Captured By Grace

Jeremiah, Dr. David. Captured By Grace. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006

Using examples from the life and writings of the Apostle Paul and hymnwriter John Newton, Dr. Jeremiah explains the need for grace in the lives of believers. The book is separated into three sections - past, present, and future needs for grace - and each chapter is subtitled by a line from Newton's hymn "Amazing Grace." The reader learns more about the lives of Paul and John Newton through the historical tidbits scattered throughout each chapter, and each chapter also includes a thorough discussion of passages from the book of Romans. The chapters all end with a section for personal application.

It took me a while to get into this book. The first section contained a lot of information that I had heard or learned already, and it wasn't presented in a way that made me want to keep reading. The personal applications seemed very cheesy and Hallmark-y and not very productive. I appreciated the second section more, but only for the one - only one - thought I stumbled upon: "We fall for one of the devil's greates lies when we assume that our human limitations make any difference to the workings of God through us." This is a great thought, and I am still working on digesting it.

Overall, however, I was not that impressed with this book. I prefer Blackaby's book Putting a Face on Grace to this particular book. The applications were not that applicable, and the historical information could be more easily digested in other formats. If I were house sitting and had to choose between this book and a Janette Oke novel, I'd be torn. And that, my friends, is saying something.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for the purposes of review.