The Necessity of Reading

Something recently reminded me about the importance of reading for the Christian. As I contemplated it more, I recalled reading a chapter in Oswald Sander's "Spiritual Leadership." The following will be some of the nuggets from the chapter, some will encourage, some will be of good help, and some will convict.

I think these really should all apply to all Christians, not just our leaders. In many regards, all Christians should be somewhat equipped to lead, although granted it will be in varying degrees and proper context.

"Spiritual leaders of every generation will have a consuming passion to know the Word of God through diligent study and the illumination of the Holy Spirit." This chapter in Oswald Sander's book is devoted to discussing supplemental reading to the word. He also says, "The leader who intends to grow spiritually and intellectually will be reading constantly." He gives the example of how necessary it is for lawyers and doctors to keep reading to stay on top of their craft, and how the Christian needs this kind of devotion to keep growing and maturing.

"The major cause of the decline in the quality of current Christian reading literature is not intellectual but spiritual. To enjoy a great religious book requires a degree of consecration to God and detachment from the world that few modern Christians have." - A.W. Tozer

Why Read

"Read to refill the wells of inspiration." - Harold Ockenga, who took a suitcase of books on his honeymoon.

"Read not to contradict or confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tested, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested." - Bacon

What to Read

"If I had read as many books as other people, I would know as little." - Hobbes, English philosopher

"There's infinite difference between the beauty of holiness and the holiness of beauty. One leads to the highest, loftiest, most Godlike character; the other often - too often - leads to an orgy of sensation." - Samuel Brengle, comparing Tennyson and Browning to Shakespeare, saying some poetry has light and other have light and heat. He urges you to choose the poetry that has moral character and passion, rather than just the passion.

"It is better that we should always tackle something a bit beyond us. We should always aim to read something different - not only the writers with whom we agree, but those with whom we are ready to do battle. And let us not condemn them out of hand because they do not agree with us; their point of view challenges us to examine the truth and to test their views against Scripture. And let us not comment on nor criticize writers of whom we have heard only second-hand, or third-hand, without troubling to read their works for ourselves. . . . Don't be afraid of new ideas - and don't be carried away with them either." - Muriel Ormrod

How to Read

"By reading we learn. By meditating on the themes of our reading we pluck the fruit from the tree of books and add nourishment to our minds and our ministries. Unless our reading includes serious thinking, it is wasted time."

"Master those books you have. Read them thoroughly. Bathe in them until they saturate you. Read and reread them, masticate and digest them. Let them go into your very own self. Peruse a good book several times and make notes and analyses of it. A student will find that his mental constitution is more affected by one book thoroughly mastered than by twenty books he has merely skimmed. Little learning and much pride comes of hasty reading. Some men are disabled from thinking by their putting meditation away for the sake of much reading. In reading let your motto be "much, not many." - Charles Spurgeon

"Canon Yates advised that every good book needs three readings. The first should be rapid and continuous, to give your mind an overview and to associate the book's material with your own previous knowledge. The second reading should be careful and paced. Take notes and think. then after an interval of time, a third reading should be like the first. Write a brief analysis of the book on the inside of the back cover. Thus will the book make a solid imprint on your memory."

Rules to make Reading Worthwhile and Profitable

(All taken from Spiritual Leadership)

• What you intend to quickly forget, spend little time reading. The habit of reading and forgetting only builds the habit or forgetting other important matters.
• Use the same discrimination in choosing books as in choosing friends.
• Read with pencil and notebook in hand. Unless your memory is unusably retentive, much gained from reading is lost in a day. Develop a system of note-taking. It will greatly help the memory.
• Pass no word until its meaning is known.
• Vary your reading to keep your mind out of a rut. Variety is as refreshing to the mind as it is to the body.

Quotes taken from Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders