In my spare time, I (try to) read books. Some good ones let me add. I only say that because I haven’t been suggested a bad one (yet). Check them out. If you like them, follow the thumbnail’s link to purchase it on Amazon. If you’re currently in a financial fix, email me and I’ll buy it for you.
The Discipline of Grace
Jerry Bridges
Well there is a reason that this book is at the top. One of the most resourceful, insightful, intellectual, humble pieces I have ever read. Bridges starts off with a “Good Day” and “Bad Day” scenario, and unpacks God’s providence, provision, love, and grace accomplished in the Trinity for both. He biblically addresses almost every possible concern regarding our faith, action, and God’s interaction with them. This book easily answers the first 200 questions a new Christian might have about their faith in full detail and exegetical excellency. I promise you, this book will point you to scripture, point you to the cross, and if there’s anything that it won’t do, it won’t lead you astray.
The Reason for God
Timothy Keller
Are you a thinker? Are you not even Christian but seeking a reason for God? Are you far left and completely sure that this exclusive “religious” following of God is the core reason for all injustice and hypocrisy? Read this book. It addresses all of today’s questions surrounding religious exclusivity, absolute truth, an “unjust” god, relativism, atheism, and so on. It’s a delight and a breath of fresh air for the thinker and questioner. Keller settles the stomach in his arguments and articulation. This book is clean, organized, and at worst, respectable.
Death by Love
Mark Driscoll
This is my favorite book. Mark Driscoll is a man sincerely after God’s heart and what spoke out to me – and admittedly intimidated me at first – is his apostolic-likeness of calling out those who must be called out in godly wrath and sternness. In this book he writes a series of letters to different people in his church who struggle with different sins or injustices. One chapter is a letter to a girl in his church who was raped, another to a married father who is addicted to pornography. He starts off the book with a thorough, reference-filled explanation of the gospel and in each letter, after exposing the sin in the recipients life, he applies the gospel and explains how Christ is their forgiveness, stronghold, master, savior, example, and protection.
War of Words
Paul David Tripp
By God’s providential calling and the words shared with in me in this book, I was totally inspired to enroll at Westminster Theological Seminary for Biblical Counseling. I found my way to this book through hearing an audio podcast from a Desiring God Conference that my housemate kept talking about. The title and subtitle are self-explanatory. You will learn a lot about your heart and your human condition after getting through it.
A Shelter in the Time of Storm
Paul David Tripp (again)
I’m currently still trekking through this devotional. There’s a breath of fresh air when you read through a book by a man and keep saying to yourself: “This car-wreck of a guy is just like me!” I’m certainly not calling this author a car wreck! But his confessions of inadequacy are one’s that I relate to and think about in relatively the same framework. Maybe you will too. He makes you answer questions. It’s helpful.
Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood
John Piper & Wayne Grudem
When I first saw John Piper speak in person, I was blown away. Not really by his honest, biblical, scholarly way with words or powerful anecdotes – though he does have them – but by this aura of familiarity with God that he has. He’s just familiar with God and in the things he chooses to say on a subject, you can tell that this man spends a lot of time with Him. When I saw this book on my friend’s bookshelf one night, I picked it up and couldn’t put it down for the life of me (Wish I did that more with the bible, hah!). If you’ve been confused about or never even knew that there was a role assigned to you as either a man or woman of God, here is a place to start to understand. If you’ve taken a ridiculous Women & Gender Studies class, here is a place to start to repair your mind from the damage done.
When the Darkness Will Not Lift
John Piper
My junior year of my Undergrad was the closest to hell I’ve ever been. With multiple family issues, a broken past I couldn’t let go, a future I was all of a sudden terrified for, and a resulting low self-esteemed self-consciousness that made me extremely cynical, selfish, and needy, I thoroughly beleived that nothing mattered anymore. Apparently Piper has been there too. For the apathetic, depressed man’s convenience, he wrote an extremely thin book that addresses suffering and it’s place in our walk with God. That it’s not avoidable, or meant to be passed through as quickly as possible. That it hurts, blurs our vision, but is no foreign ground to any writer in the Old & New Testament nor to strong Christians. God used a number of books to help me out. But of the ones outside of the bible, he used this one the most. If you’re here, please ask me to buy this for you.
Concise Theology
J.I. Packer
This book pretty much just makes sense out of life. It’s more of a reference book, as each chapter has a term such as “Predestination,”Trinity,” or “Holiness,” and it exegetically explains the term. This makes life easy for the guy with a million questions (me). It’s pretty much a resource for when you want to say “Where does the bible say that?” I suggest it for the lesson planners.
How to Stay Christian in College
J. Budziszewski
I know, the title sound extremely odd. It sorta makes “Christian” more like an adjective than a heart-deep transformation. But let’s face it: it puts it in the best language for teenagers. My spiritual dad gave this book to me before I left for college and it helped. I hated reading back then, but I liked reading this. It was a great help for all the sticky situations. So if you’re in high school or maybe a college freshman, pick it up.
Moments with the Savior
Ken Gire
Possibly the best devotional ever written in the English language? Okay that’s totally not a biased opinion. Ken Gire is the most astonishing writer whom I have ever read. My spiritual dad gave this to me the day I was baptized and God has used it to paint the most beautiful portraits of Christ and every biblical figure I’ve been reading in a way I’ve never seen before. He gives a God-inspired life to scripture through his own retelling of the story that doesn’t take away from or belittle the God-breathed text itself at all. Each devotional is a passage, an “amplified” retelling, and a prayer. If you need a devo guide, start here.
Messy Spirituality
Michael Yaconelli
Last but most certainly not least. This is the rebel’s guide to understanding grace and our relationship with God. Yaconelli unfortunately passed away, but he left behind amazing words on just how messed up we are, and in turn, just how forgiven we are. He pleads for Christians to understand that the church is a place for the broken and completely screwed up: that it’s a place for the inadequate. God used this book to settle my angered heart and take a breath of the freedom God has given me as a habitual failure. Read it. You’ll feel less tense.
