Bestselling author Jerry Bridges passed away today at the age of 86.

He was not only a friend, he was a big influence on my Christian life, and I know many of you

could say the same thing.

His writings were as wonderful as they were authentic, and I've always had the sense

that his books were really the product of the deepest wrestling that he faced in his

own walk with the Lord.

Over the years, I had the honor to interview Jerry several times, and in the winter of

2011, I asked him, looking back over his 60 plus years as a Christian, what were the

hard-won lessons that he would want younger believers to take from his life today?

Here's what he said.

Well, there are probably five significant truths that I would like for a young believer

to know.

Unfortunately, I learned these over a period of a number of years simply because I was not

exposed to the right kind of teaching.

I'll just take them in the chronological order in which I learned them.

It doesn't mean that this should be true.

In fact, if I were going to reverse the chronology, I would certainly do that.

But the first thing I learned which really began my walk with the Lord is that the Bible

is meant to be applied specifically in our daily lives, because most people just have

the idea that if I don't murder somebody or don't do these things, I'm okay.

But I learned that the Bible was meant to be applied in my daily life.

I was a young officer in the U.S. Navy at the time.

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