24 by Krish Kandiah
The subtitle for Krish Kandiah’s 24 is “integrating faith and real life” – a challenge every Christian can relate to. We hear teaching on how radical our faith is, and how important the ramifications of our faith are, but rarely do we find much practical teaching on how to make our lifestyles demonstrate our faith. Krish’s aim through 24 is to suggest patterns of behaviour that are Godly in every area of life, to flesh out our beliefs of God’s interest in everything we do.
In my relatively short life, much of my experience of Christian literature has been that books are frequently inspiring but rarely applicable in equal measure. By the end of most books I have the spiritual will to change my attitude or lifestyle, but not much idea of what that improved lifestyle should look like. It almost seems to me that inspiration comes at the cost of practical advice, and vice versa. 24 is aimed at those Christians who are looking for the means to change, not a reason. In short, this book is practical rather than inspirational.
In 24 Krish manages to bring God into parts of life that so easily become mundane, where
Christianity seems irrelevant - even the most adventurous of preachers rarely apply the gospel to areas such as travel and food! The healthy number of biblical passages are used to help the reader see how God has interacted with people in the past, and using his own experiences and anecdotes he successfully draws lessons for us to learn thousands of years later in the 21st century. For example Krish uses the fall of man to show how our eating habits can be dangerously greedy as they were for Adam and Eve, and also suggests using our times of physical hunger to remind us of our spiritual hunger for daily food from God. Although it does cover areas not often covered, the book is not all-encompassing. Teaching on incorporating discipleship and evangelism into daily life is not included, and advice on living justly is missing, perhaps because a lot has already been written on these subjects, but I feel a book in the style of 24 on these issues would still be a useful guide.
Along with its practicality, one of 24’s triumphs is its accessibility. At 162 pages it is gratifyingly concise, and Krish successfully combines humour, honesty and cultural relevance to make this book enjoyable to read. Each chapter ends with a selection of books and music from the Christian and secular markets to provide further food for thought, a good idea that is rarely used. The author’s heart for building the kingdom of God in a culturally relevant way is obvious throughout the book, and Krish’s engagement with modern day pleasures is good to see when the church so often appears judgemental and boring.
There is always a risk involved of appearing religious when making suggestions for Godly living, and it is easy for a reader to feel the author is being legalistic. Krish does well to avoid this trap, by suggesting activities that every person would be comfortable incorporating into their life, and by keeping these activities merely suggestions, embracing the fact that different people will have different preferences. The lack of contentious material in the book also contributes to its success in this area.
24 is unlikely to profoundly change the way that you think about life or approach life, or the way you deal with people, but nonetheless it does play an important role. Almost every Christian seeks practical assistance in becoming more Christ- like, and this book certainly achieves its aims - it will help you integrate your faith and real life, and its helpful suggestions will not leave you stranded between a desire for change and an inability to achieve it. For those of us seeking God in every part of our life, this book is of great value.
Tim Thomas
t.thomas@eauk.org - comments welcome!
