Living the Cross Centred Life by C.J. Mahaney

I found this book a real treasure in spelling out what it really means to live with the cross at the centre of your life day in and day out It is a book I return to time and again and am always finding new nuggets of gold in it. The book can be summarised with this extract from page 15.

‘If there’s anything in life we should be passionate about, it’s the gospel…passionate in thinking about the gospel, reflecting upon it, rejoicing in it, allowing it to colour the way we look at the world and all of life.’

It was an issue I found to be really helpful. I know in my head the cross should be central to my life, but I find in busyness I often move away from it or assume/forget it’s message. Mahaney pushes the reader to see that Jesus’ cross was my cross, his atonement was for the guilt of my personal sin, his death for me when I rejected him.

As is typical of all Mahaney books this is easy to read with lots of practical illustrations and he makes what can be difficult theology easy to understand! The book goes through the topics of: defining the cross of Christ, defining what it means to live a cross-centred life and outlining the three main dangers to the cross centred life. It has discussion questions at the end of the chapters which make it perfect for small group discussions and equipping one for pastoral care.