Stuck in a rut with your book club? Not sure which Christian book to pick next? Get some inspiration from a few of The Twelve and imagine, if the disciples had a book club, which books would they pick?
Matthew – the one who was a tax collector
Book pick: Misfits Welcome: Find Yourself in Jesus and Bring the World Along for the Ride by Matthew Barnett
Both of these Matthews know what it’s like not to fit in. The Matthew of the Bible was a tax collector before he was a disciple. For obvious reasons, people really didn’t like tax collectors in Jesus’ day. Matthew probably had few friends, several enemies and no one to come home to. Matthew Barnett is the director of the Dream Center in Los Angeles, California, a 24-hour church that helps 35,000 hurting people every day. These people range from those without homes, to those who are grieving, are addicts, don’t have families – it caters to and welcomes the misfits. I think disciple Matthew would have loved the Dream Center and found a very accepting place there, as he did in Jesus. Misfits Welcome releases this month and tells the incredible story of how the Dream Center began.
John – the one Jesus loved
Book Pick: Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World by Bob Goff
In the gospel of John, John refers to himself four times as “the one Jesus loved.” He wrote the famous love verse: “Let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God…” (1 John 4:7-10). The disciple John understood how love could change a person, how it was more than a feeling but something that propels us and moves us to action. Much like this sentence is true: If John were in a book club, he would choose the book Love Does. So is this one: If Bob Goff were a disciple, he would be John. Goff gets love and what it looks like in action. In his bestseller, Goff tells inspiring stories of how taking risks and loving others can change you and everyone around you.
Nathanael – the one who Jesus saw under a fig tree
Book pick: The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus by Lee Strobel
Jesus first saw Nathanael sitting under a fig tree and selected him as a disciple soon after. According to some scholars, the fig tree was the “poor man’s study.” This means it’s possible Nathanael was a good student of the Torah and would be interested in intellectual and well-researched books. Books like Lee Strobel’s classic The Case for Christ, which takes you along Strobel’s journey from being an atheist determined to disprove Jesus’ divinity, to being a believer in Jesus Christ. Nathanael was also skeptical of Christ at first, asking “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). He, like Strobel, needed a little proof before he could exclaim, “Rabbi, you are the son of God! You are the King of Israel” (John 1:49).
*Published 10/16/2014