A Review of Tim Keller’s The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness

          Pastor Tim Keller became more recognized for his work after publishing The Reason for God. It was with this work I became acquainted with him, and have enjoyed his material ever since. When we look at the work for the freedom of self-forgetfulness we can say this is awfully short to be a book. What it was originally was a sermon that was transcribed and made into a book that is merely 46 pages long. The work is easy to read and delight to your heart if you ingest what the pastor is trying to gently serve you.

            In our culture we want to be the top dog. Most people in the secular world have no qualms about stepping on the next guy to get a leg up. What lies at the root of all this is pride; no matter what form it may try and take. And pride has the tendency to make us think more highly of ourselves than we ought to. Surprisingly though Keller tells us that it runs both ways when he says,

“A superiority complex and an inferiority complex are basically the same. They are both results of being overinflated. The person with the superiority complex is overinflated and in danger of being deflated; the person with an inferiority complex is deflated already. Someone with an inferiority complex will tell you they hate themselves and they will tell themselves they hate themselves. They are deflated. To be deflated means you were previously inflated. Deflated or in imminent danger of being deflated—it is all the same thing. And it makes the ego fragile.”(21)

          This rings so true for most of the people I know who are worldly and even some Christians. We do have an answer and it lies in Scripture, we are not to think of ourselves to highly. Keller goes on to say, “The thing we would remember from meeting a truly gospel-humble person is how much they seemed to be totally interested in us. Because the essence of gospel-humility is not thinking of myself more or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less.”(32) Take a moment and think about that last thought. It hit home for me to remember to put the needs of others before my own. Just a Jesus Christ put us before Himself to be able to draw us near to him.

            This is a great little book; I highly recommend it to anyone that wants to feel closer to Jesus, because you will stop worrying about yourself and more about Him.

Live Long, Pray Hard, Die Well!