Based on John 5:39

MEMORY TEXT:  “O how love Thy law!  It is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97).

Do you own a Bible?  Maybe a better question would be, How many Bibles do you own?  I have many Bibles in my house, because I’m a pastor and the Bible is my textbook.  But there is no virtue in owning one, two, five, ten, or more Bibles if they are never opened.

I am inspired when I read about the many times Jesus quoted from the Old Testament.  He never attended the schools of the prophets, yet He knew the Scriptures well and correctly quoted them time and again.  Without a doubt, His first Bible lessons were given by His mother.  I can imagine Jesus repeating verse after verse to His mother as they worked around the house.  He doubtless spent hours reading the scrolls in the synagogue.  Little by little He learned about His own destiny by reading the sacred pages.

Jesus quoted Scripture to the devil when He was being tempted, and many times He referred to Scripture when He preached to the people.  Oh, that we all knew the Bible like Jesus did!

A man was severely injured in an explosion.  His face was badly disfigured, and he lost his eyesight, as well as both hands.  He was a new Christian, and one of his greatest disappointments was that he could no longer read the Bible.  Then he heard about a lady in England who read Braille with her lips.  Hoping to do the same, he sent for some books of the Bible in Braille.  Much to his dismay, however, he discovered that the nerve endings in his lips had been destroyed by the explosion.  One day, as he brought one of the Braille pages to his lips, his tongue happened to touch a few of the raised characters and he could feel them.  Like a flash he thought, I can read the Bible using my tongue.  It wasn’t long before the man had "read" through the entire Bible several times.

Let me ask you again: Do you have a Bible?  Do you read it regularly?  Have you memorized any verses lately?  Can you find the books of the Bible quickly?  Could you explain an important doctrine using just the Bible?  Your Bible is God’s word to you.  Be sure your Bible isn’t just an ornament on the shelf.