A Book Review by Adam Curtis
Should you judge a book by its cover? Good question. If you do, then you may possibly miss this gem. I imagine most people on seeing the cover of How People Change by Paul Tripp and Timothy Lane think that it is rather a dry and serious book. Can I assure you, it is serious, but it is anything but dry!
My old copy, which I first read in my mid-twenties, is full of post it notes and scribbles in the margins. I found this book so helpful that I read it with my Edinburgh colleagues at UCCF (University and College Christian Fellowship) and we discussed every chapter. I’ve led seminars using the material from this book as a base to talk about things like dealing with stress and living free from porn.
How People Change does exactly what it says on the tin. It gives you a step-by-step guide to how you can grow, that is rooted in the Bible, soaked in grace and Christ glorifying. The first few chapters help establish why we need to change, and how that change is going to come about. While chapters 7 to 14 give us a highly practical guide to how we can change.
I love this book because it gave me a bigger vision of God and the work he was doing in my life. Sin is horrible and it only leads to death. Righteousness is beautiful and it leads to life. God has glorious plans for each of us, and by his grace he will transform us into the people he has created us to be.
But what makes this book special is that it doesn’t finish with the theology. Paul Tripp and Timothy Lane put the theology into practice with their step-by-step guide for change. They first make the reader assess their situation and how you are responding negatively to it. Then you are pushed to think through what has motivated these reactions (this part of the exercise can be painful). Once all this is established you are led to the cross, and spurred on to remind yourself who God is, what he has done in Christ, and encouraged to repent of what needs to be repented off (if the last section was painful then this section is incredibly joyful). From this secure place of grace, the reader thinks through how to respond to the same situation with love and charity. This overview of their model is far too brief. But I hope you get the picture that this is a cross centered model for change that is practical and relevant.
If none of the above spurred you on, then here are some quotes from the book to give you a better picture:
“If who I am in Christ does not shape the way I think about myself and the things I face, then I will live out some other identity.”
Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp, How People Change (Greensboro, USA, New Growth Press, 2006) p5.
“We accept the doctrine of total depravity, but when we are approached about our own sin we wrap our robes of self-righteousness around us and rise to our own defense.”
Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp, How People Change (Greensboro, USA, New Growth Press, 2006) p14
“He loves us too much to merely make us happy. He comes to make us holy.”
Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp, How People Change (Greensboro, USA, New Growth Press, 2006) p25
“You will do nothing at all, and make no progress till you feel your sin and weakness and flee to Him.”
Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp, How People Change (Greensboro, USA, New Growth Press, 2006) p28
“Everything God does and everything God calls us to only makes sense from the perspective of eternity.”
Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp, How People Change (Greensboro, USA, New Growth Press, 2006) p38
“You will not escape the difficulties of life, but you can rest assured that your Savior will use each one to prepare you for the place he is taking you.” P44
Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp, How People Change (Greensboro, USA, New Growth Press, 2006) p44
“Trials do not cause us to be what we have not been; rather, they reveal what we have been all along”
Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp, How People Change (Greensboro, USA, New Growth Press, 2006) p102
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