Thanks for sending through your questions. This week, we’ll be looking at how to love those who may not reciprocate, and Pastor Jim dives into a few of his favourite Christian reads.

To check out last episode’s questions click here, and for Jim’s foreword on answering these questions click here.

QUESTION 1.

I KNOW WE OFTEN TALK ABOUT LOVING BROTHERS AND SISTERS WHO I DON’T WANT TO LOVE, BUT HOW DO I LOVE BROTHERS AND SISTERS WHO DON’T LOVE ME?

Jesus came to His own, yet His own did not recognize Him [John 1:10-11]. He first loved us while we were still sinners and enemies of God, and didn’t love Him back [Rom.5:8]. Apart from following Christ’s example, and sourcing His love, it would be impossible to love someone who do not reciprocate our love. This sort of unconditional love is most wonderfully and commonly displayed by parents toward their children, but even they are not perfect. Only Jesus perfectly loved His enemies.

Having said the above, the practicality of “loving someone” is often misunderstood as good times and fuzzy feelings, when in reality, the more profound love can be expressed through patience, kindness, respect and grace. “Loving your brothers and sisters” do not necessarily mean expecting to be best friends with every member of the church. There will always be varying degree of connection with various members of the church, but no matter how close or distant, we can always practice love and grace of Christ.

QUESTION 2.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITE CHRISTIAN BOOKS AND AUTHORS?

This is a hard question for a pastor who lives with many books and authors. Some are important works for understanding theology because of their contribution to development of our understanding of God and Scriptures. Others are valued for their effectiveness to communicate, both stylistically and for practicality. It’s also difficult to divide strictly between these lines. However, for the purpose of brevity, and serving the introductory nature of this list, I will keep the list fairly short.

These are some names of Christian authors with which you really can’t go too wrong, and their representative works:

R. C. Sproul (The Holiness of God, Knowing Scripture, Chosen by God)
J. I. Packer (Knowing God, A Quest for Godliness, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God)
C. S. Lewis (Mere Christianity, Chronicles of Narnia, The Screwtape Letters, Surprised by Joy, Etc)
Michael Horton (Putting Amazing Back into Grace, Introducing Covenant Theology, Christless Christianity)
Timothy Keller (The Reason for God, The Meaning of Marriage, The Prodigal God, Counterfeit Gods, Every Good Endeavour, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness, Etc. etc. all)
Jerry Bridges (Pursuit of Holiness, Transforming Grace)
Oswald Chambers (My Utmost for His Highest)

These are some books not written by the above authors that you should pick up to read, because they are either classics or important today:

St. Augustine (Confession, City of God)
John Bunyan (Pilgrim’s Progress, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners)
Prayer book edited by Arthur Bennett (The Valley of Vision)
The Institute of Christian Religion (John Calvin)

If you have ever wondered about topics such as these, are curious about the how’s and why’s of Christianity or have any other questions in general ask Pastor Jim anything here.