AN APOLOGETIC ON READING

We live in a world that is all about being busy. We run from one job or activity to another and are constantly on the go. The old saying is true we run around like a chicken with its head cut off. (Which for a young boy was in its own way a funny thing to watch.) We find little time to as Vance Havner wrote, " learning the art of walking slow." We are often way to busy for our own good.

We as a people should be reflective throughout the course of the day on our relationship to the Lord. I do not want to be so busy that I do not take time out of my day to draw close to the Lord.

In saying the above I feel somewhat dumbfounded when it comes to believers who do not open up the Word of God to read it. I will see Bibles left at our church or at home that are not opened up once during the week. It breaks my heart that the Bible has become more of a symbol then anything else to its people rather then the living and breathing Word of God. It has become a trinket that we own and pull out only at certain times when others are watching.

I don't know how often I have heard the following excuses, "I'm just so tired I'll read it later," or  the worst, "I'm just so busy." Paul has some harsh words for people that are lazy in II Thess. 3:6-15 and are not busy with the work that God has given them to do under the sun. We are to be known as a people with a great work ethic. Yet, for all of this type of talk and preaching I believe that when it comes to the reading of the Word of God there are many people who are great with their work ethic but lazy in their reading habits of the Word.

I, like other pastors truly do have an incredible job when you think about it. I get paid by a group of people to read and study the Word of God. Did you hear me? Paid for reading and studying the Word of God. Yet, here is the real truth of the matter I would still read it daily paid or not. Why do I read it? Just like many of you because I want to know Him. I want to know this God who loves this world that is gone mad.

It's important that we as a people are reading books that deal with the Word of God and who He is. We should be known for reading devotionals, commentaries and dare I say it in a world that now days  makes so little of it, THEOLOGY. (It amazes me how people make so little of theology today and yet they themselves make up their own teachings, traditions, and by doing so they make their own theologies with no biblical basis.) I wonder what the church Fathers would say about all of this.

OK, OK, I know baby steps. Well now let me even say something wilder. I believe that we as a people should read outside of the Biblical realm as well.  Hang in there for a moment with me. When I read Paul in Acts 17 as he stands in front of the men of Athens he will quote the Cretan poet Epimenides in verse 28. He will also quote him in Titus 1:12-13 and in verse 13 will say that his statement is true. In the book, Think Biblically, one of the chapters written by Grant Horner correctly brings up how that Augustine, Calvin and Luther read secular philosophies and writings of their times.

Like many we should be cautious when we enter into the realm of non-biblical thinkers. When I read these guys I want to do so through Biblical lenses. While I read I must according to I John 4:1 do the following. "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world." (ESV)  I read with the command of I Thessalonians 5: 21, " But test everything ; hold fast what is good." (ESV) Read with the acid test of Philippians 4:8 in our mindset.

I read for tons of reasons but here are just a few.

• Read, because we should be known as a people who are constantly learning.
• Read History as we see the frailty and courage of those who have gone before us. We can learn lessons from them and how they thought. ( One of the great history books that was written in recent years is Doris Kearns Goodwin's book Team of Rivals. Trust me if you work with people who do not agree with you look at Lincoln and how he dealt with his cabinet. This is a great book for pastors.)
• Read Poetry, simply because of the beauty of it all.
• Read Shakespeare, OK, I know that I have lost half of you on that one. Why? No other author other then God with His Word can tell us so much about the human condition. (Still can't read him because of the old English, get copies of his works in the No Fear Shakespeare editions. Simply written but true to the text.)
• Read for the sake of just enjoyment.Yes, we do have a Father who truly does want us to take some time out of our busy schedule to just enjoy life.
• Read so that we can understand the unsaved world better so that we can reach them effectively. (Once again with a word of caution read with Biblical lenses.)

One of my prayers for my girls and others is that they would have a passion to read. Read well, read often, reflect on what you read, think through what you read and may we all read with the greatest of passions the Word of God that alone can save a dying world.





Julie and I at the Colorado National Monument