I have been writing about a book every week on Tuesdays to help people navigate the Christian portion of the Book store. Christian Book Stores have a lot of what I would label garbage in them. I don’t mean to sound like some sort of book snob, but there is very little meaty work out there. So, I am giving recommendations of books that I consider to be good.
With that being said, I am going to recommend a book today that over the course of a weekend changed my life. I picked up the 1973 edition of this book because I had heard of it at a used bookstore that i frequented. I bought it for $3. It was likely the best $3 that I have or will ever spend. The book is knowing God by J.I. Packer.
One year, while in college and on Choir tour, I read this book as we traveled on the tour bus, at different stops, and at hotels. You see, this book was changing me and I didn’t want to put it down. His book begins with a quotation from Charles Spurgeon to show the importance of knowing God.
“The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.”-J.I. Packer, Knowing God, Intervarsity Press, 1973
From this point on Packer unfolds the nature of God as revealed in Scripture and what that means for us as people. The education I received from this book was incredible.
I was stirred as I read about the love of God. We can say that God is love, but what does that mean? How is it unfolded in Scripture? What does that mean for my life? I was brought to terror as I was forced to think about God’s holiness and His severity? I was stirred by the grace and mercy of God to the highest of heights.
Here is my point. If you have not read this book and are a believer, I think you should. Actually, I think that the content that is dealt with in this book is vital to a healthy Christian life. We need to know God. It re-prioritizes our lives by forcing us to see God for who He is and what He is doing in the world. But, the content of this book is not for those who wish to keep their lives the same. If you begin understanding and applying what is taught in this book, you will be changed. I will close with J.I. Packer’s own words as to what is most important for a believer to know.
…we have been brought to the point where we both can and must get our life’s priorities straight. From current Christian publications you might think that the most vital issue for any real or would-be Christian in the world today is church union, or social witness, or dialogue with other Christians and other faiths, or refuting this or that -ism, or developing a Christian philosophy and culture, or what have. But our line of study makes the present-day concentration on these things look like a gigantic conspiracy of misdirection. Of course, it is not that; the issues themselves are real and must be dealt with in their place. But it is tragic that, in paying attention to them, so many in our day seem to have been distracted from what was, is, and always will be the true priority for every human being – that is, learning to know God in Christ.”-J.I. Packer, Knowing God, Intervarsity Press, 1973, p. 254
R. Dwain Minor
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