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A Loving Life: In A World Of Broken Relationships (2014)

by Paul E. Miller(Favorite Author)
4.34 of 5 Votes: 4
ISBN
143353732X (ISBN13: 9781433537325)
languge
English
genre
publisher
Crossway
review 1: This book goes through the story of Ruth and points out what "hesed" love looks like--selfless, determined, unconditional love, working tirelessly to bless others. I was convicted of my my own shortcomings in this area, but rather than feeling condemned, Miller's writing inspired me and made me determined to work on this. The book begins with several stories of troubled and/or broken marriages, so I assumed that marriage would be the focus of this book. But the audience is actually much broader. Anyone who has relationships can learn to love better and to put others first. What this book does is show what it looks like in action, so that we have a model to follow. I would recommend this book to Christians seeking to grow in Christlikeness and humility.
review 2:... more> A few years ago, Paul Miller’s book, A Praying Life, earned nearly universal praise for his theologically rich and immensely practical prose of the subject of prayer. Now, Miller has brought those same qualities to bear in his new book, A Loving Life. I expect the praise will be wide-ranging for this book as well.Focusing on the book of Ruth, Miller uses this woman’s story to unpack much of the Biblical meaning of hesed, the Hebrew term typically translated steadfast love or something similar. It combines the ideas of love and loyalty, and Miller spends page after page showing the superiority of hesed love over and against what our culture typically thinks of when it thinks of love. The beautiful story of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz shows us how God loves and how we are to love.Miller writes:"Hesed is opposite of the spirit of our age, which says we have to act on our feelings. Hesed says, “No, you act on your commitments. The feelings will follow.” Love like this is unbalanced, uneven. There is nothing fair about this kind of love. But commitment-love lies at the heart of Christianity. It is Jesus’s love for us at the cross, and it is to be our love for one another."The book is saturated with this kind of wisdom, along with real-life, practical examples of people both failing and succeeding in living out hesed. For marriages, friendships, family relationships, business relationships, etc., the Christian is to love with this kind of outward-looking, self-forgetting, loyal love. The vision painted in this book is absolutely beautiful, and it will inspire many to change how they view the people God has placed around them and seek to love God and others more in line with the Biblical view of love…hesed. less
Reviews (see all)
greg
Full of experience and insight. I really enjoy reading this author.
hunhun
Excellent! A must read & a re-read!
meghna
Outstanding commentary on Ruth.
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