The help of man
Psalm 108:12 Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless
I have this thing about reading books instead of reading the Bible. There are a lot of really good, God-honoring books out there by a wide range of Christian authors. I think they have a lot of value. I know that I have been personally blessed by the works of AW Tozer, CS Lewis, Brother Lawrence, and more recently even Mark Buchanan and Andy Stanley. All these men wrote words that inspired me and forced me to take a long hard look at myself and my life and make some hard changes. For that I am quite grateful.
The fact remains, though, that none of these works can replace the word of God. I can spend 3 hours in a great CS Lewis book, but if I don't open the Bible and spend time there as well, what good is it? I hear all the time, "Well, this book I'm reading has a lot of scripture in it." That's a good thing, it is one of the marks of a good book and the way a person quotes scripture can tell you a lot about them. But when a book has a Bible verse in it, do you read it the same way that you read the author's words? I don't. Often times I'm so familiar with it that I just skip right over it, or I am presented with such a small verse that I have no idea if the context is correct or not.
I would not be where I am without Aiden and Clive (Tozer and Lewis, we're on a first name basis), but an even greater tragedy would be to exchange the reading of the actual words of God for words written by men about the words of God.
I have this thing about reading books instead of reading the Bible. There are a lot of really good, God-honoring books out there by a wide range of Christian authors. I think they have a lot of value. I know that I have been personally blessed by the works of AW Tozer, CS Lewis, Brother Lawrence, and more recently even Mark Buchanan and Andy Stanley. All these men wrote words that inspired me and forced me to take a long hard look at myself and my life and make some hard changes. For that I am quite grateful.
The fact remains, though, that none of these works can replace the word of God. I can spend 3 hours in a great CS Lewis book, but if I don't open the Bible and spend time there as well, what good is it? I hear all the time, "Well, this book I'm reading has a lot of scripture in it." That's a good thing, it is one of the marks of a good book and the way a person quotes scripture can tell you a lot about them. But when a book has a Bible verse in it, do you read it the same way that you read the author's words? I don't. Often times I'm so familiar with it that I just skip right over it, or I am presented with such a small verse that I have no idea if the context is correct or not.
I would not be where I am without Aiden and Clive (Tozer and Lewis, we're on a first name basis), but an even greater tragedy would be to exchange the reading of the actual words of God for words written by men about the words of God.
posted by Jeff at 8:54 AM
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