3 Books Every Christian Needs to Read

I love to read.  I believe that my habit of reading regularly has been more impactful on my life than anything else.  Most of the books that I choose to read are based upon other people’s recommendations.  If you are a follower of Christ, (or even if you aren’t) there are 3 books that I would recommend as essential reading.  Disclaimer: I realize there are dozens of books that could have made this list, and many that you think should be on this list.

1.      The “Bible” by God through 40 different writers

I know this one sounds like a no-brainer!  But statistics tell us that 61% of Christians have read the entire Bible.  That means almost 4 out 10 have not.  Essentially these people are saying that they are committing their lives to something that they haven’t taken the time to read for themselves.  I implore you not to read the Bible out of guilt and obligation but out of a deep desire to discover truth.  There are so many resources out there to assist you in getting started on a plan to read the Bible.  I recommend the Bible App  www.bible.com/app

I have found this extremely helpful in making reading God’s word a daily habit.    

2.      “I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist” by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek

Being someone who was raised in church since I was a baby, I was taught what to believe but not necessarily why to believe it.  With the exception of “We believe it because the Bible says it.”  This book gives page after page of convincing arguments and evidence for the basics of the Theistic/Christian worldview.  I found it extremely informative and inspiring!

3.      “How To Win Friends And Influence People” by Dale Carnegie    

I know this one may sound a bit odd to make the list.  You may be thinking, “What does this have to do with Christianity?”  The previous books will equip you to understand what you believe, why you believe it, and how to articulate your faith.  But if we don’t have people skills no one will want to listen to anything we have to say.  This book is a classic written in 1936.  The principles he writes about are timeless.  This is one of a handful of books that I have reread multiple times!      

I encourage you to make reading a part of your daily routine.  It has forever enriched my life in more ways than I can count.  I would recommend starting with these three books.  

Abortion: A "Right" or a "Wrong?"

     I recently had a fascinating conversation with a young man on Facebook regarding the topic of abortion.  Our conversation basically started out with me stating that life within the womb was sacred, and he responded by stating that the developing fetus in the womb was a “jumble of cells,” therefore giving the women the right to choose abortion. 

     I had to admit that if he is right and the developing fetus was just a “jumble of cells” then the woman probably did have the right to eliminate them from her body.  I then asked a clarifying question, “So in your opinion when do these ‘jumble of cells’ become a human being?”  He responded with “A jumble of cells can become a human if the person chooses to carry those cells to the point at which they are an autonomous being and no longer a parasite.”

     I was intrigued and by this statement, because I still wanted to know at what point a fetus goes from being a “parasite” and becomes an "autonomous being."  In my opinion this is a foundational question to be answered in the abortion debate, “Is the developing fetus a human being?”  And if the developing fetus is a human being when does it become human? 

     To quote William Lane Craig, “There is no nonarbitrary point in the process before which you can say the fetus is not human but after which he or she is.  The fact is that any human attempt to draw a line and say ‘not human before this point, but human afterwards’ is wholly arbitrary and without biological foundation.” 

     Answering the question of “Is the developing fetus a human being?” will lead us to the underlying question of “Do human beings possess intrinsic moral value?”  This second question is foundational to the issue of abortion as well.

     In another discussion with the aforementioned young man regarding abortion, I asked “In your opinion is abortion a good thing or a bad thing?”  He said, “Abortion is good because it provides an option to people if they are in a situation where they cannot have, afford to have, had no choice, do not want, and/or had not planned to have a child.”

     I then asked “Would you like to see more or less abortions performed in America?”  He said “I, personally, would like to see less performed.” 

     This is the point I think that most of us would agree upon, “Less Abortions.” 

     I finally ended our discussion with this statement, “I am for less abortions because I am morally opposed to it. I believe that unborn babies are human beings and deserve to be given the chance at life. I don't want less abortions because I hate women but actually because I care about them and I believe that abortions have many negative consequences on the mothers. I'm not talking about making abortion illegal but making it less common. I'm for sex education but would like for abstinence to be discussed. I'm for adoption. I'm for churches and non-profits helping young ladies who are pregnant and wrestling with the decision of abortion with love and respect.”

