10/21 - Hebrews 4:12 - What are you reading?

¹² For the word of God

is alive and active.

Sharper than any

double-edged sword,

it penetrates even to dividing

soul and spirit, joints and marrow;

it judges the thoughts and

attitudes of the heart.

Hebrews 4

 

When I was little, my mom had choir practice on Wednesday nights. And on Wednesdays when my dad worked late, me and my little brothers would tag along.

 

To keep three active boys from disrupting choir, my mom would make a strategic stop first at the local library. We’d each pick out a variety of books to – hopefully – keep us out of trouble.

 

The choir loft was in the balcony. And I can remember each of us boys lying on separate pews (twenty feet apart, of course) and reading our collection of new books.

 

Everyone was happy!!!

 

Do you like to read? Indeed, what do you read? Do you like fiction or non-fiction? Do you read long volumes or short articles? Do you prefer the rich and classic or the simple and mindless? Do you like uplifting stories or stories with excitement? Are your reading habits clean or … well?

 

I had a friend who would read seven novels a week. It was her escape from reality. Simple. Mindless. Throw-away novels. At the end of a week, she couldn’t tell you what even one of them was about. (It was surely more wholesome than escaping into the numbness of a bottle, but it had in some ways the same effect. Time passed without much thought or feeling.)

 

Along the side of the road, you occasionally see today’s sign. It points us to the nearest library. Libraries can be places of knowledge and wonder.

 

Well, have you walked into a library lately? (Or let me ask that a different way: Have you walked into a bookstore lately? In a materialistic culture, the bookstore is a library’s equivalent – why borrow it for free when you can spend money to clutter your shelves, right?)

 

But have you walked into a library or bookstore lately? What do you encounter almost immediately? A table full of “suggested” books. Good books! Books that someone thinks you “ought to” or might like to read.

 

In this world, there are good books and bad books. Uplifting books and sad books. Enlightening books and misleading books. Helpful books and wasted paper. But … there’s only one Good Book.

 

The point of today’s devotion is simple – don’t settle for good; read the best! Read God’s word. Daily.

 

It can be in short bites or long chunks. It can be in linear order or you can just start at an easy place (like the Gospels). If you don’t know what you’re reading, get a study bible which will help explain it.

 

And pray first for a hunger. I had a friend who tried for years to read the Bible in a year. He’d give up about the first of February. So after five failed tries, he prayed from February 1 to December 31 – “God give me a hunger for your Word.” The next year he cruised through joyfully … and has kept reading ever since.

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who reads his Bible

like he reads other things

(I’m a grazer. I read bits

and pieces … but regularly.

How about you?)