Read a Book That Feeds Your Soul

Shifting schedules and routines are the norm these days. You may or may not have extra time (maybe you are not having to commute and gained an extra 40 minutes in your day). If you do have a bit of extra downtime, there are a few ways you can turn those extra minutes into a gain for your soul (instead of spending more time scrolling through news feeds). Over the next few posts, I’ll suggest a few ideas about how to do that.

Today, I want to encourage you to use some of that extra time to read a good book that feeds the soul.  Maybe you set aside 20 minutes in the evening to devote to reading. If that doesn’t work, start with 5 minutes of reading before bed. That doesn’t sound like much, but if you read 5 minutes each day that would be … let me calculate … 35 minutes a week … and over 30 hours in a year.

Below are some suggested books to consider.

• Trusting God by Jerry Bridges
• The Holiness of God by RC Sproul
• Knowing God by JI Packer
• Holiness by JC Ryle
• Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will by Kevin DeYoung
• Discipling: How to Help Others Follow Jesus by Mark Dever
• Desiring God by John Piper (should be available free at desiringgod.org)
• When People are Big and God is Small by Ed Welch
• Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Don Whitney
• A Little Book on the Christian Life by John Calvin
• A Good Christian Biography (Check out biographies by authors such as John Piper [Swans are not silent series] or Michael Haykin, Elisabeth Elliott, Iain Murray)

Fiction that feeds the soul

• The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
• The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis (yes I am aware the last book has a big problem).
• Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss

Don’t let this replace your Bible reading, but don’t be lazy either. One thing I remember from my internship days is that Rod always said, “Leaders are readers.” I think that should apply to all of us, even if it doesn’t rhyme as nicely.