Why you may consider using a physical bible this year...
Thoughts on leaving a legacy of faith
Greetings, brothers and sisters.
No Bible study today, so if you’re looking for that, check back next time.
Pictured above is a table in our front room and office where Rebecca and I keep our reading Bibles. Last year, I got Rebecca a nice copy of the CSB She Reads the Truth Bible. Below her Bible is my NLT Humble Lamb Sonrise, which is what I’m currently reading through.
This year, our church has committed to the value of discipleship, and one of the ways that’s being expressed is a commitment to reading the scriptures.
While everyone engages with the scriptures differently, one of the things I’ve noticed as a pastor and minister is a dependence on electronic and digital Bibles. While that is not inherently a bad thing and is not entirely accurate for the cultural context of our day, it is something worth noting that I think would be helpful for believers everywhere to at least be conscious of.
Actually, some good news is that Bible sales are up. Yes, that’s right. People are buying physical Bibles more than they were in the past few years. Praise God.
I’ve been reading a book on the history of the Assemblies of God in my home Pentecostal fellowship. In that book, many of the records detailed by past leaders and ministers are found in their writings or in their letters. Part of their history was found in the records recorded in their personal belongings, books, and Bibles.
One thing that I think is really cool about having Bibles such as these on a nightstand is that your children begin to see them and know what they are and why you have them.
Secondly, is that they keep records. In many physical Bibles, there are pages near the front that outline significant events in the user's life, from births, marriages, deaths, baptisms, and all sorts of records are found in the pages of the Bible. My grandmother died when I was a young child, and my mother recently showed me my grandmother’s Bible, full of notations, notes, and details about her life and her spiritual journey. I know that for my mother, it is a blessing to have a Bible full of records of my grandmother’s thoughts and spiritual beliefs.
And this is what I believe is the incredible benefit of having a physical Bible: we leave behind a legacy of faith to those we care about. When we’re gone, all sorts of things get left behind. We leave behind material possessions, houses, cars, money accounts, but none of those things will be able to accurately articulate our spiritual journey, faith, and legacy. Yet, the Bibles we use, mark, highlight, write notes in, or share the prayers we have. Leave behind for those we love a glimpse into the spiritual journey that we’re on today.
I just finished reading Richard Foster’s book, Streams of Living Water, where he recounts many different streams and traditions of the Christian faith. In each chapter, he highlights one person of historical significance who represents the values and ideas of that specific tradition. Each of the people he highlighted had a common factor of recording the spiritual workings in their lives, and I think that leaves a tremendous legacy for those we care about.
Most of us won’t be writers like John Wesley or Saint Augustine, but many of us are able to share small parts of our spiritual journey.
My practical encouragement and hope for you is that you will be able to leave behind a legacy of faith for those you love.
The beauty of physical Bibles is that every marking, every annotation, every highlight leaves behind some glimpse into our spiritual journey.
I love my online YouVersion Bible account, but at the end of the day it leaves little significance to my children and my grandchildren. On the rare chance they would be able to access my account at some point, it would still be an impersonal means by which they could understand aspects of my life, with little to no significance.
Yet my collection of many Bibles with notes, highlights, and annotations, I pray, will allow my children and grandchildren to know with certainty and hope the kind of man and minister I was. This post is not about the right or wrong way of practicing faith, but a pastoral nudge to finding ways to leave behind your legacy of faith.
Grab a Bible, grab a pen, write down some notes, write down some prayers, and leave behind a record of your faith.
10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers[b] has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them!
Revelation 12:10-12
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