Spring 1981

ARTICLE TOOLS

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"I think every Christian leader should read one book a year about who God is."

We're good carvers, we Christians; we like to carve God down to our own size and call him reliable and capable. We need to be in the Word daily to stay aware of the person of God and his purposes for our lives.

A book that taught me how to study the Bible is Search the Scriptures (InterVarsity) by Allan Gibbs. I came across it when I was a sophomore in college, and I've now read it three times. It helped me put biblical truth in bigger packages than I'd ever done before. A good Bible-study guide should be just that; it should not be a commentary full of someone else's answers. This book takes you through the Word by asking questions that make you wrestle with what each Scripture text is saying.

In the past, I've spent so much time in the Gospels focusing on the person of Christ, that I've neglected the more encompassing study of the total person of God. As a result, I've had a smaller view of the tremendous significance of my redemption and salvation. Knowing God (Intervarsity), by James Packer, helped to enlarge that view, and helps me communicate the person of God with greater breadth and depth in my speaking, writing, and teaching ministry.

Another way I approach the study of God is through the fiction of C. S. Lewis. The Chronicles of Narnia (Macmillan), in particular, have been a delight to me. Lewis said that if a book is worth reading at ten, it should also be worth reading at fifty, because it contains basic, applicable truths. The Narnia stories are packed with marvelous truths about God and Christ. I remember a passage from The Dawn Treader in which Eustace, a main character, coveted great worldly treasures and in the process became a horrible ...

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