Love Matter by Neil Tolsma

About the Book

Book: Love Matters

Author: Neil Tolsma

Genre: Non-Fiction

Release date: September 13, 2022

The Bible answers with one word: Love. What am I to do when my love is weak and in short supply? What difference does godly love make in the rush of everyday living? These are questions that Christians ask and need answered.

Love Matters answers these vital questions and others through a careful examination of what the Word of God has to say about reproducing God’s love in the exercise of personal faith. Love Matters is unique in developing this study of love in a redemptive-historical setting.

Love Matters is a biblical study of the divine call to love God and others wholeheartedly and the means by which the believer can overcome deficiencies in that call.

Click here to get your copy!

My Review

Love is to be the identifying characteristic of Christians obedient to Christ. Tolsma explores the biblical background of love in the Old and New Testaments. He looks at the Law, at history, and then New Testament passages. He includes a review of why love matters at the end of each chapter as well as questions for personal reflection or group discussion.

An insight I liked was that the Holy Spirit in us is the key to our loving others. The Holy Spirit is the source of the love in our hearts. Believers have within them all the resources they need to practice Christian love. The standard of our love for God and loving our neighbor as self is nothing less than the very love of God. Tolsma shows us how great that love is.

This book is a good exploration of the love of God and our love of Him and others. It is a bit academic in style and I did feel the text jumped around quite a bit. I would have rather had a consistent flow in the progression of the information. Other than those issues, a good book on Christian love and why it matters.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

About the Author

Neil Tolsma was born on February 5, 1935, Saddle Brook, NJ. Met his wife, Lenore Merop, at Garfield Community Church (where he had made his profession of Christ as his Savior at the age of 17) and they were married on August 29, 1959. They had both been part of the Billy Graham Choir that introduced the popular hymn, How Great Thou Art, to America the summer of 957. He graduated from Shelton College, Ringwood, NJ, 1962 with  A.B. And from Westminster Theological  Seminary 1965, B.D./M.Div. Ordained by the Presbytery of the South, Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 1965. Served as pastor of Bethel Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 1965 to 1974, Falls Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, 1974 until his retirement in 2004. They are the parents of three daughters  and 8 grandchildren. Neil is the author of This Is Love: Tracing the Love of God throughout the Biblical Story.

More from Neil

Why Another Book on Love

Walk into any bookstore, Christian or general market, big or small, and you’re sure to be inundated by books on love, both fiction and nonfiction. How to love your spouse or significant other. How to love your children. How to love yourself. Love, love, love. That’s all we seem to hear about today. Love in all its forms, both good and evil.

So, then, why would I write another nonfiction book on love? Aren’t there plenty to choose from already? Well, yes and no. There are many on the shelves. Have your pick. But how many of those talk about what real, biblical love is, why we are to love, and where our one and only source of love is?

So many people today don’t know what love truly is. We have romanticized versions of flowers, chocolates, and violins. We dream of being swept off our feet and spending every waking minute with someone who will cherish us above all else. One of the most popular sayings of the day is Love Is Love.

Is it really? How do we know what true love is? That understanding only comes from God and his word to us. Only through him and in him do we find pure, holy, agape love. Love that sacrificed his only Son for us to give eternal life to us sinners—the impure, unholy, and filthy.

And so that’s why I wrote Love Matters. Because it does. It matters to our lives today, in how we relate to our spouses, our children, our family members, and the world at large. It matters to our eternity in how we view our salvation and how we are to love our Lord. It matters when we’re old and when we’re young, when we’re at home and when we’re at work, when we agree with someone and when we disagree with them.

Throughout my fifty years of in-depth Bible study as a pastor and counselor, I was brought back time and time again to the Bible to discover what love is. Over and over, I returned to the command God gave in Exodus, that we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, strength, and minds, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Because God is love and love matters to him, it has to matter to us.

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, October 15

An Author’s Take, October 16

Spoken from the Heart, October 17 (Author Interview)

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, October 17

Texas Book-aholic, October 18

Inklings and notions, October 19

deb’s Book Review, October 20

Locks, Hooks and Books, October 21

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, October 22

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, October 23

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, October 24

Splashes of Joy, October 25 (Author Interview)

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, October 26

Cats in the Cradle Blog, October 27

Beauty in the Binding, October 28 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, October 28

Giveaway

To celebrate his tour, Neil is giving away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon gift card and a copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/2224a/love-matters-celebration-tour-givaway

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book through Celebrate Lit. My comments are an independent and honest review. The rest of the copy of this post was provided by Celebrate Lit.

(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.)