It used to be that people with any intelligence at all would ask friends, “Have you read any good books lately?” It seems that, since the inception of TV, avid readers of good literature, both young and old, are becoming extinct. True, there’s a lot of books around today, but there is a vast difference between “trashy books,” that leave you empty and ignorant, and those that inform, and make you think. You can see what the world wants by looking at what the throng of people purchase in commercial and Christian bookstores; and by observing the small numbers in your local library.
It’s an interesting fact that one of the first things a dictator does when taking power is to destroy all good literature. Do we not realize that when you find readers of good literature, with a variety of different viewpoints, you will find individuals who think for themselves. People who will not be led around by the nose, so to speak.
Paul loved to read, in spite of his poor eyesight. He told Timothy when he was to visit him in prison to “...bring...the books.” He also encouraged the young man to “give attendance to reading..” He went on to tell him to give himself wholly to it, for it would both profit him and those he spoke with. Good reading, Paul tells us, can keep one from the wrong doctrines that seduce the soul. That is, it can keep one’s spiritual head screwed on right.
A Christian is certainly permitted to have a wide selection of books on his or her shelves—poetry, histories, mysteries, biographies, novels, etc.—may be in one’s library. But make sure you do not neglect those that nourish and strengthen the soul. The secular may inform, stimulate, and enlighten the mind, but they will never reach the inner, Spiritual man. Above all, let us never neglect the Book of books, the Bible.
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