The Rest of Your Story by Greg Lindsey Book Review

About the Book:

 
The journey starts with diving deep into our own stories so we can let go of the shame, regret, and pain that are holding us back. Only then can we discover all the ways we need Jesus’ help—and become people of godly passion who live out the true desires of our hearts.
 
Many of us find that despite our best religious efforts, we’re still chasing God’s abundant life instead of enjoying it. In The Rest of Your Story, Pastor Greg Lindsey shows us why believing the “right” things or behaving the “right” way will never lead to our fullest life. True spiritual growth happens when we journey with Jesus back into our stories.
 
The Rest of Your Story is a roadmap to what God wants our Christian life to be: passionate, joy-filled, fulfilling, significant, and freeing.
Along with his own vulnerable story of redemption, Greg shares:

• The dangers of knowing the significance of our sin but not the significance of our stories
• Ways our spiritual enemy uses our past to keep us from realizing our purpose
• The difference between living forgiven and living free
• Why the places we are most afraid to go lead us to the life we don’t want to miss

 What you’ve done and what you’ve experienced is not who you are. As you identify how your past is keeping you from experiencing Jesus’ abundant life, you’ll find that God can turn the deepest pain into your richest treasure.

My Review:

Lindsey hit bottom when, while being a pastor, he fell into adultery. He realized his Christian life was missing something vital. Now, nineteen years later, he shares what he has learned since.

He encourages us to not resign to a Christian life where we feel something is missing, we feel what we have is all there is. He encourages us to take the journey of from the life we are living to the life we want. He focuses on three aspects of the journey.

First, we must look deep within. We are to cultivate a habit of continual self-examination and reflection. He helps us understand how to understand the work of the enemy and the messages attached to our past failures.

Second, we are to experience Jesus. “Experiencing Jesus should leave us different.” (125) Unfortunately, while Lindsey gives very practical suggestions for the first step of introspection and the third step of living a sacrificial life, we are given no suggestions as to how to experience Jesus other than that it's not at church (and perhaps it is by watching The Chosen).

The third step is live to rescue. We are encouraged to live an unconventional life, one of sacrifice.

This is a book that would appeal particularly to men as Lindsey shares much about sports and military experiences. I had high hopes for this book. Many Christians experience the tension of feeling like something is missing in their Christian life. I think experiencing Jesus is essential in addressing that feeling and I was disappointed Lindsey did not offer some practical ideas in that area.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

About the Author:

Greg Lindsey is a trial attorney turned church planter who has been the lead pastor of Discovery Church in Colorado Springs for over fifteen years. He is also one of the founding leaders of COSILoveYou, a Colorado Springs-based organization committed to uniting and igniting the local church in love for the city. Greg and his wife, Stacy, have been married forty years and have four daughters and seven grandkids.

David C Cook Publishers, 208 pages.

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