Convicted

I take my Bible(s) for granted. Sitting here at my desk I can look up at the shelf above my desk and see 12 Bibles in 6 different versions (ESV, NIV, NASB, NLT, The Message, CEV). Wow, impressive huh? NO.

My good friend and brother in Christ Mike Mac subscribes The Voice of the Martyr's mailing and had a couple forwarded to me. I am so glad he did.

The August 2009 issue came with an insert and on the cover it talks about how a Chinese Christian had 140,000 Bibles "confiscated" from him. That earned him a $22,000 fine & 3 years in prison while leaving 2 daughters behind. I open up the insert and one of the headings says "imagine if you had to wait 18 years for your very own Bible". Based on simple math the amount of Bibles they have avail compared with the amount of requests they have for Bibles it would take 18 years to fill all the orders, and that's if they don't get any more orders/requests for Bibles.

I spend hours and hours trying to think of ways to build a desire in our students for the Bible. For what it has to offer. For what it is. I would be willing to bet that almost every single kid in my youth group has a Bible or 5 in their home. They prob even have one of their very own maybe even with a leather cover with their name printed on it.

That's great! I'm glad my students have Bibles but, something tells me that the Bibles my students have and the Bibles that are being shipped to China and other countries that are in serious need of them have two different purposes.

The Bibles that my students have are "show" Bibles. They bring them to church (sometimes), they carry it with them in their backpack (maybe), mostly it sits on their shelf or desk collecting dust and is rarely taken down to be read or studied.

The Bibles being shipped to people who are eager to have God's word in their language and at their finger tips, i bet, get used very differently.

I wonder if things would be different if we didn't have Bibles avail in English or at every book store in so many different versions that I have lost count.

What does it take to value God's Word for what it is? I am trying to think of what caused me to change from not really reading it and not really valuing it to loving when I get to sit down and study and read it...i'm having a hard time putting my finger on it.


God, give us, give me a hunger for your word that is unquenchable!?