Made For His Pleasure: Ten Benchmarks of a Vital Faith by Alistair Begg

Made For His Pleasure: Ten Benchmarks of a Vital Faith Reviews

• 
  Becky

  First sentence: I remember the occasion vividly. The afternoon sun cast shadows over the small gathering of parents clustered at the center line of the high school soccer field...If I, an earthly father, can know such a sensation of pleasure in the well-being of my son, surely that gives an inkling of how our heavenly Father feels when we please Him. If we could only grasp and be grasped by this, our lives would be revolutionized.
  
  The Christian faith has content and Alistair Begg reminds believers of ten benchmarks of the Christian faith in Made For His Pleasure. These doctrines if believed, if embraced, will transform how we live our lives. We are to live out our theology in other words.
  
  How can we live lives that please God? That is the question Begg asks and answers in Made for His Pleasure. It should be noted that it is a question that can be answered. God has revealed in His Word how we can please him and how we should live. The problem is not that we have been left with the silence of God, left to wonder and puzzle out the answer for ourselves. The problem is that many of us--most of us, perhaps even all of us--understand all too well that the Bible has authority to speak over us. We don't want to relinquish that authority to another. We get uncomfortable with the idea of holiness, uncomfortable with the idea of living holy lives, of being pious. And what do we do with this discomfort? I fear most of us are like Scarlett O'Hara and put off until tomorrow thinking about anything that makes us uncomfortable or anxious.
  
  I think there's also some misconception going on. We are not called to live holy lives on our own apart from the Spirit, apart from the grace of God, the strength of God. We are not called to power our own living. We are not called to independence but dependence. We are not called to be self-reliant but Spirit-reliant. If we are terrified at the idea of holy living, perhaps it's because we're trying to do it on our own. Or perhaps our PRIDE, our arrogance, our ego starts tripping us up. Or need to compete with others for God's attention. (A completely ridiculous idea when you think about it.)
  
  Begg gives real answers and explores foundational doctrines of the faith. He also shares some personal stories within each chapter.
  
  I would recommend this one. It is a great read.
  
  

  One of the key reasons for the flabbiness of our spiritual lives is that a generation of Christians is growing up with little awareness of the necessity of dealing with sin. There are sins to be rejected. These are the things that “so easily entangle” us. We will not all be tripped up by the same things; the source of our temptations differs according to our personalities and circumstances. We must learn where our personal weaknesses lie—and once they are identified, we must be ruthless in dealing with them.

  
  

  We should not assume we are spiritually fit simply because we feel we are.
  

  
  

  The Christian faith is like a muscle: the more we exercise it, the more we build it, but when we neglect it, it atrophies. It is in recognizing our weakness that we discover the strength that God provides. It is God who keeps us strong to the end.
  

  
  

  How the devil loves to hear us talk about tomorrow!
  

  
  

  It is both dangerous and wrong to substitute personal preference for biblical principle, to place pleasing self above pleasing God.
  

  
  

  The truth is that more spiritual progress is made through failure and tears than success and laughter. If we are to be honest, we have all faced, and continue to face, events in our lives which we assume will mar us—and yet, in God’s providence, we discover them to be incidents that make us more sensitive and faithful and useful. If this is true of individuals, it is equally true of church families.
  

  
  

  Twentieth-century British evangelist Alan Redpath used to talk to young people about the vital importance of what he called “blanket victory.” He was referring not to some strategy for overall success, but to the necessity of getting out of bed at a reasonable time in the morning to pursue the business of the day. If a young person could not get victory over his blankets, it was unlikely that he would be self-controlled in many other areas.
  

