The Ache for Meaning: How the Temptations of Christ Reveal Who We Are and What We're Seeking
Ebook
Will I have enough? Am I enough? Do I matter?
Deep in our souls is an ache that longs to be noticed, filled, transformed. And that ache boils down to these three fundamental questions.
The extraordinary thing is that we find the answers to all three questions in the temptations of Christ. As Jesus faces the wilderness, the core needs of every human being are on display: the ache to be secure, to be approved of, to have some control over our lives. But the ways that we are tempted to fill these needs inevitably fail.
In The Ache for Meaning, Tommy Brown journeys through our questions and temptations into the deeper invitation Jesus offers. In the mindsets and practices Christ embodied, we discover what kept him centered on his identity and purpose—and what equips us to do the same. Because when you know where you’ve come from and where you’re going, daily temptations toward security, approval, and power to control pale in comparison to your most significant reality: You are a child of God.
- A rich discipleship resource.
- Includes questions for reflection and discussion.
- Features invitations into spiritual disciplines and practices, like Scripture meditation, Sabbath taking, worship, and gratitude, among others.
That one line—the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil—haunts me. And yet in these pages, I’m invited to follow, too, further into this terrifying, merciful terrain. Probing both Scripture and our soul’s story, Brown unfolds how our elder brother descended into the wilderness we all must enter and confronted the primal questions that lurk in the secret places of our heart. Here is a wise and gentle pen, providing ancient, sturdy wisdom as balm to every human longing.
Brown writes, “In my suffering, I came to understand that sometimes we experience God’s power through his protection, but in a broken world, sometimes we experience God’s power through his consolation.” These words are not quick fixes and don’t offer fake escape. Instead, The Ache for Meaning gives us a refreshing spaciousness in suffering and offers an invitation to move more fully into people of faith living in the ordinary hard of life. Brown brings realistic, clear, and grounded hope and reminds us that Jesus meets us right where we are.
Like a scalpel, a good question has the power to cut to the quick, exposing the sicknesses that lie just beneath the surface of our lives. And like a skilled surgeon, Tommy Brown leverages that most cryptic and evocative of Gospel texts, the temptation of Christ, to show how the questions posed to Christ are in fact our questions—Will I have enough? Am I enough? Do I matter? In so doing, he exposes the lies, fears, compulsions, and contradictions that might otherwise drive our lives into ruin to the gaze of the Healer. A wise and much-needed book.
Tommy Brown understands the kind of questions about meaning that many of us ponder. I enjoyed his blend of disarmingly honest personal stories, insightful wisdom about Christian identity, and creative engagement with Jesus’ three temptations. Brown has a Christ-centered understanding of power and control that will challenge readers, and I appreciate his suggestions for spiritual practices to address the issues raised by each temptation. I was sad when I got to the end of the book—I was so enjoying pondering questions of identity and meaning along with him.
In this personal and engaging book, Tommy Brown uses the temptation of Christ to wrestle deeply with three of life’s most important questions: Will I have enough? Am I enough? Do I matter? Throughout he sheds new light on Scripture and offers much wisdom for us to live more virtuous lives. Highly recommend!
Each section of Tommy Brown’s book opens with a question that every one of us ponders deeply and out of the sight of others: Will I have enough? Am I enough? Do I matter? Tommy opens his own life to reveal how he has struggled to answer each of these questions and then leads us not only to see the invitations Jesus extends to help us answer these questions but also to engage in practices that allow us to say yes to these invitations. You will be encouraged in that deep, lasting way after reading Tommy’s book, and your perspective will expand so that you really begin to embrace the security, worth, and belovedness you have in Christ.
Weaving personal and real-life stories into thoughtful reflections on Jesus in the Gospels, Tommy Brown helps us reimagine the temptation of Jesus around the fundamental issues of our identity—issues surrounding security, approval, and power. This kind of spiritual reading of the temptations gives us the opportunity to enter more fully into the virtues of trust, gratitude, and meekness that we might become more like Jesus. Tommy is a faithful pastor and guide, providing practices that ground readers in each of these virtues. The Ache for Meaning is a compelling invitation for self-reflection and growth into Christlikeness.
We don’t all get there at the same time, but boy howdy we all get there, to that stifling wilderness moment, maybe even season, when whatever money and success and power and influence we’ve accrued feel achingly empty. It’s a classic case of getting the course before the heart—not so much what needs we have but how we try and meet them. With pastoral wit and wisdom, Tommy Brown’s The Ache for Meaning mines the riches in the wilderness temptations of Christ. The three questions Jesus faced and the subsequent responses he gave provide life-saving guidance for anyone high-centered in the wilderness. For we all get there, boy howdy we do.
- Title: The Ache for Meaning: How the Temptations of Christ Reveal Who We Are and What We're Seeking
- Author: Tommy Brown
- Publisher: NavPress
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781641586290, 9781641586276, 1641586273, 164158629X
- Resource ID: LLS:9781641586290
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-08-23T09:49:25Z