“If the book we are reading does not wake us, as with a fist hammering on our skull, why then do we read it?” Franz Kafka
One of my favorite questions to ask people is “What are you reading”?
It is hard for me to comprehend why someone would not want to read. But more difficult for me is why someone would read some of the things they read.
We spend time reading the next new thing, the “latest and greatest” that will show us how to do whatever it is we need to justify doing. Books become an affirming, comfortable whisper in our ears that says, “Everything is alright.” The latest self-help book takes the place of spiritual disciplines as we look to have a happier, healthier life.
But when we read C.S. Lewis (who wrote more than “The Chronicles of Narnia”) or G.K. Chesterton or Teresa of Avila or Blaise Paschal or Stanley Hauerwas or N.T. Wright, there is no coddling, no slumber, no cozy blanket of self-affirming satisfaction.
They bring a Holy Spirit driven fist, forcing us to cover-up, to counter punch, to think deeply and long on whether our position will stand the true test—a life lived well in Christ.
Go to the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for some great books online. Read “The Practice of the Presence of God” by Brother Lawrence. Read “Orthodoxy” by G.K. Chesterton. Read “Pilgrims Progress” by John Bunyan.
Then prepare for battle.
