Photo and Commentary (c)2025 by Maylan Schurch
Sabbath and Sunday, August 30 and 31, 2025
One of the recent encouraging trends I’ve noticed (amid a host of discouraging ones) is that Barnes and Noble bookstores keep sprouting up here and there. They’re delightful places, adjusting with the times and very customer-friendly.
I dropped by one of the newest B&N’s this week, and grinned when I discovered that whoever had charge of labeling the book sections hadn’t glued the “B” as firmly in line as the other letters. This created (temporarily until they find that “B” and reattach it) a new genre!
Of course, most books to a great extent are actually “I-ographies,” reflecting the writer’s personal preoccupations and obsessions. Nothing wrong with that, as such. But when this self-absorption ignores the reader and what he or she might find helpful, that’s bad (and not very royalty-productive.)
John the Baptist may be the Bible’s ultimate non-ego, when he said in John 3:30, “He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease.” Paul urged us in Philippians 2:3 to “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” [ESV]
At this link you’ll find some more of what the Bible says about proportionally estimating your own value:
https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/topics/self-esteem