The term ‘Information Overload’ was popularized by Alvin Toffler’s ‘Future Shock’ in 1970. It anticipated the deluge of available and accessible information in the digital age. Today, with the volume and speed of information, diversity of its sources and incessant connectivity, we can be so easily overwhelmed. Books are no longer limited to hard copies. There are e-books and audio books. One might be drawn to the comment in Eccl 12:12 – ‘. . . Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.’
Alongside this, we are alarmed by the unscrupulous rising spread of fake news. One way out is to stop reading. But there is a better and more biblical way out – read with discernment. What we read or hear, is best processed.
Regarding our pulpit information, it should lead to transformation. It is best digested with personal study. The exemplary Bereans recorded in Acts 17:11 come to mind – ‘Now these Jews (Bereans) were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.’
As for Bible-reading, it must go beyond fulfilling a reading program and satisfying oneself for having checked off the day’s allotment. The Bible speaks of studying God’s Word and meditating on His Word. (Josh 1:8; Psalm 119:15; 2 Tim 2:15)
In the postscript of his little volume, ‘The Radical Disciple’, written as his farewell message to the world at age 88 and passing on at age 90, John Stott wrote, ‘So let me urge you to keep reading, and encourage your relatives and friends to do the same, for this is a much-neglected means of grace.’
Happy reading!
Richard Lai
