Why Read a Christian Book?

Why would you pick up a Christian book?

They help you study the Bible

There are some books that are written to help you get the most out of your Bible study time. They could be books such as Dig Deeper by Nigel Benyon and Andrew Sach that give you tools for studying the Bible on your own. Or they could be commentaries like Ryle's commentary on Matthew that will bring out the details that you might have otherwise missed. However, none of these would ever be able to replace reading the Bible itself.

They help you understand an issue that you or someone you know may be struggling with

 Ever been in a situation where you don't know what to say? Or has something unexpected happen and you don't know what to do? Or it's been going on for a while and you don't understand what the Bible has to say about it.  There are books out there that can help you get to grips with the stuff that you are dealing with from God's perspective in the Bible. They can be good to read with someone if you want to be honest with another person. Compared to Her by Sophie de Witt is a good one for that. One of the best books that I have read is Depression - Looking up from the stubborn Darkness by Edward T Welch. I don't have depression but it helped me see things from the point of view of someone who does and I don't think it was a waste of time checking that I knew what the Bible's view of it is. 

Benefit from other people's wisdom... or in some cases not

From what I can gather we live in an age where there are more Christian books available than any other time in history. And it's getting easier and cheaper to get them. So one would be smart to make use of someone else's brain and the work that they have done to understand the Bible. There is a slight probelm with this. With it being easier to get your book out into the market there is some rubbish stuff not worth reading along with all the really good stuff. The problem comes when you have to pick out the good from the bad. You need to think about what you are reading, or get recommendations from people you know that read good books. But don't let all those good books go to waste.

What are you reading?