If they dusted your Bible for fingerprints,
would they find any fresh ones?
would they find any fresh ones?
Over at OldTruth.com Jim has a post that is heart-wrenching. It is a must read/watch post.
http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.443
He tells us about a Puritan evangelist, John Rogers, who warned his congregation against neglecting Scripture by telling them what God might say: "I have trusted you so long with my Bible - it lies in some houses all covered with dust and cobwebs, you care not to listen to it. Do you use my Bible that way? Well, you shall have my Bible no longer". Thomas Goodwin was so moved by Rogers's presentation that when he left church he wept upon his horse's neck for fifteen minutes before he felt strong enough to mount it.
When was the last time tears stained the pages of your Bible?
When was the last time you went on your knees before your Holy God?
When was the last time you spent longer than 15 minutes in the Word?
When was the last time you were cut to the quick by the Holy Spirit like Thomas Goodwin?
When was the last time the Lord called you out of your slumber to pray for someone?
When was the last time you gave praise to the Lord for an answer to prayer found in His Word?
When was the last time you got up and spent time in the word before you looked at the morning paper?
When was the last time you shared an understanding of a verse with a friend that you had been struggling to grasp?
When was the last time you read scripture aloud just to yourself and the Lord when no one was home?
When was the last time you gave your personal Bible to someone else who did not have one?
When was the last time you opened the Word of God in a public place like the Doctor or Dentist's office?
When was the last time you handed out a New Testament?
I guess this is my "Enter the List" like over at Rebecca Writes!
I'm just asking you to ponder how important your Bible is to you. I am not one good at memorizing scripture. I can tell you whether the scripture is on the right or left hand page, top, middle or bottom ... but I struggle with memorization. My Bible is precious to me. I have the whole Word of God, all 66 books, in various translations and formats. I have been convicted as of late contemplating what it would be like to have perhaps only one page of scripture or a chapter only ... it is hard for me to comprehend this. How much more precious would the Word be to me? How much more would I be reading that one page of verses? How much more would I push to memorize? How much more would my tears stain that page?
What say you? ...
Good, thought-provoking post Pam. I appreciate you candidness about memorization. I, too struggle. We just need to keep on, keeping on. My Bible is precious to me, too. I have in the past given away my Bible that had notes and marked up pages to someone. That someone came back to tell me years later how blessed they were with those notes and markings. That my old Bible brought them back to a right relationship with the Lord because of some of the notations. Every time I travel on a Toll road I hand out a NT. I usually have two in my car and an extra one in my purse. I have given them out at hospital waiting rooms, Dr. office's, and various others. My Bible is tear-stained, too. If a Bible is not then there is something wrong. Thanks for the link to OldTruth. I never read there before but I will become a frequent visitor.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to memorize the book of Ephesians, and I'd love to have some company with people that are also working on memorization! You can drop in on my post on the subject at muddlehouse.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI read this post a few days ago, and thought it was excellent. However, my computer keeps logging me out, and it's a pain to keep logging in, so I didn't leave a comment! In any case, I'll probably print it out and share it around.