D A V I D C

Books Twice Read

In my personal library, I must have well over a thousand volumes I have collected over the years. Most are for study and include commentaries, lexicons, grammars, word studies, multiple translations of the Bible, devotional works, history books, science books, and books on practically anything that has interested me at sometime or other. There are a number of works of fiction in which I have found great pleasure. And yes, there are even comic books. I admit to being a fan of The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes, Dilbert, and Fox Trot.

Most of my books have gotten read only once. Some only get pulled out once in a while and a few chapters or pages read when researching a particular subject. But some books get pulled out time and time again. These are the books that have influenced me to the point of being life-changing. It is not enough to read these books only once. I find myself returning to them every few years, reading them again and digesting them thoroughly to get another glimpse in some yet more profound way of what it was the author was seeing at the time of their writing.

Let it be understood here that I by no means elevate these works over the Bible (which should be studied and meditated upon on a daily basis), for the Bible is the standard by which every other work is judged. But poor is the man who arrogantly says, "I read the Bible, so I need nothing else," thinking himself sufficient to always understand correctly without the insight of others who have meditated deeply upon the eternal mysteries revealed in the Bible and found ways to articulate anew the precious truth found therein.

I readily admit my debt to others of greater understanding than I could have gotten on my own. I want to share here the titles of some of their books that I have felt compelled to read time and again, for I believe they are a great treasure not to be ignored. Beside each title, I have placed a link to what I believe to be the least expensive edition of that book from Amazon.com. After all, it's not the beauty of the outer cover that is important. It's the treasure that lies within.

The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . View it on Amazon.com

A. W. Tozer begins the first chapter of his classic work with the statement, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." In his discussion of God's attributes that follows, he shows himself as one who spent his life in pursuit of an intimate knowledge of God as God has revealed Himself to be, not as man would have Him be. In a day in which people are often heard to say, "When I think of God, I think of Him as . . ." and proceed to create a God after their own image, Tozer provides a much needed corrective. The first time I read The Knowledge of the Holy over 30 years ago, I found myself in an increasing awe and worship of the God who is. The experience has been the same each time I have returned to this small volume that serves to open a window to the loftiest of visions.

The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . View it on Amazon.com

Often classified as a mystic due to the longings of his own heart as revealed in this book, Tozer writes of the active pursuit that will become the passion of anyone who has gotten more than a mere glimpse of the God he described in The Knowledge of the Holy. Though many sit passively by laying claim to the salvific work of Christ by which God has reconciled sinners that they might know Him in all intimacy, few actually engage in the relationship God intended, choosing rather to lend their affections to the things of this world rather than to things above. The Pursuit of God was written for the rare individual who is not content with a positional reconciliation when an experiential relationship was made available by the blood of the cross.

The Calvary Road by Roy Hession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . View it on Amazon.com

This small book is one I find myself returning to every few years. Each time, I am convicted anew by its message and commit once again to allowing the work of the Cross of Christ to cut across my inner life. Hession aptly states how we all have ways of protesting our own righteousness, often in the guise of outward humility. Though we try to think of ourselves as the tax collector in Jesus' parable in Luke 18:9-14, a man confessing his sin and going away justified, we are in fact the Pharisee who sees only his own goodness and looks down upon others who haven't been as diligent in "righteous deeds." The road of death to self is the only way to true freedom.

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . View it on Amazon.com

Written for the most part during World War II, Mere Christianity continues to be one of the greatest apologetic works of the twentieth century. Beginning with innate moral law, Lewis carries the reader to the necessity of God and the case for Christ. Along the way, he answers many questions that Christians often struggle with. I have read this book at least three times over the years and gain new insight with each reading. I confess that there is one page that I would like to tear from the book because I believe Lewis to be wrong at the particular point where he implies that it is possible for a person to be saved without any intellectual knowledge of Christ. Lewis's implication is that a person who has never heard of Jesus yet earnestly seeks a relationship with God by whatever means he knows will receive the salvation Christ purchased at Calvary even though he is ignorant of how that salvation came about. The same message comes through in the final book of the Narnia series. Lewis is by no means a universalist, for he does not think all will be saved. Neither does he think there is salvation in anyone except Christ. The question he raises is simply whether or not the person must have a knowledge of the historical person. Other than this one point of questionable theology, Mere Christianity remains must reading for the Christian wanting to reach others with the message of the Gospel.