  
  
  
• 
  Cathy

  This a great book and it's filled with gems of stories and wisdom. I listened to the book, so I had the disadvantage of not taking notes (I was on the bike at the gym), but all in all, there are great insights and beauty throughout. New Christians will love it and all Christians will find delightful meaning with this well-written book.
• 
  Bill Pence

  This is a revised and updated edition of the author’s 1996 book, which I read and enjoyed when it was originally published. In this book he looks at the subject of pleasing God in light of putting God first, spiritual fitness, prayer, sacrifice, relationships, vocation, suffering, the heedful life, intellectualism and materialism, humility, and evangelism. He writes that the list is not exhaustive, but selective, and represents something of his own spiritual pilgrimage. He tells us that we could think of the chapters of the book as signposts for the journey of life.
  The author writes that we want to learn to be able to say with Paul, “We make it our goal to please him” (2 Cor. 5:9). All of our desires, decisions, aspirations, and affections should be governed by our prior determination to please God.
  I highlighted a number of passages as I read this wonderful book, more in some chapters than in others, which you might expect. Below are a few of those passages I would like to share with you.
  Spiritual Fitness in a Flabby Generation
  • Many things that are perfectly fine in and of themselves may hold us back from achieving spiritual fitness. We must be prepared to deal regularly with these hindrances.
  • One of the key reasons for the flabbiness of our spiritual lives is that a generation of Christians is growing up with little awareness of the necessity of dealing with sin.
  • We must learn where our personal weaknesses lie—and once they are identified, we must be ruthless in dealing with them.
  • As a result of grace, we have been saved from sin’s penalty; one day we will be saved from sin’s presence; in the meantime, we are being saved from sin’s power.
  Prayer That Is Larger Than Ourselves
  • Why is it that we understand and accept the concept of consistency in matters of physical discipline (witness the runner or the aerobic exerciser who declares, “I never miss”), and yet balk at it when we hear it applied to establishing holy habits? It is because we have succumbed to the unbiblical notion that to do things out of a sense of duty is less than best.
  • The simple acronym “ACTS” may prove to be as helpful as any. “A” stands for adoration, “C” for confession, “T” for thanksgiving, and “S” for supplication. We may choose to order our personal prayers around that.
  Sacrifice: Wholehearted Commitment to God’s Kingdom
  • It is both dangerous and wrong to substitute personal preference for biblical principle, to place pleasing self above pleasing God.
  • Not everyone is called to foreign missions, but all are called to sacrifice. What else does it mean for Jesus to say, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23)?
  • For the church to impact our generation for Christ, we need to have a sense of mission in the routine activities of our lives. In parking cars, writing term papers, pumping gas, folding laundry, selling bonds, playing sports—in whatever we are doing—we are to be living sacrifices.
  • All of life can be a sacrifice to God: the ways in which we listen in class, treat our colleagues at work, respect our employers, and serve our spouses.
  Relationships: A Marriage That Pleases God
  • Learning to trust God and wait upon the Lord is rarely easy, but it is always in our best interest, and it is pleasing to God.
  • There is probably no more practical area of life that reveals the challenges of pleasing God than relationships. They are where we learn to say “no” to pleasing ourselves and “yes” to pleasing others and pleasing God first.
  Vocation: Finding the Ideal Place to Serve God
  • We need to view our daily round and common task as the realm in which we fulfill God’s call upon our lives and not rush to be done with these secular pursuits so that we might turn to spiritual activities.
  Suffering: Pleasing God When the Wheels Fall Off
  • The truth is that more spiritual progress is made through failure and tears than success and laughter.
  • We should neither court suffering nor complain about it. Instead, we should see it as one of the means God chooses to employ to make us increasingly useful to the Master.
  • It would be wrong to suggest that we know God’s presence in suffering exclusively, but we do know it in suffering especially.
  The Narrow Way: Never Did a Heedless Person Lead a Holy Life
  • There is never a time (until heaven) when we are exempt from temptation. Recognizing this ought to help us prepare for the battle.
  • How are we to deal with temptation so as to avoid the failure of David and follow Joseph’s example? Three words provide a useful answer: immediately, ruthlessly and consistently.
  Intellectualism and Materialism: Chasing After the Wind
  • Whenever we place our trust in anyone or anything other than God, we sin.
  Putting on the Garment of Humility
  • If we instill the characteristics of work, courage, and perseverance in our children but do not instill in them the grace of humility, they will be marked by the spirit of the Pharisee: virtuous in many ways but too proud to see their need for God.
  • It is easy for us to talk about what we have accomplished rather than what God in His goodness has chosen to bless.
  • Many of us, though, neglect the Scriptures on a daily basis. We have the best of intentions on a Sunday, but our follow-through is lacking. It is important that we develop a system of Bible study that takes us through the whole of Scripture and keeps us faithful in our reading.
  Evangelism: The Necessity of Bringing Others to Christ
  • If I want to be approved at the last, nothing can take the place of my making an honest, sincere, and prayerful effort to bring others to the Savior.
  • To be a witness for Christ is both a duty and a privilege.
  • If evangelism is not a passion for the pastor, it most likely will not be a priority for the people.
• 
  Nathan Albright

