Becoming What You Read

Eustace Clarence Scrubb almost deserved his name. At least, that’s what C.S. Lewis writes in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, describing a boy so selfish, arrogant, and dull that his name almost fit too well. But what made Eustace the way he was? According to Lewis, “Eustace had read none of the right books.” That’s not just a throwaway line. It’s a profound statement about character formation.

In a world flooded with media, scrolling feeds, and bingeable content, Lewis reminds us that reading isn't just a pastime it’s a portal. And more than that, it's a shaping force. It’s not unlike the old adage, “You are what you eat.” Our minds and hearts are nourished or malnourished by what we consume. What we read matters.

Reading Is Relational

Though we often read alone, we never read in isolation. Every book brings you face to face with an author. You sit with their thoughts, absorb their worldview, and over time, reflect their voice. As Mortimer Adler put it, “Reading is learning from an absent teacher.” (How to Read a Book)

The Bible affirms this principle. Proverbs 13:20 warns, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” The company we keep whether in person or on the page shapes our thinking. The Apostle Paul says it plainly: “Bad company ruins good morals” (1 Corinthians 15:33).

Jesus also underscores this in Luke 6:40: “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” Who you spend time with whether in real life or in print has a formative effect. If you dwell among the foolish, don’t be surprised when folly shows up in your own life.

Books Train Our Desires

Reading isn’t just intellectual it’s emotional. Stories don’t merely inform; they inspire. They awaken longings, form convictions, and color our view of the good life. Books train our desires.

Dante illustrates this vividly in The Inferno. He meets Francesca and Paolo, doomed lovers in hell, who confess that their affair was ignited by a book a romanticized tale of adultery. The book made sin beautiful, desirable, and permissible. And in mimicking the story, they sealed their fate.

That’s the power of the page. It can nudge us toward holiness or hurl us toward ruin.

Modern culture is no different. In a time when erotica and scandal sell millions of books and digital stories, we must be vigilant. Every story we ingest is a catechism. It teaches us what to love. It subtly answers questions like: What’s worth sacrificing for? Who deserves mercy? What does happiness look like?

Leland Ryken, in Recovering the Lost Art of Reading, puts it this way: “Stories reflect individual identity and have the power to modify it.” Read long enough, and you begin to want what your literary heroes want or fear what they fear. For good or ill, books mold your affections.

Books Frame Reality

Beyond shaping desire, books also teach us how to see. They don’t just show us what to love; they show us how to interpret the world.

Don Quixote is a classic example. Cervantes’s misguided hero reads so many books of chivalry that he no longer sees reality clearly. Windmills become giants. Inns become castles. Commoners become damsels in distress. He interprets the world through the warped lens of fantasy.

It’s funny until it’s not. Because we do the same. The narratives we immerse ourselves in subtly set expectations for life, relationships, and even faith. If our reading diet is filled with cynicism, we’ll begin to suspect all motives. If it’s overly romanticized, we’ll be perpetually disappointed. If it’s shallow, our thinking will be too.

We don’t read in a vacuum. Books come from authors with worldviews, presuppositions, and values. Whether fiction or nonfiction, they carry assumptions about man, God, truth, and meaning. That’s why the book of Proverbs exhorts us to pursue wisdom like hidden treasure (Proverbs 2:4). Wisdom isn't just taught it’s caught, and often through the voices we let shape us.

A Matter of Formation

So, what does all this mean practically?

It means that reading is never neutral. Like friendships, books can either sharpen or dull us (Proverbs 27:17). They can sanctify or seduce, edify or erode. And that should make us cautious about what we allow into our imaginations.

This doesn’t mean we only read old theology or avoid fiction. On the contrary, Lewis himself loved fantasy, adventure, and imagination but he warned against consuming literature that dulls moral clarity or glamorizes sin.

Alan Jacobs, in How to Think, writes, “To dwell habitually with people is inevitably to adopt their way of approaching the world.” That includes authors. Over time, they shape our instincts, reactions, and assumptions often more than we realize.

Cultivate a Wise Literary Diet

So, what’s the takeaway?

Think of your reading life like a meal plan. Occasional fluff might not hurt, but a steady diet of junk food will. Feast often on books that stretch your thinking, fuel your faith, and stir your imagination toward the true, the good, and the beautiful.

Here are a few guiding principles:

• Read widely, but not aimlessly. Include fiction, biography, theology, and poetry but choose authors who live wisely and write well.

• Re-read the best books. Great books, like great meals, get better the second time.

• Don’t just read discuss. Good books deserve conversation. Talk about them with friends who challenge and sharpen you.

• Balance digital with physical. The average adult spends over 6 hours per day on screens. Rediscover the tactile, slower world of physical pages.

In the End, We Read to Be Changed

Reading isn’t just about acquiring knowledge it’s about becoming someone. And we are all becoming. The question is: into what?

Don’t let your mind be shaped by what’s popular or convenient. As Paul says in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” That renewal starts with what we choose to feed it.

So choose wisely. Befriend good books. Read authors worth becoming like. Let your reading make you more like Christ more thoughtful, more compassionate, more courageous, more whole.

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