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WHY I READ CHRISTIAN BIOGRAPHIES

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.
Reason 4              Biographies teach us about God.
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.
 
A few final thoughts
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

 


THE bEAUTIFUL WAYS OF HIS KINGDOM

I’ve been thinking about how prayer and our choices work with the sovereignty of God.

In Genesis 2v19&20 God brings all the animals to Adam "...to see what he would name them...". God could of course have perfectly well named the animals himself and taught Adam what they were called. But no, God chooses to involve man in the creative process. I can only think that Adam's choices were somehow valuable to God. If God wanted Adam to choose then, isn't it likely that he wants us to choose now as well? Indeed, given that we remain free to do bad things, our choice must be immensely important to God.

So coming back to the point of prayer, I think it’s about his desire for us to be truly free to choose. Jesus wants to express his reign through us, delegating his authority to us again so that the beautiful ways of his kingdom can operate.

Prayer’s not supposed to be a remote thing where we post a request to a distant address hoping that it is in line with an unseen plan. It’s intended to be an intimate conversation where we shape the world together with God, working by his power as we learn to choose in his likeness again. JH

LIVING THE LAWS OF LOVE

The 10 commandments were graciously given by God to His people Israel for two main reasons. Firstly, that God’s people might know the best way to live their lives together in community and secondly, that such a God-centred and blessed society would serve as an attractive witness to the surrounding unbelieving nations of the wisdom of the One True God. In both respects, The Decalogue is therefore an expression of the kindness of God.
 
As it was then, it is also to be so today. God’s people the church, living out the laws of love in the power of the Spirit, will be both blessed and a blessing to all who don’t yet know the love of God in Christ. The 10 commandments offer some guiding principles as to what it can mean for the church to serve our society as salt and light (as Jesus exhorted us in Matthew 5:13-16.) But what does it mean in practice for City Church to live out these laws of love? Here are some concrete examples of ways we as a church community are seeking to serve the community of Cambridge…
 
The 7th commandment “you shall not commit adultery”, points to the principle of “honouring marriage”. Last year, the church ran two marriage enrichment courses that were open to all (i.e. not just for church members.)
 
The 6th commandment “you shall not murder”, points to the principle of “honouring the image of God in those who are vulnerable”. We seek to honour the unborn child through the confidential & balanced counsel offered to those facing Crisis Pregnancy situations by The Haven. The Haven is a multi-church ministry that is significantly resourced by members of City Church. The Haven also seeks to show Christ like mercy and support through post-abortion counselling for those grappling with issues associated with the decision to terminate a pregnancy.
 
Although City Church has a disproportionately young demographic, we actively seek to honour the elderly. We are excited to have recently initiated a monthly “coffee morning” (with nice cake too) for local residents who are senior citizens with the aim of providing a place where friendship can be built, practical assistance given, loneliness overcome, love & hope shared.
 
The 5th commandment “honour your father and mother” speaks of the importance of parenthood. The church seeks to serve parents as they care for children through the provision of “CityBus” – a thriving weekly playgroup for babies, toddlers and their carers. In addition, we also offer Family Fun Days during school holidays when most other groups tend to close – which can leave parents isolated and stressed for lack of opportunities to entertain children and meet with other people.
 
The 4th commandment calls us to “keep the Sabbath” which speaks of the important principle of enjoying and extending the blessing of God’s Shalom Rest. City Church regularly partners with other local churches and civic agencies to hold Community Action Days in the local area. These days involve lots of different projects where volunteers help residents with practical needs like gardening, DIY & rubbish clearance from communal areas. It has been a privilege to serve the people of Riverside, Ditton Fields & Thorpe Way in recent times.
 
Prime Minister David Cameron said in his Easter address: “the values of Christianity are the values we need.”  As a church we passionately believe this statement is true and we are committed to the fact that by working together, we can accomplish far more than we can alone, in terms of showing the reality of the love of Christ to the people of the city in which we live. NG

CONFESSION

When I watch TV, I'm normally reading something, sorting out something and making something, all at the same time. When I'm on the computer, I normally have several tabs open all at once, each one serving a different train of thought. When I'm on holiday, my default position is vertical-in-motion, not horizontal-and-stationary. And wherever I go, whatever I do, I constantly have lists of things to do, see and research, all running through my head       I'm not telling you this in a vain attempt to impressive you with my wonderful feminine multi-tasking skills, no I'm telling you this so that you can begin to appreciate why the commandment "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" sends a resounding shiver down my spine.

My confession is this: I break this commandment all the time. Not only is that bad enough, but I do so completely consciously and often without any remorse. I am a serial commandment-breaker. And believe me when I tell you that I can provide you with a whole thesaurus full of excuses why I allow myself to overlook this commandment. But the fact remains, I am not keeping the Sabbath day holy and I grieve God by this deliberate disobedience.

Be still and know that I am God. If I do not stop, if I do not rest, if I am not still, I will not know God in the way He desires to be known.
   AG
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