It’s right in the center of her back porch that, over the years, Alex Wolf learned a valuable lesson — she isn’t the center of the universe.
It was a vital revelation, she said, and it happened in the pages of a good book or two … or three … or 300.
“I think humans have always been a fairly narcissistic bunch. This isn’t a recent development of the selfie era; self-focus has been a part of our sin-laden DNA since the fall,” Wolf said. “But Scripture makes it quite clear that I should not be my own first priority or focus. My universe must revolve around Jesus Christ and His commands … and Jesus asks that we shift our focus from the inside to the outside, from ourselves to others.”
Reading, she said, is an activity that reorients us — it “encourages self-forgetfulness” and “allows us to recalibrate our focus.”
She’s not the first Wolf with these thoughts.
“I come from a family of voracious readers,” she said, including her father, Jay, who serves as pastor of First Baptist Church, Montgomery.
“My dad has always loved to read and often talks of devouring multiple books per week as a young person,” she said.
Her mother, Mary Ruth, is the same way. The couple loved books and led by example. The latter would’ve happened incidentally anyway, but it was intentional too, Jay Wolf said.
“In our home, my wife and I advocated that our children read, so we spent a lot of time sharing books with our treasured children,” he said.
Mary Ruth Wolf agreed. “We always taught our children that a reader is a leader,” she said. For her and her family, reading is both a beloved activity and a life-enriching discipline.
Jason Dees, pastor of Valleydale Baptist Church, Birmingham, said he agrees with that sentiment completely.
“Since I was a child, reading has opened my eyes to the world, and it has opened my imagination,” he said.
Reading ‘can draw you closer to God’
And, Dees said, it has led him closer to the Lord in a number of ways, beginning with daily Scripture reading. Each morning finds him with a cup of coffee in one hand, a Bible in the other.
“I study my Bible in the mornings for devotion and for sermon preparation,” he said.
Jay Wolf said his routine looks similar.
“My primary reading is focused on God’s Word,” he said. “I start in the early morning with a ‘quiet time’ where I read Scripture and pray and set the course for a surrendered day.”
During the day, other sermon and church-related reading may happen, and at night leisure reading, but the Bible comes first.
Mary Ruth Wolf said it’s important for her to discipline herself to do that first too, before she does any other reading.
“My quiet time comes first,” she said. “I’ve heard it said that one third of the world doesn’t have access to a Bible, and 2 billion people in the world can’t read. Reading Scripture is something I never want to take for granted.”
Rick Lance, executive director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, agreed that reading Scripture is a joy that believers should never neglect.
“Even though one may have been a Christian for years, even decades, Bible reading is as fresh as a new day,” he said. “Something brand new is awaiting you every time you spend time studying the Bible.”
So it follows that believers should discipline themselves to do it daily, he said.
But secondary types of reading can contribute to spiritual growth too, Lance added. “Reading is an excellent discipline for the Christian,” he said. “I think reading a book is similar to having a conversation with someone you probably have never met but after the experience of reading their work, you feel as if you know them.”
That includes people like Augustine, Martin Luther, George Mueller and Andrew Murray — a great cloud of witnesses from whom Christ followers can learn, Lance said.
Reading can draw you closer to people
Reading can bring you into the lives of heroes of the faith, but it also can draw you closer to the people right around you in your family, your workplace and your zip code, Dees said.
“I am a reader because I deeply want to know the Lord and I want to understand His Word and I am desperate to connect with people,” he said.
One way Dees achieves the latter is to meet up with people and read.
“I have a men’s group and we read through books together,” he said. “Our (Valleydale Baptist) interns and I also read books together, and I am in a regular mentoring group with other pastors around the country, and we will read two to three books between meetings.”
That kind of thing isn’t reserved for pastors.
Mary Ruth Wolf said one of the first things she did when she got all four of her children in school was to join a book club.
It was a great way to meet other people in her community and share experiences alongside them, she said.
Reading can open your eyes to the world
Knowing what’s going on around you can help you connect with people too, Dees said.
“Every morning, I like to read the headlines of the day,” he said. “I also enjoy reading periodicals more fully at night.”
The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and AL.com make his list, as well as Time, Rolling Stone and The New Yorker.
“Karl Barth once said that there are two books that every pastor should read every day — his Bible and his newspaper,” Dees said. “Any pastor worth his salt is a reader for two reasons. First, he wants to understand God, His Word and His doctrines, and secondly he wants to connect with his people.”
Jay Wolf said he’s a “news hawk” too, and for similar reasons.
“I started reading the newspaper when I was 8 years old and have a great interest in and hunger for current events because they reflect the human condition,” he said.
Reading can improve your life
Alex Wolf said the books she’s read have definitely reflected the human condition — but they’ve also refined her own worldview.
“In my own mind, reading is akin to and as vital as traveling,” she said. “Both books and travel lead to the revelation that the world is absolutely enormous and the spectrum of experiences to be had is near limitless. Reading and traveling lead to the revelations that I am not the center of the universe and that I am not alone in the universe because someone somewhere has felt what I am feeling.”
The great advantage reading has over travel is that it can be done anywhere, anytime at minimal cost, she said.
“Books teach us universal lessons through specific stories, which helps me recognize the lessons to be learned from the story I am living out in my real life,” Alex Wolf said. “And often it wraps words around thoughts, opinions and feelings I never realized I had.”
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