Battling the Drift - 1

My Senior Pastor Don Sharpe once said to me “we are always drifting, but we never drift towards the gospel, we always drift away.” So I want to develop methods and plans to battle the drift. One way is to build a small, personal library of materials that have helped me in the past to better understand the gospel. I then revisit these materials on an ongoing basis – sometimes a little in a day, sometimes a larger portion in a week and sometimes a month dedicated to re-reading a book.
I will share some of my list over time. I will start with the expected classics, and then get more personal as the list goes on.. I hope that you will comment and add some of your favorites.

The Cross Centered Life – C. J. Mahaney
Okay, no surprise here, but this book is a staple in any library and certainly in the small stack of resources that refresh me in the gospel. The book itself is only 85 small pages. It can easily be read in a weekend or with chapters of less than 15 pages, each chapter can be read in a devotional time.
If you have never read the book, I encourage you to read the whole thing through the first time. After doing that (actually several times), there are several chapters that I go back to. Chapter 2 – What’s Your Life Centered On? reminds me of why I should measure what I am and what I do against the gospel. Chapter 3 – Breaking the Rules of Legalism gives me a practical definition of Legalism and consistently challenges me to weed it out of my life. Legalism, according to CJ is, seeking to achieve forgiveness from God and acceptance by God through obedience to God.

Have you read it? How did it serve you?