C. J. Mahaney's "Christ Our Mediator"

I must first admit that I picked up this book for several reasons that were less than honorable. It’s a shorter book, so I thought I might quickly add to my pitiful books read count for 2008. I’ve also seen Mahaney’s name in a number of places lately, and realizing I’d never checked him out, decided to pick a quick one to judge him by. Finally, I was following a thought my father told me a number of years ago: he reads about Christ’s death at Christmas, and His birth at Easter. So you might say that I entered the book not exactly prepared for its message.

A lot of people don’t bother picking up the short and small “Lifechange Books” that Multnomah frequently prints, but I’ve never read one that didn’t challenge me. “Christ Our Mediator” is a timely reminder of the reason for Christ’s birth: His death.

Mahaney’s purpose is to refocus us on the Cross. Too often it is left as an afterthought in the lives of Western Christ followers. We recognize the Cross and Christ’s sacrifice when we first come to faith in Him, but rarely do we look back to it, much less cherish it, through our Christian walk.

An important reason for returning to the Cross is that we often find ourselves trapped by our emotions as we pass through joys and trials in our lives. We base our salvation on our feeling in the moment, we follow Christ as long as the experience is joyful. But if we were to forget about the emotions that come and go as the wind blows, and instead allow ourselves to be guided by truth, what might happen to us?

The humble are those whose first response to objective truth from God’s Word is not to ask, “How do I feel,” but to say, “I’m not going to let my faith be determined and directed by the subjective and the experiential. Instead I confess openly before God that I will believe the objective thruth of His Word, regardles of how I feel” (24).

This book is a call to remember our need for Savior, and then to understand the grace whereby God sent us one. Finally, we look at the cost of the life laid down, as Jesus obediently followed the Father’s will, drinking a cup that we could never fully bear on our own, the rejection and separation of Father God.

You may not think you need a reminder of Christ’s death laid down for you, but we all do. Unless we can honestly say that the Cross is ever in our minds day to day, a reminder is needed. This gentle, loving look at the Cross was good for my heart.

Chris MacKinnon
Touch the Skye