International Bestseller?…Might be worth a read!

According to the Guinness World Records, “the Bible is the world’s best-selling and most widely distributed book. A survey by the Bible Society concluded that around 2.5 billion copies were printed between 1815 and 1975, but more recent estimates put the number at more than 5 billion.”

Thursday 7th September was ‘Buy a New Book Day‘, and today (as I write this post) is ‘International Literacy Day‘, so I thought it would be good to extol the benefits of reading the world’s best-selling book – The Bible.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon famously said “A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.” The Bible is one of the most debated about, most praised and attacked, most read and neglected book in all of recorded history.

It is in-fact an anthology of books that span hundreds of years between the writing of the first book and the last. It records the history of God’s relationship with man.

Thousands of books have been written about the Bible and it seems that the more you learn and know about it, the less you realise you know about it; as St Augustine of Hippos states – “The Bible was composed in such a way that as beginners mature, its meaning grows with them.”

However, “The Bible was not given for our information but for our transformation.” – Dwight L. Moody.

That is why God gave us the Bible; it was not to be debated over, studied, dissected and read just to fill our minds with more and more information. The Bible is God revealing His truth to our hearts, to bring change, life & transformation. President of the U.S.A. Abraham Lincoln said “I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from The Saviour of the world is communicated to us through this Book.”

It is Jesus’ word to us.

“The New Testament is the very best book that ever was or ever will be known in the world.” – Charles Dickens. Jesus himself said “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”- Matthew 4:4

So we see that The Bible is mean to be nourishment/sustenance for our souls. It is something that is as necessary for life as bread. Like the saying it is our ‘bread and butter’: what we need.

The Bible, also called the ‘Word of God‘ is something firm and unshakeable that we can turn to in times of trouble. “Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.” – Psalm 119:89.”The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures for ever” – Isaiah 40:8. It also gives us wisdom and revelation, “The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” – Psalm 119:130

In fact, the Apostle Paul, when writing to his young friend Timothy tells him the following, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:14-17

God has given us His Word, the Bible to help us, to train us, to encourage us, to equip us, to transform us, challenge us, and above all else, to reveal Jesus to us.

Dr R. C. Sproul says the following in regards to the Bible; “I think the greatest weakness in the church today is that almost no one believes that God invests His power in the Bible. Everyone is looking for power in a program, in a methodology, in a technique, in anything and everything but that in which God has placed it—His Word. He alone has the power to change lives for eternity, and that power is focused on the Scriptures.”

At Llandudno Youth for Christ we are passionate about the Bible and about giving the young people that come to the events that we hold, not only access to the Bible, but also tools for themselves to read and study the Bible, and in doing so, get to know the author.

Please continue to pray for the work that we do sharing the gospel relevantly with young people in Llandudno and beyond, and also, I encourage you to open your Bible and get to know its author, God, for yourself.

Be blessed!