Berit Kjos has a new installment in her critique of the widely-popular The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren, pastor of a mega-church in southern California. People really want to have a deeper relationship with God and a more meaningful ministry to others. Perhaps the false dichotomy between law and grace which has been a hallmark of modern evangelicalism has left people adrift, and they are wanting someone to help them to know what to “do” without using that verboten word: obey.

Here are some suggestions for books to read which may encourage you in your Christian walk and promote a mature and obedient faith. Of course, any book written by mere men will have flaws, but I believe that these books are excellent and of great merit.

The Christian’s Daily Walk by Henry Scudder
Not a book to curl up with in front of the fire, but this reprint of a Puritan classic is meaty and practical. Some of the areas which it addresses: Of beginning the day with God, special duties of superiors and inferiors, of bodily refreshment and recreation, of the Lord’s Day, rules concerning sleep, of walking with God alone, of keeping company, rules for our religious conduct in prosperity, directions for walking with God in adversity, of uprightness, concerning false fears, and much more. There is even a section on reading! “Besides your set time of reading the holy Scriptures, you will do well to gain some time from your vacant hours, that you may read in God’s book, and in the good books of men…”

The Holy Bible
This is the only book on my list with no flaws. People need to spend a little less time reading books about this Book and more time reading this Book. Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “This Book will keep you from sin, but sin will keep you from this Book.” Ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten your understanding as you read, and pray for Him to show you how He wants you to apply what you read. I really like the Reformation Study Bible, which has excellent notes from a reformed perspective. Also, a good catechism can help with understanding basic doctrine. Read the first question in the Heidelberg Catechism to see how a catechism can be meaty and encouraging, not dry and dusty.

Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Forget about 40 Days of Purpose and find 365 days of purpose, twice a day. This excellent devotional book will grab you by the shoulders, slap you around a bit and make you feel more loved and confident in God’s grace than most other books written by mere men. From this morning’s entry: “Believer, here is encouragement. Art thou praying for some beloved one? Oh, give not up thy prayers, for Christ is ‘mighty to save.’ You are powerless to reclaim the rebel, but your Lord is Almighty. Lay hold on that mighty arm, and rouse it to put forth its strength. Does your own case trouble you? Fear not, for His strength is sufficient for you. Whether to begin with others, or to carry on the work in you, Jesus is ‘mighty to save;’ the best proof of which lies in the fact that He has saved you. What a thousand mercies that you have not found Him mighty to destroy!”

Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
This gregarious and prolific Roman Catholic author gets it right so many times, that he has become an icon of godly wisdom to us reformed iconoclasts. Nobody could get a point across as creatively, humorously and pointedly as this man. This book presents Chesterton’s view of the Christian life as seen from the perspective of the Apostle’s Creed and his personal experience. “But nearly all people I have ever met in this western society in which I live would agree to the general propostion that we need this life of practical romance; the combination of something that is strange with something that is secure. We need so to view the world as to combine an idea of wonder and an idea of welcome. We need to be happy in this wonderland without once being merely comfortable. It is this achievement of my creed that I shall chiefly pursue in these pages.”

Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
One of the most exciting, insightful and convicting stories ever written. How many times I’ve thought of Christian straying off the difficult path and ending up in the castle of Giant Despair! This story is always pertinent, reminding us of the need to persevere and trust God when He sends each of us on our unique journey to the Celestial City. The version of the book to which I’ve linked is from the people who did the excellent dramatized audio version of the story, which I highly recommend.

The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges
Though considered a classic by many evangelicals, the author quotes extensively from reformed and Puritan sources. This is a very accessible book which shows that holiness in the Christian life is essential and attainable. “In all of our thoughts, all of our actions, in every part of our character, the ruling principle that motivates and guides us should be the desire to follow Christ in doing the will of the Father. This is the high road we must follow in the pursuit of holiness.”

The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs
Another Puritan classic, the cover says that the author “was much concerned to promote (1)peace among believers of various ‘persuasions’ (2)peace and contentment in the hearts of individual believers during what he describes as ’sad and sinking times.’” Sounds like a good book for 2004, doesn’t it? “It is the way of God to work by contraries, to turn the greatest evil into the greatest good. To grant great good after great evil is one thing, and to turn great evil into the greatest good is another, and yet that is God’s way: the greatest good that God intends for His people, He many times works out of the greatest evil, the greatest light is brought out of the greatest darkness.”

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Senior demon tutors junior demon in how to subvert the faith of a young Christian. Insightful look at the pitfalls to which we all are prey. “My dear Wormwood, I have been in correspondence with Slumtrimpet who is in charge of your patient’s young woman, and begin to see the chink in her armour. It is an unobtrusive little vice which she shares with nearly all women who have grown up in an intelligent circle united by a clearly defined belief; and it consists in a quite untroubled assumption that the outsiders who do not share this belief are really too stupid and ridiculous. The males, who habitually meet these outsiders, do not feel that way; their confidence, if they are confident, is of a different kind. Hers, which she supposes to be due to Faith, is in reality largely due to the mere colour she has taken from her surroundings.” Ouch.

Stepping Heavenward, by Elizabeth Prentiss
This is one of the books that has most changed my life. It has given me a more God-centered perspective so that I don’t see difficult circumstances as something against which I should rebel and complain, but I see God’s loving hand in every situation. This is fiction written by the woman who wrote the hymn “More Love to Thee, O Christ.” From the book: “‘I only wish I had understood this years ago,’ I said. ‘I have made prayer too much of a luxury, and have often inwardly chafed and fretted when the care of my children, at times, made it utterly impossible to leave them for private devotion—when they have been sick for instance, or in other like emergencies. I reasoned this way: Here is a special demand on my patience, and I am naturally impatient. I must have time to go away and entreat the Lord to equip me for this conflict. But I see now that the simple act of cheerful acceptance of the duty imposed and the solace and support withdrawn would have united me more fully to Christ than the highest enjoyment of His presence in prayer could.’” “‘Yes, every act of obedience is an act of worship,’ he said.”

The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis
A slim book of essays, reminding us that we are part of something much greater than our limited perspective of dailiness would lead us to believe. Of course, the title essay is my favorite, and heavily underlined. “Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Note: I will be adding this list to my other “top ten” lists, accessible from the other pages on this site.