God With Us by Justin S Holcomb

Christians today can benefit in their spiritual lives from a wealth of others who have written over the centuries. But some of us may not be inclined to read Calvin's Institutes of Christian Religion, or Augustine's works. Holcomb has gleaned inspiring sections from those authors as well as Bunyan, Owen, Spurgeon and many more. He has also included sections from more contemporary authors like Bruce, Bonhoeffer, Machen, and Lewis.

The goal of the devotional, Holcomb writes, is to concentrate on two essential features of Christian teaching on Jesus Christ. The first feature is His person, fully God and fully man. The second is the work of Jesus Christ, subjecting Himself to the frailties of sinful humanity and accomplishing our redemption.

I appreciate the daily devotions. A short Scripture is presented and then a devotion from a classic author expanding on the truth. I like that Holcomb has edited the readings to be more understandable to modern day Christians. These are not fluffy readings, however. Calvin, Warfield, Eusebius, Ambrose and the like wrote serious works. I found I had to read through some of the devotions more than once to fully comprehend the concepts.

I recommend this devotional to Christians who are willing to put a little extra work in understanding what classic authors have written about the person and work of Jesus Christ. You'll find a good collection of inspiring insights from Christians of years ago.

You can read an excerpt here.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

Justin S, Holcomb is an Episcopal minister and teaches theology at Reformed Theological Seminary and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He has written, co-authored, or edited more than twenty books on numerous topics including historical and systematic theology, sexual assault, domestic abuse, and biblical studies. He is a co-host of the White Horse Inn radio show and podcast. He has also written for a number of Christian periodicals.

Bethany House, 384 pages.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)