A Best Seller — Morning Devotions

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Transcript

It’s an amazing fact that the bestselling book is still the Bible.

Statistics tell us the story. The Guinness World Book of Records says the bestselling book of all time is the Bible. Its website says it’s impossible to know exactly how many copies have been printed in the roughly 1500 years since its contents were standardised, but research conducted by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 2021 suggests the total number probably lies between 5 and 7 billion copies. Now, that’s an awful lot of Bibles spread around the globe.

Are they black leather books gathering dust in a bookshelf somewhere or given as a gift that’s never opened? This is an interesting topic. It seems that most of us don’t read the Bible until something goes wrong. After the 9/11 attacks, people turned to churches to search for answers, solidarity, comfort, and meaning, and the sales of the Bible surged.

The percentage of people saying religion was increasing in influence on the American life skyrocketed then from 39% to 71%, the highest ever recorded by a Gallup poll. Yet soon after that, things returned to normal and no lasting change in people’s lives, in their religious habits or Bible reading habits. Despite these trends, the Bible is just as relevant and necessary as it ever has been.

Within its pages are the hope, solutions, and answers that our world desperately needs today.

The critics of Christianity argue about the relevance of the Bible. How can a book written thousands of years ago still be relevant in our modern century? How can that be possible? Does it make sense to today’s generation? People are asking that question.

The world is ever changing, and we have more knowledge and technology at our fingertips than ever before. We’ve had outstanding scientific discoveries. Is the world now a better place? Have we reaped the benefits of a new way of doing things? Have 2000 years of investment in science and philosophy reaped the rewards that we expected? I think it’s evident that the moral state of humanity has seen no improvement. Murder, war, infidelity, and oppression have not been erased over time.

Has there been a time when people have felt less safe in our cities or unfaithfulness in marriage has been so prevalent? And that’s just to name a few of the topics I can think of. We don’t have confidence in morality any more. We lock and alarm our cars, hoping no one will steal them. Our homes are heavily secured and insured in case of burglaries.

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We keep online bank accounts secure with passwords, we say to our kids, don’t talk to strangers. Who can we trust anymore? So our world is increasingly chaotic, and at times it’s hard to make sense of it. Night after night, our TV news channels and social media bombard us with bad news, but the Bible explains why our world is the way it is.

The first human beings that God created, Adam and Eve, had a choice to either obey Him or disobey Him. God commanded them to reject the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You can see that in Genesis chapter 2.

Instead, they listened to the devil and disobeyed God, and as a result they were removed from the Garden of Eden, cutting themselves off from God and the tree of life. By listening to the devil who was the serpent, they essentially chose Satan to rule over them. Under the deceptive sway of Satan, our world has continued to deteriorate.

So the Bible gives hope of a better world. The scriptures are more than some outdated moral rules to be strictly observed. The books were not written merely as a guide book to be a better person. The Bible is God’s story of redemption.

And we learn about Jesus Christ, our saviour from sin, the one who can save us. The Bible provides an anchor for you. The World Health organisation notes a rise in suicides during times of personal crisis, and this life has many storms. They can depress us, but the Bible provides hope that serves as an anchor for the soul, keeps us stable. This hope is based on the understanding that God cannot lie. He will fulfil His promises. Hope motivates us to endure and to overcome the obstacles that come our way.

Let’s Pray

Heavenly Father, this morning I thank you for the Bible, so old and yet so new. Its message is relevant to me today as it has been in the past, so it is today and will always be. Help me to read the Bible every day, to sit down and to understand some passage that brings light and understanding to my soul. Amen.

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