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Top 5 Books I Read in 2023


“Give yourself unto reading. The man who never reads will never be read;

he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains,

proves that he has no brains of his own. You need to read.”

-Charles H. Spurgeon


Every year I release this list I get a lot of response and feedback from eager readers and that is precisely why I try to do this every year. I have a good friend who likes to post daily workouts on his social media account simply to encourage others to exercise and remind them to do so. You could call it a boast or seeking attention, but to me I treat it as a daily reminder and if I can in some small way encourage my fellow believers to read and consume godly material throughout the year, I'd love to be able to be a small part of their reading journey. As someone who finds it a chore at times to get through books, I hope this list helps to both inspire you to read and to give you some suggestions on where to start. By no means does a "top five list" mean that these are the best books, they are just the ones that subjectively stood out to me this past year. Here's the list for 2023:



The Air We Breathe: How We All Came to Believe in Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality. By Glen Scrivener.


I picked up this book as it was awarded The Gospel Coalition's book of the year award, and I thought it would be worth checking out. To my surprise, as I usually don't resonate with the books of mass appeal, this one was a pleasant end of year read. It's not the most theological or biblically in depth book, but its not trying to be, it just hopes to share some good Christian insight to as many types of people as possible. To the believer, this book will remind us of our imago Dei and to the non-believer it will provoke thought as to why there is so much consistency throughout the human race in areas of ethics and desire. For those that want an easy read that you could certainly read with some friends, this is it.




In the Year of Our Lord. By Sinclair Ferguson.


Being a preacher I love to read about church history and the Christians of our past. I am certainly a sucker for biographies and I read quite a few. Consider this book a great intro to the great men and women of our church's history, and a survey of how God has raised up faithful men and women in the past 2000 years. Ferguson is a brilliant mind, but what I appreciate about his writing is always his great readability for the masses. You will not be hesitant to just pick this book up and take a dive into the past as Ferguson guides you through some amazing stories.




The Westminster Assembly. By Robert Letham.

Our church has been studying the Westminster Confession of Faith in our weekly Sunday studies and for almost all of them, it has been their first introduction to the document. That being the case, this book has become absolutely a treasure for me as Lethem walks you through the chapters of the confession of faith, giving some insight and details as to the stories behind some of the chapters and paragraphs. It has been a joy reading this book along side the confession of faith and for anyone interested in some of the behind the scene stories of the assembly, this is a great introductory book for that. Chad Van Dixhoorn has a much more comprehensive book(s) on the assembly and their meetings over the course of their decade long gatherings, I would look into that too for anyone really keen on learning more.




It's Good to Be a Man: A Handbook for Godly Masculinity. By Michael Foster & Dominic Bnonn Tennant.

A topic that I have been reading on more and more in recent years is the topic of biblical masculinity. I want to get my understanding of this correct because I believe it is something I need to be well versed in in today's culture in order to witness Christ well to men and women of the next generation. Certainly there has been a massive shift in proper understanding of biblical manhood and I hope to recover that which is true for both my own sake and for the sake of those I teach. This is a book that I found refreshing and clear on this very topic. It may be a bit too abrasive or disruptive for those that are unfamiliar with the orthodox Christian understanding of gender roles and masculinity, but I think it does a great job of being both firm and fair to those who are willing to listen. There are some other great books on this too, but for any male in church I would recommend this book to have a better understanding of what our masculinity entails and how it both should and should not be exercised.




Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God. By Voddie Baucham Jr.

My wife and I are praying over having kids in the near future and with that in mind I set out in 2023 to better educate myself on faith in the household. I read books on parenting, education, family worship and other topics. This book is one that I can commend to any believer hoping to raise a household of faith. Baucham was already one of my favourite preachers, he quickly became one of my favourite authors as well in 2023. This book's title tells you exactly what you will learn through it. And the reason we need this book today is because the world is trying to indoctrinate and influence our children in ways that will take them away from Christian belief. You can never guarantee whether your child will become a believer, but there are things we can keep in mind as parents to cultivate a household that seeks to honour God. Pick this one up to learn more.



 
 
 

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