2024 is a milestone year for Agape, marking ten years since we opened our doors. This has caused me to reflect on God’s faithfulness through the years and the support we’ve received from our customers, friends, family and the Christian community.
Key among my thoughts is why we chose to open Agape and our mission: to build the kingdom of God by helping people grow spiritually and increase the awareness of God and His life-transforming love.
Today, I want to share three benefits of reading Christian books.
- What Goes Into a Mind Comes Out in A Life
There’s an old saying: “You are what you eat,” which means what you eat impacts your health and life. The same is true of what we put into our minds. If we put garbage into our minds and hearts, that will be reflected in our lives.
In Philippians 4:8, we’re encouraged to “Fix [our] thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”
When religious leaders condemned Jesus for letting his disciples eat wheat on the Sabbath, he responded by saying, “you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth” (Matt 15:11), teaching that what we say and how we live reveals our hearts and our sinful nature.
There are so many corrupt messages hitting us hourly, and it’s essential we intentionally feed our hearts and minds things that are “excellent and worthy of praise.” - We Can Learn From Others
Otto von Bismarck stated, “Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.” Proverbs 12:15 states, “The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.”
For centuries, Christians have worked through how to live the Christian life and helped clarify important Biblical truths. The church is the family of Christ, and that family doesn’t just stretch across the globe but through time. No one individual has the time and mental ability to work through all the issues the Christian family has considered over the years.
However, we do have the ability to learn from others who have lived and worked out their faith throughout Christian history. We can learn from their failures, successes, and insights into scripture. We can interact with their teachings, compare them to scripture, and evaluate their value to our lives. We can be exposed to how the Christian life is lived in different cultures, settings, times, and challenges, find commonality, and learn from their examples. - Causes Us to Examine Our Lives
Reading Christian books isn’t simply about passively consuming knowledge but actively engaging with the concepts and using them to inform our lives. As we learn and grow, sometimes how we live and act may quickly change. Other things—and maybe the most significant changes—require deep thought and examination of how we can implement Biblically sound teachings into our lives.
Sometimes, we must pause, reflect and ask ourselves the old question: “How then, shall we live?”
“Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the Lord.” (Lam 3:40)
If you want something new to read, check out some suggestions below.
Our Best Seller’s List
New Releases
Upcoming Releases