A Little More Tape in My Bible

My Bible is getting old...

It used to have a nice bonded leather cover, but that was replaced with a thick piece of brown leather from a local boot maker years ago. Amazingly, it has weathered fairly well, with only some of the pages in the front threatening to abandon ship. It's due for another round of tape in a few strategic places - perhaps this time it will hold better.

Some of my favorite texts are underlined. Next to many of those you can find references to related verses - written at one time or another when I was developing Bible studies for some friends. It's funny, but even when I don't remember exactly where the texts are, my mind remembers where they are on the page, and it is relatively easy to find them when I look for them.

In the front of the Bible my wife recorded that she gave this Book to me on our wedding day, nearly 25 years ago. I truly believe that I have used this gift more than any other gift that I have received. I also believe that I have never been given a more valuable gift in my entire lifetime.

Even now as I leaf through the pages I am taken away by the words I read. A passage here, a verse there - each one fills my mind with a time when those very words comforted me or challenged me at just the right moment. I am reminded of how just the act of reading a message again - as it were, for the first time - a new thought would dawn upon my mind like a flash of lightning, and I somehow understood the nature of God's love for me even more clearly than before.

And tonight my Bible challenged me again. A text, read superficially while looking for something else, caught my eye. Since this Bible is a red-letter edition, I knew that these were words spoken by Christ. What grabbed my attention was that I knew I had read these words - or words close enough to seem like an exact match - in another place in the gospels. And they weren't associated with the same story I was reading here in Mark 4.

I remembered the parable of the talents that Jesus told in Matthew 25. I also recalled the warning that is in verse 29: "For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away." It had always hit me that in this parable the man who had so little even had that taken away from him. But as I re-read the verse, I saw that what the verse says is slightly different than what I had initially thought. It says that the person who has nothing, even that will be taken from him. Nothing to hold on to - nothing to rely on - even the scent of what used to be there is gone.

So when I was reading Jesus' interpretation of the parable of the sower in Mark 4, I was surprised to see verse 25: "For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him." Only a verse before this Jesus had admonished His disciples to learn from what they heard. Just like the man with the single talent, if they didn't use what they had, they would lose what they had.

The message, coming from two different directions, hit me hard. I, who have so much, also have so much responsibility. If God has revealed Himself to us, and has demonstrated His love to us, should we not be actively sharing the light He gave us? Just like the man who returned from his trip to see what his servants had done with their talents, God is looking for results, not excuses. And that hit me hard.

God asked Moses, "What is in your hand?" God is asking that same question of us all today. Whether it is the ability to show His love to those around you or just to open His Word to a friend, we are here for a reason. We may think that we don't have anything to offer. We may feel that we are tired and torn, but just like my old Bible, there is so much more that we can do when we are placed in God's hands. Or, more accurately, when we place our lives in His hands. And He has promised that if we come to Him, He will give us the rest we need so we can be revitalized and ready to serve again.

Just like a little more tape in my Bible.

God bless you abundantly!