Sometimes I like to smell books. I’m a weirdo, I know. My wife makes fun of me for it. There’s just something about smelling the pages of a new or old or somewhere in between book that fascinates me. I’m inclined to think that in the new heavens and new earth all of you will smell books too! Maybe I’m the normal one.

Books have had a profound impact on my life. I’ve always enjoyed reading but there was something about high school and being “forced” to read that I didn’t like. Later, though, I rediscovered my joy for reading and haven’t looked back. I wouldn’t consider myself a fast reader really — I wish I could read faster actually. But that hasn’t stopped me from consuming a few books over the years. And what I want to do in this post is to encourage you to read more (and less) books…

Here’s why:

Books Disciple Us

Everyone is a disciple whether you acknowledge that or not. Something or someone is always shaping you. Maybe it’s social media, maybe it’s your friends, could be Hollywood or whatever, but you get the point. One reason you should read more books is to be discipled by the right people.

Now, this requires a little bit of discernment, doesn’t it? You need to read good books so you’ll be discipled well. And hey, life’s too short anyway to read bad books. Read good books and let them shape you. Read books that elevate your thinking of God. Read books that challenge you in your Christian walk. Read books that remind you of the greatness of Christ. I think you see my point.

Books Stretch Our Imagination

Here I’ll make a case for fiction reading. Admittedly, I don’t read a whole lot of fiction. But even reading fiction is beneficial. I think reading the right type of fiction helps us to communicate more vividly in both our speech and writing. I think fiction can be “overemphasized” for sure. But it also can be underemphasized — as in dismissed completely.

Jesus told stories sometimes. It’s okay to enjoy a good story and to think through the ramifications of the particular worldview being communicated and the truth and lies hidden within.

Books Help us Follow those who Followed Jesus

Paul says in Philippians 3:17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

There are a few levels of application with that verse, but one I want to make a case for is reading good biographies. In biographies of believers, we get to see the life of those who’ve gone before us and we get to see things worth imitating in our own lives. Conversely, we also get to see things not worth imitating. But all in all, they help us to follow Christ as we follow those who’ve gone before us.

Books Help us Understand our Past

I like reading history books. Check out S.C. Gwynne and Nathaniel Philbrick for example. But in reading history we get to understand where we came from and a context for our present day. Combine this with a biblical understanding of the past, present, and future, and this can become a great way to help us diagnose certain situations we deal with in the 21st century.

God Wrote a Book

Another reason for Christians to be readers is because God has chosen to communicate to us via the medium of literature. So, it’s not a stretch to say God’s people should be readers. And maybe, just maybe, we are “wired” as human beings to retain certain things through reading that we wouldn’t retain in the same way through other media.

I get that people are made differently, but perhaps if you started reading more, you could test my hypothesis? Maybe YouTube videos have their place, but so does a good book?

Books Cultivate Humility

One issue in our day is that we think we’ve got it all figured out. We think we are the greatest society to ever live. Being a book reader helps you see the sins and faults of those who’ve gone before us, but it also helps us see that they still have much to teach us.

So, don’t only read contemporary writings. Read books from ages past to cultivate your humility in this present epoch of history.

Reading Books is Not as Hard as You Think

When you hear that you should be reading more books, maybe you hear me saying something akin to “you should climb Mount Everest because it’s exhilarating.” And you agree with me but you say to yourself “I’ll never do that.” But let me encourage you here that reading book can be simple. And just like any person climbs Mount Everest one step at a time, so too you can get through a book with just reading bit by bit.

Set aside 15 minutes a day and read. Or if you don’t have that, start with 5 minutes. Use a bookmark. When 5 minutes are up, stop and pick it up again the next day. The average reader can read 200 to 250 words a minute. But let’s say you’re way below that. Let’s say you only read 100 words a minute.

So, in 5 minutes a day, you read 500 words. Say you do that 6 days a week. So in 30 minutes, you read 3,000 words. If you keep that pace up you could read 3 medium-sized books a year and in a decade you’d have read 30 books. Now if you read that slow you’d need to be strategic about the books you select, but I bet most can read faster than that and commit to more than 5 minutes 6 days a week.

So, if you could read 15 minutes a day at 150 words a minute (still well below average), you could get through about a book a month. What I’m illustrating here is that this is possible! So, read more books!

Why You Should Read Less Books

There’s another side to this too. That is, you shouldn’t spend so much time reading books about the Bible that you neglect to read the Bible!

Theology books, Christian living books, or Christian biographies cannot replace you placing your own eyes on the text of Holy Writ and drinking deeply. Reading someone else’s meditation on Scripture must not replace your own.

I’m actually convinced that some of you need to be reading other books less than you are and read the Bible more. The ESV Bible contains 757,439 words. Using our math from before, if you can only read 150 words a minute you could read through the entire Bible by just spending 14 minutes in it every single day.

Are you saying you don’t have 14 minutes for Bible intake? You do. So, if you’ve never read through the Bible, set aside MacArthur and Sproul for a few months and dig into the Scriptures. We must be Bible people, brothers, and sisters. So, make sure your Bible reading doesn’t suffer because of your reading other good books.

Ideally, you will find out how to do both well.

D.V.