It’s no secret to those who know me, but I love to read. As a Christian, I enjoy reading “Christian living” and theology, and I was challenged by a question on the humor site Stuff Christians Like, in one of Jon’s more serious posts.

At the end of that post, he asked the questions:

• What are you reading?
• And what is God showing you through it?

Answering the first question is easy, but admittedly, I often neglect thinking through the second question enough. Not that God is not showing me plenty through my reading, but I often don’t bother to think through it thoroughly and reflect up on it.

So, with that in mind, right now I’m reading…

• The Sinfulness of Sin, by Ralph Venning. Through this Puritan Paperback from Banner of Truth, I’m getting a very deep serious sense of God’s absolute and total hatred of sin. While “God hates sin” is a basic foundational idea of Christianity, I think we don’t reflect enough on just how repulsive our sin is to Him. This is important not just as an idea, but because it makes the cross of Jesus Christ that much more powerful – that God poured out His holy wrath upon His Son for our sake, that Christ took on that repulsive sin, and that for that, those who believe shall never suffer for it.
• Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health, by Donald S. Whitney. Here God is showing me how to be closer to Him through His Word, through prayer, and through other spiritual disciplines and attitudes.
• Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, by J. I. Packer. I’ve been very convicted of my failure to evangelize lost friends, relatives, and strangers. God continues to convict and through Packer’s classic, I’m getting a very solid, biblical view of evangelism, and what is important (and what’s not) when sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m also gaining confidence to proclaim Christ.