Top Five Most Impactful Christian Books

Reading has been paramount in shaping my walk with the Lord, and teaching me about what God is like, and how I should live a holy life. There are thousands of books to choose from, and I always want to read the very best books possible. I thought I’d share the top five books that have impacted my relationship with the Lord. These are the books I’ve reread multiple times, I’ve recommend to friends, and have deeply impacted my soul.

If you’re curious about what I’ve been reading recently, check out this post on books I’ve read so far in 2018, and my reading list for 2018.

Let’s get started! In no particular order, the top five most impactful books in my life are…

Morning by Morning by Charles Spurgeon

Thoughts On The Book: Charles Spurgeon is one of the most influential writers in my personal walk with the Lord.. I’ve read his devotional, Morning by Morning for years, I’ve purchased copies for friends, family, and even strangers who have sent me messages whenever I post an excerpt. His writing style touches a place in my soul that few authors are able to. He has an evening devotional, but I don’t read it as consistently as I do the morning one

Favorite Quote(s):

“What a sweet title: “my people”! What a cheering revelation: “their God”! What a wealth of meaning is couched in those two words, “my people!” Here is speciality. The whole world is God’s; the heaven, even the heaven of heavens, is the Lord’s and He reigns among the children of men. But of those whom He has chosen, whom He has purchased to Himself, He says what He say s not of others – “my people.” In this world there is the idea of proprietorship. In a special manner “the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.” All the nations upon earth are His; the whole world is in His power. But His people, His chosen, are more especially His possession, for he has done more for them than for others. he has bought them with His blood; He has brought them to Himself; He has set His great heart upon them; He has loved them with an everlasting love, a love that many waters cannot quench and that the revolutions of time will never in the least degree diminish.”

Spiritual Depression by D. Martyn Lloyd Jones

Thoughts On the Book: Spiritual Depression is one of the best books I’ve ever read as I’ve sought to navigate suffering and sorrow. In my opinion, the title is somewhat misleading, yes it does encompass depression of the soul, but the crux of the book is on how to walk with God through suffering. This book introduced me to the concept of talking to my soul, instead of allowing my feelings to completely dictate me.

Favorite Quote(s):

“Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment [in Psalm 42] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says, “Self, listen for moment, I will speak to you.”

A Sacred Sorrow by Michael Card

Thoughts On the Book: I’m surprised that so few people have heard of this book! Michael Card is a Christian songwriter, and this book is not only beautifully written, it’s one of the best books I’ve read on the topic of suffering! Card makes room for lament in the Christian life, which isn’t something I find often in books on suffering. I highly recommend this tender book on lament.

 Favorite Quote(s):

“Within each of us lies a hidden holy of holies. Like the one of old, it can only be entered by a high priest, and then not without blood. Our laments are that sacred place. And Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, is our high priest.”

“Our failure to lament cuts us off from each other. If you and I are to know one another in a deep way, we must not only share our hurts, anger, and disappointments with each other (which we often do), we must also lament them together before the God who hears and is moved by our tears. Only then does our suffering become truly redemptive in character. The degree to which I am willing to enter into the suffering of another person reveals the level of my commitment and love for them. If I am not intersted in your hurts, i am not really interested in you. Neither am I willing to suffer to know you nor to be known by you. Jesus’ example makes these truths come lives in our heart. He is the One who suffered to know us, who then suffered for us on the cross.”

“Only someone who is fully awake and engaged in life can lament. Lament only comes from the lips of those who know the hunger and thirst.

Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper

Thoughts On the Book: Don’t Waste Your Life originated from a 2000 sermon John Piper gave at the Passion Conference, where Piper passionately pleaded with the teenagers at the conference not to waste their lives. I read this book as a teenager, and it’s had a huge impact on how I structured my life. Piper was extremely influential in my teenage years, and his books laid a theological groundwork .

Favorite Quote(s):

“But whatever you do, find the God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated passion of your life, and find your way to say it and live for it and die for it. And you will make a difference that lasts. You will not waste your life.” 

“God made man small and the universe big to say something about himself.”

“Life is wasted if we do not grasp the glory of the cross, cherish it for the treasure that it is, and cleave to it as the highest price of every pleasure and the deepest comfort in every pain.”

A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken

 Thoughts on The Book: A Severe Mercy is  one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. It’s the autobiography of of Sheldon Vanauken, and he shares his relationship with his wife, their friendship with C.S. Lewis (including letters between them), their conversion to Christianity, and why the book is titled “A Severe Mercy”.

Favorite Quote(s):

“That death, so full of suffering for us both, suffering that still overwhelmed my life, was yet a severe mercy. A mercy as severe as death, a severity as merciful as love.” 

“I had always served beauty. Davy and I together had loved beauty. Now, maybe, I was worshiping beauty in the Christian God while Davy was worshiping God. There may be danger in the love of beauty, though it seems treason to say it. Perhaps it can be a snare.” 

Honorable Mention

The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer

Thoughts on The Book: The reason this is an honorable mention, is because I recently finished it, so it hasn’t stood the test of time in my life. But I have no doubt that it will. I couldn’t put this down. Each chapter is short, and focuses on a different, fundamental characteristic of God. This book made me fall more in love with God, and I’ll definitely be recommending it in the future!

Favorite Quote(s):

“The goodness of God is that which disposes Him to be kind, cordial, benevolent, and full of good will toward men. He is tenderhearted and of quick sympathy, and His unfailing attitude toward all moral beings is open, frank and friendly.By His nature He is inclined to bestow blessedness and He takes holy pleasure in the happiness of His people.

That God is good is taught or implied on every page of the Bible and must be received as an article of faith as impregnable as the throne of God. It is a foundation stone for all sound thought about God and is necessary to moral sanity. To allow that God could be other than goo dis to deny the validity of all thought and end in the negation of every moral judgement.”