Family Bibles

        

        I am fascinated with people who come to church with an electronic Bible.  Even Pastor’s will, sometimes, use an iPad or other device when delivering a sermon.  Using the electronic devices can be very handy when looking up references or if there is a question which requires an immediate answer.  

Still, there is something uniquely comforting when reading a Bible which can be held in your hands, with paper pages requiring turning.  It’s true paper Bibles can be tattered and deteriorate after drying up, allowing the binding to fall apart as it ages, and as the leather cover peels away.  The physical pages can be so worn, it becomes impossible to read the words.

There are those who would tell you not only is holding a physical Bible important to them, but holding a family Bible is invaluable.  This book can have notes written from messages heard years before, or underlined scriptures that had particular significance to someone who read the Word at a previous time.  Or there may be colors used which denotes something special or a date signifying something remarkable about a given day.

Some have said holding a family Bible is like holding the family’s past. With what can be gleaned from the notes, colors, and underlinings, is to peek into someone’s thought process, or spiritual journey that may hold a significance to our own, which is yet to be determined.  Sometimes a person will even include a prayer list between the covers, from people prayed over from fifty years prior!  Can you imagine the answers God must have granted?

There is yet another perspective shared by a friend who said, her personal Bible had become so worn and tattered, she finally broke down and bought a new one.  Once she did, however, she realized she missed the notes she made over the forty years she’d used it.  So she decided to do something about it!  She painstakingly laid the Bibles side by side and recorded exactly the same markings in the new Bible.  She said it was beyond gratifying as she recalled the reasons why she’d made all those markings over the years.

The concept of family Bibles is so important to another friend, she shared that sometimes these treasures make their way into her re-sale shop.  With all the information noted between the pages, and particularly on the front pages, the family can eventually be located and these gems returned to family members who otherwise would not have the opportunity to hold them in their hands.  

Regardless of mode, paperback versions or electronic devices, it’s reassuring to know God’s Living Word never becomes tattered, worn, have peeling covers or in any way becomes deteriorated.  His Word is eternal, and has the ability to engrave our souls with His very own DNA.  It’s powerful and trustworthy.  It’s alive and food for the soul.  It never changes.  God’s promises are forever because God keeps every promise he’s ever made.  

I encourage you to reach out to God through His Word and see not only the words on the pages, but the impact those Words can and will have on your life when you accept them as truth.

Photo Credit: https://unsplash.com/s/photos/family-bible