Lit!

In one sense this is reading for the purpose of escape, but I am not promoting escapism.

I do not use reading to avoid reality, but I do read to temporarily escape to another world.

My challenge to you: take time to create your own list of priorities.

Second, include any category that you would like to add. What areas of life, theology, or work do you need help with?

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Adapted from Lit!: A Christian Guide to Reading Books

by Tony Reinke © Crossway, 2011.

First, list out the books you have read over the last twenty-four months. Create categories for those books by asking why you read them. What books did you find beneficial, and why so?

The Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books book by Tony Reinke is available from 10ofthose.com.

Printed in U.S.A.

YOUR TURN

These priorities will help you choose books wisely by providing a baseline for what you expect your books to accomplish. Without these priorities, without clear expectations for what you want books to do in your life, it’s almost impossible to determine whether books are personally useful or not.

Cover images: Jon McGrath

Christians should not blush when they read for pleasure, for escape, or “just for fun.” Provided that this reading is not a form of escapism—and assuming the book does not glorify sin or unbelief—the practice is enjoyable and honors God.

Third, rank those categories in order of personal importance.

©2012 Good News Publishers.

6. READING TO ENJOY A GOOD STORY

Lit!

R A CH

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Tony Reinke

2. READING TO KNOW AND DELIGHT IN CHRIST

Libraries and bookstores offer us millions of books that we can read.

This means for every one book that we do choose to read, we will be forced to ignore over ten thousand other books simply because we don’t have the time (or money!).

The largest topical section in my personal library features books on the person and work of Christ.

So how do we decide what one book to read?

Or maybe more importantly, how do we determine which ten thousand books to reject? I try to answer this question in the only way I know how: by establishing personal reading priorities. I have six of them.

Christ is the centerpiece of Scripture, the focus of heaven, and the stage that displays God’s glory. I bathe my mind in the Christcentered works of a few dead theologians— Jonathan Edwards, John Owen, John Flavel, Thomas Goodwin, and Herman Bavinck. And I immerse my soul in the works of contemporary authors like J. I. Packer, D. A. Carson, John Stott, and John Piper.

1. READING SCRIPTURE

3. READING TO KINDLE SPIRITUAL REFLECTION

No book is more important than the Bible. It is the divine and inspired Word of God, true and reliable in everything it affirms. If we neglect Scripture in order to read only other books, we not only cut ourselves from the divine umbilical cord that feeds our souls, but we also cut ourselves from the truth that makes it possible for us to benefit from the truth, goodness, and beauty in the other books we read.

Christian fiction is a form of literature that perpetually fuels spiritual reflection in my life. I keep on hand a storehouse of able Christian novelists like C. S. Lewis and Francine Rivers. Good Christian novelists make spiritual contemplation unavoidable.

Christian biographies and autobiographies are another great source of spiritual reflection, such as Spurgeon: A New Biography by Arnold Dallimore. Poetry like John Donne’s

Holy Sonnets is rich, powerful, and spiritually provoking too.

4. READING TO INITIATE PERSONAL CHANGE

These books help me confront and defeat personal sin and unbelief. They help me to honor God in my role as a husband and as a parent.

As a parent I find much help in Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp. And I can always use a reread of the book Running Scared: Fear, Worry, and the God of Rest by Ed Welch. I will also read just about anything by biblical counselors David Powlison or Paul David Tripp. Well-chosen books will help me fight sin.

5. READING TO PURSUE VOCATIONAL EXCELLENCE

Christians are to work as though their boss is the Lord himself (Col. 3:23), meaning we are called to pursue vocational excellence. And working with skill requires laboring wisely and thoughtfully. Carefully selected business books, such as Business for the Glory of God by Wayne Grudem, have helped me to do this.