  [Note:  This book was provided free of charge by Moody Publishers/Net Gallery.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.]
  
  This is the sort of book that I would want to like but a situation where the author's approach makes it hard to really like this book as much as I want to.  It is hard to know where the blame for this lies.  To be sure, I am an extremely oversensitive reader, and that can make for rough reviews [1] from time to time.  And there is certainly room for some of that year.  For example, when the author talks about godly marriage, I took it as somewhat of an insult that not only did the author assume that the reader was likely married but also that an unmarried man is, by definition, immature and not having passed fully into adulthood.  Perhaps, in such cases, the author did not mean to insult his unmarried readers, but it is just as likely that he never thought about that sort of perspective at all.  Indeed, the author as a whole seems to have a presuppositional sort of approach where he assumes the validity of his (mistaken) worldview and fails to account for the fact that other people would think or believe differently from himself, with predictable results.
  
  This book is a bit under 200 pages and is made up of ten chapters after two forewords by John McArthur and RC Sproul and an introduction by the author.  The author discusses spiritual fitness in a flabby world (1) while making fun of people who are not particularly fit and trim.  He then talks about prayer that is larger than ourselves (2) as well as the importance of making sacrifices and commitment to God's kingdom (3), where he finds a way to praise an aunt of his who died early in her own missionary career.  After that the author talks about having a marriage that is pleasing to God (4), and finding an ideal vocation to serve God in what we do (5).  After this the author talks about how to please God during suffering (6) where he discusses the Calvinist view that all suffering is something willed by God, living the narrow way and avoiding heedlessness (7), and avoid chasing after the wind through intellectualism and materialism (8).  The author then closes with a discussion of how we need to put on the garment of humility (9) and bring others to Christ through salvation (10) before the usual conclusion, acknowledgements, and notes.
  
  I have two basic approaches to a book like this.  One is to recognize that the author means well and to give it some praise for the author's intentions to encourage godly and responsible living and what he considers a "vital faith."  That said, this book is a prime example of why Calvinists should write far fewer books.  Here a book about personal faith gets tangled up with all kinds of cases where the author appears to insult a large number of potential readers and demonstrates the problematic nature of combining a belief that now is the only day of salvation (leading to aggressive efforts at evangelism) alongside the offensive Calvinist view of predestination that views all kinds of tragic and problematic results of human free will as being specifically ordained by God, all of which makes this book far less pleasant than it could have been had it been written by a thoughtful and serious Arminian.  The message written by the author is something that needs to be said in an age of selfishness and general moral and spiritual (and, sadly, physical) flabbiness, but the author is just not a kind and gentle enough person to make this message palatable to any reader outside of his own narrow worldview.
  
  [1] See, for example:
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
• 
  Reid

  Begg's sub-title is: "10 Benchmarks of a vital faith".
  
