I rarely open a Bible. Shocking news since I'm a pastor, and
although I have many Bibles on my book shelves, I rarely look at them. Before you get too upset, remember I said
rarely, not never. I have most of the same versions on my phone, my tablet, my
laptop and my desktop. And I do look at
those - a lot!
But I remember days when most families had 1, or maybe 2 Bibles
in the house, and the running joke was that somebody needed to keep the Bible
dusted off, just in case the pastor were to drop by unexpectedly. And when the pastor and his family were
invited to dinner, that Bible was
prominently displayed- just in case the pastor needed to show you something!
And there are lots of people in the world who don't own a
Bible, many in this country, for a number of reasons. Some are pre-believers,
others follow other faith traditions, and some Christians are content with the
Bible App on their phone.
But in parts of the world there are people who don't have access
to a Bible, and that makes a big difference. Imagine if you couldn't turn to
that familiar passage when you are hurting, or there was something you wanted
to look up. Or when you wanted to immerse yourself in God's Word because you
knew that it was time to move to the next level, to take the next step on your
spiritual walk. How comfortable would you be if your pastor didn't have a
Bible, and relied on his memory to draw on passages of scripture. If the pastor
doesn't own a Bible, maybe it's not all that important.
Gospel for Asia has a program which allows you to purchase
Bibles which are then gifted to pastors and missionaries. They can use those
Bibles to grow on their own faith journey, and also have some available to
share with new believers and also with Christians who have not been able to get
one. Learn more about sharing the gift
of a Bible by clicking here
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