Safe to say, we are living in some strange times. Perhaps at some point you’ve been bored? Wondering what to do with all the extra time you have in quarantine? Needing guidance or something to take you out of the stress and confusion of the situation we find ourselves in? Well, it seems like now is as good a time as ever to get into reading, perhaps even reading to strengthen your faith. There’s so much Christian literature out there that is both sanctifying and enjoyable to read. Granted, said books should not and cannot replace Scripture. Turning to and feeding on the Word of God is as important now as ever. That being said, here are some extra-Biblical books that members of CCF have read and found beneficial to their walks with God.
Megan Chan — Humble Roots by Hannah Anderson
This book was an easy read that I had the joy of reading with a few women at my home church. It’s short, concise, and was applicable to all the different demographics I read it with. It helped me view my life in comparison to how God views my life. By proclaiming the infinite grace, majesty, beauty, and many other attributes God upholds, this author did a great job of reminding sinners of where their rightful place is in the world — made in God’s image, not the other way around. The main argument she wants to get across is how we, as humans, allow for pride to overtake our lives, while humility in our place on this earth gives us freedom to enjoy our lives and our God in the context of our failures. With that as the overarching theme, the author breaks pride down into the smaller parts of the thoughts that consume us: our hopes and dreams in the context of the Lord, and topics such as rest, death, and emotions. This book is also heavy with testimonies of her own life if visuals help you understand a concept better.
This book changed how I view my life as a Christian. As university students, we live our lives always looking and working towards the future. When I thought about my future, I saw it as something that I could attain if I just work harder. But what if that’s not God’s plan for me? Can I have humility in knowing that God has a better plan for me and I can not only trust it but find joy in it? What will happen if my goals become needs instead of wants? I’m just running in circles of disappointment in what I cannot achieve this way. But, there is hope for me, and hope for you, too. Because of God and the work that Christ has done for us on the cross, there is no need to be perfect. We were not made to be perfect, but to bask in the glory of who God is. Our imperfections bring light to what we are not, and most importantly to what God is. Once we see that, everything in our lives either falls away or aligns.
As I thought more about this book for this blog post, it seems quite applicable for the times we are living in now. What would it mean to have humility in our perspectives of our lives now? Through the panic, chaos, and everything we are experiencing that is not in our control (but is anything, really?) our God has His Sovereign hand over everything, still working things for our good and His glory.
An added bonus in this book: black-and-white plant drawings for fun colouring times.
John Gu — Crazy Love by Francis Chan
Hey friends! A book I’ve really been enjoying recently is Crazy Love by Francis Chan, and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone of you 🙂. It goes over what the heart of Christianity is all about, and that’s loving God! If you personally feel like you’ve been/are lukewarm in your faith, or don’t love Jesus enough, then seek this book out and I have high hopes that at the very least you will find out where your next step is.
This book clearly illustrates the differences between simply believing in God, and a true disciple of Christ who really loves God, while even pointing you in His direction. If I were to ask you, “How much do you love God?”, what would your answer be? From one sinner to another, I hope this makes your heart burn to say: “not enough”.
Glory to Him,
J. Gu
Samuel Siu — Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin
I will put out Worship Matters (I bet you got that book recommendation already [Editor’s note: I did not]). I really like the book because it’s very comprehensive, Biblically based (lots and lots of Scripture references), and specific (eg. some books are wishy washy and you read the book and just get like, I’ve heard that a million times, but this book’s like for real specific learning on stuff I didn’t know! 😛) on the theology of worship.
It was important for me and likewise important to others because in worship, especially musical worship, we as Christians often miss the mark there. I believe a lot of people (including me) don’t really know why Christian worship is what it is, how we should be assessing on whether it’s grounded in the Word (beyond preferences and are the lyrics Biblical). It ultimately fuels your worship to know and practice all of that. And well, reading those theology books and studying the Bible also fuels your worship.
