Recommended Reading for Christians

Maybe you are new to reading Christian books. This is an essential means of growth in Christ and I can't recommend it highly enough. It in no way replaces serious personal Bible study but can augment it greatly.

Where to start? Well here are some short titles to get you going:

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis
Understanding the Bible by John Stott
Know Why You Believe by Paul Little

A little more challenging is Holiness by J C Ryle, but I'm adding it to this list because it has often been said that if you only ever read one Christian book beside the Bible this is the one to go for.

It is worth noting that older Christian titles are often available as free downloads or, for a very small charge, as Kindle e-books. I would strongly recommend starting with something like The Beatitudes by Thomas Watson. It is easier to read than some of his other work (which I also recommend but it a somewhat heavier read), and overflows with spiritual wisdom.

Christian Drip

Today a group of Christian men were publicly accused of being "drips", the implication being that they were not suitable life partners for a woman.

The term "drip" is not well defined so it is difficult for these men to defend themselves against this charge. However as they, like me, are Christians and as I am clearly a drip I thought I would add some observations to help define the term.

If you follow Jesus with all your heart you are a drip.

If you love the Word of God and seek to make it part of your life, daily desire a deeper walk with and understanding of the Word, and long for Christian maturity, you are a drip.

If you work tirelessly over the years to support your family and inlaws, you are a drip.

If you can discipline and disciple your children so they respect other people and their Maker you're a drip.

If you can live through the indescribable pain of your marriage hitting the rocks and stay faithful to your wife until it is healed you are a drip.

If you can remain on your knees when your marriage is completely broken, praying for your partner and that God will show you how to change the one thing you have that you can really change (which is you) you're a drip and a loser.

If you remain in a dead-end boring job which is massively below your capabilities, because that meets the needs of your wife and family for long term stability you're a complete drip.

If you are ever found with a tea towel in your hands your a drip. (Probably an effeminate one at that.)

And if you can do all these things you are clearly a World Class Drip. What woman would ever want you?

Getting your heart's desire

I've often noticed that before God grants an answer to our prayers we have to reach the point where we are completely at peace with whatever His plans are for us. Many years ago I prayed that He would supply me with a wife. These prayers went unanswered for a long time until my prayer changed to "Please send a godly woman to be my wife but if you want me to be single then that's completely fine too.". Amazingly just a few days later my future wife walked into our church and the course of my life changed forever.

The Psalmist writes "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will grant you the desires of your heart." So to delight ourselves in Him is a prerequisite to many heartfelt but unanswered prayers. If we delight ourselves in Him our wills have to become aligned to his. We can't harbour unforgiveness or unconfessed sin in our hearts yet delight ourselves in Him. Before he can grant us the desires of our hearts we have to be at peace with Him and His plan for our lives. Unforgiveness and unconfessed sin stand squarely in the way of this.

Ian Thomas on problems

I've been hugely blessed by Ian Thompson's The indwelling Life of Christ. It is one of those books that I really wish someone had given me when I first became a Christian. Here is a little quote on problems:

"Every time you give yourself the right to have a problem or the right to worry about something, you give yourself the right to live your own life. However if you adopt an attitude of total dependence on the Life of the Lord Jesus, the only life that God will ever credit you, then no matter how threatening a situation may be, you can relate it to Him. You can say "Thank You, Lord! This is no longer my problem or my worry; it is Yours"

This is the quality of life that gives you "the peace of God that passes all understanding." It is the peace of God that staggers your neighbours, leaving the perplexed and baffled as they see you remain on such an even keel in situations that would completely demoralize them."

A changed life

I'm no expert on trees but I know an apple tree when I see one. Well actually that's not completely true. I know an apple tree when I see one at certain times of the year. When its in fruit.

Coming to Christ requires a change in heart and this change is not something we can achieve for ourselves. Salvation belongs to God and is part of the work of the Holy Spirit in people's lives. However the Christian's live only starts with a life-giving saving faith. You can reasonably expect a lifetime of being refined by God by the work of the Holy Spirit, and the Bible is very clear about what this work will produce. In a word Fruit.

I once spoke with a man on the street and after a very few moments he said "You must be one of those born-again Christians". I wasn't openly witnessing, only being polite to someone who rarely knew that response. Nevertheless he was able to recognise Christ in me. He immediately observed something of God's work in my life that I would be unable to see myself.

Most people are not experts on Christians but they should certainly know one when they see one.

(Gal 5:22-23)

The message of reconcilliation

Almost everyone I know is out of relationship with someone. It is a tragic side effect of sin. Our sin, and hard heartedness breaks relationships. Some people have relationships broken before they were born. They never know the loving relationship with the father that God planned them to have. Others hardly know their mothers. Great friendships can be and are broken, and always the root cause is sin.

If you don't know God personally then I have to tell you that you are missing out on the greatest relationship of all, and not only that God is willing to be reconcilled with you and has done the most amazing thing to make that reconcilliation possible.

The apostle Paul puts it so much better than I ever could:

"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Cor 15:18-21)

A new creation

Becoming a Christian changes you permanently. For some people this is a process, for some a definite instant in time. The most important instant in time and the most important decision you can ever make. A decision that changes your eternal destiny and brings joy to heaven. Recently I've been reading Steven Gaukroger's book "It Makes Sense", where he contrasts someone making a desision for Christ with making a decision to become an atheist. The fact is that coming to Christ must change you. As Gaukroger points out, nobody ever heard of someone saying "I used to be a drunkard and a wife beater, but now I've become an atheist that's all behind me".

The wonder of the cross is that it opens the door to an eternal relationship with Jesus. A relationship that is yours simply by faith. Your sins are forgiven and your life changed simply by believing, agreeing to fully turn away from your old ways, trusting and coming into a relationship with Him. If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old has gone the new has come. (2 Cor 5:17)

What matters is a new creation.

Dealing With Differences. Right or Righteous?

This is certainly one of the greatest challenges of the Christian life. God intended us to be in loving fellowship with one another, and this fellowship is an obvious target for the enemy, beit the "enemy of our souls" or the "old man". We have a natural tendency to want to be right, to want to prove each other wrong, to prove that our world view, and that of our friends is correct, and that of other people is wrong. What terrible witness to the love and grace of our Lord and Saviour if such things are allowed to surface publicly. How on earth will all men know that we are his disciples?

It is better to be righteous than to win the argument. Sometimes its best just to let go. We will always have differences and perfect theology will not come this side of eternity.

Make sure every word you speak is seasoned with love. The truth without love is questionable at best.

Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters with absolute purity.

(1 Tim 5:1-2)