Why Every Christian Should Read Christian Biographies

How easy it is to become complacent in the Christian life. We look around and think we're doing just fine because we look like everyone around us. We're all checking off our to-do lists, going to the next event, keeping up with our responsibilities, and doing what's expected of us.

But every now and then, we need to be shaken up a bit. We need to remember that we serve a great God who is worthy of wholehearted devotion—and that we have been called to spend our lives on something infinitely bigger than ourselves.

I was reminded of this recently while learning about William Borden's life. His life reinforced how much we need stories of faithful Christians set before us regularly. Lives marked by wholehearted devotion have a way of exposing how easily we become satisfied with comfortable Christianity.

Aren't you shaken when you read about people like William Borden, who joyfully laid aside unimaginable wealth and worldly prestige because he believed Christ was worthy of far more?

Or what about Corrie ten Boom, whose courage compelled her to risk everything to hide Jews during the Holocaust?

Or George Müller, whose remarkable confidence in God was matched by extraordinary answers to prayer?

Or Gladys Aylward, whose courageous faith carried more than one hundred orphaned children through the mountains of war-torn China?

Or Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, and Roger Youderian, who gladly gave their lives to bring the gospel to the Huaorani people of Ecuador?

Or Amy Carmichael, who spent decades rescuing vulnerable children in India without ever returning home?

Or Hudson Taylor, who endured hardship after hardship to bring the gospel deep into inland China?

Lives like these have a way of waking us up. They remind us that God is truly at work in the world, and it’s exciting. He is making himself known through his people. He is building his kingdom. He’s saving people!

These are the realities we need to keep before us so we remember what—and who—life is about.

We Are Forgetful

The problem isn’t that we don’t know these truths. It’s that we so easily lose sight of them. We know our God is great and worthy of our all—but daily life hits us, and we forget. We get distracted. We get tired. And before long, mediocre Christianity begins to seem good enough.

Not to mention, we tend to calibrate our lives to whatever we are most surrounded by. Whatever version of Christianity fills our news feeds, surrounds us in our neighborhoods, or characterizes our social circles gradually starts to seem normal.

Before long, our vision of what it means to faithfully follow Christ begins to shrink.

And that’s where the stories of faithful Christians fit in. They remind us that mediocre Christianity is not normal. They beautifully illustrate the truth that following Jesus has always meant a willingness to go wherever he leads and do whatever he asks. Christianity was never meant to be an add-on to life. Christ is meant to be our everything.

Those are the truths by which we need to continually recalibrate our lives.

And of course, this isn't just a helpful idea—it is a biblical one. Scripture repeatedly calls us to remember, consider, and imitate faithful believers. Hebrews 13:7 tells us to "remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith."

Likewise, Paul told the Philippians, "Keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us" (Philippians 3:17). They needed faithful examples before their eyes. We do too. We are prone to drift, and examples of wholehearted devotion help reorient our hearts toward what truly matters.

Recalibrate Your Heart

Don't just keep trucking along—checking off your lists and doing your daily tasks. You may still need to do all those things, but it's time to do them with so much more zeal. You have been given a life with unique abilities and opportunities, and they are all meant to be used for Jesus. If there is one thing these faithful examples teach us, it is this: don't waste what God has given you.

It doesn't matter whether your days are filled with changing diapers, running a corporation, or bandaging wounds in a far-off land. God has given you specific abilities, in a specific season of history, with specific opportunities around you. Use them wholeheartedly for him.

But remember that you are forgetful, and any sense of resolve you make today needs to be renewed every day. That's why we need to keep fixing our eyes on faithful examples who encourage us.

So pick up a Christian biography. Read about men and women whose lives were wholly devoted to Christ. Let their stories recalibrate your heart, reminding you what is truly worth living for and pointing you to the One who is worthy of your whole life.

Then close the book—and go faithfully serve Christ in the life he has given you.