I like to read. In matter of fact, I really enjoy reading. That did not happen by accident. There are several factors that led to my enjoyment of reading. First, my parents put me in a good school where I learned to read at an early age. Second, they supplied me with books that were fun to read for a young boy. Books like the Hardy Boys, The Call of the Wild, Irish Red, and Big Red were just a few of the types of books that were given to me. In addition, my Pops (some of you call him dad…I call him Pa or Pops) provided me with exciting missionary stories that piqued my interest about spiritual adventure in far away lands.
The subject of reading reminds me of the first quality Bible that my parents gave to me on my 14th birthday. The Bible was a leather, Scofield Reference edition. Inscribed on the front cover was I Timothy 4:13, “Til I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.”
My parents were instilling in me the importance of reading. In this verse, the Apostle Paul was instructing his young student Timothy to make reading a priority. Yes, the inference in this verse is the reading of the Bible, but I believe you could very well apply this to reading in general. In matter of fact, Paul instructs Timothy in his second letter to bring “the books” when he came to visit.
We are blessed to live in a society that has a plethora of books. And yet, I fear the young people of this generation (I still consider myself young being under forty) do not have a love for reading like those from previous generations. Many would think that we live in a society with too many distractions (computers, video gaming systems, TV, movies, etc.) for young people to enjoy reading. I somewhat agree but I somewhat disagree. I believe by and large that parents can steer their children to have a love for reading like my parents did for me. I have met so many people who struggle to read the Bible because they just do not enjoy reading. If we want our children to lead spiritual lives, it is imperative that they have a relationship to the only Book that God provided for his – the Bible. And in order to have a personal, intimate relationship with that Book, one must enjoy reading.
In the near future, I plan to encourage our children to read more (not just the Bible) by giving them some goals with built-in incentives. My wife and I want to make reading fun for our children. Hopefully, it will translate into a love of reading for a lifetime.
Check out the books I am currently reading under the tab on the right side of the page.
Joshua
spiritually relevant 