Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Leaders are Readers

As I waited for my sister to come over and work out with me this morning, I decided to read through some of the devotionals in my in-box.  Sometimes I don't get to those in a timely manner due to the fact that I am subscribed to four or five, and I usually do my actual time alone with God alone (meaning without the computer).

Today I had a really interesting article by Kenneth S Hemphill from one of the devotionals from crosswalk.com.  http://www.crosswalk.com/11580792/page0/  The basic gist of the article is that readers are leaders (hence my utterly creative blog title). I really liked this quote- "The effective read and grow. The apathetic think they already know." This explains the truth of many of the bland Christian walks I see (and am at times).  The article made me think of years gone by when I read any Christian literature that I could get my hands on.  I was hungry to understand the mysteries of Christ and discover more and more about the God I loved.  As time has worn on, I've found my passion covered by the habits of married life, college classes, and family time.  I haven't picked up a good book about the Lord in a long time.  That's sad.  I don't even know what books are even popular right now.  I feel energized to get out my library card and point my web browser to my local library's web page and request some books- both the classics of Christian literature and some of the new stuff.

My husband is mentored by a wise man in our church.  He actually gave Lee a list of books that he said changed his walk with the Lord.  Maybe I should start with those.

Here is the list:

DEVOTIONALS
The Imitation of Christ- Thomas a'Kempis
My Utmost for His Highest- Oswald Chambers
Renewed Day by Day- AW Tozer
The One Year Book of Christian Poetry- Philip Comfort and Daniel Partner

APOLOGETICS
Mere Christianity- CS Lewis

DOCTRINAL
The Sermon on the Mount- John RW Stott
Knowing God- JI Packer
Basic Christianity- John RW Stott
Holiness- JC Ryle

APPLICATION
The Practice of Godliness- Jerry Bridges
The Mark of a Christian- Francis A Schaeffer
Real Christianity- William Wilberforce
The Magnificent Obsession- David Swartz
The Cost of Discipleship- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Introduction to the Devout Life- St Francis de Sales
The Set of the Sail- AW Tozer
Triumph Over Temptation- John Owen (This is a trilogy)
The Quotable Tozer- An Anthology- AW Tozer
A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life- William Law
On Knowing Christ- Selected Sermons- Jonathon Edwards

TOPICAL STUDIES
The Knowledge of the Holy- AW Tozer
What's So Amazing About Grace?- Philip Yancey
Your God is Too Small- JB Phillips
The Problem of Pain- CS Lewis
Christian Reflections- CS Lewis

FICTION
The Great Divorce- CS Lewis
The Screwtape Letters- CS Lewis
In His Steps- Charles M Sheldon
The Chronicles of Narnia- CS Lewis

Do you read Christian literature?  Have you read any of the above? Do you have any suggestions?

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