Have you been asked what you believe about something? Sometimes, it’s an easy question to answer. But when it comes to the Bible, it can be more difficult.
Our pastor had us studying the book BELIEVE by Randy Frazee for midweek Bible study since February. Since we did THE STORY a couple years ago, this seemed like a natural follow up.
The purpose of this book is to help a new believer (or maybe even long-time believers who haven’t ever studied scripture) learn the major doctrines of the Bible. Even better, it distills major Bible themes and spotlights a handful of Christian character traits.
As a girl who grew up in church, I found the last ten chapters to be the most helpful to me. As a new-ish grandmother, I can see how a book like this would be accessible for a younger person, whether in age or in their personal faith.
The Book
Simply put, this book is divided into three parts. Unlike THE STORY, this book includes editorializing by Frazee. Like THE STORY, it mostly consists of scripture printed on the pages.
The first part is called “Think.” It includes a chapter on ten “key beliefs of the Christian life.” With everything from God to Stewardship as titles for these chapters, it covers a broad overview of scriptural themes.
The second part, called “Act”, attempts to introduce ten key spiritual practices for living a God-honoring life. The chapters cover everything from worship to sharing personal faith with others.
With a title like “Be”, the third part talks about ten virtues of the Christian life. The overall question for that section is “Who am I becoming?” The simple answer is “more like Christ,” and these chapters cover the fruit of the spirit along with hope and humility.
My copy has plenty of underlines and margin notes. Some chapters hit home more than others, but that’s the same for reading scripture.
My Reaction
Overall, I would recommend this book for group study. As long as the leader is sound and settled on doctrine, this volume will guide believers through an overview of scriptural teachings.
I still think new believers are the intended audience. There are nuggets for mature Christians too, but it starts to feel redundant by the time you get to the final section. Or it did for me.
There are a couple of doctrines I disagree with Frazee about but I didn’t let that cloud my overall feelings about the book. Truth be told, I probably disagree with my husband about just as many things during this election season, so I’ve had practice rolling with it.
Since I’m an application-heavy Bible student, I might recommend pairing a chapter from part one with one from part two. In my mind, they are organized so that chapter one would work quite well with chapter eleven, and so on down the line.
What do I mean? Well, chapter one teaches us what the Bible says about God. Because of who God is and what he’s done for us, he is worthy of worship, which is the subject of chapter eleven.
If you’ve read BELIEVE, I’d love to hear your thoughts about it.
A Pew Perspective 