Books and Reading – Page 3

10 Books Something

Without introductions, let’s dive!

1. Grace Awakening (Charles Swindoll). This is the first proper Christian book that I read from cover to cover and for that reason, I will always think of it as my number one favorite next to the Bible, even if my taste has changed and my understanding has grown ever since. Swindoll opened my eyes to the wonderful concept of grace.

2. Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien). This is the most difficult series I read so far and that’s mainly because of the kind of English Tolkien used. I read all four books before I switched to electronic reading so I literally had to carry a dictionary around to help me with my vocabulary. It was difficult and tedious but it felt like I entered into a magical world. Tolkien’s skill with words is unmatched. He could describe the falling of the morning dew in exquisite detail like it was the most glorious thing in the world. When he described the natural beauty of Lothlorien, it sounded like he was describing heaven.

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So Small as to be Negligible (Allegiant)

This scene from Allegiant is haunting:

The plane is silent around me except for the steady roar of the engine.
“Whoa,” says Uriah.

“Shh,” Christina replies.

“How big is it compared to the rest of the world?” Peter says from across the plane. He sounds like he’s choking on each word.

“Our city, I mean. In terms of land area. What percentage?”

“Chicago takes up about two hundred twenty-seven square miles,” says Zoe.

“The land area of the planet is a little less than two hundred million square miles. The percentage is . . . so small as to be negligible.”
Continue reading So Small as to be Negligible (Allegiant)

Unless…

Matt Chandler:

Life never lacks for improvement—in ourselves, in our relationships, in just about everything. But all our brave stabs at getting better, if they ever change anything, are incomplete at best, complete failures at worst. Sometimes much worse.

Unless . . .

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the great “unless” of life—both for those who already believe (but can’t believe the messes they’re still capable of making), as well as those who don’t yet believe but just know their way isn’t working.

Being Consumed by the Gospel

Creature of the Word by Matt Chandler, Eric Geiger and Josh Patterson:

[We] have slowly lost our awe for Jesus and His finished work. Intellectually, of course, we still hold firmly to the gospel. [We] could easily share a snapshot of its truths without thinking hard— a brief, biblical presentation of Jesus and His gracious gift of salvation. Yet we’ve learned to rely on other things to form the center of our daily work, to motivate the life and activity of our churches. Our drift has not been one of overt rebellion but of an inner twisting of the heart, a loss of appreciation for the gospel and all its ramifications. We could articulate the gospel well, but we don’t view the essence of the gospel as the foundation for all of ministry.

And that’s a huge difference— the difference between knowing the gospel and being consumed by the gospel, being defined by the gospel, being driven by the gospel. It’s one thing to see the gospel as an important facet of one’s ministry. It’s quite another to hold firmly to it as the centerpiece for all a church is and does, to completely orbit around it. Continue reading Being Consumed by the Gospel

The Final Days of Jesus

Few days ago, I finished reading Justin Taylor and Andreas Köstenberger’s book The Final Days of Jesus. In between loads of laundry, I turned to the book and was gripped again and again with the events of the final week of Jesus.

I’ve read the gospels a few dozen times since I became a Christian and have studied some parts of it in detail but nothing prepared me for the sense of clarity that I got by reading the story again in chronological order. That, I think, is the biggest strength of this book. I have always tried to ignore the ‘inconsistencies’ of the gospel accounts of the final week of Jesus because I could not figure out how to reconcile them. For example, Jesus’ triumphal entry in Matthew 21 concluded with him overturning the tables of money-changers in the temple. In Mark, however, he simply looked around and went home to Bethany. Which one is correct? Or take the resurrection story as another example. How many women went to the tomb? And how many angels were there? Matthew and Mark mentioned only one angel while Luke said there were two. The authors showed that these details are not inconsistencies but marks of authenticity of the accounts. Even in modern investigations, no two witnesses say the same exact things.

Are You Allah, Or Jesus?

Nabeel Qureshi’s gut-wrenching prayer as he was on the verge of accepting the truthfulness of the Christian message:

“Who is my Lord? Who are You, Lord? Are You Allah, the God of my father and forefathers? Are You the God I have always worshiped? The God my family has always worshiped? Surely You are the one who sent Muhammad as the final messenger for mankind and the Quran as our guide? You are Allah, the God of Islam, aren’t You? Or are You…” I hesitated, fighting the blasphemy I was about to propose. But what if the blasphemy was the truth?

“Or are You Jesus?”

Continue reading Are You Allah, Or Jesus?