Daniel Wang — The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
I don’t remember when I first read this book, but I was completely blown away after reading Chapter 8. In one chapter, Lewis was able to articulate why we experience doubt, and why God faces a certain dilemma as “He [God] cannot tempt to virtue as [demons] do to vice”. It has been a source of encouragement to not only myself but anyone I’ve come across who struggles in their walk with God.
It’s an all-in-one guide on how to get to Hell, written with wit and satire. The perspective shift alone is, I think, extremely insightful to one’s faith. Seeing ourselves from a spiritual third person gives us an honest view of the insidious sin in our lives, where we idolize, judge, and partialize. We often convince ourselves of a spiritual state that is far from the real thing.
A quote that I find embodies much of the book:
“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one — the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts”
Split into palatable letters for each topic, Lewis points out false Gospels, lukewarm faith, mental pitfalls, misdirected prayer, sin in the church, and how to exploit (and thus address) the common thread of all sin, which is pride.
It is entertaining and creative, but most importantly, Lewis uses these qualities to convict the heart and build up a framework of Christian living that we can all benefit from.
Kyle Wong — True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing by James Choung
Disclaimer: I read this a while ago and I don’t have the book with me to reference things from it so I’m largely going off what I remember. I also used this as a resource to help me remember things from the book. True Story is a fictional story about a college guy named Caleb who is trying to be a good Christian witness to his friend, Anna. Caleb really cares for Anna and wants her to understand the gospel as Jesus taught it, not as the world portrays Christianity. (Caleb also thinks Anna has nice eyes. He kind of likes Anna. Wait, is Caleb flirting to convert? Does it end up working????? Read the book to find out… Do not recommend by the way).
A-Anyways, like many of us, Caleb grew up in the church but feels kind of disillusioned by Christianity. There are a number of questions that both he and Anna share that he can’t fully make sense of. If the gospel means “good news”, why does it often not sound like good news when it’s shared with other people? Why do some people who believe the gospel message seem to lack any lasting change in their lives? If the gospel is only about accepting a truth, can a person go to heaven while hating others?
For me, the story presented an exemplary example of how we are called to walk with the unbelievers in our lives. I was reminded that people are not to be treated as projects, but the gospel will naturally be shared as we move towards others in love. It also provides a compelling and simple way to share the gospel with others. This being said, I remember not agreeing with absolutely everything Choung writes about, though I don’t think anything was completely off the mark or heretical.
If you’re interested in reading the book, I have a copy of it in Waterloo that I could lend to you. Or you can buy it on Amazon here.
Jeffrey Chen — Church History by Various Authors
Much of the theology we know, church customs we practice, and even the English Bible that we can read, have been built on the shoulders of centuries of theological treatises, persecutions, excommunications, and church conflict. Even a doctrine as fundamental to us as the Trinity did not become an established doctrine from a brief reading of the Bible, but was solidified through church divisions, centuries of important writings, and empire wide councils. But amidst the trials and blessings, this we know — that all these happened under the watch and guidance of our sovereign God. Church history, our history, reminds us vividly and constantly of Christ’s presence — that he has not stopped working since the end of Acts or the work of the Revelation of John, and continues to work today. Many of the trials we experience in the present, God has triumphed over time and time again in the past. No matter the sinful work and arrogance of man, Christ’s hand has always prevailed; his Church stood strong. Personally, there are few extra-biblical readings that have helped me understand and appreciate the love, sovereignty, patience, and power of our God as Church history readings — and none have so firmly reminded me that we, God’s people, will be preserved by his love through any worldly trial.
With this, I would like to recommend some (in my opinion) informative, rich, and readable Church history books. Perhaps understandably so, Church history may suffer from a quality/readability trade off — from probing around a bit, it seems the most biblically accurate and detailed accounts are often the least accessible to the non-academic, common Christian such as myself. Yet there are still options — surveys which present Church history in a sweeping manner — and one of these is 2000 Years of Christ’s Power (Needham). This is a soon-to-be five volume series (admittedly I’ve only read the first) which does its best to survey the entirety of Church history since the age of the apostles. Though this is no easy task, the books present a readable historical walkthrough of the Church, through its ups and downs — with excerpts from the writings of many theologians, historians, and Church fathers whose lives and ideas are explored in the books. That being said, it is still a relatively long series, and for those who may be interested in a shorter, more interpretive survey, Church History in Plain Language (Shelley) serves as a great option.
