It has always frustrated me that many pastors,
evangelists, and missionaries do not read. Have you ever wondered why so few
pastors read, as in reading theologies, commentaries, and deeply? A now-retired pastor friend of mine who is a
weighty thinker with a vast and much-used library now lives in a different part
of the country and mentioned that his new pastor declared to him one day, “I
don’t read. I listen to podcasts.” My friend was taken aback by that shocking
admission.
Today, during my devotions that include slowly
progressing through Proverbs a verse a day and reading John Gill, Charles
Bridges, and Bruce K. Waltke’s fine two-volume commentary, I read Proverbs 12.1: “Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but
he that hateth reproof is brutish.”
Before checking out the comments of the
above-mentioned worthwhile men’s comments, I checked in with John F. Walvoord & Roy
B. Zuck, General Editors, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament,
(Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 1985), on page 930, where Sid S. Buzzell writes, “To love (i.e., willingly accept or desire) discipline
(musir, “moral discipline or
correction”; cf. 1:2, 7; 10:17) shows
that a person loves (desires;) knowledge. He wants to be on the
right path, to be wise. To hate (reject and despise) correction shows
that one is stupid (ba'ar, “to be brutish or dull-minded” like an animal; also used in 30:2, “ignorant”). Similar thoughts are given in 12:15; 13:1,
13, 18; 15:5, 10, 12, 31-32.”
I had always imagined that pastors, missionaries,
and evangelists who did not read (or read much, or read deeply) were men who
did not read well. But I have family members who were poorly educated and read
only with great difficulty upon graduating high school. They later became capable
and devoted readers because they wanted to learn and overcome their earlier
deficiencies.
It had not crossed my mind before why some
Gospel ministers do not read. They do not want to read, stupidly (to quote
Buzzell’s understanding of Proverbs 12.1) avoiding correction because they do not
love knowledge and desire correction.
What is your opinion regarding the shortage of
readers in the Gospel ministry? Feedback would be appreciated.
