So many words. So many perspectives, interpretations, agendas, judgements. As I look at the shelves- my shelves, your shelves, church shelves- I see, as if for the first time, minds. Folds in gray matter, fluctuating. Your thoughts, my thoughts, his thoughts, her thoughts.
I deeply appreciate so much of what I’ve read of other peoples’ observations, perspectives, and insights, don't get me wrong. BUT. Our shelves are full of creeds that color and dictate that which we believe, and often hidden and forgotten, the Bible disappears entirely. Fragments alone remain, used and misused for the explaining of countless perspectives and motivational messages: ways to live, ways to give, roles to play, topical expositions of irrelevant impositions. These emphasized ideas enter the church in all different sizes, colors, and bindings.
Do you see what I see? A disparaged and disappearing Word. Little knowledge of the source remains, and like Josiah I feel shocked as the revelation dawns on me that the Word has been lost. The people of God are learned in the knowledge of pagans and Pharisees, and have forgotten the Law and the Prophets. Please- don’t misuse my words against me- this is just me sitting in my living room, looking at a shelf of Christian books, and seeing that I’ve been wandering. Eloquent, entangling theologies and explanations of sanctification have caught the hare. Jumpy and unstable, fearful and vulnerable, insecurity leading to deplorable beliefs that at best stunt growth and at worst end life. Here many of us are: ignorant of God’s Word, but filled with many words. We are sitting and looking at big tomes and quick reads, lost and hungry after years of snacking or feasting on half-way truths and missing information.
Beware, reader. Beware, writer. Beware, speaker, hearer, problem-fixer. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind, and love your neighbor. Thank Jesus for grace that covers all our confused meanderings, and for giving us His Spirit to bring us back to Himself.
Writing your thoughts for others to read can be a very helpful and beneficial thing, and reading the thoughts of others can be so healthy. This is my challenge to you, reader, when it comes to reading “Christian” books and opinions: activate your mind, keeping the gospel always in the forefront of your mental filter. Rather than passively receiving and believing, listen or read well, discern, and think. Don’t be too quick to share with others in order to help fix their struggles. Usually the truth of the Gospel doesn’t offer quick-fix application to life’s complex situations and relational dynamics, and probably neither should you. Love God in your reading, writing, teaching, and hearing. Love your neighbor.
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