“A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t,” it has often been said. What the quote doesn’t take into account are those of us who read our Bibles on apps, tablets or Kindles.
For convenience sake I’ve been reading the Bible on my Kindle for the last year, and although I miss the slew of notes in the big annotated version, it sure is handy. My Bible goes with me everywhere–on the subway, in dentist waiting rooms, in my briefcase at the office, on the floor by my bed.
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Every day I find verses to highlight. I tweet at least two verses a day, one from the Hebrew Scriptures and one from the New Testament. There’s always something that speaks to me.
Take Paul’s letters to the Corinthians–Paul, I find, is one of the most consistently satisfying and mind-blowing writers about Christianity, and his letters are the earliest documents we have about our faith, written anywhere from about 51 to 58 A.D.
Think about that for a minute. Paul was writing his epistles only a couple decades after Christ’s death and resurrection. This would be like us writing about the bombing of the Murah Federal Building in Oklahoma City or the First Gulf War. This is very recent history.
(Nerd alert: By contrast, Plutarch, the great go-to source on Cleopatra, was writing some 130 years after her death.)
The other day I came to this passage where Paul is thanking the Corinthians for their prayers. “We have set our hope on Him that He will rescue us again since you are helping with your prayers for us. Then many people can thank God on our behalf for the gift that was given to us through the prayers of many people.” (2 Cor. 1:1-11)
With my index finger on my Kindle I started highlighting. I’ve got to tweet this, I thought. Maybe I’d break it down into two parts.
First of all, for those of us who are asked to pray for others and ask others to pray for us, look how seriously Paul takes it. He believes without a doubt that those prayers help.
Secondly, when you pray for someone else, you are invested in the outcome. Better yet, you can take some credit for it and have plenty of reason to give thanks. It’s biblical. Paul said it.
As I was contemplating this, I got an email from a colleague who has asked us to pray for her friend Rick who was in a terrible car accident. He’s been in a coma for months and there seemed to be little hope. Through OurPrayer we prayed fervently, passionately, with hope.
We just got some good news. She saw Rick up and walking, heading off to therapy. He’s still got a long way to go, but all of us on that email group and in that prayer group had reason to give thanks. We were invested. What encouraging news not only for him but for us and our praying.
Next week I’m dedicating an hour on Twitter to hear from you about Bible verses that you might have underlined or highlighted or hold in your heart. Join us. Become part of the gang that can claim, “Our Bibles might be falling apart, but we are not.”
Even if you’re reading on a tablet or online.
Don’t forget to join me on Twitter @Rick_Hamlin for a Guideposts Chat about your favorite Bible verses. Thursday, April 2, at 3 p.m. EST. As always, we’ll have some books to give away.
