Mark Batterson’s “Primal”
Have you ever read a book that you just completely loved and then tried another book by the same author and had a major let down?
A few posts ago I did a quick review of Mark Batterson’s book “In A Pit Wit A Lion On A Snowy Day”. That was and will probably remain my favourite “Christian” book of all time. It hit me right where I needed it to. I was really struggling with wanting to quit and I needed some encouragement. I got exactly what I needed.
I have to admit that my expectations for “Primal” were unfairly too high. It’s not that this book was bad or anything. In fact I do plan on doing a review here explaining why I think it is a good book and deserves your attention. I’m not, however, going to tell you it’s the best book ever and you need to rush out to a book store right now and pick up a copy. My goal is to tell you what Mark is trying to accomplish (in my opinion anyway) in this book and encourage you to go read it if it sounds like something that will minister to you in a special way.
Primal is simply the four love languages Jesus says make up the great commandment. We are to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. Mark Batterson breaks down those four love languages into four sections of this book and explains how each is accomplished.
The heart of love breaks for the things that break the heart of God. I would call this the missions chapter as Mark goes into depth on his views of missions and their importance in our lives and our spiritual journey. I’ve never in my life been on a missions trip. After reading this chapter I don’t know if I should start planning a missions trip or start feeling guilty for never having gone on one. It is not Mark’s intention for me to feel guilty, but I’m struggling with that emotion anyway.
The soul of love is being in awe of God’s creative power. Mark describes it as ‘wonder’. How can you study the universe, God’s very creation and not be in wonder at all He has done? This section is the ‘can you believe it’ section of Primal.
The mind of love, probably the most obvious, is about our personal understanding of God through our quit times of prayer and bible study and other ways God reveals more of Himself to us. He talks about our natural curiosity in all areas of our life and how we need to be spiritually curious as well. This section of the book seemed very cerebral to me and I honestly remember very little of it because of that.
The strength of love was by far my favourite section of this book. This was the section that ties into his book “In A Pit…” the most. It’s about taking risks and exploring new ideas spiritually. It’s about dreaming big and doing big and letting nothing stand in your way. It’s about not being afraid of failure and realising that the cure to the fear of failure isn’t success but experiencing more failure. It’s about the hard work that goes along with loving God. This is the ‘go’ chapter of the book. The chapter that tries to push you out of your chair and experience some spiritual adventure, which is at the very heart of Mark Batterson’s belief system.
I hope those four paragraphs help to give you an idea as to what this book is about. It’s a great opportunity to dive deeper into a verse that I know I’m guilty of just reading without taking the time to really understand what Jesus was trying to tell us. It’s a book well worth the time it takes to read.