He snatched up the book and began reading where it fell open—Romans 13. The words burned into his mind: “… not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” Instantly, the shadows of his heart fled before the streams of light. A book he once dismissed as a mere fable, lacking in clarity and grace of expression, altered the entire trajectory of his life and gave him what he had sought for so long. He had encountered truth for his life.
Augustine gave his life to Christ. And for the next 44 years, Augustine continued to “take up and read,” becoming one of the most influential Christian thinkers and writers of history. But it all started in the garden, where he learned that the Scriptures were not just words to be interpreted; they were words that interpreted the reader.
Little wonder that J.I. Packer once wrote: “If I were the devil… I should broadcast doubts about the truths and relevance and good sense and straightforwardness of the Bible…. At all costs I should want to keep them from using their minds in a disciplined way to get the measure of its message.”
This article on take up and read originally appeared here, and is used by permission.
