There are a lot of Bibles out there.
The college that I attended made the translation of the Bible you used a BIG deal. When I showed up on campus as a freshman, I unpacked my trusty NKJV and was quickly informed by one of my senior roommates that what I had just done was tantamount to smuggling contraband. It was not uncommon to be walking through the commons, cafeteria, or dorms and stumble upon a Bible version debate. We heard lectures, sermons and were assigned books to read on the translation debate. These conditions forced me to thoroughly research all sides of the issue.
I would like to think that training in this environment has formed me into, at the least, a semi-educated student of the subject. Having read the Bible through numerous times, studying it deeply, and working in pastoral ministry, I believe I now have a definitive list of the worst Bibles. I can tell you from my experience in the counseling office that these Bibles will absolutely cripple any Christian. They make for weak Christians that have a hard time even muddling through this sinful world.
Some of them may surprise you.
1. The Bible You Don’t Read
You know the one.
The one that collects a nice layer of dust between Sunday services. I’m not talking about your great-grandmas family Bible on the shelf, I’m talking about your “regular” Bible. The one that you have to look all over the house for because you just can’t remember where you put it down several days ago. I wonder how many pains we bring on ourselves because we refuse to open up God’s word daily? Psalm 119:105 tells us, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” How many times do we stumble in life because we refuse to turn on the lamp?
If you are not into the practice of reading daily and at least soaking in a few passages to dwell upon, then you are spiritually starving and may not even know it.
“True Bible-readers and Bible-searchers never find it wearisome. They like it least who know it least, and they love it most who read it most. They find it newest who have known it longest, and they find the pasture to be the richest whose souls have been the longest fed upon it. When one of our missionaries had to read a certain Book of the Old Testament through a hundred times while he was translating it, he said that he certainly enjoyed the hundredth time of reading it more than he did the first, for he understood it better, and it seemed to him to be fuller and fresher the more familiar he became with it” – Charles Spurgeon
2. The Bible You Don’t Know
It’s not only important to read your Bible. It’s important to know your Bible. Knowing God’s Word intimately will keep you from sin. Teach you. Correct you. Train you. Encourage you. This book is all of life for a Christian and God invites us to know it and know Him through it.
Ps 119:11 – I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
2 Timothy 3:16 – All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
2 Timothy 2:15 – “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
3. The One You Don’t Obey
Perhaps the worst Bible you can own is the one you don’t obey. Jesus said something shocking in John 14:15, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” In this passage Jesus directly ties our obedience to our love for Him.
Let me ask you some pointed questions, dear reader. Do you love Him? Do you obey His Word? I acknowledge that none of us have arrived, but the Christian life is spent striving to be more like Christ. The things in scripture were written for our instruction and for our good. The Bible teaches us what to obey and how to obey. The Holy Spirit uses God’s Word to produce in us endurance and encouragement, that we might have hope (Romans 15:4).
Conclusion
Grab a Christian Bible. Read it. Know it. Obey it. What are you waiting for?
This was a guest post from Blake Laberee. Blake is a husband, father of two, and the lead Pastor of a small Baptist Church in the Pacific Northwest. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Pastoral Ministry and was a Youth Pastor for five years. Blake averages one book per week, is an avid outdoorsman, and is a fan of Phillies Baseball.
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