Book Review: Delighting In The Trinity

Delighting in the Trinity, by Michael Reeves is a short, heartwarming book on the Trinity that you have to read.

Hold on, you say, there are so many problems with that opening sentence i don't even know where to start.

A short book on the trinity? How is that? Well it is short. Short and to the point. Weighing at 130 pages it manages to cover everything you need to know for an introduction to this most Christian of beliefs. Michael Reeves with an introduction and conclusion forming the bread for a sandwich with chapters on creation, salvation and Christian living in between. And yes, the doctrine of the trinity has a huge impact on each on of those areas of our faith. So it's a short book, but a weighty one. It loses nothing by being brief. It's short, but well put together. It hold the attention of the reader, as Reeves has a style and a wit all his own.

Ok, so it's short, but heartwarming? Isn't the trinity something made up by 'bored monks on a rainy tuesday.' Some that's interesting if you're keen enough to read and think about it, but not really relevant to life. And not something worth getting excited over. Well it's heartwarming in two different ways. It's heartwarming because in this book we are lovingly confronted with who our God is again and again. We're reminded that God isn't a Master, or a Slaverdriver but a Father. And, crucially, that God has always been a Father. We're reminded that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit who spread their love to us. We're invited to bathe in this loved and let it heat up our Bible reading and inform our prayers.

It's heartwarming in that this love is turned to us. Jesus came to spread this goodness, this love, to make known who His Father is. Jesus came to let us know, and let us in on this love. And we will spend eternity enjoying and exploring this love. Delighting in the Trinity is heartwarming because it reminds us who our God is, and heartwarming because it reminds us that this God is for us.

A book you have to read? Definitely! The doctrine of the trinity is at the centre of what we believe, and at the centre of, well, everything. Why are we saved? Because God is trinity, how can we be sure that God loves us? Because He is trinity, why does everything exist? Because God is trinity.

If Christians are coals then Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the fire. Take a coal from the fire and it cools down quickly. Why do we need to read this book? Because it sets our hearts in the center of God's amazing love, and amazing love for us. And we need that. The Gospel leaks out of us, read this book, be filled, and go out!