  Introduction: The Priority of God in a World of Self - Pleasing God is imperative
  
  1. Spiritual Fitness in a Flabby Generation - requires unspectacular commitment to prayer, worship, witnessing, Bible reading and study
  2. Prayer That is Larger Than Ourselves - give it time and follow basic example or model
  3. Sacrifice: Wholehearted Commitment to God's Kingdom - not all are called to missions but all are called to sacrifice.
  4. Relationships: A Marriage That Pleases God - pleasing God and learning how to walk in stride
  5. Vocation: Finding the Ideal Place to Serve God - It's not about geography but being God's person, in place, for service
  6. Suffering: Pleasing God When the Wheels Fall Off - Thomas Watson said, " Affliction may be lasting but it is not everlasting." Unless our theology includes God's view of suffering we may marginalize our expectations of Heaven.
  7. The Narrow Way: Never Did a Heedless Person Lead a Holy Life - only through Jesus, the TRUTH, fighting through temptation, watching and praying
  8. Intellectualism and Materialism: Chasing After Wind - vs focus on Heaven
  9. Putting on the Garment of Humility - thinking less of me, more of HIM
  10. Evangelism: The Necessity of Bringing Others to Christ - winning souls, living a victorious life pleases God
  Conclusion: Having been made for His pleasure, we live for His glory.
  
  This brief summary, as with others, does not do justice to the whole book but I liked this book and appreciate Begg in his thoughtful, Biblical references and emphasis.
• 
  Jill

  The title of the introduction, "The Priority of God in a World of Self", summarizes Alistair Begg's reason for writing "Made For His Pleasure".  Where do we find meaning in a world that teaches us to look out for ourselves?  
  
  Begg offers ten benchmarks to measure our faith and, through personal testimony and anecdotes, teaches us how to live out our faith in a way that pleases God.  The benchmarks are:
  
  Spiritual fitness
  Prayer
  Sacrifice
  Relationships
  Vocation
  Suffering
  The Narrow Way
  Intellectualism and Materialism
  Humility
  Evangelism
  The challenges and promises of God's Word require endurance and perseverance. Begg helps us travel a spiritual path that leads us to a faith that meets with God's approval.  After all, His approval is the only opinion that matters.
  
  Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Moody Publishers, as part of their Book Review Blogger Program. I was not required to write a review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
• 
  Diane Estrella

  I went into this book with high expectations.
  
  Usually, when a book is re-released, it means it was so good that it's coming around for another go. While I did enjoy the easy reading of this book and the numerous personal and other stories the author shared, I did not feel like it went as deep as I had hoped. There were numerous Bible verses sprinkled throughout but no concentrated study in the Word. I also felt like the chapter on "Relationships" was almost solely focused on marriage (hence, the subtitle: A Marriage that Pleases God) and that could be alienating to some singles...
  
  Overall, an OK book, but since I did not earmark any pages or highlight any of the words inside, that indicates to me that it's not a keeper.
  
  I received this book from the publisher but was not required to leave a review. All opinions expressed here are my own.
• 
  Carol

  Made For His Pleasure is a book on pleasing GOD. Pleasing GOD is not a quick and easy thing it is a lifetime thing. GOD has given us gifts for us to use for HIM and we are to give back to HIM. The Bible says ,"find out what pleases the LORD" (Ephesians 5:10" and to "please HIM in every way." (Colossians 1:10) Isn't that what we all want to do with all our hearts? This book guides us in how to do that - it is a wonderful guiding book. It also does a wonderful thing - it uses Scripture to back up what he has to teach. I received a copy of this book from the Publisher and Netgalley; all of the opinions expressed in this review are all my own.
  
  if you would like to read more of my Christian book reviews go to christianlybookreviewers.blogspot.com
• 
  Elise

  Were there no editors involved in the naming of this book?
  
