Please Read Your Bible

As the caption says, you need to read your Bible. Daily. Here's why:

Today, I was absolutely powerless to preach. I did not have the courage. I just stood there.

The reason was that I had given away my smaller Bible to someone who didn't have one on Monday (a Muslim who only had a Quran but was willing to take a Bible, too). I have another Bible, but it is much larger. It is a four-translation study Bible, so you can imagine the bulkiness of it. And that's an excuse for not reading?

No, not really. I think that's why God let me fall. There is no excuse for not reading my Bible. I even thought not to take it with me today (as I had not the day before) because of its size. But the Lord rebuked me about it, and I returned to retrieve it. (I also forgot my bus pass and had to leave the train itself, after getting my Bible, to go back home and retrieve that. Or, I could have paid a $90 fine to the security guard standing on the train checking passes!)

I read my Bible while I was standing up on the train. A few of my regular listeners were there. I think they were shocked that I didn't preach at all today. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

On the way home, I did talk to several people face to face. I remembered that a personal approach always makes it easier for me to preach open air later. Because I've already got the juices flowing, so my courage has less to overcome. I still did not preach this evening, but I did learn to be more diligent reading the Word.

Oh, and I did talk to a wiccan/pagan on the platform when I arrived to work this morning. I took him through the Good Person Test without asking him what his sins made him and then tried to tell him what the Bible says. He informed me of his religion and said that he didn't want to talk. Had I been prepared, I would have asked him if he, as a wiccan, thought that lying, stealing, and hatred were bad things. Then I would have said, "Then we're on the same page, what's the problem? What does wicca do about your sins?" Nothing. "That's why you need Jesus!" etc. It may not have worked, but I could have done better--and I will tomorrow, so help me God.

Oh! Make sure you read your Bible!!