Of course, these are non-inspired readings — any reader should still be careful to test the opinions of the authors against scripture. That being said, I would like to encourage all who have not to delve into Church history, and for those of us who aren’t sure where to begin to give one of these books a read! For all the suffering of and issues facing the modern day Church, amidst the uncertainty of current affairs, may we read about and remember that the Church has been through catastrophe, division, war, and plague many times — and survived by the power of Christ. May we remember always the many centuries and millennia of God’s steadfastness and love, and may rest assured knowing that Christ will never abandon us, for he, as promised, has never abandoned his people to this day.
Carrie Fong — Let the Nations Be Glad! by John Piper
Reading this book gave me a deeper understanding of the sovereignty God has in missions, and what our role in missions is. Piper outlines clearly that missions exist because worship doesn’t. Our ultimate goal should be to worship God, no matter where we are or what we are doing, because He is most deserving of it. God is most passionate about His own glory, which means that He is also most passionate about our satisfaction in Him, since God is most glorified in us when He is most satisfied in Him (haha you probably haven’t heard that one before). As I learned to understand this, I thought about what should drive me to want to go on missions, and reading this made me realize that worship should be the heart and fuel of it. It comes from a natural response of delighting in God.
There were various parts of the book that prompted me to reflect on my own heart’s motivation in sharing the Gospel. Piper writes of how our compassion and love for the lost must not be disconnected from our passion for the glory of God. There are times I grow apathetic to the unsaved, let the fear of man cripple me, and lack compassion on them. However, our compassion and love for the lost shouldn’t be our greatest motivation to share; it should be our love for God.
I love this quote he includes as it sums up the point perfectly:
“Don’t wait for a feeling of love in order to share Christ with a stranger. You already love your Heavenly Father, and you know that this stranger is created by Him, but separated from Him, so take those first steps in evangelism because you love God.”
Piper also brings in John 10:16:
And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
This gives us assurance that Christ most definitely has other sheep in the nations that He will bring home! Christ has chosen people that have not been saved yet, and this gives us hope knowing that as we faithfully share the Gospel, they will listen to Him. At a time like this, I’ve been thinking about how we are to use our days in worship of God, and how sharing the Gospel and reaching the lost could look now. I challenge you to think and pray of what it may look like in your life :)
Brandon Leung — Out of a Far Country by Christopher & Angela Yuan
Out of a Far Country is a deeply personal testimony that describes a gay son’s journey to God and a mother’s reconciliation with her own brokenness. The son’s struggle with his identity and sin reads like a modern rendition of the parable of the Prodigal Son. While in the parallel story of his mother’s heartbreak and struggle to surrender; the depths of her hurt and brokenness poignantly reveal God’s love for us.
The relationship between Christianity and homosexuality is a contentious topic that challenges our understanding of the Gospel and the church’s role in the world. God’s creative intentions are clear, but as Christians, how should our relationship be with those who are same-sex attracted? Our position tends to place us somewhere between two extremes: on one hand we undermine and revise biblical authority through blind affirmation; while on the other, hate and the belief that some sins are worse than others reinforce a shallow theology of sin.
I found this book to be convicting and encouraging; and had a hard time putting it down. From both facets of the narration, I was challenged in my own understanding of sin and reluctance in surrendering control to God. This book encourages a grace-filled mindset and mercy-saturated heart that is grounded in the reality and addiction of sin. It is a story of hope, redemption, and mercy that tells of the transforming work of Christ. 3/10
Huge thanks to all these amazing people for their contributions. It’s my hope that through these recommendations, and through reading, that you are encouraged, your faith is strengthened, and, ultimately, you are pointed towards Christ. If you have any questions, concerns, thoughts, desires for more book recommendations, casserole recipes, let me know! Let’s continue to delight in Him throughout these days, and continue to build each other up as the body of Christ (albeit virtually, for now).
