Time to Turn Off the TV and Turn On the Reading Light

Well, the TV re-run season is just around the corner. If the shows weren't bad enough the first time, they certainly won't be very interesting the second time around either.

So the next few months make a wonderful time to turn off the TV and get out that stack of books you've been wanting to read for so long. How often are we guilty of allowing television to become our babysitter? (And not just for the kids, but something we just leave on in the background whether we're actually watching it or not. I know I am often guilty of this practice.)

This summer can become an enriching time for our entire family if we plan for it. C.S. Lewis said, "He [Christ] wants a child's heart, but a grown-up head."

Mark Noll states, "The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind....[We] have nourished millions of believers in the simple verities of the gospel but have largely abandoned the universities, the arts, and other realms of 'high' culture."

Finally, J. Gresham Machen says, "False ideas are the greatest obstacles to the reception of the gospel. We may preach with all the fervor of a reformer and yet succeed only in winning a straggler here and there, if we permit the whole collective thought of the nation or of the world to be controlled by ideas which, by the resistless force of logic, prevent Christianity from being regarded as anything more than a harmless delusion."

Have you read a good book lately? If so, share its impact with your spouse, your children, and a friend. Several books that have been a real encouragement to me these past few months include:

• What's So Amazing About Grace? by Phillip Yancey
• Love Your God with All Your Mind by J.P. Moreland
• Reliving the Passion by Walter Wangerin
• The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship by George Marsden

Scripture: Acts 17:17 - "So he [Paul] was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present."

Action Point: Choose a book or two to read this summer to sharpen your thinking and encourage your heart. You can also be a leader to your entire family by planning some time at home each week for reading. Share what you learn with someone else. I'm going to take my own advice this summer, so this will be the last MMM until next fall. Enjoy a God-filled summer.

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