I enjoy reading, and read all sorts of books. However, over the last few years I’ve predominantly read Christian biographies. This all began when I was a student – I found that after a hard day of studying, I didn’t have much capacity to engage with Christian books full of theology; if I did try to read this type of book, progress was generally slow.

 

I very much wanted to learn and grow as a Christian by having God speak to me and teach me things through my reading, and so began to read Christian biographies. A good Christian biography is worth reading because it will present you with lots of truth about God, and fantastic examples to follow. This was a few years ago, and I haven’t stopped since!

 

I can think of lots of general reasons why I read biography: it builds me up; encourages me; relaxes me (if the book is well written!). But I think there are four particular reasons, and so for this article I’ve decided to write about a few of my favourite biographies, each of which nicely illustrates one of these reasons.

 

Reason 1              We can learn from the spiritual lessons God has taught others.

Somewhere very near the top of my list of favourite biographies is a set of three autobiographical books by Corrie ten Boom: In my Father’s House, The Hiding Place and Tramp for the Lord. If you only read one of these, read The Hiding Place. Corrie was an absolute hero of faith, a Dutch lady who spent years imprisoned by the Nazis during World War II. As well as recording her story, she wrote down the various lessons that God taught her throughout her life in a refreshing and easy-to-read way. For example, a phrase which sticks with me from these books is ‘there are no “ifs” in God’s kingdom’, referring to when we are tempted to dwell on various ‘what-if’ scenarios. This was a lesson God taught Corrie over and over, including once when she narrowly escaped being killed by shrapnel from a bomb. She had an uncomplicated, childlike faith in God which is incredibly refreshing.

 

Another book in this category is a reasonably recent biography of Hudson Taylor by Roger Steer. There are hundreds of biographies of Hudson Taylor, but I particularly like this one because it talks about many of the life-lessons he learned, including some great stuff on prayer and on what it means to be in Christ.

 

Reason 2              We can learn from the character of others and follow their example.

Another thing that biography does is present us with good role models, and one of my favourites is Eric Liddell, of Chariots of Fire fame. He was an athlete representing Great Britain in the 1924 Olympics, and subsequently a missionary to China. Out of all the biographies that there are about him, I would recommend The Flying Scotsman by Sally Magnusson. By all accounts Eric was a perfect gentleman, and also a real man’s man. On evangelistic campaigns in the UK he championed the cause of ‘muscular Christianity’, a phrase which being used around that time to show that to live as a Christian required guts and perseverance. Eric was very much a “God first” man. I love the strength of character that he exhibited, and have benefited greatly from reading about him and his example.

 

Reason 3              Good biographies give us a hunger for God and raise our expectation of seeing the Holy Spirit at work.

A biography which exemplifies this is The Heavenly Man by Brother Yun. As a Chinese Christian part of the underground church his life was very often in danger. He records many of the miraculous things God did through and for him, including a jail break! Such biographies make me hungry for God. I found that I was challenged, and stirred to seek God for more of his Spirit. Reading about what God has done in the lives of others will raise your expectations about what he can do for you, and will get you praying bigger prayers.

We can learn so much by looking at the way God has interacted with people throughout their lives. For instance, God’s sovereignty can be clearly seen in the conversion of Adoniram Judson, the first protestant missionary to Myanmar. I won’t spoil it, since you can listen to the story for yourself as told by John Piper. Piper has recorded a host of biographies on a wide range of famous Christians, available at www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/biographies; my two favourites are the biographies of John Patton and Adoniram Judson.

 

I hope this has challenged and whet your appetite for Christian biographies. It’s worth pointing out that sometimes reading biography can be a bit daunting, especially when the people you are reading about have attempted great things for God, and seen marvellous results. But (paraphrasing John Piper), over every biography keep in mind 1 Corinthians 15 v 10 “by the grace of God I am what I am”. Yes, read to be inspired and encouraged, but don’t beat yourself up that you aren’t like them – be yourself!

 

Lastly, I want to ask you a question. Why would you not want to read biography? By reading, you are getting the distilled goodness of all that God has taught a man or a woman over the course of their entire life. The wisdom they learned over years has been condensed into book form which you can read in a matter of hours. You are walking with giants – heroes of faith! Let their biographies challenge, inspire and encourage you.

 

By Luke Smith