The Disciplined Life by Richard Shelley Taylor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . View it on Amazon.com

Richard Taylor's little book exposes one of the greatest needs of our generation. I have found it a helpful guide over the years to return me to the only path by which there can be any true accomplishment. I remember the first time I read The Disciplined Life. I noticed that the final chapter was titled "How to Become a Disciplined Person." I turned to that chapter first only to discover that the author was wise to people like me. On the first page of the chapter I read "Some of you will spot the title of this chapter while scanning the contents and, recognizing that becoming a disciplined person is the goal, will suppose that to read only this chapter will be sufficient. Such an attempt may be symptomatic of your need of discipline. The undisciplined person is forever seeking ways to avoid the arduous grind of solid work and to arrive quickly at his goal by short cuts." Touché! I had been found out. As have others, I have had difficult lessons to learn in the area of personal discipline. Taylor's book has been a tremendous help in the learning process.

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . View it on Amazon.com

Written in the 17th century, The Pilgrim's Progress is the greatest allegory ever written. Though there are newer versions in modern English, I prefer the old for it slows me down and causes me to meditate more deeply over what is being said. This book is not for the lazy-minded. Every character and every place speaks of what we all encounter in real life. Everyone will find himself somewhere in this book. Once you've read the book, try the recently released DVD of the 1977 movie. It was one of Liam Neeson's first roles as an actor. Click here for the DVD.

The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . View it on Amazon.com

Martyred by the Nazi's at the young age of 39, Dietrich Bonhoeffer left an exposition that rings true in our world today. A few short excerpts from the book tell much better than any words I can find of my own why this book speaks to the deep needs of present day Christianity: "Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves . . . the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship. . . . Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. . . . It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life." In an age in which so-called Christianity has grown progressively more self-centered - from the prosperity gospel to the free grace movement which requires no change in the individual - The Cost of Discipleship is a book that should be revisited often and thoroughly digested upon each visit.

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbot . . . . . . . . . . . .View it on Amazon.com

Some might wonder that this little book by an English clergyman, educator, and Shakespearean scholar and first published in 1884 would be one I would revisit from time to time. It is a story in which the people are geometrical shapes living in a two-dimensional world. The main character is a square who was lifted by a sphere into the three dimensional world and then returned. The square, though forever changed yet again trapped in Flatland, battles with his own remembrance of what he has seen and wonders how to communicate the existence of this third dimension to the people who have never known anything but a two-dimensional universe. Though Abbot never so much as insinuates a literary connection, it is plain to see what he has written as a quasi-allegory of the Christian, who has been taken from death to life in Christ and has the task of communicating this new spiritual reality to those who are still dead in their sins. Flatland is entertaining reading as well as being food for thought.

The Gospel According to Jesus by John F. MacArthur, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . View it on Amazon.com

This book is a must read for any minister of the Gospel. The stakes are too high to ignore John MacArthur's message, for some are in peril of stepping into eternity unsaved because ministers who should know better have given them a faulty, unbiblical gospel and a false security. I confess that I was astounded at my first reading of The Gospel According to Jesus to discover that seminary professors from one of the most respected evangelical seminaries in the country have been teaching salvation without repentance and that one can actually cease to believe in Christ yet still be saved. Had MacArthur not footnoted every quote, I would not have believed it. However, led by the footnotes, I purchased and read the books by those errant professors and found MacArthur's assessment to be accurate. It is little wonder that so many professing Christians look no different from the world in which they live. They have never been truly converted to genuine faith in Jesus Christ.