Would you trade your Bible in for a brand new one just like it? Same exact version, which I hope is a King James, same binding, even the exact same color if you like, would you trade it or not? Bear with me here, there’s a reason for this letter, believe it or not.
Here is the real situation as I see it, you may have noted in that Bible on the side of the pages, or like mine is, many sentences and verses underlined or highlighted, perhaps many references on the opening page, or maybe you even own a Bible that was signed by some pastor that you admire, and so then here is the question that must be asked, what is the most important aspect of that Bible, the aforementioned items, or the Words of God within it? And you don’t get to say “Both.”
Many, sad to say, have become Bible people instead of Christ followers, and this is not a new thing, but has been going on for quite some time. Have you ever met someone who has a “Family” Bible, one that has been passed down through the generations of their family, have you ever noticed, if you have had an opportunity to speak to them, how most of them cannot tell you what sanctification means, how they may know what I call the “children’s” Bible stories, those of Jonah, Daniel and the lion’s den, Noah and the ark, but they can no more expound on them with spiritual discernment and understanding any more than those children can.
It is so much more prevalent today and is akin to the average Evangelical church who holds a program each Sunday morning, a show of worship without the actual glorifying of the Lord in abject humility. They will call it “The Good Book,” and then it will be set in its regular place as soon as they arrive home after the Sunday morning service, only to be retrieved, dusted off a little perhaps, exactly seven days later.
The words within the pages of that Book are Holy, everyone of them was given to men over about a 1,500-year period by the Holy Spirit. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Tim. 3:16) They will last throughout all of eternity, (1 Peter 1:25) we are to hide them in our heart, (Psalm 119:11) and be prepared at every moment to give an account of our faith to whomever ask of us a reason for it. (1 Peter 3:15)
That Bible you own can be replaced, it on its own accord should hold no special place in your heart, the words that are within it though should be invaluable to you. There are many that have fallen into this trap, and it can be almost impossible for them to see these truths, some never will. Some will spend enormous, in a relative manner, amounts of money on that “special” Bible, when one at the thrift store than can be purchased with just a few coins holds the same Holy and Sanctified words.
Think on this truth, not everyone that owns a Bible, King James or not, is going to heaven, no matter how little or how much they spent on it.
I will leave you with this mental picture, if you will. In the early years of cinema, many of the movies, mostly black and white at that time, that had vampires as the main nemesis were vanquished by those holding up a cross, whether it was one “sanctified” by a church or just two twigs lashed together. The analogy was course absurd to the born-again believer. The cross was a place of suffering and shame, in itself it holds no value, the One who hung on it does.
That Bible is just pieces of paper with words on them held together between two pieces of material, in itself, apart from the Holy Spirit who blesses us with the ability to understand these words, it is useless to the bearer of it. My guess would be that those of you who can understand what has been written here, have a Bible that is well-worn, possibly even falling apart. Amen for that.
