Book Review: "Improving Your Serve"
If you have been reading this blog for very long, you know that I quite often read books by Charles Swindoll. Most of his books are exegetical (delving deeply into one text) or biographical (such as his “Great Lives from God’s Word” series). The most recent book of his I finished is the best “topical” book I’ve read of his so far.
Improving Your Serve deals with service and all that it entails. Being a servant goes so much against human nature that it is a subject we need to study often. I highly recommend this book as one to add to your library on service. While I don’t agree with every word, you would be hard pressed to find a work that covers this topic any better.
The style of the book is Swindoll through-and-through. The chapters are filled with illustrations that are truly helpful. One of my favorite qualities of his writings is that Swindoll never “wastes” an illustration; each one is suited for the subject at hand and is helpful to the study. His writings are also filled with Scripture references that help the reader go more deeply into the subject.
As you might expect, Swindoll is quite blunt with this study. He is willing to say that service is not easy, but he hammers the point home that we must be servants. He gives many helps to growing in a life of service, and he even lists some risks and rewards of living that type of life.
If you need to study the subject of service, of if you have ever considered preaching (especially a series) on the subject, get a copy of this book to help you in your study.
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Illustrations to File
1. Page 16; inset and following paragraph: file under “commitment”
2. Page 24; story of Bernstein: file under “humility”
3. Page 67; long inset quote: file under “service”
4. Page 73; Longfellow poem: file under “aging”
5. Pages 85-86; story by Christenson: file under “forgiveness”
6. Page 130; inset list: file under “influence”
2 Comments
Richard
This is a very good book. But it has been 20 years or more since I read it so my memory is fuzzy. 🙂
Mitchell
Thanks Adam for the reminder of what a great book this is! I’m getting mine off the shelf and reading it again.