James MacDonald. Lord Change Me. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2012. 224 pp. 10.87.
We all need to change. For the Christian, change, repentance, will be a part of our lives until the day that we stand before our Lord face-to-face. Sadly, for many, we have no plan for change and no process we intend to work through to accomplish life-impacting change. James MacDonald’s book, Lord Change Me, is a helpful tool that believers can use to wade into the process of change.
Positives
MacDonald writes very well on the issue of change. I specifically found his handling of the issue of repentance to be strong. Unlike many modern authors, MacDonald does not merely address one aspect of repentance such as new thinking or behavioral change; instead, he addresses repentance from a broader and more biblical view.
I would also add, among many positives, that MacDonald does the church a service by calling Christians to rely on God’s Spirit, to take intentional action, and to have godly friends in order to walk through the process of change.
Negatives
There is little negative about this work. At points during the work, I felt that MacDonald left a bit too much of a door open to a “name it, claim it” view of change. I know, however, that this is not MacDonald’s teaching and is rather simply an impression that some of the language gave me. I also found MacDonald’s few comments in his book regarding the struggles that he had while working on “The Elephant Room” conference to be unhelpful.
Recommendation
I would eagerly recommend Lord Change Me for Christians who are ready to work on their lives for the glory of God. This book would make a useful group Bible study resource or an excellent tool for one-on-one discipleship. Yes, it has a negative or two—or it could be taken wrongly in places—but the book is stronger than its weaknesses, which is the best we can say for any book that is not the Bible.
Audio
For the purposes of this review, I listened to the excellent audio version of this book provided by ChristianAudio.com as part of their reviewers program. Listeners to this book will find that the reading is very good, easy to listen to, and meeting Christian Audio’s high standards.
Pastor Travis Peterson 