–Originally published on FWB21 May 27, 2011–
Christians should be readers. After all, the God we serve chose to reveal himself articulately, and He has preserved His Word for us. Since God has revealed Himself through Word, our faith then behooves us to be readers.

We, of all peoples, have no excuse for being illiterate. Our nation has one of the highest literacy rates in all of history, and libraries are readily available in most areas. Add to that the wealth of information available at our fingertips (including a host of full-length books available for free in digital form), and we are really left with no excuse.

“Well, I’m really not a reader,” you say. Let me repeat here a quote from my dear husband: “I really wasn’t a reader either… until I started reading.” If reading is difficult and slow for you, see this excellent article: Advice for Slow Readers. (It has some good advice for once-avid readers who are dealing with the busyness of parenthood, too.) So what if learning to read is work! Isn’t our pursuit of the eternal God worth it?

In Romans 12, Paul exhorts believers to be conformed to the image of Christ by the renewing of your mind. An excellent way to renew your mind is to read. The Bible is paramount, of course. We should read it daily. In addition, the knowledge of the world is bound in books. Reading a wide variety of extra-biblical literature can sharpen our minds, challenge our thoughts, and inform a correct interpretation of scripture. What more motivation do you need? Get to reading!