My answer, after having been in ministry 40-plus years with over 10 years being in men’s ministry, is yes and no. Let me explain …
The big picture answer of no is because only the work of the Trinity—God the Father, because of Jesus the Lord and Savior, through the power of the Holy Spirit—can change a man’s life permanently, for eternity. God’s Word has been given as His message that, as the apostle Paul stated, can transform the mind, with that process being literal, not figurative.
Now, here’s the yes. Outside of the Bible, when a man engages with a biblically-centric book that aligns with the truth of God, the Holy Spirit can absolutely use a book to begin the transformation of a man, at any age. The book is simply the vehicle with God’s Spirit being the fuel to get the man where his heart and mind need to go. And, hopefully, to a place of obedience and surrender.
Three quick examples from my own books …
A single mom contacted me that her greatest fear was how to help her teenage son navigate life as a young Christian man facing the temptations of the world. After her son received my book from a friend of their family, she noticed he was reading it at night. As he read, she prayed for him. The mom told me that, over several weeks, she began to see and hear her son change in his confidence, boldness, and maturity in his faith.
A man in his 40s, married for 20 years with two daughters, began going to a men’s group that was using one of my books. She saw that he had it with him when he left and came home from the meetings. After a couple of months, she went to her husband and told him, “I’m not really sure what you’re doing in that group or what you talk about, but I just want you to know you’re different. I can see it.” He was blown away, because he believed he was changing, but knew full well that a wife telling a man that it’s visible is a very different level of proof.
Lastly, in one of my books, with permission given and names changed, I had shared a man’s testimony of his marriage on the brink of divorce to being radically saved, driven by his choices to allow God to work in him. One night, he received a call from a frantic wife of an acquaintance that her husband had said he was fed up and packing to leave. My friend grabbed the book and sped to their home. At the door, the husband threatened him to leave. My friend said, “Just give me three minutes to read you something and then I promise I’ll go.” He sat down and read his story and then said, “That guy is me, I know what you’re going through and I can help.” The husband broke down, agreeing to stay and try to make the marriage work.
So, can a book really change a man’s life? Yes. If God is involved, yes.
If you’re a wife, mother, sister, adult daughter, I want to encourage you to not just hand a man, of any age, a Christian book and walk away, expecting that to change his life. But with intention and a commitment to pray in faith, gift a book and then step back, allow him some space, and ask the Lord to draw him in, to engage him, to speak, to act, to move in his heart and mind.
And, finally, remember the words of Jesus in Mark 10:27, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
