A Quest For More
Paul David Tripp

Reviewed by Jaimie Bell

He says “we were never meant to be self-focused little kings ruling miniscule little kingdoms with a population of one.”  He believes we need to examine what kind of earthly treasures we pursue and make conscious decisions to keep the focus off them and on Jesus.

The chapter entitled “Discovering Your Kingdom” was very effective at illustrating our human need to exert and maintain control of our personal kingdoms.  Tripp boldly goes for the spiritual jugular as he candidly details the ways people manipulate each other, especially those in our families. “It’s not just that we all tend to build our own little claustrophobic kingdoms, but that we want the people who are around us to keep the rules of our kingdoms as well.”

Tripp is very open about sharing some of his own failures in this department. He recounts a time when he was voted off the board of a Christian school he helped found and was quite active in. Realizing afterwards that turning the school into his own personal ministry was unacceptable and this humiliating experience became a valuable lesson in his spiritual development.

Although my theology differs somewhat from Tripp, I found many valuable insights throughout the book. I liked the chapter called “In the Center of It All” where he warns that when Christ is not at the center of our lives, we will be reduced to theology and rules.  It is easy to replace Him in our hearts with things like legalism, emotionalism, and formalism and these cleverly disguised forms of Christianity take Jesus off the throne and replace it with self.

     “If I love God more than anything else, I will be pulled way beyond the borders of my own wants and needs to the spaciousness of God’s kingdom, where redemption and restoration of all things is the order of the day, every day.” 

A couple of Tripp’s digressions end at peculiar theories such as contentment being a sign of a self-based kingdom mentality and is therefore ungodly. He believes people should live in a perpetual state of emotional dissatisfaction and tension he refers to as “groaning” which is a sign of true spiritual fulfillment and gratitude. I felt interpretations of the passage in Romans used to prove this point were a bit loose.

Still, the basic premise on changing our attitudes from me centered to God and community centered is an important one and worth reading and taking to heart. The format used in A Quest For More where noteworthy points are highlighted in blue was useful, especially if it is to be used for a group study.

Paul David Tripp is a conference speaker and the author of several books on practical issues of Christian living.