I admire people who are authentic and transparent, and I enjoy biographies that paint historical figures as they really were. Put those two qualities together in a single binding, and I won’t be able to put it down. Don’t give me the whitewashed version of a person’s life. I want people painted as they were, “pimples, warts, and everything.” That’s the way the Bible portrays all of its characters. Scripture doesn’t presume to tell fairy tales. It’s a book about real life, showing real people going through real experiences in a real world. It tells us the unvarnished truth about its heroes, even when that truth proves to be uncomfortable or unappealing. When you see lives portrayed, you get the whole story—no phony-baloney stuff, no airbrushed models. Each of the men and women in the Bible is like Elijah, whom the apostle James described as “a man with a nature like ours” (James 5:17, NASB). The Bible tells us the stories of these people because we are like them, and their experiences help us understand ourselves, our needs, and our relationships with God. The same can be said of biographies in general, but it’s especially true of biographies about historical figures in Scripture, which may explain why I have written so many of them. I believe a close examination of a person’s life—particularly an individual who helped shape our world today—can be one of the best investments of our time when reading. Consequently, there’s rarely a time when I’m not reading a biography. Having read so many biographies, I have discovered that many things in life are cyclical; history repeats itself. I gain wisdom by learning how another person got through a difficult time. How a great man or woman responded to criticism. How an individual, while honored and celebrated, avoided the ego trap of arrogance or conceit. Charles R. Swindoll, Abraham: One Nomad’s Amazing Journey of Faith (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2014). 21 Laws of Discipleship -- the book -- |
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