Primal - Book Review

As Mark Batterson would say, we have a tendency to over complicate things. Sadly this is often particularly true when it comes to how we live-out our Christian faith. But, Jesus made it simple: Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. It’s really that simple, but we tend to make it so complicated.

In Primal, Mark Batterson challenges us to return to that primal faith that started it all, and to remember exactly what Christian faith is supposed to be all about. If we are to live out the essence of Christianity, we must commit to being great at this Great Commandment.

Batterson tells the story of hearing Senator Bill Frist speak several years ago at the National Prayer Breakfast. Before serving in the Senate, Frist performed more than 150 heart transplants as a thoracic surgeon. At the Prayer Breakfast he spoke about the moment a heart is grafted into a new body. Apparently, all doctors can do is wait and hope that it will begin to beat. He said no one's really sure why or how it works.

It's a mystery.

And it seems the mystery of the heart doesn't stop there. Batterson writes, "Studies suggest that the heart secretes its own brain-like hormones and has cellular memory. So a heart transplant isn't just physical, it's metaphysical. Heart transplant recipients don't just receive a new organ, they receive cellular memories."

Primal pushes us to become great at living-out the Great Commandment Jesus gave (Mark 12:30) in the four areas of heart (compassion), soul (wonder), mind (curiosity), and strength (power). Batterson, believes, as do I, that when we discover or rediscover living our lives out of those four areas, we are then able to live out the true essence of Christianity.

This would be a great book to start 2010 with.

You can purchase this book at the WaterBrook Multnomah website. Here they will see different options where they can purchase the book online:

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?isbn=9781601421319

This was book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah.