When was the last time you read a good biography? You should resolve to read at least one in this coming year. Let me define “good biography.” A biography that is written to praise a man and exalt his wonderful work is not a “good biography.” You will come away from a “good” biography praising God for what He has done and a renewed commitment to serve Him.
Whenever I want to read just for the enjoyment of reading, a good biography is likely to be on the top of the list. Maybe I feel this way because it was the reading of a biography that turned my life around a number of years ago. It wasn’t that I was living in sin, but I was living for self. A good job, working six days a week for a large corporation, getting to meetings on Sunday’s but no time for midweek meetings or any other spiritual exercise. Then I read the biography of Jim Elliot, The Shadow of the Almighty, and God used that book to convict me of my wrong priorities.
As you read about the lives of men and women of God, you will be convicted, inspired, encouraged, and challenged to go on for God in your own life. As you read of how God worked in their lives, you will come to a fuller understanding of His working in your life. As you read of their doubts, discouragements, and frustrations, you will grasp with firmer hand the great God who is there even when you can’t see Him.
Since there are so many good ones, let me mention a few of them for you. There are biographies of pioneers such as William Carey, Hudson Taylor, Mary Slessor, and George Mueller. If there is more than one author writing about an individual, choose the one who is interested in presenting the heart of the person and not just their history. God’s work in the man is more important than God’s work through the man.
There is a series called the Pioneer Series, published in Britain, of men who were used of God in the British Isles, Canada, and the U.S. around the turn of the century. These men preached the Gospel and saw New Testament assemblies established in great numbers: Donald Munro, Alexander Marshall, and many others whose names are in God’s Who’s Who list in glory.
There are biographies of men who are so intertwined with their work that you can’t separate the men from the work. I mention Angola Beloved by T. Ernest Wilson or Grace Triumphant by Cyril Brooks, or He Loved to Plant of T. B. Gilbert.
And while I’m mentioning series, let me introduce you to: That the World May Know. ten volumes on assembly missionary work around the world — men and women following the New Testament pattern, taking the Gospel to the unreached corners of the world. It was compiled by Frederick Tatford and published by Echoes of Service, a British missionary service group, similar to CMML in the United States.
You will find that these are ordinary men and women with all the foibles of humanity, but picked up by God and used by Him in an extraordinary way. He has done this so “that no flesh should glory in His presence”(1 Cor. l:29). May your heart be warmed, your vision enlarged, and your goals redefined as you read a good biography this coming year.