What Glenn Writes

My beautiful wife, Karen, enjoys reading books more than anyone I know, as long as I didn’t write the book.  She supports me, prays for my writing, and encourages me, but she does not like reading the scary stuff I write.  Her viewpoint in this matter: “I don’t want to read how a character knocks off his wife and then lock myself in a house with the guy that wrote it.”

Fortunately, this doesn’t bother me… really, I only write about things in this blog that bother me, and this doesn’t… which is why I’m not mentioning it. 

She really does enjoy reading books.  She was fortunate to have found an enjoyable job working for a local bookseller shortly after the birth of our first child.  When her full-time career changed paths to adapt to being a full-time Mom (and please note: being a full-time Mom is as much of a career as any other profession – or so I am repeatedly told), a part-time job with a bookseller was perfect for additional income and to provide a source for her insatiable desire to read.

Now with my wife at the bookstore, I had many opportunities to shuffle through their selections more than a few times, reviewing the bestsellers, checking out my favorite authors, and examining books of various topics, genres, and styles.  As I consider the numerous titles, I conclude we are in the most informative age there has ever been, almost to the point of information overload. 

For instance, before this most informative age, people must have thought chicken soup was strictly for eating – never would they have considered the benefits for the soul, healing, marriages, teens, friendships, or golf games.  Executives wasted whole minutes before learning how to manage them.  People did not understand there were books especially for them, nor did they realize they were dummies. There were never any highly effective people because no one knew their habits or which seven would make them successful.  And, everyone thought males and females were from Earth – we never considered the Mars and Venus excuses for our differences.  

Some may consider such a time as barbaric.  We must have been lost, left to thinking on our own instead of having someone else provide us with our opinions or ideas.  How did we figure out how to fix things or build decks on our homes without a handy “How-to” book to show us detailed, illustrated steps?  How did we choose our own clothes without knowing what the celebrities were wearing?  People had to come up with their own craft ideas, home based business ideas, and baby names instead of selecting from an assortment of the best or top one hundred. 

Some people had to actually read the Bible!  Whoa!  Watch out now, because this is getting darn near blasphemous!  You mean before we had commentaries, devotionals, a-verse-a-day-calendars, and big money, book-writing preachers, people actually read the Bible? 

Ouch… this is hitting too close to home for me.  I went over the edge and stepped on my own toes!  Excuse me a moment while I slap myself.  Where’s that flogging stick?  

Ok, short of self-flogging, I admit it.  I enjoy reading the Bible commentaries and devotionals that support the Word of God.  The calendars that give us a verse-a-day are great for reminding us the value of Scripture in our daily lives.  And if a preacher is teaching God’s truth, I have no problem shelling out some dough to buy his book.  However, we should realize an important point to be made in these should not be our only resource to God’s Word.  We should crack the Bible to get to the original truth and compare it to what we are learning from the “other” sources.

Scripture is very clear about our position in relation to comparing our teachings to the Word of God.  We are given an example of this in Acts 17:11, “…for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”  This passage is talking about the Bereans and describes them as noble in their eagerness to receive the message and compare the message to Scripture.  They did not just accept what someone told them about the Word of God – they read the Bible to confirm their teachings.

We are told in 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22, “Test everything. Hold on to the good.  Avoid every kind of evil.”  I find this to be a great instruction and an excellent warning.  The only way we are able to determine what is good is by testing it. 

I have practiced this for years and am often surprised at what does not correspond to Scripture.  We are living dangerously when we accept lies and false truths, or trust popular beliefs as facts without testing or comparing them to God’s Word.  Our choice is to believe blindly or to form our own understanding and opinions based on the truth. 

The Word of God is our standard.  If something or someone does not agree with God’s Word, which is wrong?

Glenn Sasscer
www.glennsasscer.com
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