“I think every Christian leader should read one book a year about who God is.”
We’re good carvers, we Christians; we like to carve God down to our own size and call him reliable and capable. We need to be in the Word daily to stay aware of the person of God and his purposes for our lives.
A book that taught me how to study the Bible is Search the Scriptures (InterVarsity) by Allan Gibbs. I came across it when I was a sophomore in college, and I’ve now read it three times. It helped me put biblical truth in bigger packages than I’d ever done before. A good Bible-study guide should be just that; it should not be a commentary full of someone else’s answers. This book takes you through the Word by asking questions that make you wrestle with what each Scripture text is saying.
In the past, I’ve spent so much time in the Gospels focusing on the person of Christ, that I’ve neglected the more encompassing study of the total person of God. As a result, I’ve had a smaller view of the tremendous significance of my redemption and salvation. Knowing God (Intervarsity), by James Packer, helped to enlarge that view, and helps me communicate the person of God with greater breadth and depth in my speaking, writing, and teaching ministry.
Another way I approach the study of God is through the fiction of C. S. Lewis. The Chronicles of Narnia (Macmillan), in particular, have been a delight to me. Lewis said that if a book is worth reading at ten, it should also be worth reading at fifty, because it contains basic, applicable truths. The Narnia stories are packed with marvelous truths about God and Christ. I remember a passage from The Dawn Treader in which Eustace, a main character, coveted great worldly treasures and in the process became a horrible dragon. The process by which he became “undragoned” is a beautiful analogy to spiritual conversion and growth. Reading Lewis and other quality Christian fiction writers stretches the imagination into “spin-off”‘ views of reality that you would never reach with your own imagination. In The Last Battle, for instance, glimpses of the transformation from this world into the spiritual are compared to biting into a new foreign fruit, which makes the most luscious fruits on earth seem like dried prunes.
At times in my life I have appreciated books that influence my piety; my reverence and devotion before God. The most influential has been Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secrets (Moody Press). This book shed more insight on how to live a life of faith and serve God than any book I’ve read. Taylor’s life was a model of trust. When his wife lay dying, he knelt by her side and, thanking God for her, committed her to the Lord. Then in complete devotion, he rededicated the rest of his life to God’s service. As a devotional, this book has inspired and challenged me to absolute dependence on God.
Finally, I’m always stimulated by someone who thinks clearly, rips away the fluff, and gets right to what he wants to say. John White, author of Parents in Pain (InterVarsity), does this. The book probes the complicated task of raising children. White’s compassionate understanding of parents who have failed and children who have rebelled has influenced me significantly. Although I am not a parent in pain, this book speaks to all people and offers common sense in helping people relate to one another.
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