People often ask me why I read so much, or even why I read the things I read. I like to read widely: classics to contemporary, history to biographies, and even a little poetry.
Tim Sanders wrote a book called Love Is The Killer App. In this wonderful book, he says that reading and studying should be motivated by love. We read and learn so that we can be informed enough to help others who are in need. Not reading just to read, but reading with a purpose. Reading to help tell someone a story. I haven’t found a book that does this better than the Bible.
The world’s greatest storyteller (ever!) was Jesus of Nazareth. Check this out:
With many stories like these, He presented His message to them, fitting the stories to their experience and maturity. He was never without a story when He spoke (Mark 4:33-34, The Message paraphrase).
Jesus could tell a story to anyone at any time. He learned, He studied, He observed, so He would always be ready. He frequently used whatever was at hand to tell His stories—a child, a farmer, fish, bread made with yeast, a coin, a bridal party—but He had to know something about each of those things in order for His stories to be effective for each person’s “experience and maturity.”
Once Jesus encountered a man so demonized that he spent his life naked and living in the graveyard (my friend Jim Wiegand calls him “the naked, cat-eating guy”!). Jesus set this man free from his demons. When this newly-freed man wanted to accompany Jesus, He told him, “Go home to your own people. Tell them your story” (Mark 5:19, The Message).
Tell them YOUR story.
The best story you can tell is your story.
It’s wonderful to read to be informed—I highly encourage this. I love to be able to say, “Benjamin Franklin said…” or “I love the Longfellow poem about…” or “Stephen Covey wrote that we should….” But it’s so much more effective to say, “Here’s what I have learned from my personal encounter with Jesus. Here’s MY story of what Jesus did for me!”
What about you? Do you have a story to tell? If you’re in a relationship with Jesus, you always have a story to tell. Keep walking with Jesus. Keep reading His love letter to you written on every page of the Bible. Then tell YOUR story—the best story of all!
Although to the outsider it sometimes appears that way, success does not happen overnight. So much of the work and preparation and study that are done are simply unnoticed by others.
Craig T. Owens 