The New Life (eBook) by Daniel Hames

Does the Christian life have to be such hard work?

There are endless books describing how to live a “better” and “more disciplined” Christian life, and the long list of things to remember, eliminate, or put into practice can start to feel discouraging. The aim of this book is to go deeper—to ask what it’s all about in the first place. Why did God save you? What does it mean, practically speaking, to love him? Why is it sometimes so difficult to live in his ways? Come and discover the heartbeat of your new life in Jesus, and find that you can truly enjoy being a Christian.

Chapters include:

What’s Holding You Back?
1. At the Foot of the Cross
2. Living in God’s Love
3. Loving God
4. A Friend Forever
5. Grown Up Tastes
6. Left Behind
7. Doing Good
8. Perfect

Title

The New Life
Author(s)

Daniel Hames
Series

Union Essentials
ISBN

9781068394638
Format

eBook
Publisher

Union Publishing
Audience

Adults, New Christian
Pages

64
Published

03/02/2026

Daniel Hames

See other titles by this author

Overall rating

5.0 based on 1 review

New life in Christ

Daniel Hames has produced another helpful volume in the Union Essentials series, this time focusing on the Christian life. He addresses those who struggle in viewing the Christian life as a duty to perform and goes back to first principles. We don’t become Christians by God’s grace and then live in our own strength, rather it is God’s grace all the way (Galatians 2.20). We all to easily forget that the supreme blessing of the Gospel is adoption as God’s sons. God is now our Father and the main thing that he wants from us is that we love him (Deuteronomy 6.5). As John Owen pointed out, loving Jesus is the most God-like thing we can do, because the Father loves the Son. Now we are called to walk with the Spirit, producing his fruit (Galatians 5.16-25). In a brilliant metaphor, Hames shows that the Christian life is not forcing yourself to eat food you hate (in this case olives) but more like being won over by the delights of food you never knew existed in a restaurant. God changes our desires by giving us a new heart (Ezekiel 36.26-27; Jeremiah 31.33). As a result, we can lead holy lives, choosing godliness over sin. Hames argues that Christians with a casual attitude to sin or a tendency to despair over failure have both lost sight of the cross that shows both the cost and defeat of sin. In Christ we can be content and one day we will be perfect. In the meantime, suffering can help us to grow. This book would be a blessing to both new and established Christians on how we are now new in Christ. The chapters are short, with questions for reflection or discussion, and it is an easy and uplifting read.