Do you feel intimidated when you look at a brand new Bible? I know I do. They just look wrong to my eyes. They are just so new. Intimidating. As if they are too holy to be touched by human hands.
Have you ever gone Bible watching? It’s kind of like Walmart people watching, only instead you are at church and you are watching peoples Bibles. And in the same way people who are all dressed up in Walmart look out of place, so does a brand new Bible when you are at church. When I am Bible watching, I find myself drawn to the little old ladies and the little old men who have these old beat up Bibles. The seams are all worn and stretched; the Bible that used to be 1 inch thick is now like four inches thick; it may even be held together with duct tape. Those are the Bible’s that you cant help but look at and think, wow, how many thousands of hours of reading and praying did it take to get the Bible looking so broken in. Those people I look at and think, ‘They really READ their Bible’. I feel likes it gives this implied impression that they are on TOP of the BIble reading.
There’s this one lady at our church. I always notice her BIble. Her Bible is unbelievably thick from being used. It’s a little mishapen and I’m pretty sure that it is in fact being held together by duct tape. But you know, I look at it and I see a badge of honor. That is a well loved and used Bible. I look at it and I imagined the tears that have been shed over it; the words that have been spoken over it; the people who have been prayed for, guided by the words inside. And I am amazed and humbled by it.
So many times in life we get caught up in the ‘new shiny’, but this is something that has earned its merits the hard way. Sometimes literally, through blood, sweat and tears. It’s the one thing that is so much more amazing when it is worn and tired and broken.
In the midst of my thinking about this one day, a memory popped into my head. A few years ago I had gotten a Bible for our daughter to pass on to woman of our acquaintance. Afterwards, our daughter had mentioned that the woman had commented that she wished I had marked up some passages for her, so that she would to be able to find some good stuff easily. With that thought in mind, I pursued the thought process of how a new Bible appears to someone who has maybe never had one before. I couldn’t help but think of how intimidating a new Bible looks to me, someone who’s always had access to Bibles and how much more intimidating it must be to someone who is unfamiliar with what is contained within its cover.
Stop and think for moment. The majority of Bibles, especially those geared towards adults, having nothing on the outside of the cover to give you any idea of what the internal contents are. There’s no book description on the back giving a brief overview of the contents. The pages quite often are very thin and appear rather delicate and fragile. Oftentimes there are different types of searches or concordance inside, but how scary could those be? I dont think I have ever come across any other book with that type of reference. No wonder so many of these Bibles gifted to those unfamiliar with its contents end up on a shelf somewhere.
But what if, we could offer them something more? A gift of more than just our dollars. What if, we could offer them a gift of our time. Perhaps even before we know that we are going to give them the gift of a beautifully broken Bible. Let me tell you how.
First, buy a Bible
Start by buying the Bible. It doesn’t have to be one that is super expensive or have a fancy study guide or devotional. Personally, unless you already have someone specific in mind, I suggest that you get one that is acceptably gender neutral. Preferably one that has a decent print size, I dont think anyone really wants to try and read the microfiche in some of these Bibles. I recommend one with at least 9 point font. If possible, I would suggest getting one with more than just a paper cover. There are some very nice ‘leather look’ ones available these days for very reasonable prices. I would also suggest picking up some Bible friendly pastel highlighters as well as some thin tip Bible friendly pens or felt markers. Personally I have BIC brite liner grip highlighters and papermate flair pens, but I hear Mr.Pen has some nice options as well. There are lots of good options out there. I would also suggest a pencil and maybe a pen as well as some kind of post it notes. I just got the ‘cute’ shaped ones at the local dollar store.
There is no right or wrong place to get started
Now that you have the Bible and writing supplies, its time to get started. Gather up your supplies. You can either set aside time for this special or just incorporate it into your regular Bible study time, which is what I do most of the time. Now there is no right or wrong place to get started here. Maybe you have some favorite verses that have really touched your life and you want to start there. Maybe you dont know where to begin and that’s just fine. I combined verses that were significant enough I had already marked them up in my own Bible and I looked up Bible verse lists on Pinterest. I love Pinterest. Very dangerous though. Like a rabbit hole on Alice in Wonderland and twice as eclectic. Anyway, I digress. The first list I found was verses on the promises of God, and that seemed like a great place to start.
I will say that I did not use every verse on that list. Some of them were a little vague or just didn’t feel like what I was going for and so I just didn’t use them. And thats fine. You dont want to just highlight things willy nilly. Keep in your mind your target audience. You want verses that are going to grab them right off the bat. You want verses that are going to appeal to them on a deeper level. Verses that are going to offer them help, offer them hope, right now.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
-John 3:16 NASB1995
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
-Ephesians 2:8-9 NASB1995
”I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
-Philippians 4:13 NASB1995
How you choose to mark up the verses is totally up to you. I know there are various methods easily viewed on Pinterest as far as matching topic to color and whatnot. The method I use, I dont think Ive heard of anyone using, lol. If a verse jumps out to me in a really big way, I highlight in yellow. If it jumps out as really important or in a big way but not quite wham, I underline in yellow. Next step down I would use a peachy color either to highlight or underline. If something catches me but I’m not really sold on highlighting it, I use the pencil or pen. Now that Ive said all that, it sounds a little crazy, but hey, thats what works for me. Another thing, I’ve heard Priscilla Shirer recommend and I think is a good idea for this, is write the date you marked it up. My reason for this here is that this will stand as a symbol of the time you have commited to this effort. It’s important to know that people are thinking of you and even if you dont have a person in mind right now, thats fine. The point is, you know that this Bible is meant for a very special person. And you are dedicating your time and effort to pulling this together, for that person. You can do this and you can pray for them as well. God knows who this person is. He knows where your thoughts and prayers need to go. Which leads me to…
This will stand as a symbol of the time you have commited to this effort
Mel
Pray for this person. Write down your thoughts and hopes and prayers for them on the little post it notes. Date them. Put them into the Bible and pour out your prayers over that Bible. Infuse that Bible with those thoughts and hopes and prayers and dreams for them. If nothing else, this will benefit you. But I believe doing this will change lives. When the time comes, you will be able to offer them so much more than just a Bible. You will be handing them a piece of you, beautifully broken in, filled with hope, dreams, love and so much more. It will be interesting to see I think, in time, the people who will find that on a really hard day in their life, when all hope seemed on its way out, that there you were, praying for them, as if reaching out across time to offer them a hand of hope.
Image from: https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-holy-bible-image12651255
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