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My Favorite Bible

Through the years, I have owned quite a few Bibles. I have two shelves in my office containing nothing but Bibles. They differ in size, translation, and binding. But of all the Bibles I own, one is particularly treasured by me. It is a little black Red Letter New Testament (3″x4.5″) that I have had for the past 39 years. You’ve seen some like it before. It’s the kind of Bible given to little children, and it is small enough for them to hold it in their little hands. The print in this Bible is just about too small to read. There are no study notes in it. And it only contains the New Testament. So what makes this Bible so special to me? Allow me to read the inscription on the first page:

“This New Testament is being presented to Steve Higginbotham for being the first in his Bible Study class to be able to say from memory all the 66 books of the Bible. Keep up the Good Work. God Bless you always. Your Bible Class Teachers, Mrs. Hester Shultz & Miss Sandy Wilson”

Isn’t it amazing the impact that a few words of encouragement can have on a person’s life? I was just four-years-old when this Bible was presented to me, but thirty-nine years later, I still treasure, and have this little Bible in my possession. My guess is that Hester (who is now deceased) and Sandy have no memory of the presentation of this Bible, or the message they inscribed in it. I’m sure they have no idea that something done so long ago, and something that cost so little, and took only but a moment of their time, would be so treasured by the little boy to whom they presented it.

My point? There is life-time lasting power and influence in encouragement! What takes us only a moment to say or do, can impact another person for the rest of his life. Be an encourager! Take the time and the little extra effort to compliment, commend, and encourage another. Chances are, long after you’ve forgotten your words of kindness, they will be locked-up, and cherished as a prize possession in the store room of someone’s mind.

By Steve Higginbotham

The Bible: Many stories, one book

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IN HER BOOK Mystery on the Desert, Maria Reiche describes a series of strange lines made by the Nazca in the plains of Peru, some of them covering many square miles…

For years, people assumed these lines were the remnants of ancient irrigation ditches.  Then in 1939, Dr. Paul Kosok of Long Island University discovered their true meaning could only be seen from high in the air.  When viewed from an airplane, these seemingly random lines form enormous drawings of birds, insects, and animals.

Similarly, people often think of the Bible as a series of separate, unrelated stories.  When we view the Scriptures as a whole, however, we discover that they form one great story of redemption–from the first “In the Beginning” of Genesis to the final “Amen of Revelation.  Weaving through all the diverse strands of the Bible is a divine story line, the overarching story of how God has rescued, redeemed, and restored humanity, from the first nanosecond of creation through the final cry of victory at the end of time.  (Mike Macintosh)

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.”  Ephesians 1:3-10

–Mike Benson