“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and will all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37)
How do we cultivate our minds so that we can love the Lord our God more?
A discipline of reading has to be part of the answer to that question. The books we read shape us into the people we are becoming.
My journey of reading did not start until I was in my 20’s. I’m pretty sure I didn’t genuinely finish a legitimate book until after I had a college degree. I hope that will encourage some of you that do not yet love reading. It is a discipline that must be built over time.
While perhaps I’m a little late to the “Books I read in 2024” party, here are those that I read last year that I think are worth mentioning and that I believe would be helpful for you.
The Bible. Reading the Bible is the first and prevailing reading discipline to cultivate to love the Lord with our minds. Seek to know God’s Word and to read it regularly.
These days my primary Bible reading is in the English Standard Version (ESV). I am also reading the Christian Standard Bible (CSB) with my 9-year old daughter, and I almost always reference the New American Standard Bible (NASB) when I am preparing to preach (in addition to the ESV and CSB),
My reading plans this year have been the Professor Horner Bible Reading Plan and the PABARI (Pick A Book And Read It) plan. When I feel like I want to read a book all the way through at once, I do. And when I’m not doing that, I fall back on the Professor Horner Plan.
The rest of these are in the order I read them throughout the year. This is not an exhaustive list of all that I read- just the ones that I’d recommend.
Becoming Elisabeth Elliot and Being Elisabeth Elliot. This is a two volume biography by Ellen Vaughn on the wife of martyred missionary Jim Elliot. That’s about all I knew when I picked up these books. (Well, I also knew that my wife recommended I read them!). These books shaped me as I saw the amazing challenges Elisabeth faced all throughout her life and the powerful witness maintained through many challenges- not just the loss of her husband as a young adult. Vaughn does an amazing job as the biographer in capturing the powerful albeit flawed woman. The most significant takeaway for me was that the Christian life in a fallen world doesn’t always end with “happily ever after”. We are never promised to understand the events of our lives, but we are expected to trust God and walk with Him in each moment along the journey.
The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard. This book is excellent. It is probably the best book I read last year that wasn’t the Bible. I have been growing in my appreciation for and practice of the disciplines for my entire Christian life and this book was a powerful step along that journey. Willard writes, “A thoughtless or uniformed theology grips and guides our life with just as great a forces as does a thoughtful and informed one.” Yeah, I want a thoughtful and informed personal theology. This is a book that I plan to read again in the years to come.
Slow Productivity and Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. Wow. If you are in a knowledge work job (which seems likely if you’re reading blog articles), then you need to read these books. These are not Christian books; I believe Cal would call himself a humanist. However, the content is so helpful and practical on how to kill the distraction of our modern technologies and focus on doing great work. These are excellent, and I will likely be reading one or two more of his books soon.
Strengthening Your Marriage by Wayne Mack. This book has become my most recommended marriage book. The entire book is basically Mack helping you and your spouse “get on the same page” in your marriage. How does he do that? Plead with each of you to get on God’s page! The book is immensely practical, is basically a workbook, and it will have you reading a LOT of Bible to complete the tasks that he lays out. If you’re married, get this book!
When Christians Disagree by Tim Cooper. Cooper is a Church History Professor who wrote this book for normal (non-academics) people. He chronicles a lengthy and never-resolved feud between Richard Baxter and John Owen (two 17th Century Puritans). He uses their feud to help modern Christians think well about the disagreements that we have with other Christians in our lives with practical questions for self-reflection.
Navigating Destructive Relationships by Brad Hambrick. This book is part of a series of books Hambrick is releasing with New Growth Press that help us walk through difficult sin or suffering issues in our lives. This book is under his suffering paradigm. This is a practical, step-by-step process of navigating destructive relationships- you might use the term “toxic relationships”. If you have (or suspect you may have) one of these relationships in your life- or if you want to help a loved one in such a situation- this is the book for you. It is excellent and I look forward to the other installments of this series.
Interestingly, that was most of the books I read this year. I certainly didn’t break any records for how many books I read in 2024, but I am thankful for the quality. These days I feel like there are so many good books out there that I have less interest in reading mediocre books. I hope some of these will be helpful in your life as well, and that God use them to shape you and help you love Him with your whole, ever-growing, mind.
I love you guys,
Brian O’Day
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