Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Matt 7:24 (NIV)
Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to The Word of Life. Phil 2:15-16 (NIV)
I never knew! I never knew that I could read it! Yes, I asked for a Bible for my ninth birthday. I still have it – it’s nearly like new – I never read it!
Grandma Chloe used to talk about what “Jesus said” but she never read it to me – never said that I could read it to see what He said.
In grade school, Rev. Baird, a traveling Gideon pastor would visit quarterly. He would tell us a Bible story and give us a verse to memorize for his next visit. He even gave us a mini-Bible – but I never knew I could read it.
We talked about it in Sunday School. Even as a Sunday School Teacher I didn’t have to read it. The important verses were there in my teacher’s manual! As an adult Lutheran, I never knew — the liturgy we sang was Scripture.
The Bible was always something that sat on a special table next to Grandma’s chair. Grandma taught me The Lord’s Prayer with weird words – thy, thou, maketh… By the time I was old enough to get beyond the “old English” I had lost interest.
But now? Now I enjoy my daily time with Jesus — in The Word. I enjoy having a relationship with My Lord.
Grannies, I pray that you will spend time reading the Bible with your family members. I encourage you to invest in your family with time in The Word. Get them translations that they are comfortable with. Read with them. Encourage each one to spend daily time alone with Jesus — in The Word.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 (NIV)
04/26/20