Twelve Ordinary Men

       For Today's post, I am going to make a book recommendation for all the men who read my blog. I would like to think that my stamp of approval carries as much weight as Oprah's does for women, so listen up. A very helpful book that I read when I was in college was John MacArthur's book Twelve Ordinary Men. It was given to me by my very manly brother-in-law, Dave Didonato.


       The book is very simply about the lives of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ. There is one chapter dedicated to each disciple and MacArthur gives interesting biographical information as well as practical applications for modern day readers. Perhaps the biggest reason why I love and recommend this book is because it was and is a reminder to me that God loves using plain and ordinary people for his purposes because that way he gets all the glory. Too many times the Church makes the disciples out to be other-worldy and relegates them to stained glass windows which causes us to think that we can find no common ground with them. But MacArthur reminds us that the disciples were common men: "Not one of them was renowned for scholarship or great erudition. They had no track record as orators or theologians. In fact, they were outsiders as far as the religious establishment of Jesus' day was concerned. They were not outstanding because of any natural talents or intellectual abilities. On the contrary they were all too prone to mistakes, misstatements, wrong attitudes, lapses of faith and bitter failure."

These were the men that Christ chose to spread his Gospel and He is still using people like them today to advance his Kingdom. I think that all Christian's are tempted to look back and glorify the lives of disciples and famous theologians and forget that what made them great was not their own strength but the power of their Savior dwelling in them by the Holy Spirit. MacArthur reminds us that the influence of the disciples was due to one thing and one thing only, "the power of the message that they preached," namely Christ crucified. I think that any Christian man will love the interesting way in which MacArthur writes and will actually be encouraged and not lead to despair by looking at the lives of the Disciples. This book will remind you that God has created you, He has saved you by His grace, and called you to a specific role in building his Kingdom. Your Christian calling does not mean that you must surrender your unique personality, rather God has shaped and molded you in such a way that you will be perfect for the ministry that He has called you to. Happy Reading!