Valuable Possessions

     If you could name the most valuable thing in your house right now, what would it be? An electronic? Some clothing? Or maybe it’s the furniture—you probably paid a lot for that, right?

     But is that really the most valuable thing in your house?

     When I was a teenager, I read a book by Melanie Dickerson. In it, the characters have a holy reverence for the Bible because it’s incredibly rare in their Medieval village to find a copy they can read. Most copies were written in Latin, and beyond that, only the churches or the richest of the rich were able to purchase them. Because of their scarcity, Scripture was considered extremely valuable.

     But as I contemplated this, something occurred to me. There was a real problem in the way I treated Scripture, because I’ve been spoiled. I can get on my phone and pull up an app. I can get on the computer and Google whatever Bible verse I want. I can even go buy a new copy down at the Dollar Tree for $1. But does this make Bibles any less valuable now than Bibles in Medieval times, when some of the population might not even see them?

      No! Of course not.

     The scarcity of Scripture does not determine its sacredness.

     The value of the Word of God does not change whether you got it for free or paid over two million dollars for it. It doesn’t matter if there are a hundred billion Bibles in your language or just one—the Bible and its value stay the same regardless. It is the only place where we can find the directions to Eternal Life. It is the only place where we can find the Word of God, a love letter from our Savior to us, here on earth.

     Too often, though, I feel like we disregard Scripture. Because it is so “cheap”—because we have been spoiled and have probably 3-4 Bibles in our household alone—we tend to take it for granted. We don’t consult it enough, don’t put enough stock in it, don’t trust it enough. But how would it look if we treated the Bible with as much respect as it deserves?

1. We would read it more. The God of the world wrote us a love letter. If He thought it was important enough to craft over thousands of years, how can we just disregard it? If it’s so important, we’re going to want to know what it says. By reading the Bible, we are putting stock in its opinion, treating it with value, and learning more about God’s love for us. The Bible is God’s letter for you, personally. God would take time to write it again and again even if you were the last person on earth. It’s like the best gift ever! You wouldn’t leave the best gift ever just unopened. So read it!
2. We would take what it says to heart. A lot of the time, people may read the Bible—or just hear what it says—and disregard it. They act as if it’s not important, that they don’t have time for it, that it’s a stupid Book from long ago. By doing that, they inherently devalue its worth. But when something is valuable, when something is worth something, we won’t just blow it off. We don’t hide our worldly valuables in a corner and throw a blanket over them. No! We use them. We enjoy them. We treasure them. And, most importantly, we don’t ignore them. What if we started treating the Bible the same way? What if we really did “hide its word in our hearts, so that we might not sin against God” (Psalm 119:11, slight paraphrase). 
3. We would treat it with reverence. This basically sums up the other two points here. If we read it more and take what it says to heart, we’re already treating the Bible with reverence. But this can go into our attitude as well. When we read the Bible, how often do we huff as we open it, treating it as just another thing to do on our check-list before we fall asleep at night? Do we give it maybe a minute, maybe two, and then close it and feel like we’ve accomplished some great feat? I mean, I’ll be honest. Sometimes I do this after a long day. It’s easy to feel like reading the Bible is a chore, but it’s not. It’s an honor. Imagine if a celebrity invited you into his house and wanted to talk to you. Just wanted to hear from you, chat for a bit, get to know you. Would you be like: “ugh! I can’t believe I have to go meet Tom Holland and spend time with him. Such a chooooore.” Because I sure wouldn’t. If Tom Holland, for some inexplicable reason, called me up on the phone and was like: “Hey, wanna chat?” I know I’d immediately disregard anything else I had planned to go hang out with him. Why isn’t God as important to us as Tom Holland (or insert any other celebrity you might like)? So by treating the Bible with reverence, we’ll actually start to look forward to the time we spend reading it. We’ll get a little thrill of anticipation as we open it, to see what’s in store for us today, what God might be trying to say to us. We would give it a place of honor in our houses or cell phones.

     These are just a few ways in which we can recognize the inherent holiness, the inherent sacredness, of Scripture in our day-to-day lives. It doesn’t matter if we’re from a remote island that only has one Bible in our native language, or if we’re just pulling up biblegateway.com on our browser. God’s Word, God’s Message, is the same, whether we hear it for the first time or the billionth.

     So let’s start paying attention.