Here is another book from the pen of R.C. Sproul of Ligonier Ministries. The edition I read was an old one written in 1991 and published in UK by Hodder. However, there is a second edition available new through Christian book stores. Charles Colson provides the foreword to this book and regards this book “providing magnificent insights and answers in a world desperately yearning for meaning.” In this I would most certainly agree. Sproul’s writings are wonderfully readable, his style includes a rich use of a wide vocabulary and the reader can only benefit in a number of ways from a reading of this book. He takes a Biblical view of the importance of love and dignity and goes on to apply this to various areas of life, to marriage, home, school, worth, church, hospital and prison. Here is a steady confirmation of the enormous benefits to be gained from the affirming of the personal worth of each other and ourselves. The book probes quite deeply into reasons for the haunting cries of indignity underlying so much lawless and the careless behaviour evident in the western world. We live in a world pursuing personal worth and dignity but it is not to be gained in the things a man possesses or in a name gained through avenues of success. Parts of the book are somewhat autobiographical as the author contemplates his own search for significance describing some of the pain he experienced, the rejection and how, like many he has been regarded as simply a cipher, a number without meaning. This book is thought provoking and will help to alter our view of one another. It is not overly theological, though there is the shape of good theology providing the framework for all he writes. His reasoning is convincing and will resonate with the conscience of those that read. Expect to be challenged and to be changed by this book. Particularly helpful are the many ways in which the chapters handle the different spheres of life in which we all participate and ties almost everything to the issue of the dignity which God has bestowed upon man and of which he has been robbed by sin and its ramifications. May light dawn through this book, light always drives darkness back.
