Matthew Bingham, A Heart Aflame for God: A Reformed Approach to Spiritual Formation (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2025), 354 pp.
A Heart Aflame for God: A Reformed Approach to Spiritual Formation by Dr. Matthew Bingham is a book for our times. Bingham defines spiritual formation as “the conscious process by which we seek to heighten and satisfy our Spirit-given thirst for God through divinely appointed means and with a view toward working out our own salvation with fear and trembling.” Tragically, many churches have few resources that point parishioners in a God-Centered direction. A Heart Aflame is a step in the right direction.
The author begins by constructing a foundation that will help orient Christians to growing spiritually. At the heart of this foundation is the Bible’s command to “keep the heart.” Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Puritan authors are utilized to drive home the importance of keeping the heart. This involves an intense battle with sin, but also entails fighting for joy. In the end, this activity is designed to push us toward Christian maturity and godliness, or sanctification.
The five solas of the Reformation are reflected upon that serve both the head and the heart. Bingham writes, “If we believe that the Reformation got the gospel right, then we should be equally attentive to the way a Reformation vision of spiritual formation follows from that same understanding of the gospel.”
There is no pitting of the head and the heart in this work, which proves to be one of its greatest strengths. Indeed, as Bingham notes, “the affections of regenerate Christians are primarily stirred through reflecting on God’s truth as revealed in his word.” Thus, we find a marriage of both the head and the heart, which is in keeping with the thought of the New England Puritans.
Bingham carefully unpacks the crucial spiritual practices that God’s Word sets forth for his people to grow in godliness, namely – Bible intake (hearing from God), meditation (reflecting on God), and prayer (responding to God). A chapter for each discipline (which Bingham refers to as the Reformation Triangle) is included that educates and inspires.
A Heart Aflame for God is a much-needed balm for the soul, a book that is sure to warm hearts and ignite minds for the great cause of the gospel.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.
Veritas et Lux 