“Excuse me!”

“Hi!” I call out to the woman approaching me on the street.

She has a six-pack of beers under one arm and a couple of packs of cigarettes in her hand. I wonder what she wants.

“Do you have children?” she asks.

“No, I don’t,” I reply, feeling slightly confused.

“Do you have a dad then?”

“Yes I do.”

“Does he love you? Does he always love you?”

“Yes he does.”

“Even if you do something really, really bad?” she asked.

I look into her eyes – pain, hurt. “Yes, I think he would.”

“So even if I do something really bad my dad will still love me?”

Tears are welling up in her eyes.

I nod.

She looks at me gratefully and we go our separate ways.

As I continue my walk to the supermarket on that cold, bright winter morning I realise I am wrong.

*

A dad’s love should be unconditional. But it isn’t always.

I like to think my dad would always love me no matter what. But I can’t know that he will. What if he changes? What if I do something really terrible?

But I do know my dad in heaven will always love me. I know this because he demonstrated his love once and for all in giving his life for me.

He died to right every wrong that I have done and will ever do. When he did this he knew every bad thing that I would do to him and yet he still did it. Nothing I do wrong ever surprises him.

*

I didn’t think of telling the woman this. I should have; I know my dad in heaven wants everyone to know of his amazing love for them.

I feel rubbish for messing up and wasting the opportunity to tell this woman of his love.

Then the truth comes home.

He still loves me even though I mess up because it doesn’t depend on me. The reality of his love is rooted in an event in history. I can’t change it by what I do or don’t do.

Amazing, undeserved, unchanging love!

This is love worth dying for! This is love worth living for!

A few weeks ago on the University of Birmingham Christian Union weekend away I talked to a few students who told me that they found it a challenge to actually read the Christian books that they buy. This got me thinking about reading and I ended up putting together a 1-page guide on the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of reading for Christians.

You can read the guide below, or download it as a PDF.

Why read?

1. To learn from great teachers
   Reading lets you sit at the feet of some of the great Christian teachers and minds over the centuries.
2. To become a better reader
   The ability to read with understanding does not come intuitively – it is a skill that must be learned, just like speaking and writing. The more we practice, the better we become. The greater our ability to read, the better we can read the Bible with understanding.
3. To understand the Bible better as we read how other Christians have grappled with the meaning in a passage.
4. Because of the example set by the Apostle Paul, who wrote a large part of the New Testament and had been preaching for 30 years, yet still wanted his books with him (2 Tim. 4:13).
5. To train your mind, broaden your vocabulary, cultivate an improved imagination and actively engage your mind. It can also help you develop a sense of how arguments are constructed and the ability to weigh the strength of arguments.
6. To be encouraged in your walk as a Christian as you read of the fruit that the gospel has produced in the lives of others.
7. To get to know God better
   You’ll grow in your knowledge of God, yourself and the world around you. You’ll enjoy spiritual input during the week, not just on a Sunday.
8. To step outside the bubble that you live in
   Reading books written by authors in another culture and from another generation can give you a historical perspective on current problems and help you see present day blind spots. They may be able to answer some of your questions and may address other questions you hadn’t even thought of.
9. To expose your ignorance
   Good books, like faithful friends and good churches, inform us of truth, exposing our ignorance.
10. For pleasure
    Reading can be deeply enjoyable.

Top tips

1. Read great books rather than many books. Life is too short to read everything that has been written, so you’ll have to decide which books to read and which to leave unread. Why not make it your aim to read the best books you can get your hands on?
2. Make time to read
   If you leave reading to when you’ve nothing else to do, you’ll rarely do it. For many, the problem is not a lack of time but rather a lack of planning. If you read a page a day, you’d read 2 books a year. If you read for 20 minutes each day, you’d get through 15 books a year! Be flexible and creative with planning your reading.
3. Salvage dead time by carrying a book with you when you are on the bus or the train.
4. Read together with someone else or a in a group. Meeting to chat about what you’ve read will help you spur each other on and improve your learning.
5. Change books if your concentration is drifting or you find yourself falling asleep. The change of topic will often re-engage your mind and keep you awake.
6. Start reading a book even if you aren’t sure you can finish it. Reading the first couple of chapters of a book is almost always better than not reading any of it. Reading the beginning of the book should give you a good idea what the book is about, which means you’ll know in the future what books to turn to for help on a given subject.