Nancy Guthrie has again assembled a wonderful collection of meditations. Her previous book, reviewed here in December (Come Thou Long Expected Jesus) prepared one’s heart for Christmas. This book Jesus, Keep me near the Cross, is an excellent preparation for Easter. Mainly the same pastors and theologians from the previous collection weigh in on the glorious death and resurrection of Christ.
Taking these readings as 25 devotional studies prior to Easter and Palm Sunday is an excellent way to prepare our hearts for worship on Easter Sunday. I like the idea of gathering the thoughts of people through the ages into one spot and reading them back to back. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Saint Augustine and Joni Eareckson Tada all in one collection provides a varied and yet biblical viewpoint to meditating on scripture relating to Easter. I also have to agree with Nancy Guthrie and her comments in the forward that we sometimes make more of Mother’s day than of Easter in our churches. I’ve literally had Easter totally sneak up on me – there was nothing in our services prior to Palm or Easter Sunday to indicate that the most sacred of days was approaching. Nothing in the sermon prep, nothing in the Sunday School classes, and even worse, barely a pause or nod on the actual Easter Sunday that this was indeed a day to be marked as special.
I especially enjoyed the chapter by Raymond C. Ortlund Jr., called, The Most Important Word in the Universe. Growing up my mother was a Reader’s Digest fan. On occasion we’d peruse the Increase Your Word Power section. Ortlund starts his chapter off giving the statistics of words we use (and don’t) in the English language. Particularly for those, like myself who know (or claim to know) only one language it’s rather a sad situation, essentially we use a fraction of 1% of the language. Ortlund challenges us to use one more word, propitiation. Then he goes on with this thought to expand on the value of the propitiation God has wrought for us: “Do you see the beauty in that? In human religions, it’s the worshiper who placates the offended deity with rituals and sacrifices and bribes. But in the gospel, it’s God himself who provides the offering. At the cross of Christ, God put something forward.” The awe and wonder of Christ’s offering and the reason why we should Increase Your Word Power, is wrapped up in the Gospel of Christ. These are easy reads, yet challenging and should quicken our thoughts on the majestic nature of God’s miracle of Easter.
God help some of us in the protestant movement in our lack of attention to Easter. This small book appears to be Guthrie’s way of encouraging us to think through and be prepared for the fantastic celebration of the resurrection of Christ. I would highly recommend Jesus, Keep me near the Cross for anyone wanting to mentally and spiritually prepare for the Easter celebration. We should all prepare our hearts and minds for the core celebration of the Gospel of Jesus the Christ. He is Risen Indeed!
Reviewed by Ted Anderson
