Review: The Seven Laws of Love: Essential Principles for Building Stronger Relationships

The Seven Laws of Love: Essential Principles for Building Stronger Relationships by Dave Willis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Usually when I hear or read often repeated bible stories, usually a sense of excitement would not be the natural response. But Willis is exceptionally good in reintroducing the context in a modern day vernacular that I found myself looking forward to when he would highlight a bible character. Many pastors use the bible passages to illustrate a point in their sermon (I call it violence to Scripture) but what Willis does is exceptional - he utilises popular culture to illustrate the message of the bible in a manner that the modern audience can understand; he ably communicates the original message of the biblical author in the language of today.

Willis is a master story teller - his sharing of anecdotes of friends and family are precise in that they aptly illustrate a substantive he is trying to make (in some other books I read, I scratch my head in bewilderment when I try in vain to figure out why personal accounts were unnecessarily penned into the pages). While I sense that Willis' primary area of ministry is actually marriage counselling, I felt that the book was still highly relevant to both the unmarried and married readers. I especially appreciated the carefully curated list of date-night questions and marriage advice on pages 124-128, which were full of gems of wisdom.

The one section I was apprehensive about, and which led me to rate 4 instead of 5 stars, would be where Willis shared about how they had struggled to listen to his voice to give away their beat-up van to a ministry that needed it badly, and how eventually they received a brand new one as a gift. The account is fine, though I think it is imperative to stress that obedience may not always follow with a "reward" of sorts. Finally, postmodernity has influenced me much more than I would like to admit. And while I am conscious about my decision to take on a more gospel-lensed worldview, a book with the title that screams "LAW" possibly would not appeal to most millennials. Which is a pity, because this is a wonderful little book that I had thoroughly enjoyed. Perhaps "CREED" or "DIRECTIVE" would be potential synonymns to be used in place of "LAW" in subsequent revisions?

I received this book from the Harpercollins’ Booklook Bloggers Program for the purposes of providing an unbiased review. All views are my own.

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