While in forced confinement because of the corona virus, one of the best ways to occupy our time is to read excellent books, books that will feed the soul and make us better persons. The apostle Paul was no stranger to being confined. In fact, he endured prolonged incarceration because of his faith. Towards the end of his life while in jail in Rome, he made this interesting request from his child in the faith, Timothy: “When you come, bring my coat that I left in Troas with Carpus; bring the books too, and especially the ones made of parchment” (2 Timothy 4:13 GNB). Scholars have debated exactly what those books and parchment were. But one thing is clear. Even with death looming, Paul was a voracious reader.

What kinds of books should we read? A Christian should read as widely as possible. An ignorant Christian is a bad testimony. We can read books on current events, business, history, and even fiction books occasionally. But of course, our priority should be books that will lead to deeper knowledge of God and His will. For example in the last few weeks I was blessed reading books such as John Stott’s “The Cross of Christ”. Here, I am assuming that you already have a regular diet of the Word of God in your daily schedule. If not, then the first step is developing the habit of reading and meditating on the Bible every single day. No book can be a substitute for God’s very word.

Recently, I have also discovered Scribd, a virtual library where one can borrow millions of books for free for a monthly subscription that is cheaper than Netflix. For the serious Bible student, numerous theological books and commentaries are available. I especially like the wide range of audio books which one can listen to while, say, exercising or commuting to work. My “reading” was revolutionized by audio-books with so many excellent Christian and secular books available in Scribd.