How Worn is your Bible?

2 Timothy 3:15-16

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A number of years ago, a man came into my office asking for me to share with him the teachings of our church. I looked over to my bookshelf and pulled off this very book, Luther’s Small Catechism, and I handed it to the man. The man held the book for a moment, and he said, well, Pastor, this doesn’t really tell me what I want to know. It simply tells me that you use this book all the time. After all, look at how worn and tattered it is. That’s true, even as you see it right now. This book has been thoroughly used.

Well, I went on, of course, to share with that man the teachings of the Holy Scriptures as taught by the Lutheran Church. The teachings that we hold to, God’s word of truth. You know, there’s some things that an old worn out book can tell people. Might wonder then about our own Bibles. What does your Bible look like? Is it thoroughly worn or is it in pristine condition?

Sometimes I wonder if we have such reverence for God’s Word that we almost don’t want to take that Bible off the shelf. It looks so good, so perfect. Like the day we received it as a gift on our confirmation day, or like the day we picked it up from the store, thinking that God would be pleased to see our perfect edition of the Holy Bible on our own shelves.

But what does God want us to do with the Bible? He doesn’t just merely want us to put it in a glass case and up on our bookshelves wants us to put it to good use. He wants us to wear out our Bibles. Because it’s only by reading his word that we see his truths. We learn from him. We learn things concerning our world, concerning our faith. Concerning him. Concerning how he would have us live.

Consider what the Apostle Paul wrote in second Timothy Chapter three verses 15 and 16.

The Holy Scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God breathed[a] and is useful for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:15-16)

That passage or those passages tell us what God’s word is. It’s exactly that God’s word. It’s God breathed, and it’s useful for teaching and rebuking and correcting and training in righteousness. But the most important thing it’s useful for is making us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. It is the greatest treasure this Bible has to offer. It shows us our Savior who in love came down from heaven to die in a cross for you and for me to suffer for our sins and to rise to life again from the dead so that we can know that his victory is our victory, and that one day we too shall rise to life from the dead.

So God invites us to put those Bibles to good use, to not just simply leave them up on our shelves or in a glass case, but wear them out. Wear them out reading what his words says. What else can we do with that word? He desires us not just to read it ourselves, but to read it so that we can share its message with other people. Just as that man came into my office wanting to know the teachings of the church, wanting to know the teachings of God’s Word. What an opportunity we have in our own lives. As others ask us, What does the Bible say? Well, reading the Bible regularly, we know what it says. We know what it tells us about our sin and about God’s grace in Christ. May God help us then to put the Bible to good use to wear out our Bibles. That we might know God’s love for us better. We also might share that love with one another. Amen.