All Things New: Heaven, Earth, and the Restoration of Everything You Love by John Eldredge

About the book: (from the publisher)

New York Times bestselling author John Eldredge offers readers a breathtaking look into God’s promise for a new heaven and a new earth.

This revolutionary book about our future is based on the simple idea that, according to the Bible, heaven is not our eternal home–the New Earth is. As Jesus says in the gospel of Matthew, the next chapter of our story begins with “the renewal of all things,” by which he means the earth we love in all its beauty, our own selves, and the things that make for a rich life: music, art, food, laughter and all that we hold dear. Everything shall be renewed “when the world is made new.”

More than anything else, how you envision your future shapes your current experience. If you knew that God was going to restore your life and everything you love any day; if you believed a great and glorious goodness was coming to you–not in a vague heaven but right here on this earth–you would have a hope to see you through anything, an anchor for your soul, “an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God” (Hebrews 6:19).

Most Christians (most people for that matter) fail to look forward to their future because their view of heaven is vague, religious, and frankly boring. Hope begins when we understand that for the believer nothing is lost. Heaven is not a life in the clouds; it is not endless harp-strumming or worship-singing. Rather, the life we long for, the paradise Adam and Eve knew, is precisely the life that is coming to us. And that life is coming soon.

Genre: Religion/Christian Life/Spiritual Growth

If this were a movie, I’d rate it: G

Buy it here. 

About the author:

John Eldredge is a bestselling author, a counselor, and a teacher. He is also president of Ransomed Heart, a ministry devoted to helping people discover the heart of God, recover their own hearts in God’s love, and learn to live in God’s kingdom. John and his wife, Stasi, live near Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Connect with the author: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | iTunes

My take:

John Eldredge’s All Things New offered me hope in an increasingly hope-deprived landscape. It lifted my spirits and invited me to engage my heart and mind — my biblically tethered imagination — in the promise of what is to come. Why don’t we do this more readily? Why aren’t Christians talking about these things every day? I don’t know, but what this book allowed me to see is that if we did…friends, it could change everything. Nothing would ever again seem so bleak, no problem so insurmountable, if we only remembered to keep our eyes on what Jesus promises in Scripture, time and time again. If we only have ears to hear it and eyes to see.

In his signature style, John Eldredge calls on myriad stories, both classic and new, to illustrate his points. His books, I have found, will resonate particularly with readers who have a heart for *story.* He, better than most, understands how stories are one of God’s primary instruments for communicating to our hearts.

Solidly connecting to Scripture, All Things New shifted my focus and righted my perspective. It’s a book I’d recommend to any Christian who needs a fresh dose of hope.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and BookLook Bloggers for providing me this book free of charge. All opinions are mine.

After words:

Have you read any of John Eldredge’s other books? Got a favorite?