I had a reading goal set up for 2025....
IN january of this year, I made a commitment to read 30 books before December 31st. And last night, I checked off book # 30 in my goals. And as it's fresh in my mind, and one of the best books I read all year, I thought it would be fun to do a quick #book review on it and share my thoughts on...
I Used To Be Perfect by George R. Knight
A bit about George Knight first and then into the book....
George R. Knight is a respected (yet at times controversial) professor, author and historian from Andrews University. He's written countless books on the history and doctrine of the Seventh Day Adventist Church along with plenty of biographies about our church founders. I've always enjoyed his writings and found them to be at times very witty, but always backed by the bible.
What I enjoy about George Knight the author is that he doesn't 'talk down to you'. If you have ever tried to study theology and religion in general, a lot of the authors and professors in that field love to always brag about how much they know. And they write in extremely complicated languages that the average lay person would need a PHd in theology to figure out.
Not the case with this author...
Now as for the book itself.
It's a short read, clocking in to just over 100 pages. And while he does write much longer books, most of what I have read from him has been brief, to the point and powerful. I Used To Be Perfect is no exception.
The book starts off with a chapter that at first, you need to do a double take:
"SIN in Love"
And without spoiling a lot of the book, this chapter title shows you what you are in for. It challenges you. For example this SIN is love that he refers to is our LOVE for SIN is what keeps us away from Christ.
He dives into some very important aspects of sin and salvation, with topics ranging from justification, sanctification, seeking perfection and our desire to be sinless. It's such a fun read and I know maybe this stuff shouldn't be 'labeled as fun', but there is plenty of times where we see the author poking fun at our humanity that it's obvious, we are our own worst enemy.
I don't want to wrap it up with a brief paragraph about a main take away because at just over 100 pages, it's a book anyone can read and appreciate quickly. But overall this is what I got from it....
Our love of SIN always means we sin more. And the approach can't be for us to try to 'stop sinning' but rather, focus our attention on God and He'll do the rest. We just need to follow the Lamb wherever He goes!
Yeah there's much more to it than that lol But it got me fired up to start reading even more George R. Knight books. In fact, I went to my local bookstore and grabbed another ones of his titles this afternoon :)
Maybe I'll get 31 or even 32 books read by the end of the year lol
Title: I Used To Be Perfect (Second Edition)
Author: George R. Knight
Publisher: Andrews University Press 2001
ISBN: 9781883925314