Once upon a time there was a girl who grew up with access to Bibles by the dozen. She took these written copies of the Lord’s Word for granted, she grew up with a Children’s picture Bible, received a Bible upon finishing first grade from the church, Christmas presents of various translations throughout her school years from grandparents and a copy or two from traveling Christian groups. On the occasion of her 18th year, she received yet another copy for her to take with her to college. Most Sundays she would wake up and scour the house for her latest edition, never remembering the last place that she had set it down. Some Sundays she would set it on the stairs after church to be taken up the next time she went upstairs…only to be found there the next Sunday right before church. Brush that dust off, whip it out when necessary during the sermon or Sunday school and no one knows the difference.
Now this story would never happen here in Malawi. Why? Because Bibles are too hard to come by! The Word of the Lord is valued and cherished in a way I certainly never did in my childhood. It wasn’t even until February this year that I really started reading my Bible regularly. For me, by the way that earlier story…yes that was me, it was more that I just had no idea where to start than a disinterest. But whatever it is that was keeping me from the Word, those are years that I will never get back, that’s prime time for memorization that I will never have taken advantage of.
Craig with partnership from his church was able to raise some money to put toward buying Bibles for the people of Malawi. These last few weeks we have been handing them out to needy men and women. There were actually pastors of churches who didn’t have Bibles!! This blog is less about the need to raise money for Bibles here in Malawi and more about taking advantage of the resources we are drowning in at home. And realize that there are people all around us at home who similarly don’t have access to God’s Word!! Look around, do you really need that many Bibles sitting around? The answer is no, pass them along, give them to people who need them, donate them to Salvation Army. It’s not about worldly accumulation anyway. (Mom and Dad consider this my permission to get rid of any of my Bibles I’ve left lying around.) But more than that, take this as an opportunity to commit Scripture to memory, how awesome would it be to be able to give your Bible away because you have memorized the whole thing!?! I know that’s my goal! Start small, listen to what God is telling you, Psalm 119:11 “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” This is my challenge to you, that the word will become like food and water, that you crave God’s Word MORE than you crave any food or drink ever created. I’ve been hungry on this race and I’ve been thirsty and I can’t tell you how much satisfaction there is in God’s Word!! John 6:35 – Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 7:57-58 – On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in the, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
