On trying to be a discerning reader

Sometimes my motivation to read a book is just to see what all the fuss is about.  I choose to read it because people have been talking about it and how much it has changed their lives and I want to read it for myself.  There are some books that, I admit, I approach with a certain level of skepticism.  And sometimes my suspicions are confirmed and I conclude that it will not be a book that I can recommend to others.

I think each of us are drawn to certain authors and we have our personal preferences for a variety of reasons.  A person may find one book to be nothing but fluff, another may find it to be just the encouragement they needed.  Another book may seem too deep to navigate through for one person yet just the challenge that another person was longing for.  We all have our opinions.

I look back on some of the things I used to read and I find that I can see clearer now.  Books that I recommended in the past, I may not be so quick to recommend now.  More careful thought and input from others can help us to see when an author is off-base or taking Bible verses out of context to make their point.  Though we try to be discerning readers, we do not always catch things right away.  As a young Christian I read some things that I later discovered were heretical!  That was disheartening.  But it taught me that I really do have to be careful.  It is possible for an author to lead us down a path that God would not want us to go.

So as we read, we should be in prayer, in God's Word (our source of all truth), and while talking with someone about what we are reading.  Bounce those words you are reading off of someone else and ask them what they think of it.  Don't get offended when they don't think the author you are reading is as great as you think they are.  Another helpful thing is to read reviews.  Others may help you to see things that you didn't catch on your own.  It happens to all of us at one time or another.

All this to say that I will be reading different things, I will sometimes read something from an author that is a little out of my comfort zone.  I may not wholeheartedly agree with them but I will seek to evaluate their words objectively and to glean what I can and reject whatever does not align with the Word of God.

There, I guess that is my little disclaimer. ;)