  I assume not. I assume that this book was written because Alistair Begg desperately wanted to write an autobiography but, being relatively young and non-famous, couldn't quite get away with it so he wrote what purports to be a book from a pastor on how to live out a deep and abiding faith but which actually looks more like how the pastor himself has lived out his own deep and abiding faith through his life. I now know way more about his courtship of his wife, the death of his mom, and even his family vacations he took as a child than I'd like.
• 
  Nancy DeValve

  Note: I'm reviewing the 1996 version; I understand there is a newer version and I don't know how much it has changed.
  I really liked this book! Alistair Begg titles this book after a quote by Eric Liddell who said, "When I run I feel his pleasure". Begg gives us 10 benchmarks of the Christian faith, ways we can live to feel our Father's pleasure. He intersperses these Christian living benchmarks with personal stories and some Scottish humor that I really enjoyed.
  This would be a great book for a small group to read through together. It's not a difficult read but certainly will challenge all who read it.
• 
  Ben

  This was a quick and simple book that focused on How Christians should live. It wasn’t necessarily about what it means to be made for God’s pleasure, but rather how to honor and please God in our day-to-day lives. The message was simple and Alistair Begg did a fantastic job of explaining theological ideas so that ordinary people could read and understand the message clearly and accurately. Overall, this book was a great reminder of how Christians should live and an encouragement to put it into practice.
• 
  Anna

  In typical Alistair Begg fashion, Made For His Pleasure is filled with wisdom, wit, and nitty gritty truth. It gives plenty of opportunity to check yourself to see if you are indeed in the faith, and if you are, how vital that faith is. While convicting, it is also encouraging. I loved reading every page, and it will go on my bookshelf to be read again. Five stars, because it’s filled with truth, yet inviting and challenging and written very well. Good stuff!
• 
  ME

  I love Alistair Begg and my favorite parts of this book were the personal stories he shared. Otherwise this is just another "you should be doing this and shame on you if you're not" book. I mean, it's true, but how many authors need to write a book about it? Anyway... love his delivery, just didn't find much new in the book.
• 
  Jim

  In the "Unfortunate Christian Titles" category, we have Made for His Pleasure.
  
  Stumbled across this the same day as I did another Christian book in the same category:
  God's Girl Says Yes
• 
  Jessica

  Like going to the doctor for a check-up, Alistair Begg brings God's Word to provide what I considered "A Holy Spirit Check-up". I love Pastor Begg's teachings, his methods, his humor and application of Scripture to push believers to pursue holiness. Everytime he preaches or teaches I encounter the Lord in a deeper way.
• 
  Clarenz James Caba

  I recommend this to those who may want to start reading a "habits of grace" or "disciplines of grace" style of book. It reminds us that all Christians are called to the same duty, just in different places. Alistair Begg draws a caricature of a godly, humbled Christianity that puts God in His highest position!
• 
  LaQuebra Elliott

  This book was not what I expected! Nevertheless it was brilliant. He made his points very clear and I was punched in the gut too many times to count(in a good way). I highly recommend this book, I love how he highlights how Christians are currently being taught things that are opposite of what the Bible teaches, when it comes to loving yourself, prosperity and humility.
• 
  Sassa

  This is a such an edifying and inspiring little book, full of Scripture and truths, pointing us to the chief purpose of man.
  I am deeply thankful for the ministry of Alistair Begg and Truth for Life.
• 
  Quinesia Johnson

  Useful Points
  
  Mr. Begg gives a lot of great scriptural points as to be pleasing to God. However, the writing is a bit long- winded, and I wish this would have been a booklet or outline. Great points that stay on topic. He writes like he preaches.
• 
  Becky Marietta

  Great devotional that reminds readers that we are here for God's glory, not ours. The book then outlines principles for how to live that purpose out. Begg is both charming and wise, and his book is deeply rooted in scripture.
• 
  Sven

  Great book on the foundations of the Christian faith. Alistair Begg nicely presents the heart of the Christian lifestyle.
• 
  Tor Espen Kristensen

  En god bok med et godt budskap og et godt språk. Begg illustrerer med mange gode eksempler fra eget og andres liv - noe som gjør boken lett å lese. Anbefales!
• 
  Eileen Gregory

  Insightful and motivating to pursue holiness in Christ.