Finish strong

JERRY BRIDGES has passed on. He was 86. He authored two of my favorite books in modern Christian literature—Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts, and Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God’s Unfailing Love.

To read his books is to listen to the wisdom of a faithful Christian man who has made Christ his portion and heaven his goal. It is sobering to know that life does end; yet for us who are left behind in this dark and dreary world, lives like Jerry Bridges’s bring us hope. We can finish strong.

The writer Tony Reinke calls his book “authentic”—and I couldn’t agree more. I first read Trusting God when I was in college, inside my dorm room, as I waited for the next lecture on the physiology of eukaryotic systems. If I remember it right, my friend Jeiel Guarino gave it to me on my birthday. After reading it, I was encouraged, rebuked, and instructed. He wasn’t pretentious; he didn’t come clean. He was humble—and to someone who has been perpetually struggling with pride, I feasted on his words.

Because he had been through his share of suffering, Jerry Bridges has used the Word of God to comfort the believer who is going through tough times. To this day, I read portions of his books at random to make sense of my personal struggles and suffering. Sometimes I just read it to make my soul glad. No wonder why his book is on my desk at the call room.

He writes, “If we are going to learn to trust God in adversity, we must believe God will allow nothing to subvert His glory so He will allow nothing to spoil the good He is working out in us and for us.”

Listen to Tony Reinke’s brief interview with him at the Desiring God website.

I praise God for his wonderful life.