Reading the Classics of Devotion

By Bill Gaultiere © 2006

There’s more going on in Jesus’ glorious transfiguration than we’ve seen:

Jesus took his closest friends, Peter, James, and John, up a mountain.  There he was transfigured before them.  His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.  Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus… A bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:1-3, 5).

Here Jesus revealed his glory as the Son of God.  We know this.  What we don’t appreciate is that he also demonstrated his deep soul friendship with Moses and Elijah.

Jesus is the “I AM”, beyond space and time, so he was friends with Moses, Elijah, and all the other saints of the Old Testament long before his incarnation.  But in the limitations of his human flesh he needed to go back in time to befriend the great saints of the past.  He did this, not only in the miracle of his transfiguration, but also throughout his life in the ordinary way of reading.  We know this because he frequently quoted from Moses and Elijah, as well as David, Ezekiel, and others.

If Jesus – and his Apostles after him – found it important to befriend and learn from past heroes of the faith, how much more should we?!

Come Near the Holy Authors

The Scriptures, Christian hymns, biographies of the saints, and classic devotional books provide a rich source of sacred companionship for all Christians.

A.W. Tozer was perhaps the greatest Evangelical Pastor of 20th Century. And he wrote The Pursuit of God, a favorite devotional book that I have re-read many times.  He wrote: “Come near to the holy men and women of the past and you will soon feel the heat of their desire after God” (p. 15). He says, “The whole testimony of the worshipping, seeking, singing church” leads us into living by an “experiential heart-theology of a grand army of fragrant saints” (Tozer, p. 16-17).

Today, more than ever, we need to go back in time, to step outside the limitations and errors of our own materialistic and narcissistic culture and look to the heroes of the Bible and the great saints of the church age that followed them.  C.S. Lewis explains:

Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes.  We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period…  The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books (“On the Reading of Old Books,” God in the Dock, p. 202).

Search for the Hidden Treasure

William Law was a Protestant mystic of the 18th Century. His famous work, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, is on the short list of the great classics of Christian devotion. John Wesley called it one of three books which accounted for his first “explicit resolve to be all devoted to God.” He gives an example of the helpfulness of befriending the classics:

Of all human writings the lives of devout persons and eminent saints are [Miranda’s] greatest delight.  In these she searches as for hidden treasure – hoping to find some secret of holy living which she may make her own.  By this means Miranda has her head and her heart so stored with all the principles of wisdom and holiness that if you are in her company you must be made wiser and better (p. 56).

Speak the Language of the Soul at the Center!

Thomas Kelly was a Quaker writer and missionary, a great Evangelical Christian leader, who was transformed for Christ by reading from ancient spiritual treasures. He experienced a tremendous spiritual renewal through gathering with friends to read devotional classics that, in his words, “speak the language of the souls who live at the Center” (A Testament of Devotion, p. 55).  His weekly meetings with sacred companions and anointed devotional books featured readings, silence, conversation, and prayer.

Their cell group was like a “little religious order” that became a spiritual dynamo for revitalizing their lives and ministries to others (Douglass Steere, A Biographical Memoir of Thomas Kelly).  In fact, it was this group that stirred the “Shekinah of the Soul” in Kelly and ultimately led to A Testament of Devotion, one of the most compelling writings of Christian devotion in history.

How I “Take Heart” for Christ

I was so moved reading A Testament of Devotion that I was literally brought to my knees and stayed there. I kneeled at my tear-stained ancient wooden prayer bench and prayed for three full hours until I had prayerfully read through the entire book!

I’m not alone in my reverence for God’s revelation through Thomas Kelly’s testimony.  After befriending Thomas Kelly through his book Richard Foster remarked, “Each time I leaf through the pages of this book, I know I am in the presence of a giant soul” (from the Introduction).

So it’s no surprise that second to the Bible, I find the classic Christian devotional books the most helpful reading for my own relationship with God because they offer Christ to my heart simply, authentically, passionately… and usually in a short book!

In the pages of the classics I meet holy men and woman who see God and life with him differently than we do today.  They offer an ancient wisdom that I need. They open their heart to me and their holy desire for God is a fire that warms my heart and draws me closer to Christ!  So in the words of David and our Lord Jesus Christ himself, I “take heart” from these saints (Psalm 27:14, 31:24; Matthew 9:2, 22; John 16:33), absorbing their devotion to Christ and making it my own.

And I love sharing the Christ-loving words and warmth of these sacred companions with my friends!

My Favorite Devotional Classics

Here are some of my favorite classic devotional books which I’ve read (including a few that aren’t so old, but still offer vintage faith, heavenly salt, and godly living):

– Athanasius: The Life of Antony, St. Athanasius, 356.

– The Life of Moses, Gregory of Nyssa, 390.

- St Augustine’s Confessions, St Augustine, 397.

– The Rule, St. Benedict, 530.

- Spiritual Friendship, Aelred of Rievaulx, 1160.

- The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi, 1250-1261.

- Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart, Eastern Church Fathers, 4th to 15th Cent

- The Imitation of Christ, Thomas A. Kempis, 1486.

– The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, St. Ignatius, 1521.

– The Ascent of Mount Carmel and The Dark Night, St. John of the Cross, 1579-85.

- Interior Castle, Teresa of Avila, 1580.

- Introduction to the Devout Life, St Francis de Sales, 1609

– Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan, 1678.

– Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ, Jeanne Guyon, 1685.

– Practicing the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence, 1692.

– A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, William Law, 1728.

– The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim continues his way, an Anonymous Russian Pilgrim, c 1858.

– Abide in Christ, Andrew Murray, 1897.

– Letters by a Modern Mystic, Frank Laubach, 1932.

– A Testament of Devotion, Thomas R. Kelly, 1941.

– The Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer, 1948.

– Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1954.

– Lord, Make my Life a Miracle, Ray Ortlund, 1974.

– Hind’s Feet on High Places, Hannah Hurnard, 1977.

– The Way of the Heart, Henri Nouwen, 1981.

An Easy Way to Start

Don’t be overwhelmed with this list of great ancient books! As always in the spiritual life it’s important that we begin from where we are and take a small step. A great way to start into the spiritual writers of the past is with daily or weekly devotional books that feature shorter readings.  Here are my favorites:

- Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman, 1925.

- My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers, 1935

- Devotional Classics: Selected Readings for Individuals & Groups by Richard J. Foster and James Bryan Smith.

- Spiritual Classics: Selected Readings for Individuals & Groups by Richard Foster and Emilie Griffin.

- The Cyber Hymnal is a treasure of ancient hymn lyrics and tunes: http://www.cyberhymnal.org.

The Best of the Best

You can read “My Top 5 Classics of Christian Devotion” to learn which five books have most helped me to become like Jesus and why.

Thank you!

Bill & Kristi