Wake Up, Look Up

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, does reading matter for the church? This is prompted by an article I read recently in the Atlantic by Rose Horowitz called the End of the of reading is here. this is a topic I've covered before. It's one I think really matters. Americans are reading books at historic lows. Fewer than half adults in America reported reading a single book in 2022. Okay, that's only 50% of people read even a book. And reading for pleasure, reading because we enjoy it is down to about 16% of Americans in 2020, 23. It isn't that people aren't consuming information. They just moved to TikTok and Instagram and Facebook and Twitter, YouTube. We're on Reels. We're consuming more information than ever. But it's in 15 and 30 second sound bites. We've developed the muscles of quick attention, of quick scrolling, up, down, left, right. But we lack the skills to actually sit with a book and sit with an idea and think about it. We're becoming what scholars are calling post literate. In fact, many people are warning that we might in the end lose access to knowledge as books go away. And eventually we start saying, why do we keep these things? Why do they matter? Listen, I think this is a massive problem for the church, and I think it's a massive problem for you since most of the people listening to this podcast probably fit in the group that isn't reading. Let me start with the church. Look, it's quite simple. God chose the written word to, to communicate to his people, the Bible. The book is the word of God. Paul says this in 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. All scripture is breathed out by God. Breathed out by God. That's where you go to find the breath of God, the voice of God, the word of God. and for a church built on reading, people who don't read are going to be stunted in their discipleship. Of course, there will be a pull for the church to exist largely in Tik Toks, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, to reduce sermons further and further to fit the appetites of people who think in 15 and 30 second bursts. But that will not be a move that is in the favor of becoming what Ephesians 4 says, fully equipped for the work of God. Here's why it matters for you. You will not grow unless you are Spending time reading the word of God, soaking in the word of God, we. Which you cannot do if you don't have the muscles of reading. listen, if you've tried to pick up the Bible and you fail to stick with it, you failed to be interested in it, maybe that's a sin issue. Maybe that is because you don't wanna hear what it says. but maybe not. Maybe it's simpler than that. Maybe it's like trying to lift 100 pounds when you just don't have the muscles to do it. Those muscles are atrophying because you're holding your phone. I just want to encourage you, if you feel stunted in your faith, that maybe your problem is you've got to let some bad habits die and start building some new habits. It might be that putting down your phone and picking up a novel is a step in the direction of spiritual growth because you're developing the muscle of being able to sit with ideas and think about them and kind of meditate on them, which are skills you need for growing in your faith. Listen, you will never outgrow spiritually your inability to sit with a book, because God communicates through a book. And I just want to encourage you. Look, as a guy who preaches sermons, as a guy who's literally doing this podcast, I'm not saying sermons and podcasts and influencers can't be helpful when they point you in the direction of God, when they help you with understand scripture. But they were never meant to be, nor should they be, nor can they be a substitute for your own personal time. In the Word of God, Psalm one says that the righteous man meditates on the law of God day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water. Well, if that man doesn't have the ability to read, then he can't be a tree, which is why we feel the way we feel. So here's a challenge to you. Develop the muscle of reading, let bad habits go, and I promise you, the next three months, you'll see more spiritual growth than you've seen in a long time. Hey, thanks for checking out Wake Up, Look Up. For more content, be sure to visit the Christ Community Chapel app or website cccchapel.com.

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