Some of the offices at Perkins seminary have strangely high ceilings. For one of my professors, I think this was a good thing. His walls were lined, floor to ceiling, with bookshelves. Many of them were double-full of books; there was a row of books behind another row of books on a shelf. More books littered the other available surfaces. We asked if he had read all of them. He said yes. Some of them multiple times!
I don’t think that’s the reality for most of us. There are plenty of books on our shelves we haven’t read cover to cover, or cracked open at all. This week I happened to be looking at a bookshelf while thinking about something else when a thought struck me. How much work went into each of those pages on the bookshelf? Someone’s life’s work could be sitting on a shelf, and the sum total of its impact on me may be a subconscious thought that may one day help me for a moment. Some of the books on our shelves are life changing; most are tremendous efforts with seemingly minimal results. But their authors still wrote them.
Hundreds of authors, editors, readers poured their time and energy into those pages on the shelves knowing how most books end up, but still trusting their efforts could help someone, however minor the effect. What tremendous faith. May we have faith like that. What a good reminder that it is our task to work for the kingdom, having faith God will use our work even if we never see the result. When we answer God’s call to share the words of Jesus with our neighbors, the words might sit on a shelf for a long time. We may never know when someone listens to God nudging them to try the book of Good News again. We’ll just have to have faith.
Blessings,
Pastor Luke