Wow!
What a difference 18 years makes. I first read this book on the recommendation of my brother-in-law Ken back in 1988. I knew I was supposed to find it powerful, so I gave it a high rating, but really I found it intimidating.

Now, after 18 more years of discovering just how incompetent I am (I even had to double-check to make sure I spelled "incompetent" correctly), I found the book amazing.

Strombeck uses tons of Scripture to prove how EVERYTHING we accomplish is by God's grace and that we bring NOTHING to the party at all. After we (finally) realize this, we begin to be effective in our walk with the Lord.

Here's what he says on love under law contrasted with love under grace: All standards of conduct under the law were summed up in the two commandments, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind"; and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matt. 22:37, 39). But that love for God is only on a human level. It is with a human heart, soul, and mind. To love one's neighbor as oneself is also only human because the love of self is human.

All standards of a life under grace are summed up by Jesus in the words; "This is my commandment, That ye love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:12). Paul repeated this thought, "And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour" (Eph. 5:2). The love of Christ for the believer is a divine love and was even unto death. When the believer is called upon to love as Christ loved, he is asked to love with a divine love — nothing less.

And on a life lived by grace: The true life, then, which is taught by grace is not, as is so commonly thought, a life lived by the individual with some assistance from God at crucial times; but is rather a life of God Himself, by Jesus Christ, His son, through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is manifested in those who are yielded to God and are willing to do His will.

In short, life isn't about doing — it's about yielding to God. The doing comes as a natural response to that yielding. Any doing that is done because of obligation, guilt, payback to God, pride, attempts to impress others, etc. is of no value (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).