The Library That Had No Walls

In 2018, architect Li Wei completed a stunning public library in Tianjin, China — the Binhai Library, with its soaring white shelves cascading from floor to ceiling like waves frozen mid-crash. Over 1.2 million books line its walls. Visitors from around the world stand in the atrium, necks craned upward, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of knowledge surrounding them. Most admit they could spend a lifetime there and never read it all.

But here is what moves me most: admission is free. No membership card. No entrance exam. A farmer from the surrounding countryside walks through the same doors as a university professor. A child tugging her grandmother's hand has the same access as a scholar with three degrees. The riches are unsearchable — and they belong to everyone who steps inside.

Paul knew something about standing in an overwhelming space. He called it "the unsearchable riches of Christ" — a treasury so vast that eternity itself cannot exhaust it. And yet through faith, we have "boldness and access with confidence." Not timid, hat-in-hand access. Bold access. The kind where a child runs straight into her Father's arms without hesitating at the door.

Paul's prayer is that we would begin to grasp what we have been given — the breadth, length, height, and depth of a love that surpasses knowledge. The library doors are open. The riches are real. And the Almighty invites you to walk in like you belong there — because you do.