The Man In The Mirror by Patrick Morley (Zondervan)

You cannot see yourself unless you look into a mirror. But then again, looking at yourself in the mirror is not about checking out how your face looks. Rather, it is how you face the road of life. Pat Morley has done men a favor in helping us discover ourselves as well as finding meaning and purpose of being men in this readable classic book. The Man in the Mirror contains many nuggets of truth that will help any man in their struggles no matter what stage in life they are at:

“The subtle sin of pride beguiles every Christian man. The most invisible of sins, pride seeps into the Christian life like water oozes into the moat around a sand castle on the beach. It requires no effort on our part to get, but all of our strength to keep out.”

“To be afraid is to not fully trust God. He instructs us not to be afraid, promising that if we cast our anxiety upon Him, He will take care of us (see 1 Peter 5:7).”

“Before I received the Lord, every other word had four letters imaginatively arranged. I became acutely aware of the sinfulness of this coarse language, aided, no doubt, by its high visibility. Through prayer, God dramatically changed this area of my life.”

Practical stories of men’s struggles along with Pat’s life stories will encourage you to find balance in life. Pat takes on everyday issues men face (masculinity, the rat race, work, family, money, leisure, relationship, time, integrity, etc.) and challenges them to think about true meaning in life in his Focus Questions section at the end of each chapter. Thinking and answering these questions will help men see the self beneath the tip of the “iceberg” and not just the fraction of that part where it is seen and known by the self and observable to others.

The subtitle of the book, Solving the 24 Problems Men Face, is slightly misleading since it does not instantly “solve” all the 24 problems, but it does address them. Responsibility lies with the reader and God to do the solving (and it will happen if you give it a chance). All in all, a good and recommended read and a valuable resource for men’s group study and possibly for women too. Happy reading!

Billy Chan is a graduate from Trinity Theological College and also holds a MSc in Information Technology from University of Sheffield. He is the Vice President of Programs at Eagles Communications.