Roy Hession's The Calvary Road

Today I just finished Roy Hession's little book The Calvary Road: Exploring Christianity (online version available here).

Written with strong spiritual power, Hession's approach is typical that of how I was taught since I was converted, especially on the denial of self -- yes, the book is written in the 50s. No wonder what was written is actually nothing new to me, but what's special is the passion and the spiritual power that you can easily feel between the lines when you're reading the book. When I finished its the last page today, I couldn't help reconsidering my present state of spiritual relationship with God -- there're actually still so many places which is barely noticeable in my life that I need to humble myself before Him so that I am eligible for His grace.

The printed book also has a bonus as its last chapter which you won't find in the online version, to me it may also be the best part of the book -- an interview with Hession, who put forward perhaps one of the best definition of 'what is "grace"' I have ever read:

Grace is not God's reward for the faithful, it's His gift for the empty, the feeble and failing. When I am feeling like that, I'm the very one who is going to be blessed.

Grace is the undeserved favour of God, and no-one is a candidate for grace unless they are undeserving. You can't be too down, too wrong, for grace. That's where Jesus gets His glory; not in the number of good Christians He pats on the back, but in the failures He restores.

The urge for our self-to-be-broken is significant with his concept of grace. This is arguably the central theme in resonance throughout the book. When we talk about striving our best to be a holy Christian, it is not about striving to be a better person by practising with our willpower whatever is required in our dogma, or spending the most of our time and energy to serve the Lord, but striving to have our old self broken, crucified, dead, so that we become empty and ready to live a resurrected life filled with the Holy Spirit. Hession also emphasized that this is a continuous, daily effort for continuous spiritual revival.

I thank Dan Bush for lending me this little book while he is away. Now that I have finished it and I will surely return it to him when he's back to HK later. OK, I can go back to finishing Wittmer's book too.