I have just finished Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. It was a re-read. As I stop and reflect on the reading I am overcome with gratitude to God. We do not need to wallow through the mud. We can stand on the shoulders of Giants.
The Giants start with Moses, David, Solomon, Paul, John and the other Bible writers. If we had nothing else that would be a springboard for some fantastic Olympic class lives.
But on the shoulders of those Giants we have the other giants. For me, right now, those start with John Wesley and C.S. Lewis. I have been touched by Brother Lawrence and Thomas a Kempis. For you it might be others. I accept that. There are so many that I will never be able to touch. My shelf of “must reads” and “must re-read” keeps growing. I will probably never get to Calvin or Luther; I have Arminius to contemplate and I am getting old.
It is important that we stand on the shoulders of giants who stand on Giants. There is a lot of nifty stuff out there by pygmies. They have a place. They are not evil, just pygmies. They pontificate about how to really-put-it-together-if-you-just-follow-their-advice-and-do-it-like-they-do. I have read some of them myself. Enjoy them but make them the desert, not the main dish.
There is a reason people still read The Imitation of Christ. The message has endured time, cultural change, and translation. These authors may be dead but their work lives on. They may be white, or not, but their ideas are color-blind. They may be men, or not, but the truth they share is not based on x and y chromosomes. They may be from other cultures but what they share is eternal.
Treasure abounds and it is not buried, just shelved. Keep digging.
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.