Question what you Read

 In (the best) movie (of all time) “You’ve got mail” Greg Kinnear’s character, Frank, writes to save the Shop Around the Corner that “you are what you read.” It is true that the books you spend your time with say a lot about the person you are, what you value, and what you will be like in a few years. In Romans 12, Paul encourages the church at Rome to not be conformed to the thinking of their time but to instead to be transformed by the renewl of their minds. So how can we make sure that we are guarding our minds against being conformed to the thinking of this world?  How can we discern if what we are reading is helping us grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord?  The puritan, Richard Baxter offers these questions to help you discern if what you are reading is profitable or costing you your soul.

Richard Baxter’s Advice on Reading

While reading ask oneself:

1. Could I spend this time no better?

2. Are there better books that would edify me more?

3. Are the lovers of such a book as this the greatest lovers of the Book of God and of a holy life?

4. Does this book increase my love to the Word of God, kill my sin, and prepare me for the life to come?