
Books can be bliss. Books can be a wonderful escape. Books can be deadly dangerous.
Iām not sure about you, but Iām addicted to books. I know of many people who are afflicted by this madness as well. Itās not really curable, and Iāve never been quite clear on whether thatās because itās impossible, or just the fact that people simply donāt want to be cured of it.
Books have blessed me with countless hours of laughter, happiness, heart-thumping excitement and soul-wrenching sorrow. They have given me what I consider to be some of the richest times of enjoyment in my life.
So why are they so dangerous?
For someone like me who is immersed in books, it is easy to lose your way. The characters within them can become more real than the people in your life. The adventures in them can make your own life dull in comparison. The satisfaction of happy endings can distort your real-life expectations.
Donāt get me wrong. Books offer us much. New worlds, ideas, emotions and thoughts. The epic romance, the love at first sight, the evil that is always punished, the bad guy who is always caught, the ending that is always happy.Ā I donāt blame you for wanting that. I want that. And itās not something weāll find very often, if at all, outside the covers of a book.
And this is where the danger lies.
Books teach us to expect these things. Books teach us not to settle, not to give in, until we have found these things. They promise that things like true love and happy endings are always attainable, if we could only find the right person, if we were only in the right circumstance, if we were only ā¦. If only ā¦. If ā¦.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. (2 Cor 10:3-5)
You see, our war is within. Itās a subtle oneāyou canāt hear it raging, most times. But itās there. And our own thoughts will turn against us if we
donāt take them captive, bend them to our own will.
If I get annoyed with my husband because he doesnāt give me the deep and mysterious affection that Mr. Rochester gave Jane Eyre, or because he doesnāt change for me as Mr. Darcy did for Elizabeth, thatās no oneās fault but my own. Itās wrong for me to have those thoughts, the thoughts that books put into my head, the ones that IĀ allow to control my expectations of real-life people.
Admit it, itās a little bit funny, isnāt it? To know that a book can change the invisible pathways of my mind? To know that I want my husband to be just a bit more like Mr. Rochester? To admit that my life frustrates me and makes me want to cry like a child who hasnāt got her way when things donāt go right?
I think Satan must think itās funny, too, watching as Iām separated from Godās plan for me. Watching as I grow bitter with life and friends and the people Iām supposed to be showing Godās love, all because I want someone to sweep me off my feet, or because my life is not the adventure Iād like it to be, or because I must watch as someone Iām close to suffers an ending that is anything but happy.
Books. Are they right or wrong to teach us these things? Right or wrong to make us long for ⦠more?
Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life. (Proverbs 4:23)
Books. Dangerous or not? Do they lead us to neglect the springs of life from our own hearts, and make us instead focus our eyes on the imaginary, the unattainable?
No.
Books, when all is said and done, donāt control your mind. Media doesnāt control you mind. Your mother, your father, your spouse, your friendsāthey donāt control it either. Only you, and only God. And even God will not force His way in unless you invite Him. So itās your choice, then. Just as God intended.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)
Trust in the Lord ⦠thatās the key, isnāt it? Keep your eyes on Him. Read books, enjoy books, loveĀ books ⦠but keep your eyes on God and His Kingdom.
This world isnāt likely to offer you the epic romances you read about. Itās certainly not going to solve every crime and punish every criminal. And ask anyone ⦠happily-ever-afters are but a myth.
We live in a world of sin and darkness.
But God is not vanquished by sin, and His light is not to be put out. What we look for in books and fail to find in real lifeāwe may find in Him.
God gives us the fullest, most all-consuming love. He pursues us with relentless passion and gentle steadfastness. Isnāt that just what any true romantic longs for in the end?
God is the ultimate judge. Bad guys go free on earth too many times. But donāt believe for a moment that means their sins will go unpunished.
God is the creator of mystery, and therefore the solver of it. We should revel in His creation, even the mysteries of it, and look forward to one day having Him explain them to us.
Lastly, God is the maker of happy endings. Some of them do happen here on earthāsome of them even rival the best books weāve ever read. But nothing compares to the Final Happy Ending that we as Christians have to look forward to. Not a single book on earth can hold a candle to that.
All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever, in which every chapter is better than the one before. (C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle)
This world is not our home. It is not where we belong. Books tell us of other worldsālet us not forget the one we are in, nor the one we are going to. Books give us happinessālet us not forget where our eternal happiness lies. Books tell us of adventures and heroesālet us not forget that the life God gave us is the greatest adventure of all, and that the only hero we need is our Savior, the maker of the truest Happy Ending.