"Dug Down Deep"

I really don’t want to sound like an ad campaign parrot, just repeating over and over again how much I loved this book. But truthfully, I couldn’t put it down. Joshua Harris has done a stellar job with this book, walking through the core, fundamental beliefs of Christianity, as well as taking the distant, ‘holier-than-thou’ feeling and sound out of words like ‘doctrine’ and ‘orthodoxy’ by explaining their essential meaning versus what they’ve come to be taken as.

The author begins the book with a recounting of his own years in which the gospel meant little, if anything, to him. He then shares the story of how he began to truly desire God’s word and to learn more about God Himself. He does this while cautioning Christians against coming to view God as an object we can study under a microscope rather than a living person we can know and have a deep relationship with.

The book dedicates a great amount of page time to the person of Jesus Christ, who He was, His complete uniqueness, and the purpose for which He came and died. I think that is a very necessary thing for Christians today—especially new Christians—to be told, since so often the essence of who Jesus is and the truth of His mission to Earth is lost amid diluted, child-friendly Sunday school stories.

There is also a chapter dedicated to discussing the role of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians, clarifying much common confusion.

Another chapter discusses the church—why it’s so incredibly important, what it really means to be the church rather than simply ‘going to church’ on Sunday morning (although the author does clearly urge church attendance) and how we the church are supposed to function as the bride of Christ.

There was so much more to this book that I could go into, but I’ll leave off with simply telling you that you must read it! Even if you’ve been a Christian for years and years, read it anyway. I’ve been a Christian for years too, but this book still helped me to see things and think about things in ways I hadn’t considered before.

Read this book. Loan this book to your friends. Add this book to your library—it’s definitely staying in mine.