Breaking the Idols of Your Heart: How to Navigate the Temptations of Life, By Dan B. Allender and Tremper Longman III

Breaking the Idols of Your Heart

How to Navigate the Temptations of Life

by Dan B. Allender and Tremper Longman III

Breaking the Idols of Your Heart
Paperback
  • Length: 191 pages
  • Dimensions: 5.5 × 8.25 in
  • Published: June 07, 2007
  • Imprint: IVP
  • ISBN: 9780830834419

We all want to know our lives matter.So did the Teacher in Ecclesiastes. He invested time and energy in every activity he could think of that might bring meaning and purpose to his life but found only disappointment, frustration, hopelessness.In our thirst for significance we, like the Teacher, give our lives--our time, talents, strength, heart--to anything we think will give us worth and purpose: Power. Relationships. Money. Pleasure. Work. But worshiping these idols has a high cost--and still doesn't bring the fulfillment we long for.In Breaking the Idols of Your Heart Dan Allender and Tremper Longman illuminate for us the Teacher's warnings and, after all his activities, his final radiant conclusion: Meaning and purpose comeonly when God is truly the center of our life and the object of our hope. Using a compelling fictional narrative at the start of each chapter to encourage reflection on our own life and the lives of family and friends, the authors lead us through Ecclesiastes to help us recognize and exchange cheap pursuits for the only One worth pursuing.Ecclesiastes is not an easy book to read, because transferring our worship from money, power and fame to God is not an easy road to travel. But as the Teacherdiscovered and wrote down for us, it leads to one conclusion: life lived abundantly, in freedom, hope, purpose, meaning.

"This book uses the category of 'idols' as a creative way to understand not only a difficult biblical book (Ecclesiastes) but also the very way our hearts work. It brings a great deal of clarity where there has been confusion. Recommended."Tim Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City
"Dan and Tremper and ancient wisdom are a winning team! This book dethrones idols and points us toward what is worth giving our life to."John Ortberg, author and pastor, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church
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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Searching for Meaning
1. Chasing After Power: "I Can Control My World"
2. Chasing After Relationships: "Relationships Bring Me Fulfillment"
3. Chasing After Work and Money: "Money Brings Me Freedom"
4. Chasing After Pleasure: "Pleasure Will Satisfy Me"
5. Chasing After Wisdom: "Knowledge Will Put Me on Top"
6. Chasing After Spirituality: "My Spiritual Life Will Save Me"
7. Chasing After Immortality: "I Will Have a Long Life if I Take Care of My Body"
Conclusion: Finding Abundant Life
Notes
About the Authors

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Dan B. Allender

Dan B. Allender (PhD, counseling psychology, Michigan State University) is professor of counseling at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. He taught previously at Grace Theological Seminary and Colorado Christian University. A speaker and writer, his books include The Healing Path, To Be Told, How Children Raise Parents, The Wounded Heart and Leading with a Limp. With Tremper Longman, he wrote Bold Love, Cry of the Soul, Intimate Allies and the IntimateMarriage Bible studies.

Tremper Longman III

Tremper Longman III (PhD, Yale University) is Distinguished Scholar and Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. He is the author or coauthor of over thirty books, including How to Read the Psalms, How to Read Proverbs, Literary Approaches to Biblical Interpretation, and Old Testament Essentials.