Thursday, 11/5/20 – Discipleship – The Bible: Making Your Marks

The Bible: Making Your Marks

Parts of today’s ‘Discipleship’ blog first appeared as a Facebook “chat” with another believer about our old and worn Bibles…

“Old Bibles are the best! Mine is filled with margin notes, life event dates noted beside passages given me at these special times, quotes from pillars of church history, personal growth reminders, prayers of sorrow and of praise.

“A time came for awhile when it’s fine print strained my eyes too much and I had to set it aside for a larger print. At my most recent visit to our optometrist, however, reading glasses were prescribed and I was able to pick up that old Bible again and enjoy the blessings of its pages and memories. I have picked up that pen again too and continued to add to its treasures — for myself, but perhaps also for our progeny.”

Impactful verses are underlined in blue, red, green or black. Others may be circled, bracketed, or highlighted in yellow. Some are personal hand-scrawled sidebars of sermon notes, some are quotations from Christian authors who have impacted my spiritual life. Some are simply notations of dates and events during which an adjacent underscored passage shone with special meaning: perhaps a comfort, a direction, an ambition or hope.

● God’s call on my life upon graduation from Bible College… (Amos 7:14).
● The death of my father… (Psalm 68:5-6a).
● And my mother… (Psalm 48:14).
● When nervously facing challenges… (Josh. 1:9; Isa. 26:3; Phil. 4:7-9).
● Or fears… (2 Tim. 1:7).
● My decision to marry… (Prov. 18:22).
● Whether to borrow money or trust God’s provision… (Rom. 13:8).

Now these pages chronicle God’s amazing provision or enablement, His Presence when I needed it most, or His Promises when His Presence seemed distant. They give me hope that through the remaining days of my pilgrimage He will continue to show Himself faithful (Ps. 18:25; Heb. 13:8), that what He has begun in me He will finish (Phil. 1:6), and that there is a prize ahead worthy of all present trials or difficulties (Rom. 8:18).

If you’re not in the habit of marking your Bible, I urge you to do so. It creates a most personal treasury of a book already the greatest treasure of all.

Press on…

Are you interested in being discipled one-on-one in the fundamentals of life in Christ? Or, would you like to begin this journey by turning from your current path and committing your path to Christ? — Use the Contact page and we’ll get you started.