Why All the Books?

Right now I’m reading an excellent book by Joshua Harris (an author I absolutely love!). This past Tuesday at Small Group, I realized how much I refer to books I’ve read during our discussions. It made me think of the several Everybody Loves Raymond episodes in which Debra mentions something from a book she’s read and Ray says in his sarcastic tone, “You’re reading books again.”

I read lots of books, especially Christian literature. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without them. I get so much more out of Scripture by reading these solid Christian books. I was spending some time today thinking about Christian literature and the importance of it in my life. It reminded me of conversations I’ve had with friends about the practice of using Christian literature other than the Bible to grow spiritually.

Some say that Christians shouldn’t depend so heavily on Christian literature (other than the Bible) to learn. They say the Bible is enough—that we shouldn’t need anything else. I agree that the Bible is our primary and ultimate source. We should also be careful as the Christian literature we choose to read. It must be solid—entirely based on Scripture.

What I like about books is that they dwell on a specific topic—or issue, or spiritual discipline, or area--they use all the Scripture pertaining to that particular topic, and they piece it all together for me to better understand it. Good authors apply it to real-life experiences so that I can apply it to my own life. Books serve the purpose of making Scripture more real to me. This is why I love using Christian literature.

Last night, I picked back up on where I left off several weeks ago in the book Stop Dating the Church by Joshua Harris. I spent time this morning during my quiet time taking copious notes, and today, as I’m sitting in an eighth grade classroom, I am reading even more and taking even more notes (as well as writing this blog. I promise this is during the planning period.).

I wish I had written this book. I love everything about it. It’s so simple and so full of truth. It paints the perfect picture of God’s design for the Church, as the body of believers, and the local church. I’ll probably be posting several entries after this one with all the notes I’ve taken. Of course, it would be more beneficial for those who are reading my blog to just and pick up the book and read it themselves, especially since most of my notes are direct quotes from the text. However, I hate taking all these notes and learning a great deal without having the opportunity to share what I’ve learned. Besides, I know many of you will not read the book.