What Are You Reading?

I am a reader. Increasingly, I am in the minority and am the butt of a few well-intended jokes. But, laugh as you may, I love to read and I strongly encourage reading for all who desire to be informed, and especially for Christians. There are tons of excuses for why people do not read, but the fact remains that most people do not read because they simply do not want to read. They find time to engage in other activities (primarily watching television), but simply do not make time to read.

For Christians, this is scary really, because many Christians are not even making time to read their Bibles. The Bible has become an ornament for Sunday morning and the bedside table instead of a tool and guide into the very heart of God. I am not opposed to television, I watch mine more than I should, but it is imperative for Christians to peel their eyes away from it long enough to engage in activities more stimulating to the mind.

Reading does not have to consume your life for it to be a life-changing event. John Piper illustrates it this way, "Suppose you read slowly...about the same speed that you speak--200 words per minute. If you read fifteen minutes a day for one year (say just before supper, or just before bed), you will read 5,475 minutes in that year. Multiply that by 200 words a minute, and you get 1,095,000 words that you would read in a year. Now an average serious book might have about 360 words per page. So you would have read 3,041 pages in one year." If that doesn't seem substantial, then just realize that is more than 10 substantial books per year (I rarely pick up a book with more than 250 pages).

Give it a shot, it will change your life, and who knows, you might even begin to enjoy it along the way.