Book Notice: O LOVE THAT WILL NOT LET ME GO: FACING DEATH WITH COURAGEOUS CONFIDENCE IN GOD, edited by Nancy Guthrie

A Brief Book Notice from Books At a Glance

by Fred Zaspel

What a great idea this book, filling a surprisingly large gap in Christian publishing. Prior to this book, what we find about death in Christian books is usually only a chapter here or there. Seldom is a book devoted to the subject. 

Nancy Guthrie has done the wonderful service of curating many of these scattered writings and has brought them together in this delightful book. For the Christian to “die well,” as Christians have said for centuries, we must know the gospel in all its long-term ramifications. We must face death squarely and realistically, and we must know the promises of God and the future he has for us. Indeed, only as we know all this can we live well! 

Guthrie has collected writings by Christian authors from across the centuries, from Martin Luther, John Calvin, and some Puritans to J.I. Packer, John Piper, and Tim Keller, and including my longtime favorite, B.B. Warfield (of course!). You can see a complete list of the authors in the Table of Contents below. 

Table of Contents

Part One: A Reality that Will Not Be Denied

1. Only When You Know How to Die Can You Know How to Live (J. I. Packer)
2. Death’s Sting Is Removed but Its Bite Remains (Michael S. Horton) 
3. He Called Death Sweet Names (John Piper) 
4. Not of the World (Martyn Lloyd-Jones) 
5. Is Christ Our Sickness-Bearer? (B. B. Warfield) 
6. Our Faith Is in God, Not in Healing (Joseph Bayly)

Part Two: An Aim that Keeps Me Pressing On 

1. Finishing with Few Regrets (Randy Alcorn) 
2. My Father Taught Me How to Die (R. C. Sproul) 
3. Spiritual Light Shining from Your Deathbed (Abraham Kuyper) 
4. A Witness in the Way We Die (John Eaves) 
5. Sickness: The Soul’s Undressing (Jeremy Taylor)

Part Three: A Hope that Saves Me from Despair

1. Rubbing Hope into the Reality of Death (Timothy Keller) 
2. Hope Is a Glorious Grace (John Owen) 
3. Directions for a Peaceful Departure (Richard Baxter) 
4. What More Should God Do to Persuade You to Accept Death Willingly? (Martin Luther) 
5. Comfort against Fears of the Dying Hour (Thomas Boston) 

Part Four: A Future that Will Not Disappoint

1. Suffering Hurries the Heart toward Heaven (Joni Eareckson Tada) 
2. To Despise This Present Life (John Calvin) 
3. The Day of a Godly Man’s Death (Jonathan Edwards) 
4. Let Us Say in Dying, “Lord Jesus, Receive My Spirit” (R. L. Dabney) 
5. Those Who Die Daily Die Easily (Charles Haddon Spurgeon) 
6. God Reserves the Best for the Last (Richard Sibbes) 

Buy the books

O LOVE THAT WILL NOT LET ME GO: FACING DEATH WITH COURAGEOUS CONFIDENCE IN GOD, edited by Nancy Guthrie

Crossway, 2011 | 160 pages

From: Amazon ( Paperback )