The Embarrassing Gospel!

     
Have you ever done something that was really, really embarrassing?  I sure have.  I once volunteered to be a part of a strength exhibition at our church.  I was going to pull a 40,000 lb fire truck!  Hundreds of people were there to watch and when the fire truck showed up, it was actually 80,000 lbs and it had begun to rain.  That didn’t stop me from trying!  On my third attempt to pull the truck, I pulled so hard my harness snapped!  Needless to say, the firetruck never moved and I was rather embarrassed.  If I had been making up this story, it definitely would have had a more triumphant ending.

     There were a group of men who have told a story and unfortunately they have been accused of making it up.  I am talking about the Disciples of Jesus of Nazareth.  They shared their accounts of the life of Jesus in the four gospels of the New Testament.  Their accounts have endured endless criticism. 

     I submit one line of evidence among many for the reliability of their accounts: Their Embarrassing testimony. 

     Have you ever lied to make yourself look good?    Probably.  Have you ever lied to make yourself look bad? Probably not.  This is why the embarrassing details of the gospel writers is deemed to be reliable.  If you are going to make up a story you are more than likely going to make you and your friends out to be heroes, not bumbling idiots.

     There are several categories of the embarrassing details, one of which is that the disciples were cowards! 

     When Jesus is captured, all of the disciples run away in terror!  Mark even includes in his account of a follower who ran away naked! Many scholars believe that Mark is referring to himself as the naked coward.

     After Jesus is captured, Peter denies that he even knows him, three different times.  When he is confronted by soldiers? No, when he is confronted by a middle school girl!

     After Jesus is crucified, the women followers are the only ones brave enough to go and discover the empty tomb!  This embarrassing detail is quit revealing considering the culture at that time.  In a court of law, a woman’s testimony was not on the same level as a man’s.  Consider this quote from the Jewish religious text “Sooner let the words of the Law be burnt than delivered to women!”  Women obviously occupied a low rung on the Jewish social ladder.   This is evidence that if the disciples where making up a story, they wouldn’t make women the first to discover Jesus resurrection.  But the women were the heroes of the story!

     I want to highlight two lessons we can learn from these embarrassing details of the Gospel accounts.

1.    The Gospel Accounts are FACT not fiction! 

If they said Jesus said it, he actually said it.

If they said Jesus did it, he actually did it.

2.    God will use cowardly imperfect people to change the world if they will only put their faith in him!            

Kill your TV!

     I am a proud father of three amazing kids and I love being a Dad! With that being said, being a father has also been one of the most demanding and frustrating experiences of my life!  I get so frustrated with their immaturity and choices sometimes.  Recently my nine year old daughter clogged a sink downstairs turned the water on and left! She said it was an accident when she flooded the basement.  Fortunately, the overflowing sink was discovered before any real damage was done.  But boy was that a frustrating mess to clean up!
     But probably the most frustration I face as a parent is with myself.  I feel so inadequate as a parent and get extremely disappointed when I lose my temper or patience with my kids.  I think my biggest disappointment is when I look back at all of the times when I got lazy or distracted and completely disengaged as a parent.
     My biggest temptation that causes disengagement is technology.  I have such a love/hate relationship with technology.  I have an iPhone 5 and an iPad 3.  I have DirectTV and a flat panel TV.  I am quite fond of these devices but yet get so frustrated at the disconnection that they can create with the living, breathing humans that fill my home and whom I love so much.
     Recently after watching TV with my kids for an entire summer evening when the weather outside was beautiful, I decided I had to do something drastic.  I disconnected the TV and hid it!  The next day everyone wanted to know what happened to the TV.  I told them that the TV was on vacation.  There was a lot of crying and frustrated, dramatic statements at full volume! Good grief you would have thought that I killed their puppy!
     The next day at a garage sale I found and old kiddy record player and several dozen records that I bought for for $2! I was pleasantly surprised at how much my kids fell in love with this thing.  They thanked me several times for this new found treasure.  But the statement that about gave me a heart attack was when my  9 year old daughter (the aforementioned daughter who flooded the basement) said "Thanks Dad for sending the TV on vacation!" Incredulously, I said "Why?"  She said, "because when the TV is gone I spend a lot more time with my family."  And then she said something that really nailed me to the wall.  "Watching TV isn't really spending time with your family!"  Out of the mouths of babes!
     I have no idea how long this "TV on vacation" thing will work with my family, but I challenge you to try it with your family.  Needless to say I am pleasantly surprised with the results so far!
     God's word says in James that our lives are like a mist that quickly fades away.  I continually wrestle with how to make the most of my life!  Sometimes instead of blindly following our culture we need to take a moment and examine where this swiftly flowing river of culture is taking us to!
     Maybe we need to unplug for a moment now and then to be able to ask ourselves some hard questions!  I know it is a struggle for me to do this but every time I do, I am so glad I did!

