B Is For Bible

I love my Kindle. I love the feature that allows me to read any book in a choice of print sizes. Now I can read for hours without getting massive headaches from reading tiny print too long.

There’s one thing I don’t like about my Kindle. I can’t share books with my friends. I love to share books. It’s cool to find someone who likes the same topic/genre/author that I do. Besides, there’s the practical side. If you read a book twice or two people read one copy of a book, that means you get double the value from the cost of the book? Right? That’s my story!

Seriously, I love to give books that have inspired me or helped me, because I hope it will make my friend’s life better as well. Books are entertaining, educational and encouraging. They can even be life-changing. Have you ever read something in a book that had a profound impact on the rest of your life?

The one book I love sharing the most is the Bible. Talk about life-changing. Maybe that’s why John, one of Jesus’ biographers, described Jesus as The Word — Jesus, in conjunction with His Father, is the ultimate source for knowledge and wisdom. Proverbs 3:19 says:

By wisdom, the Lord lay the earth’s foundations;
by understanding, he set the heavens in place.

John 1:3 says:

Through him, all things were made without him, nothing was made that has been made.”

If God by His wisdom could structure a world that works so perfectly, then He has the wisdom to put together life and has the corner market on the best plan to live life in a manner that ‘works.’ This wisdom is expressed through the written word of the Bible.

So I love sharing the Bible with people. Because I’m sensitive to the fine-print thing, I especially love making large-print Bibles available to folks who also struggle to see. Recently, someone at church noticed my large-print Bible. “Where did you get that?” she asked. I told her I ordered mine from Biblica Direct, the website for the International Bible Society, and offered to get one for her. I went a step further. I put an announcement in our church bulletin that if anyone wanted to purchase a large- print bible, come talk to me. Within two weeks, ten people asked me to order Bibles for them and after I placed the order, five more people wanted Bibles. Fifteen people! Wow!! As I said to many of them when they thanked me, no one should be denied access to the written word of God just because they have difficulty seeing.

It’s hard to imagine someone not having easy access to a Bible. How many of us have multiple copies laying around our house? My aunt knows someone who collects extra Bibles to give to military personnel. Without much effort, my husband and I collected six bibles to donate to this cause. I’m not missing them at all, but someone else is being blessed.

It’s easy to give a Bible to someone who asks for it. I wish I could be bolder in taking the initiative to offer someone a Bible. I love hearing stories of how the Bible can transform the lives of those who read it for the first time. For me, the imagery of someone giving a Bible to someone who has never read it before is so powerful. My daughter had that opportunity recently in a foreign country. Someone came to her, asking questions about our faith and saying she wanted to read the Bible for herself. My daughter offered the woman her personal Bible and the woman gratefully accepted it. Now we pray that God’s written word takes on life and meaning in that woman’s heart, and that she is changed through reading and accepting God’s plan for her.

I know that is possible because it has happened before. A speaker from a University campus ministry recently told how someone gave a Bible to a Chinese student who knew nothing about Christianity. Without any other teaching or influence, the student read the Bible cover to cover. She came back to the person who gave it to her. “I’ve read it,” she said. “Now what?”

Just by reading the Bible, she caught the message of love, hope and peace that God had to offer her! Isn’t that awesome? Now she is open to accepting the Word that will transform her and give her the solid assurance of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

Giving the gift of a Bible. Such a simple gesture. Something anyone can do. You don’t have to say much at all. Once you give the gift, you just let the Bible speak for itself.