Freedom Of Self Forgetfulness: True Joy

While Keller can be a bit repetitive in how he delivers thought, the book is nevertheless so insightful, and a very quick read. It helps give language and imagery to what we already live out in our everyday lives and thoughts. I highly reccomend.

It’s a really easy reading and freedom given.
Timothy Keller writes in such special and comfortable way in order we understand who we are in Christ.
I do recommend it.

We are studying this book at my Bible study. We meet once a week and we have been studying it for about 2 months now. Totally recommend it!

“The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness” by Timothy Keller

The publisher (10Publishing) describes this book as “a short, punchy book…” And I couldn’t agree more. I really enjoyed both the style and message of “The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness.” Dr. Keller has the ability to convey a message without spending a lot of time ’beating a dead horse’.

The message, which is essentially that as Christians we should neither trumpet our humility nor be consumed with pride, is a worthy one which deserves consideration by all believers.

For me there were a couple of quotes in the book that really drove his thesis home:

At location 278 (65% of the way through the book if you’re reading a non-kindle version) he said: “… the essence of gospel humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less.” Now this is one of those phrases that I had to turn over in my head a few times before it struck me that it really was profound. That phrase was, to me, the crux of this book and it’s message.

Another point in the book that Dr. Keller made was at location 365 (this is briefly addressed, but I think it would be a great stepping-off point for another book/message):

“Let me say that true Christian identity operates totally differently from any other kind of identity. Self-forgetfulness takes you out of the courtroom. The trial is over. The verdict is in.”

I would love to hear Dr. Keller expand on this point ala Mark Driskoll’s book: “Who Do You Think You Are?” as I find Tim Keller’s style sits better with me (maybe it’s that a loving rebuke from an older man is easier to take than one from a man that is more of a peer age-wise).

In summary I would highly recommend this short treatise on Self-Forgetfulness. I noted in an earlier post that I was able to get this book as a free PDF from WTSBooks.com but that was actually a 12 page sample, so after looking at that I bought the Kindle eBook myself from Amazon.com (at $1.62 it was really a steal).

P.S. This book was based on a sermon Dr. Keller shared at his church – which I’d recommend checking out as well as it compliments the message of the book nicely. You can find it by searching Google for “Self-Forgetfulness mp3” – one of the first results will most likely be Redeemer Presbyterian’s sermon archive.

No disclaimer needed since I purchased this myself with my own money.

This review originally appeared on my blog :: Be A Door

Wie alle Bücher von Timothy Keller: sehr gut. Toll wie er den Fokus von “ich” auf Gott richtet ohne zu richten (-;
Sehr lesenswert!

This is a tiny little pamphlet of a book that contains a powerful message. In this book Keller explains what Paul is talking about in his letter to the Corinthians with respect to the natural condition of the human ego and the transformed view of self that Paul offers us.

The message is powerful because of its simplicity. The natural condition of our ego is one of pride. Keller distills for us what Paul meant in Corinthians when he used the specific word physioo for pride. He shows us that as people we are empty, painful, busy and fragile. Whether we admit it or not we all care to varying degrees what people think of us. Paul offers us a radically different approach in his letter to the Corinthians. Paul doesn’t care what the people of Corinth think, or any people for that matter and he doesn’t even care to judge himself. As Keller says, “Paul is saying that he has reached a place where his ego draws no more attention to itself than any other part of his body.”

In the modern world there is a lot of talk about self-esteem and self-help and your personal truth and at the other end of the spectrum there is thinking a little too much of yourself. Paul is giving us something radically different and Keller describes this as a person with gospel-humility, the essence of which is, “not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less.” Keller goes on, “True gospel-humility means I stop connecting every experience, every conversation with myself. In fact, I stop thinking about myself. The freedom of self-forgetfulness. The blessed rest that only self-forgetfulness brings.”

But how do we get to this blessed state of rest? It definitely feels like we live in a “me-first” culture. We are surrounded by tireless self-promoters and performers of every stripe looking to be praised and lauded for what seems like very superficial things like the way you look or who you associate with. This is a problem that is exacerbated by social media where so many are trying to project an image that is essentially false. This is because we are all looking for “an ultimate verdict that we are important and valuable.” We are all trying to prove this, day in and day out, and it’s exhausting. But Paul tells us that we need to remember that ultimate verdict is already in. There is no need to perform to get there because in Christianity we already have the verdict in Jesus Christ. It also means that the equation is reversed – in Christianity, the verdict leads to performance. We are loved and counted and more valuable than rare jewels. Knowing this simple truth frees us from pursuing the verdict, it frees us from self, it gives us the freedom of self-forgetfulness.

Reading Keller’s distillation of Paul’s radical words I was reminded again why Rod Dreher’s book, “The Benedict Option,” is so important. Dreher posits that liquid modernity is a threat to Christianity and that the church needs to undertake a strategic retreat from modern forces to remain strong. Looking at the world through Paul’s lens on ego, this seems more important than ever. The modern world sends us so many wrong messages about consumerism, freedom, materialism and self-governance. As I look around I see people jumping, jumping trying to bounce above the crowd to be noticed. Me. Me. Me. How very different the world would look without all the clamoring to put “me” first. Paul gives us a way to get there.