God's Love ISN'T Unconditional!

     One of the most common statements I hear preachers making is that "God's love is unconditional."  I must admit, I have made that statement several times myself.  Why would I make such a statement?  Well, I heard a lot of other preachers make the statement and have read a lot of stuff in the Bible that seemed to back up that concept.  But is God's love is really unconditional?
     I am grateful that we have come along way from every sermon being "fire and brimstone," "turn or burn," "get right or get left,"  kind of messages.  Most preachers today (popular ones anyway) no longer preach with a "God is mad at you, but if you beg him for forgiveness he might let you into heaven" attitude. It appears that we are getting a more accurate picture of the Love, Grace and Mercy God has for us.
   With that said, I feel like we can go too far with statements like "God's love is unconditional."  First lets define unconditional: "not limited by conditions."  Here is where it gets tricky.  David said that God's love is "as vast as the heavens."  He also said that God's love is "unfailing."  But I believe it has conditions:

#1 God's Character

God's love is unfailing because he is unfailing.  His love is faithful because he is faithful.  David goes on to say that his "faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds."

As humans we fail all the time.  We are extremely unfaithful.  We are incapable of showing "unconditional love."  Human love is limited, because human beings are limited.  Human love has conditions.
God's love is conditioned by his character.
John tells us something about God's character, "God is love."
David tells us that all of God's creation experiences his love to some degree.  "You care for people and animals alike, O Lord."  David also tells us that all humanity experiences God's love to some degree, "All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings."

Does God love every human being regardless of condition? Absolutely!  

I believe that the conditions don't limit the amount of God's love but our experience of that love!

In the Old testament Jews experienced more of God's love than Gentiles because of the condition of the covenant / law.

#2 His Son

In the New Testament followers of Christ experience more of God's love than non-followers because of the condition of Jesus' death on the Cross!  Paul tells us in Romans 11:17 that gentiles can now experience the blessings God promised Abraham and his children. 

#3 Our FAITH

Paul tells us that it is through our faith that we are made right with God.  It is through faith in Jesus Christ that we experience salvation.  It is through faith that we experience relationship with God.  It is through FAITH that we experience more of his Love!

#4 Our OBEDIENCE 

Every time the Bible expresses a promise of blessing (e..g. If you, then God) it is a condition to our experiencing more of the Love of God through his blessings upon obedience. 

I realize that this is a fine line to walk.  Paul also told us that salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done.  God blesses us because of his goodness not ours, but yet he clearly communicates to us that he rewards our obedience.

I feel like I am in the "extreme middle" on this issue.  There are extremes on each end that I believe do not honor God.  The one extreme is a thinking that we are constantly striving to be good enough to "earn" God's love.  The other extreme is thinking that our actions are irrelevant because "God still loves me."

My understanding of God's love is constantly growing.  I challenge you to examine your pre-conceived ideas about his love.

Let me know what you think.  Is God's love unconditional or conditional?        
 

Should we only accept good from God?

     I love being a Dad but their are times when it is much more enjoyable than others.  The times when I really don't enjoy being a Father is when I have to discipline my kids.  I recently had to punish one of my kids because of a string of deceitful and dishonest acts.  If you would have popped into my house at the moment I was disciplining them and would have seen their reaction to the punishment, you might have been tempted to label me an abusive father.

