I've been thinking again about the importance of reading and
writing. There are several reasons I write. One of the most
personally compelling is that I read. I mean, my main spiritual
sustenance comes by the Holy Spirit from reading. Therefore reading
is more important to me than eating. If I went blind, I would pay
to have someone read to me. I would try to learn Braille. I would
buy "books on tape." I would rather go without food than go without
books. Therefore, writing feels very lifegiving to me, since I get
so much of my own life from reading.

Combine this with what Paul says in Ephesians 3:3-4, "By
revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote
before in brief. And by referring to this, when you read you can
understand my insight into the mystery of Christ." The early church
was established by apostolic writing as well as apostolic
preaching. God chose to send his living Word into the world for 30
years, and his written Word into the world for 2000+ years. Think
of the assumption behind this divine decision. People in each
generation would be dependent on those who read. Some people, if
not all, would have to learn to read—and read well, in order
to be faithful to God.

So it has been for thousands of years. Generation after
generation has read the insights of its writers. This is why fresh
statements of old truth are always needed. Without them people will
read error. Daniel Webster once said,

If religious books are not widely circulated among the masses in
this country, I do not know what is going to become of us as a
nation. If truth be not diffused, error will be; if God and His
Word are not known and received, the devil and his works will gain
the ascendancy; if the evangelical volume does not reach every
hamlet, the pages of a corrupt and licentious literature
will.¹

Millions of people are going to read. If they don't read
contemporary Christian books, they are going to read contemporary
secular books. They will read. It is amazing to watch people in the
airports. At any given moment there must be hundreds of thousands
of people reading just in airports. One of the things we Christians
need to be committed to, besides reading, is giving away solid
books to those who might read them, but would never buy them.

The ripple effect is incalculable. Consider this
illustration:

A book by Richard Sibbes, one of the choicest of the Puritan
writers, was read by Richard Baxter, who was greatly blessed by it.
Baxter then wrote his Call to the Unconverted which deeply
influenced Philip Doddridge, who in turn wrote The Rise and
Progress of Religion in the Soul. This brought the young William
Wilberforce, subsequent English statesman and foe of slavery, to
serious thoughts of eternity. Wilberforce wrote his Practical Book
of Christianity which fired the soul of Leigh Richmond. Richmond,
in turn, wrote The Dairyman's Daughter, a book that brought
thousands to the Lord, helping Thomas Chalmers the great preacher,
among others.²

It seems to me that in a literate culture like ours, where most
of us know how to read and where books are available, the Biblical
mandate is: keep on reading what will open the Holy Scriptures to
you more and more. And keep praying for Bible-saturated writers.
There are many great old books to read. But each new generation
needs its own writers to make the message fresh. Read and pray. And
then obey.

Pastor John

Notes

[1] Ernest Reisinger, "Every Christian a Publisher," Free
Grace Broadcaster, Issue 51, Winter, 1995, p. 17.
[2] "Every Christian a Publisher," p. 18.
This reading is found in A Godward Life, Book One
(Multnomah, 1997), pp. 58-59.