On any given day, that which we give our focus and energy to invariably plays an increasingly significant role in our personal and spiritual development. It grows in significance as individual actions and decisions lead to patterns, which then progress into comfortable habits. One drop of red paint in a bucket of white will make no perceptible difference; one drop every day for fifty years will result in a bucket of red paint. We may not realize the impact of our daily decisions until our bucket of paint has already turned red, which only underscores the importance of every decision we make. As I once heard a professor teach concerning the matter of spiritual development, it does not matter where you start, but where you are now and where you end up. We fix our focus and make decisions to the benefit—or to the detriment—of our spiritual development.1

Consider your own life and all of its various components— family, friends, church, job, school, clubs, sports, your neighborhood, cultural influ- ences, political slants, media, entertainment, and reading material, just to name a few. Though some play larger roles than others, it is difficult to escape the ways in which these influences shape us, for better or for worse. And we aren’t simply passive receptors; our free will remains central throughout the process.

F. W. Boreham said that once we make our decisions, our decisions turn around and make us.2 We can sometimes choose the influences that will affect us more deeply, though not always. Some, such as the larger cultural sphere, imbue every aspect of life, despite all attempts to shelter ourselves from them. Neither do we choose the family into which we are born. But our friends, our choice of job, and our reading material are areas where we practice autonomy. It is on the realm of reading that this book aims its focus, and is where we must consider Boreham’s axiom. In this area we make decisions, and then our decisions, our choices, make us.

Books shape us, dynamically molding our minds and souls. You are never the same person when you finish a book—even one that is read purely for escape or entertainment. A conviction may take root or deepen, the imagination may be sparked, a new perspective may dawn. A. W. Tozer has aptly stated that "the things you read will fashion you by slowly conditioning your mind."3

The decisions we make about what we read are vital. Romans 12:2 instructs us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.4 As human beings, we are in a constant state of becoming; at no time are we static or stagnant in our growth. As Christians who are called to continuously chew on the wonders of God, our reading diet is nothing to take lightly. T. S. Eliot, with his writer’s perspective, clearly understood the weight of this.

The author of a work of imagination is trying to affect us wholly, as human beings, whether he knows it or not; and we are affected by it, as human beings, whether we intend to be or not. I suppose that everything we eat has some other effect upon us than merely the pleasure of taste and mastication; it affects us during the process of assimilation and digestion; and I believe that exactly the same is true of anything we read.5

This does not mean that we can never read "lighter" material or that reading selections must come solely from the religious or theological shelves. Much else is worth reading. What it means is that what we read matters and directly affects who we become. We are fortunate with the wealth of books at our fingertips. Our lives can be changed by the words of contemporary authors just as they can be transformed—maybe even more so—by the wisdom set down in print by believers from past eras.

Philip Yancey has said that "across time and generations books carry the thoughts and feelings, the essence, of the human spirit."6 We share a commonality with those who have gone before us. The common voice of the church echoes through the years, declaring each age relevant to the others. The pouring out of a heart in devotion to God, the precisely systematized and articulated theology of God and the church, the novel that cuts to the very nature of our humanness and captures some glorious truth and shapes it into story, the poet who brilliantly observes the created order and composes lines that flood the heart, the telling of a saint’s life well lived—these are capable of drawing us deeper in and higher up. These are means of personal transformation. Writers of old share with us our humanity and our foundation on Christ and the Scriptures. But how often do we sit at their feet and find ourselves absorbed in their stories and teaching?

We ignore the written works of the fathers and mothers of the church to our own spiritual impoverishment. We cannot limit ourselves to reading only contemporary writers, as great as some are, and truly plumb the depths of our Christian heritage. Contemporary writers understand this and often quote from older writings, including the wisdom of largely forgotten writers who span the gap of time to feed our souls. Unfortunately, these are the books that long ago lost their place on the shelves of most bookstores, the authors and saints and thinkers who aren’t known to the average Christian today.

In every generation God raises up certain individuals to guide the believers in their own era. The contemporary authors contributing to this volume are many of these people for our own generation. Their books and insights have greatly shaped today’s church, and they often point us to those from previous generations who have pondered the glory and richness of God along with the life well lived in the light of His love.

Leaders from earlier generations have likewise put their thoughts to paper, though only a select few of their works have survived the ebb and flow of popular interest. Michele Rapkin, former editor in chief of Crossings Book Club, has identified this trend: "There are good books that really get you, and they can still be found. But it’s getting a lot harder."7 One of my desires for this book is not just to bring to light older titles that have lost a place on the shelves of the average Christian bookstore, but to uncover those books that Ms. Rapkin is referring to—books that "really get you," whether old or new.8

The question posed to each author who contributed to this volume was this: Which books (limiting it to three, if possible), other than the Bible, have most influenced your life? No further parameters were given, even that the book or books had to reflect a Christian worldview. I wanted only for these authors to provide a glimpse of the books that have left "indelible ink" on their souls—the works that have most greatly shaped their faith, and their lives in general. As a supplement to the 22 authors who go into greater detail and length, the first appendix comprises 136 other Christian leaders who share more briefly about the books that have shaped them. Within this list are hundreds of outstanding titles to consider for further reading. In a sense, the spiritual transparency these men and women re veal is a legacy entrusted to us—a legacy of experience and time-tested wisdom.

These leaders of the church, through their unique gifts and through the guiding hand and wisdom of God, have made a marked difference in the lives of contemporary believers through their own books, which collectively number in excess of 710 volumes! They understand how instrumental the written word can be. Heed their words. The books they write about have the power to change you. They can make you wiser, better prepared for the life of faith, and hungrier for more.

Allow these testimonies to guide you as you navigate your way through the bookshelves. You may discover a few books that end up altering the trajectory of your life, though every book you read will contribute a subtle transformation, a drop or two of paint in the bucket. Considering this, the question becomes clear: Which books will you choose?