     But before you call and report me for child abuse, you should know that what I did was take away a few of their most prized possessions and privileges, until their changed behavior could earn their redemption.

     My children can tell by the look on my face and the tone of my voice when I am entering their room to administer punishment.  Their reaction is not pleasant at all.  It is quite the opposite reaction that I would receive if I entered their room to give them a gift, say an ice cream cone or a new toy.  They are quite happy to see me in those moments.  But what my children are not able to see because of their immaturity, is that my heart and motivation towards them is exactly the same in both of those moments.  I want to bless them!

     I totally understand why they don't see punishment, discipline and correction as a blessing.  I didn't see those things as blessings either, when they came from my parents.  But I am reminded of a quote from the book of Job: "Should we only accept good things from the hand of God and not bad?"

     We will line up to buy the latest book on "6 easy steps to receiving God's blessings."  But a book on "Making the most of God's correction" probably won't even make it on the shelves.  We love to hear preachers tell us that God wants to fill our pockets with money, our houses with stuff, and our garages with a Lexus and an Escalade.  But we have no desire to hear a message saying that sometimes God allows us to suffer pain.  What preacher wants to preach "God disciplines those he loves?"

     Pain comes into our lives through three different ways.
1. Through our choice.
       I can warn my children that certain actions will result in pain, but they choose whether or not they will listen to me.  God is the same towards us.
     Their are some things that are out of his control!  God chooses not to override our choices: therefore putting it out of his control.

2.  Through another's choice.
     Just as God chooses not to control our choices, he also chooses not to control other people's choices.  Sometimes those choices result in other people causing us pain.

3.  Through God's choice.
     This is the hardest one for me to swallow.  God allows painful circumstances into our lives.  Why?  Sometimes, it is to correct us.  "No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening--it's painful!  But afterward their will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way." Hebrews 12:11

     Sometimes, it is the devil trying to destroy our faith.  Please don't ever pretend to be God and tell someone else that they are going through pain because God is punishing them.  You have no idea!  God wants us to respond out of love and compassion to someone's pain, not judgement and criticism.

The promise that I hold onto when I go through pain is Romans 8:28. (And I fully understand that the pain I have went through in my life is nothing compared to what others have endured!  But God's promises our the same regardless.)  "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."

So I challenge you to ask God a couple of questions in the midst of pain, "What do you want to teach me through this?" and "How are you going to work this out for my good?"    

The gift of "finding yourself!"

     Have you ever heard anyone say something like this, "I just need to find myself!"  Or "I just need to figure out who I am!"  It seems like a lot of young people are on this journey of "finding themselves."  I think a lot of older people are on this same journey, they just might not use this same language.  I know that I had to begin this journey of "finding myself"  as a teenager.
     I have looked to find my identity under a lot of different titles, "athlete, scholar, biker, banker, pastor, body-builder, strongman, husband, father, and even missionary."  But it seemed like I could never fully "find myself" in just one of these titles.  I had to "find myself" under a totally different title.
     This journey of "finding yourself" isn't anything new, but is old as time.  I was recently reading in Matthew 16, where Jesus asks the question, "Who do people say that I am?"  His disciples have a myriad  of different answers to what popular opinion is about Jesus, but then he asks a much more difficult question.  "Who do you say that I am?"  Your answer to this question has so much more to do with this "finding yourself" journey than you may think.
     Peter's response is bold, "You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God!"  I love what Jesus says to him.  "Peter, you didn't figure this out on your own."  Or "This wasn't revealed to you by any human source."  "God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am!"  This vision or revelation of Christ's true identity was a gift from God!
     Look at how the Message paraphrase states the rest of the story: "And now I am going to tell you who you are, really are."  Once Peter found out who God really was, he could find out who he really was.  You can read all the Self-help books that you want.   You can "look inside yourself" all you want, but you will never truly "find yourself."  As this passage in Matthew later states, "Self-help is no help at all."
     Vision for your life is not man-made.  It is a gift from God.  The creation cannot tell itself why it was created.  It must ask the creator why it was created.  You must know who God is before you can know who you are.
     My journey of "finding myself"  was ultimately settled at the destination of an entirely different title: "HIS!"