Whenever I am magnetized toward consumerism thanks to the millions of ads I see each day, I have to try and stop myself. I have to re-center with the Christian perspective that there is more to this life than accumulating things.
This is really hard.
We live in a “me first” world. And we’re pretty comfortable, and fairly safe (nothing of course is guaranteed), so it’s easy to just think about the next step in the American dream that I can mark off my checklist before the next big thing.
One of the remedies is to read. I look for a book by Christians who have given up everything to follow Him, or for perspective focusing on gospel-driven lifestyles versus American dream ones. Here are some of my favorites that I hope you’ll pick up soon!
In reality, every Christian should read this book. It is the story of young Dutch Corrie whose family had helped hide Jews during World War II. They get caught and are forced into the concentration camps. She shares her many inner struggles during the trials of her suffering.
Here’s a challenge. An 18-year old who tells her parents that she’s ready to go into full time mission work in Africa. They make an agreement that she can go for a short term trip, but then must return to go to college. Instead, she feels God’s tug to return and she does. Then adopts 13 children.
(P.S. There’s a second book coming out by this one on October 3rd!)
This adventure following Anna (named changed) was written when a young woman wanted to research the story of her great aunt who served in a leper colony in Nigeria. There’s love, deception, leopards and incredible miracles—you won’t want to put this one down.
Here’s a twist on a mission minded book: what if we were called to do our current job so well, that when there’s an opportunity to go overseas and do it, we do?! Scott recognizes that not all of us are called to drop everything to go and do something we’ve never done before (such as church planting or preaching). Rather, we are called to be experts in our field, and thus able to enter locations most missionaries would never have access to in the first place.
This was my first missionary book that I picked up as a teenager, and I have yet to forget it. It is the story of 19-year old Bruce who dropped college and went to the jungles of South America, specifically to a tribe that had murdered every visitor thus far. How does he get in? What are the fruits of the labor? Nothing that you would expect.
Naturally, there are plenty more books out there to encourage you. In fact, you’re welcome to share your favorite in the comment tab below! What do you do when the worries of this world start pressuring you to live the opposite of what God has in store for you?
4. Scatter: Go Therefore and Take Your Job With You by Andrew Scott