The best writer I’ve ever known once told me his secret: Less is more. An ordinary writer fills his story with meaningless words. An extraordinary writer can tell a story with a single word.

Without a doubt, God is the most extraordinary writer in existence. In just a word or two, he expresses a concept that our humanity needs chapters and chapters to explain.

With all my heart, I wish that the church today would listen to God’s words. They make Christianity so much more difficult when they clutter it with their words.

Actual titles found on Amazon.com’s “Christian Living” book shop:
God’s Master Plan for Your Life
God’s explanation:
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19-20

Title:
Become a Better you: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day
God’s 1 key to improving your life every day:
“Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3-4

Title:
You Can Heal Your Life
God’s plan for healing:
“For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” Romans 6:6-7

Title:
Love and Respect: The Love She Most Desires, The Respect He Desperately Needs
God’s command:
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Galations 18:22-25

Title:
The Purpose Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For
God’s command:
“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn”
Isaiah 61:1-2

Title:
Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul
God’s secret revealed:
‘You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride;
you have stolen my heart
with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.”
Song of Solomon 4:9

Title:
Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul
God says:
“Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.”
Song of Solomon 8:6

Titles:
Boundaries in Dating/I Kissed Dating Goodbye/I Gave Dating a Chance
God says:
“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.” Galations 5:16-18

Title:
Battlefield of the Mind: How to Win the War in Your Mind
God says:
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Romans 8:18-21

Title:
Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups
God’s “old” but highly proven approach to small groups:
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love… if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” 1 John 4:7-8, 12b

It’s time for us to stop talking and start listening.