Growing Closer to God (Book review)

Tom Gryn, Growing Closer to God, Mumbai: Servant Books, 1982, pp. 106.

This is book is part of a series entitled Living as a Christian which aims at helping Christians apply the teaching of scripture to their lives. All the books in this series are rooted in scripture, relevant to daily life, brief so as to appeal to busy people, comprise an integrated curriculum and offer practical advice. Each of the books in the series focuses on a specific aspect of Christian life. Topics like Christian maturity, emotions in the Christian life, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, Christian personal relationships and Christian service are dealt with.  

The central challenge of each of our lives is to grow in our relationship with God until He becomes the focus of all we do. Our relationship with God is affected by our decisions, attitudes, and approaches. The purpose of this book is to discuss all these areas in an attempt to help us grow closer to God. The book has eight chapters which instruct us on how to grow closer to God.

God leads each of us to offer ourselves entirely to Him but the decision to respond is entirely ours. In order to grow closer to God, first and foremost, one must desire to do so. Growing in a personal relationship with God is not an intellectual matter. Our decision and the movement of the Holy Spirit, allows us to grow closer to God who is the goal of our life. In the Catechism we were taught that God made us to belong entirely to Him and to be with Him for eternity. This goal can be achieved if we focus less on ourselves, as the world would want us to, and to focus on God and on our brothers and sisters. This will propel us toward our goal and radically change us in the process. This task is difficult, distractions and obstacles will bar the way but if we stick with it, God’s grace will abound in us and help us achieve it.

A relationship with God is like a relationship with another human being. When we first fall in love, we try our best to express our love for the other person in tangible ways. Gradually, over time, the relationship matures but the experience of first love is still kindled. To grow in our relationship with God, the author discusses four basic tools. They are Prayer, Study, Service and Fellowship. A chapter is devoted to each of these tools discussing them and suggesting practical ways of using them.

Daily prayer is the single, most fundamental means of growth available to us. Our relationship will grow in proportion to the amount of time we invest in it. We may think that God is not interested in the details of our lives, but the fact is that He is. He is “our Father” and is keen on being involved in our lives. To grow through prayer, we first require to decide on a fixed time for prayer everyday. There are numerous prayer methods and one ought to choose the method that suits oneself. However, one must keep in mind that no one method works all of the time. Variety and flexibility are vital.

Beginners wonder how to go about spending time with God. The author suggests dividing prayer time into three categories: giving, asking and receiving. Giving to God includes prayers of praise, adoration, singing hymns and thanksgiving. These are ways of acknowledging God our creator as being worthy of praise. We also need to ask God to take care of our needs and those of others. The third element of prayer involves receiving from God, both spiritually and materially. Spiritually, we need to expect that the Holy Spirit will lead us, guide us, direct us, encourage us, and teach us during the time that we set aside to pray. Growing closer to God also require us to listen to His voice. One way is to wait silently in His presence. Another is to meditate on scripture. A third is to recognize the spiritual amid the mundane.     

The second tool is Study. Two types of study enhance our relationship with God. The first, and most important, is the regular study of scripture. The scriptures teach us about who God is, what H has done, and what He want us to do. They provide examples of how he has related with His own people throughout the ages. The second kind of study is concerned with the actions and teaching of God’s faithful people throughout history. This kind of study is also concerned with the creeds, proclamations, and teachings of the Christian churches, which present us with an understanding of many basic truths.

Growing closer to God not only means improving our prayer life, it also means reaching out to others. Serving others is a powerful way to grow in our own relationship with God because such service touches our most basic attitudes about ourself and our independence. Often serving becomes a source of our purification. When we serve, we allow God to form us according to His plan.

In the New Testament, fellowship is emphasized. Jesus’ Kingdom is not a private affair but a communitarian one. It is both a natural and spiritual principle that growth occurs more easily if a person is in contact with other people rather than alone. Thus praying together and studying the Bible as a group would foster spiritual growth. Fellowship can provide an environment in which to receive both the encouragement and the redirection that we need in our Christian life-encouragement such as teaching, direction, and counsel, and redirection such as correction, reproof, and exhortation.

In order to grow closer to God we must know who He is and how He acts. We must come to Him regularly in prayer, learning to understand, appreciate, and respect Him, as well as to submit to Him. The book is simple and direct. It is directed to the common Christian and points out practical ways of growing in relationship with Him. The chapters are lucidly presented. Since the focus is on practicality, the last chapter is wholly devoted to naming obstacles that hinder our growth and suggestions for overcoming them.