Preachers and other Christians who know that, “the very best way for you to be spending your leisure, is to be either reading or praying,” desire books to read in compliment to the Scriptures. As Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4:13, “…bring with thee…the books, but especially the parchments. (Scriptures)” Spurgeon continues, “Some of our very ultra Calvinistic brethren think that a minister who reads books and studies his sermon must be a very deplorable specimen of a preacher. How rebuked are they by the apostle He is inspired, and yet he wants books He has been preaching at least for thirty years, and yet he wants books He had seen the Lord, and yet he wants books He had had a wider experience than most men, and yet he wants books He had been caught up into the third heaven, and had heard things which it was unlawful for a men to utter, yet he wants books He had written the major part of the New Testament, and yet he wants books The apostle says to Timothy and so he says to every preacher, ‘Give thyself unto reading.’ You may get much instruction from books which afterwards you may use as a true weapon in your Lord and Master’s service. Paul cries, ‘Bring the books‘— join in the cry.”
Reading books is important but is more important to read the best books, because as the Book of Ecclesiastes says, “...of making many books there is no end…” and not every book is worth reading. But how do we know before we read it? The best way is to ask someone who has read it if it is any good. That’s why many preachers and Christian readers are always asking, ”What are you reading?” That is why I’m starting this section to say what books are on my desk.
I have discovered a great resource for older (and usually better) books is PDF files which can be found at places like www.archive.org or www.ccel.org . However I also suffer from what some folks call the Piccard syndrome. Piccard was the commander of the Enterprise in the 1980′s Star Trek tv show. In the age where everything is on the ship’s computer, Piccard could be found reading a hard bound book. Those PDF files are wonderful but there’s nothing like a real book. I even like them used and musky. Ahh, Bring the musky smelling books!
Always on my desk is the Bible. I still have the Bible I used in college back in the 80′s, a Cambridge turquoise center column reference, King James Version of course and a New Pilgrim Bible KJV, which is a study Bible like the old Scofield Reference Bible.
So what are you reading?
Pastor Ty