Why Should I Read The Bible? Pt. 1 — Morning Devotions

Subscribe to the ‘Morning Devotions’ podcast

Transcript

I want to talk about the Bible today because around the world, millions of people are fascinated with this book, the Bible. Josh McDowell was a young man, very sceptical about the Bible. He never believed it could be true. And so, with all his heart and mind, he set out to disprove it. But, you know, the opposite thing happened, and he’s written a number of marvellous books. He gave his life to Jesus Christ and became a great evangelist and writer and teacher. Winning many humanitarian awards as well, so he was convinced.

He now is convinced that the Bible is true, and millions of people agree with Josh McDowell. The Bible is still today the biggest selling book. It has a message. It’s not just words on a page. It actually has a message that changes people’s lives, and it touches the heart and it tells more about things to come, about life and eternal life.

A book like no other

I like the story of the missionary’s gift of a Bible.

The missionary actually gave a Bible to a native on a remote island, and no one had really heard of the Bible before. And the missionary said: I was really gratified at the native’s expression. He was very pleased for the gift. He just couldn’t thank me enough, but he said, I was puzzled when I next saw him a few months later, and he showed me the Bible, which was now battered and torn, and I was a bit surprised. I said, I thought you’d take better care of the Bible that I gave you. I assumed that you did really want it and that you would treasure it. You said you would, to which the, the native replied: It is the greatest gift that I’ve ever received, you know, he said, it’s such a wonderful gift that I gave a page to each person on that island.

So that’s why today, still today, the Bible is a precious gift and the greatest love letter from God to His people. The natives understood how precious that gift was for them. They read it and of course gave it out amongst themselves.

Another amazing fact about the Bible is that do you know that many people have actually died, lost their lives while translating the Bible into other languages?

It was AD 303, a long time ago now.

The Emperor Diocletian, and he gave a command that many Christians were put to death because of the Bible and that the sacred writings of the Bible were to be destroyed. But you know, the persecution continued. Christians still continued reading the Bible, and any attempt of translating the scripture was dealt with. So between 1400 and 1557 AD, and nearly 1000 people were burned to death for defending the Word of God.

Hope 103.2 is proudly supported by

John Wycliffe was the first person to translate the Bible from Latin into English, and the Pope at that time was so infuriated by his teachings that 44 years after Wycliffe had died, he ordered the bones to be dug up, crushed, and scattered in the river. So William Tyndale, another name that you may be aware of, he produced the very first English language New Testament to ever come off the printing press, but William Tyndale was burned at the stake in 1536 for the crime, yes, the crime of printing these magnificent English New Testaments.

The relevance of the Bible

Well, many sceptics today try to discredit the Bible, saying that its message is no longer relevant to today’s society.

But of course, they’re wrong.

And I want to say, and I’ll have another thought about this tomorrow, that God’s Word is still alive. It’s relevant to today. It’s active, and it goes about in a remarkable way of changing the lives of people. So the question could be why should I read this book? Well, sadly, many people keep the Bible in their bookcase. There it stays…

A little boy of 7. He took the Bible one day from the library table at home, and he said to his mother, Mum, is this God’s book? Certainly is, she said. Well, don’t you think we might as well send it back to God? We don’t use it here, do we?

Well, that little comment might cause a bit of a smile, but it does reveal a sad and vital lack of reading the Bible by many people. So whatever your view is of the Bible, there are many, many sound reasons for understanding it and for reading it, and we can ask Jesus, our Lord and saviour, and the Holy Spirit to help us as we read the Bible.

Let us Pray

Thank you, Lord, for the Word of God. It is a precious document, and thank you that it can change me as well. Amen.

(Why Should I Read The Bible? Pt. 2 — Morning Devotions)

Feature image: CanvaPro