Monday, October 17, 2022

Love Matters Kick-Off Package

About the Book

Book: Love Matters

Author: Neil Tolsma

Genre: Non-Fiction

Release date: September 13, 2022

The Bible answers with one word: Love. What am I to do when my love is weak and in short supply? What difference does godly love make in the rush of everyday living? These are questions that Christians ask and need answered.

Love Matters answers these vital questions and others through a careful examination of what the Word of God has to say about reproducing God’s love in the exercise of personal faith. Love Matters is unique in developing this study of love in a redemptive-historical setting.

Love Matters is a biblical study of the divine call to love God and others wholeheartedly and the means by which the believer can overcome deficiencies in that call.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Neil Tolsma was born on February 5, 1935, Saddle Brook, NJ. Met his wife, Lenore Merop, at Garfield Community Church (where he had made his profession of Christ as his Savior at the age of 17) and they were married on August 29, 1959. They had both been part of the Billy Graham Choir that introduced the popular hymn, How Great Thou Art, to America the summer of 957. He graduated from Shelton College, Ringwood, NJ, 1962 with A.B. And from Westminster Theological Seminary 1965, B.D./M.Div. Ordained by the Presbytery of the South, Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 1965. Served as pastor of Bethel Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 1965 to 1974, Falls Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, 1974 until his retirement in 2004. They are the parents of three daughters and 8 grandchildren. Neil is the author of This Is Love: Tracing the Love of God throughout the Biblical Story.

More from Neil

Why Another Book on Love

Walk into any bookstore, Christian or general market, big or small, and you’re sure to be inundated by books on love, both fiction and nonfiction. How to love your spouse or significant other. How to love your children. How to love yourself. Love, love, love. That’s all we seem to hear about today. Love in all its forms, both good and evil.

So, then, why would I write another nonfiction book on love? Aren’t there plenty to choose from already? Well, yes and no. There are many on the shelves. Have your pick. But how many of those talk about what real, biblical love is, why we are to love, and where our one and only source of love is?

So many people today don’t know what love truly is. We have romanticized versions of flowers, chocolates, and violins. We dream of being swept off our feet and spending every waking minute with someone who will cherish us above all else. One of the most popular sayings of the day is Love Is Love.

Is it really? How do we know what true love is? That understanding only comes from God and his word to us. Only through him and in him do we find pure, holy, agape love. Love that sacrificed his only Son for us to give eternal life to us sinners—the impure, unholy, and filthy.

And so that’s why I wrote Love Matters. Because it does. It matters to our lives today, in how we relate to our spouses, our children, our family members, and the world at large. It matters to our eternity in how we view our salvation and how we are to love our Lord. It matters when we’re old and when we’re young, when we’re at home and when we’re at work, when we agree with someone and when we disagree with them.

Throughout my fifty years of in-depth Bible study as a pastor and counselor, I was brought back time and time again to the Bible to discover what love is. Over and over, I returned to the command God gave in Exodus, that we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, strength, and minds, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Because God is love and love matters to him, it has to matter to us.

MY REVIEW

When I picked up this book to read, the first thing I thought of was “Jesus loves me.” My heart is happy knowing I am loved by Him. Now I need to share that love with others. We are called to be examples of Christ and show love to everyone. Throughout the book the author gives illustrations where Jesus showed love to others. Do we show love to others even when they don’t? We are to love without question and to love like Jesus loves the church.

I liked how the author reminds us how God loved those he could have turned his back on. Instead of letting Noah drown in the flood, He spared him and therefore showed His love. God illustrates that same kind of love to each of us. He forgives us and loves us unconditionally. He also commands us to love our enemy. That can sometimes be hard when he have been hurt and rejected by someone. There were those in the Bible that rejected God, yet He still loved without ceasing.

This is a great Bible study to go deeper into how important it is to love at all times. The author provides questions at the end of each chapter to use as a study. This would make a great small group Bible study or to use for individual study.

“God’s love is at the foundation of everything. Love really does make the world go ‘round.”

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.