My 10 Favorite Books of the Bible

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Book for Motivation in Life

I feel like most of life's scenarios and questions can be found and answered in the following three books: Job, Jonah, and Proverbs.

Job

Job is basically a tragedy that pulls an ex machina and ends on a happy note. What could possibly happen in my life that would be worse than what happened to Job? He lost all his children. He lost his wealth. He lost his health. The people were convinced he had some major skeletons in his closet for such tragedy to befall him, so he lost his reputation too. Yet, Job was highly favored by God. The book of Job answers the question of why bad things happen to good people and it reminds me to keep my faith through dark times.

Proverbs

Proverbs needs no explanation. The book is full of gems that grace walls, pictures, shirts, etc. There's a proverb for nearly every situation. The short, succinct messages are easy to memorize, poetic, and profound.

Jonah

When I was a child, my grandmother used to always remind me that "a hard head makes a soft tail"—i.e., when you don't listen you get a lot of spankings. Jonah is the spiritual embodiment of that theme for me. Jonah is most famous for ending up in the belly of a sea creature for 3 days. Why was he in the sea creature? Because he didn't listen to God. Jonah took the long, hard road, choosing to ignore God's calling. Imagine how different the story would be if he'd just gone where God told him to and done what God told him to do in the first place! That's the story of all our lives. We often wrestle with God, trying to go our own way, and in doing so we put our lives and the lives of others in danger.

The Relationship Between God and the Church

I know, you're expecting the gospels, or some other books from the New Testament that talk directly about the Bride of Christ or the history of the church, but actually this set of three (and a quarter) is all from the old testament. The themes in these books drive home God's love for us in a way that just touches my soul.

Genesis 1-3

Don't get me wrong, Genesis is a great book as a whole, and probably one of the best books of the Bible when it comes to the ratio between importance, interesting, and ease of understanding, but when it comes to the relationship of God and the Church, Genesis 1-3 melts my heart every time. When you truly dig into God creating us, giving us free will, the parallels between Adam (God's created son) and Jesus (God's only begotten son), and the fact that God spoke salvation into existence before He ever uttered the punishment for mankind's sin, it's powerful.

Exodus

Exodus tell us about the formation of Israel as an independent nation the first time, which was spurred by God delivering them from bondage in Egypt. It doesn't seem that important from a Gentile perspective, but it actually has a ton of spiritual significance. The journey of the Israelites out of bondage into freedom is the same as our journey from sinfulness to righteousness. Exodus introduces us to the holy feasts, which align with their journey, but also foretell of Christ's coming. We see God call Moses directly and using Moses, triumph over the most powerful king of the time. There's a song, "Reckless Love," that says "There's no shadow You won't light up, mountain You won't climb up, coming after me. There's no wall You won't kick down, lie You won't tear down, coming after me." Exodus truly shows us the lengths God is willing to go through to save His people.

Ruth

Most people go to Ruth to talk about waiting for love and basically romanticize the book as a how-to for dating. While that may be a valid interpretation, Ruth really is about the relationship of Jesus, the redeemer, and the Church, who needs redeeming. Ruth travels a great distance and gives up everything she knew to follow her mother-in-law, but the two women can't survive without a male benefactor, just as the church cannot survive without Jesus as our protector. Ruth puts in the effort of gleaning the fields for food (i.e., reading the Word and seeking God for spiritual food). Boaz ensures that there's always enough for her to glean, just as Jesus paved a way for us to get to Him. In the end we see the happy resolution of redemption and protection bestowed upon Ruth (the Church) by Boaz (Jesus).

Esther

How did Esther end up in my list of favorite books concerning God and His relationship with the Church when the book of Esther never mentions God? When I reread Esther last year and realized the whole story could also be interpreted as an allegory for the transferal of God's Word from the Israelites to the Gentiles and the salvation of God's people through Jesus, my mind was blown. If you shortened the history and foretellings of the Bible into their simplest forms, you would get the book of Esther with different names.

Prophecy and the End Times

Seeing prophecy come true is mind boggling. If there's one way to shock yourself into awe of God and the legitimacy of God's Word, it's to read and understand prophecy. That's why my actual favorite book of the Bible is in this set of three wonderful books on prophecy and the end times.

Daniel

Daniel is a history book, except it was written hundreds of years before the history took place. Reading Daniel and a history text book at the same time is life changing; not to mention what you see once you realize that Daniel is a key to Revelation! Not only does the book give us a roadmap of events for what to expect, Daniel and his friends provide an example of how we should react. From refusing to eat unclean foods to refusing to bow to the golden statue and face death, Daniel defines standing firm in the face of persecution. We can be confident that if we stand with God, when we get thrown in the fire, He'll bring us out unscathed because that's exactly what happened in the book of Daniel.

Matthew

A list of favorites isn't complete without a book from the gospels! In Matthew, Jesus addresses His return and the end of the Jewish nation. Sometimes it's hard to figure out which end He's referring to, but Jesus' Word about the end of days resonate for both occasions. Jesus gives us the tools and signs to identify false prophets and false doctrine, reminding us that if something is devoid of love, it's also devoid of God. Unfortunately, so many people do not know how to spot false doctrine and we have so many people turned away from God over false prophets and false doctrine. Matthew is the book that I feel like should be in the forefront of everyone's mind, may be then there'd be less non-believers.

Revelation

My absolute favorite book in the Bible is Revelation. I had an irrational fear of the end of the world as a child because I didn't understand what was supposed to happen or what it meant. Reading Revelation helped me understand that the end of the world is actually a victory for those who surrendered to God. Piecing together the pieces of the puzzle and finally understanding what's really written there was a fun journey, but more importantly, it gave me peace. The church—at least the churches I grew up attending—never really explained the end of the world, so it seemed uncharacteristically evil and harsh. It was only when I truly understood the book of Revelation that I could truly accept God and be at peace with Him.