author who leads Sovereign Grace Ministries in its mission to establish and support local churches.

Synopsis.  Do you desire more passion for Jesus Christ?  Quite often the ‘busy-ness’ of life has a way of getting us off-track, distracting us from ‘the main thing.’  We end up confusing what we feel with what is real.  In a word, Living the Cross-Centered Life is about the importance of making — and keeping — the Cross of Christ ‘front and center’ in your life. We never ‘get beyond’ the Cross:  “Never lay it aside. Never move on,” writes Mahaney.  This book will stir up your passion with the deep and life-changing truths of Calvary.

Highlights.  Selecting “highlights” from this book is difficult.  Why?  Because the entire book is a highlight!  That said, let me focus on a chapter titled, “The Cross-Centered Day.”  Mahaney asks, “Do you want to live a Cross-centered life?  A Cross-centered life is made up of Cross-centered days.”  He then lists practical ways to stay focused daily on the Cross:

• Preach to Yourself. “Reminding ourselves of the Gospel is the most important daily habit we can establish. If the Gospel is the most vital news in the world, and if salvation by grace is the defining truth of our existence, we should create ways to immerse ourselves in these truths every day. No days off allowed” (132).
• Memorize the Gospel. Memorize those scriptures that remind us of the Gospel (2 Cor. 5:21; Romans 8:31-34; Isaiah 53:3-6).
• Pray the Gospel. Since the Gospel is the reason we can approach such a holy God, continue to pray the Gospel as a reminder of why you can speak to such an awesome God.
• Sing the Gospel. Find songs and CD’s whose focus in on the great and glorious Gospel and not on man; those songs that concentrate on what He has done for us.
• Review How the Gospel Has Changed You. Looking to your past, not for condemnation’s sake, but for the reminder of His mercy and grace.
• Study the Gospel. Don’t only study books on the Gospel or only on the New Testament, but study the Old Testament and see Christ’s fulfillment of It. Make sure that your studies don’t leave the Gospel behind but instead build upon It.

Why You Should Read This Book.  Probably no other book better communicates the centrality of the cross in the Christian life than does this one.  I’m convinced that whoever takes the time to read this book carefully and prayerfully, their life will be impacted powerfully by the truths contained therein.  This book is about ‘keeping the Main Thing the main thing.’  Can anything possibly be more important than that?  There are many books out there that are unworthy of your precious time — this book is NOT one of them! I believe it will richly repay anyone who takes the time to read and absorb its life-changing truths.

Take Home Point for the Day.  “If there’s anything in life we should be passionate about, it’s the Gospel. And I don’t mean passionate only about sharing it with others; I mean passionate in thinking about the Gospel, reflecting upon it, rejoicing in it, allowing it to color the way we look at the world and all of life” (15).

The Spirit does not take His pupils beyond the Cross,
but ever more deeply into it.

J. Knox Chamblin