"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 ...