If you visit my office, you'll see many books. In my nearly-40 years of ministry, I've accumulated quite a collection. Ask me how many of those books I've actually read and I might blush. Some of them, of course, are reference books; I read an entry in a dictionary or a commentary only as my classes and sermons demand. But other volumes were added on an impulse, and they turned out not to be what I had hoped.
Situations like these pose a new challenge for authors of electronic books, which are becoming more popular every year. Amazon recently announced a new way of paying authors for books sold through their two of their services; instead of paying an author per book sold, they will pay per page read. Yes, they can track such things, and that's not good news for many who write books for a living.
"You can't judge a book by its cover" is an old adage we've often heard. My experience proves it; books that looked appealing in the book store have disappointed me. Other books that I didn't expect to deliver much have sometimes provided many hours of enjoyable reading. With Amazon's new policy, writers will need to put more emphasis on page-turners and cliffhangers, which lure the reader to continue reading.
Let's apply Amazon's new measurement of success to The Book - the Bible. How would it fare if God were paid on the basis of pages read?
No one challenges the claim that the Bible is the best-selling book of all time. Tens of millions of copies in many languages continue to be sold every year. But how many of these Bibles are read with any regularity? (One of my recent stunts is to ask the assembled church how many of them have a "read" Bible with them? Those holding a black Bible usually don't respond, at which point I clarify what I really mean.)
Let's be clear: Owning a Bible is no substitute for reading that Bible. We must strive to have an attitude like Job's: "I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food" (Job 23:12). Does our hunger for God's truth come close to that model?
James tells us why we need such an appetite: "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls" (James 1:21). What other book can lead us to salvation?
Like Amazon, God is not so concerned with how many Bibles may be in my house, but with how many pages of that Bible I've taken time to read and contemplate. God's wisdom doesn't come to us by osmosis, but by deliberate effort (see 2 Timothy 2:15).
Timothy D. Hall.
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