Book Review: The Happy Christian

David Murray's book 'The Happy Christian: 10 ways to be a joyful believer in a gloomy world' caught my eye when it was first published, but then a friend's recommendation convinced me to order it and start reading.  This is the first David Murray book I've read and I will be tracking down others as I found his style engaging and also thought provoking, there are lasting lessons that I have learned from this book.

The book begins by examining the connection between what we think and believe about God, ourselves, others, our problems, and the world and our happiness, relationships, creativity and health.  Murray's book is a synergy of psychology and Biblical reasoning, using modern medical and research discoveries as support to his arguments from the Bible.  The opening chapters 'Happy Facts' and 'Happy Media' are two of the most helpful in the book as they help us think through how we see the world through the filters of our thinking and the media.  But also challenge us to be aware and thinking about the diet of criticism we consume and how that shapes us in our interactions with others.

The book gives us 10 formula's to apply to life and then in the conclusion Murray seeks to balance all this and look at the reality of living as a joy filled believer in a broken world.  I've mentioned the first two chapters as highlight but there are others.  His chapter on Happy Church was one which I found helpful, especially his exhortation to try to see Christ in all believers, to pray for hypocrites, to give time to the inconsistent, be patient, and speak positively of other believers.  Happy Praise, however, was probably the chapter I found most convicting and challenging and was the best chapter in a book full of good material.  The call to be an encourager is a timely one to the church in the UK and to me as a pastor, it's something I've left the book determined to pursue.  As was the critique of our sandwich praise methodology (Praise:Criticism:Praise) which makes the listener view the praise as insincere and merely a preface softening someone up for critique.

In the UK we need to read this book and learn it's lessons, we are more prone to critic, criticism and a can't do attitude than most nations, it robs us of joy and weakens our faith.  A great book I would recommend.