Love Beyond Reason (by John Ortberg)

(Amazon UK link)

I both liked and appreciated John Ortberg’s books the first time I read them, so I’m now re-reading them, and finding new encouragement and inspiration. I first read ‘Love beyond reason’ in 2008 and again in 2013, so it felt like time for a re-read. Not that I find anything new, exactly, in books like this - but a lot of reminders that are often surprisingly relevant.

This book essentially explains what it means to be loved by God. Not in a general way, but specific. Ortberg uses the word ‘ragged’ several times to describe us - rough at the edges, far from perfect, yet, like a battered old rag doll we are loved, deeply, passionately, and forever.

It’s easy to know these things academically, and to take them for granted, so I find it a positive experience to read books like this that make me look at the world, other people and God with a different perspective. Possibly one that I’ve lost, or moved from, or simply forgotten. I’m reminded just what God has done for me, just how much I matter to him, and how important it is to spend time together.

There are just twelve chapters in this book, and I read one a day over the course of a couple of weeks - some of them taking more than one day. I like Ortberg’s style, with plenty of anecdotes about himself, his family and his ministry. Like the best writers, he’s quite self-deprecating at times, thought not in a negative way. I smiled at one or two of the stories, but they have a way of piercing defences and making me think.

Ortberg quotes Scripture extensively, often in his own loose paraphrase that might upset some literalists, but which I found quite helpful as he puts his own slant on what Jesus was saying, or how disciples were reacting. I know the original, of course; this is first and foremost  a book for believers, and the author writes with the assumption that readers are familiar with the Bible stories, and many of the better known quotations. Of course there are extensive references in the back, but I don’t think I referred to any of them.

There’s not much more I can say - I am very pleased I read this again, and expect to continue doing so every few years. There’s much in it that is also said in other books on the same topic, but each author puts his own voice to the concepts, and expresses them in different ways.

Definitely recommended.

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