A Book In Time
Benjamin Franklin, as Poor Richard, intones, “A stitch in time saves nine.” This saying means that regular maintenance can prevent much more expensive problems later. As a kid, mom took us to the Army Navy Store for school pants. The denim was heavier than was available at the department stores so the pants lasted longer. When trying them on, you took care not to drop anything because the knees would barely bend—if it hit the floor it stayed there. These pants were meant to last! When we outgrew them, we would hand them down to a little brother or cut the legs off to make shorts. Even these herculean pants would occasionally fall prey to the adventures of a young boy. Mom, not about to buy another pair of pants until absolutely necessary, would sew and patch them. The earlier she caught the tear, the better. If it didn’t get patched quickly the tear could get worse. Childhood involved a closet full of clothing in various stages of repair. When they got too ratty to patch, the fragments would find new life as part of a quilt.
This wisdom can be applied to our spiritual lives as well. With regular and timely maintenance we can prevent greater damage to our faith. Wait a second! how can we get scrapes and tears on our faith? Perhaps it seems I’m stretching but think about it. All of us have doubts and questions about faith and truth. If you never question your faith then how will you be prepared to answer other’s questions? If you never doubt then I would venture that you haven’t thought very deeply about it. Your faith is probably pretty shallow. It is through meditation and an honest look at the problems that our faith is deepened and enriched.
There are several tools to maintain and strengthen faith, protect against doubt and prepare to give an answer for the hope that we have. The most commonly listed tools for faith maintenance are Bible reading, prayer and interaction with other believers.
There is another tool that has been a personal joy, which too many Christians do not experience. This would be reading. Though I love reading, one study years ago said fewer than ten percent of evangelical Christians ever enter a Christian book store. I have met very legalistic believers who pride themselves on never reading anything but the Bible. I know of an organization that actually tries to enforce this on their members. One pentecostal evangelist from the early twentieth century encouraged pastors to burn their libraries and never read anything but the Bible. Some took his advice to their lifelong regret.
We as Christians are people of the written word. It is only through the medium of writing that we have knowledge of God and his actions to save us. If the early church had decided to read nothing but scripture we would not have the New Testament. It had to be written before it could be accepted as scripture by the churches. Until it was written, compiled and accepted by the churches the scriptures were the Old Testament. One ancient lover of books was Paul the apostle. He often quotes from works of philosophy—the science of his day—and requested Timothy to bring him the scrolls and parchments. Paul is asking Timothy to bring his library to Rome.
Great good can come from reading books. I know that some books can be dangerous, but books on various subjects, Christian or not, can bolster faith. I was especially reminded of this yesterday. I had for some time experienced certain doubts. I would rather not share what these were because many will misunderstand. Just suffice it to say that for me they were important enough to inspire study and to drive me to my knees. The Lord provided a book recommended to me many months ago. It had sat on my ‘to read’ stack for months. The author was well versed in his subject matter and wrote in a friendly style. Before long, he was answering each of the questions and doubts that I had experienced, almost in the order I asked them—hitting point after point. It was such a relief and felt as if the Lord was speaking to me in the book I was reading.
One way to think about books. The Lord wants us to interact with others about our faith. We should listen to good teachers and converse with those skilled in the truth. A book is a conversation. The mind of the reader interacts with that of the author. Reading good books is a Christian discipline and a source of great strength. So if you will excuse me I think I’ll run along and open a book.
