By Danny Minton

I’m not as avid a reader as many people; however, I do read, on average, 15-20 books a year. I read from several genres but mostly enjoy reading about historical lives or events. I spend a lot of time in the Bible for my classes and try to make it a point to read through it from Genesis to Revelation every other year. Occasionally, I’ll pull out one of Agatha Christie’s or some other novel for a change.

I just finished reading “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House” by Eric Hodgins. Even in this fictional book, I found lessons that can be shared to help us face life. However, most of what I read is based on actual events. In particular, I look for books that help me draw lessons that can be used to encourage others in preaching, teaching, and writing. I’m currently reading “The Jersey Brothers” by Sally Mott Freeman. It’s a story of a missing Naval officer in WWII and his family’s efforts to bring him home. This one will take me a while at my slow reading pace since it is over 500 pages of small print. 

A good book based on facts is powerful in teaching lessons. While we like to read about life’s triumphs and successes, we must also be aware of the failures and mistakes that turn history in one direction or another. In reading, I take encouragement and courage from the lives of people who have pulled themselves up and overcome obstacles to achieve success. Books like “Once Upon a Town,” by Bob Greene, “Twelve Mighty Orphans,” by Jim Dent, and “Erick Liddell: Pure Gold,” by David McCasland share stories that inspire us to be better people. These stories present lessons of hope and strength to those struggling in their personal journey. 

However, mixed in with the good also comes the bad. Sometimes, we learn more from the faults and mistakes that have been made. There is power in the stories of history that many want to forget. Books such as “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” by Dee Brown, “The Ghosts of Mississippi,” by Maryanne Vollers, and “Just Mercy,” by Byran Stevenson remind us that we are not perfect and that men often do things that we wish we could go back and change. It is these lessons that, when taken to heart, can do as much to mold us to be better people as the stories of honor and success.

The Bible is a powerful history book. In it, we find the good, bad, and ugly of mankind through the ages. Reading through God’s word, we see good people who, while mostly good, make mistakes or do things that are not pleasing to God. We read of some of the most significant people who have ever lived who failed God in a moment of weakness. We also learn how they overcame those times and remained faithful and pleasing to God. The lives of those we read about in the pages of the Bible are not sugar-coated but truthfully presented.

The power in laying the truth before us teaches us that we can overcome any of our failings and weaknesses. God can continue to use us even though we disappoint him with our mistakes or failures. We learn from those mistakes. We use our failures to mold us to be better by not going down the same destructive roads again. The “Power of History” is found in every corner, good and bad. By reading through the Bible from beginning to end, a picture of history unfolds that is open and honest. Over and over, we read a history of failures when God is ignored and greatness when people trust in Him. 

However, the “Power of History” can only become effective when we take hold of it and learn from the good and the bad. Both are important if we are to live better lives. The author Pearl S. Buck commented, “If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.”  To build a better life today, we must learn from our past. The voices of history teach us how to use God’s truths not only to make our lives more Christlike but also to encourage the world around us. 

Danny Minton is a former Elder and minister at Southern Hills Church of Christ