Read 2 Timothy 4:13
I will never forget being aboard a huge troop ship sailing from Taiwan to America. A lazy afternoon led me to a book of poetry, which I began to devour with delight. I was suddenly struck with the realization that someone was staring at me. Looking up, I saw a fellow Marine who outranked me by a couple of stripes. I expected him to order me into some duty, but to my surprise he asked: “Hey, Marine, you got any books with pictures in ’em?” Knowing him, he probably would have coloured outside the lines!
Small wonder the boredom factor in social gatherings is so great! After you’ve run through the weather, the kids, the job, and your recent surgery, what else is there? Being a reader adds oil to the friction in conversation. Furthermore, it opens to the Christian new avenues of approach in evangelism. It helps to meet the lost on their own territory and have them realize that becoming a Christian isn’t like committing intellectual suicide. We need to read widely, including some mind-stretching periodicals as well as the classics.
When the old warrior Paul was in the dungeon awaiting death, he asked this of his friend:
When you come, be sure to bring the coat I left with Carpus at Troas. Also bring my books, and especially my papers. (2 Timothy 4:13)
I love that. In those final days when the curtain was closing on the apostle’s life, he wanted simple things: a coat to stave off the chill of the damp dungeon, and something worthwhile to read.
Reading keeps our minds engaged and refreshed. It also broadens us, so we can connect with people who don’t know Christ in ways that make sense to them and cause them to draw near to faith.
So? Turn off the television. Lay aside your smartphone. Find a comfortable chair and start reading a few evenings a week. It’s not only good for your mind, it makes you a lot more fun to be with.
Devotional content taken from Good Morning, Lord...Can We Talk? by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. All rights reserved.
The full devotional can be purchased at https://www.tyndale.com/p/good-morning-lord-can-we-talk/9781414380681.
